I finished the set of Martinu piano concertos - those and the symphonies are all interesting and well worth investigating, especially from this conductor - the music really lives and breathes under his baton - one of the most lauded sets by Vaclav Neumann is the one I previously had and those performances in that sound are what turned me off to Martinu - thank goodness I took a chance on this other conductor - it's amazing what a difference a conductor can make.
I was going to move back to this Gunter Wand set of Bruckner but I want another day or two before I re-listen to those symphonies. So, instead I've moved on to the symphonies of Carl Nielsen - I knew and know absolutely nothing of Nielsen's music - I may have heard something at some point but I certainly have no memory of it. Well, after having heard his first symphony, I love this guy. Beautiful music from a Danish composer. Hoping I love the other five, too - but so far I'm really enjoying - on the second symphony now. There are about eight complete sets, but I took a chance on the one everyone seemed to agree was one of the best (I mean, the professional reviewers) - Ole Schmidt. Apparently these were released on a Unicorn LP in 1974 with bad sound. Those came out on CD in sound that was just as bad, from what I've read. The set has been remastered for this budget release (around fourteen bucks for three CDs) and while I don't know how it was before, it's pretty great now. Looking forward to the rest - happily, Mr. Nielsen has brevity - each of the symphonies is only about thirty minutes unlike the Mahlers and Bruckners that clock in from an hour to over ninety minutes.
