T.D.

Reviving this old thread... Any recommendations for a "modern" (mid-1970s to date, decent but not necessarily audiophile quality sound, say) LvB string quartet cycle? I currently own Vegh/Valois (excellent performances, S. Vegh's intonation sometimes suspect) and Budapest 1951-52 (ditto on performances, the UA sonics are a bit thin). Often listened to the Alban Berg Qt. years ago, memory vague, enjoyed them but not sure where they rank. Love the Suske's Mozart, haven't heard much about their Beethoven, a little dubious of Brilliant Classics (they've botched sonics on some reissues). I respect the Emersons, but they'd probably be too "slick" for my taste. Takacs and Talich come to mind...I haven't kept up with post-2000 releases by various ensembles.

Thanks for the various feedback. Picked up Kovacevich a while back and enjoyed it; sound and approach satisfied my "modern" criteria. Just recently got Heidsieck's set, which I hadn't heard in several years (purchased one as a gift), and extremely happy with it. Will likely buy the Serkin box in the near future. Would like to hear Sherman, but that's too tough to find at present. [Added] Got the Serkin set, which absent the above suggestion I wouldn't have considered due to incomplete sonatas. But the sonatas are outstanding, right up with the very best I've heard (my erudition is insufficient to make explicit rankings). Have yet to listen to Serkin's concerti. That's it for now - have spent much of the past several weeks digesting LvB sonata interpretations.

Yes, but 20 or more years ago, so not relevant.

The "first interpretation = best" syndrome was strong in my relatively early years of listening. As time passed, I became more open to other interpretations, which often supplanted the original favorites. I've also become more "objective" about other interpretations, while managing to retain some fond memories of the "first and best". But there are a very few recordings that I loved so much on first hearing that I never had any desire to acquire others (though I've heard other live performances) - Mravinsky's Tchaikovsky symphonies 4-6 on DG and Borodin Qt.'s EMI recordings of Borodin's 2nd SQ and Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence sextet (with Yu. Bashmet, N. Gutman) are the only ones that come to mind right now. [Disclaimer: I rarely keep more than 2 recordings of pieces other than major favorites by LvB, JSB and WAM. Too much unheard music yet to explore, plus space limitations.]

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Agreed. If Bauer's histrionics were the reason, why would the Tribe have acquired the flamboyant headcase Puig in return?

In a move that surprised no one, Woodstock 50 (Finally) Throws In The Towel

Me neither, but I assumed "Or" was a typo and "For" was intended. I of course defer to the cognoscenti of "JSangryology".

I agree. Looked at the photo yesterday, finished reading the book last night.

Very much agreed on The Swimmer. I read quite a few of his short stories over the years, but no novels. Weirdly, I read Cheever's short story Torch Song in an anthology (of American Short Stories or the like) 15-20 years ago, and it creeped me out so badly that I never read anything more of his. Well-written, but something about that story deeply disturbed me. I even pitched my copy of the anthology. So I guess you could say that I find Cheever's writing extremely powerful!

Via YouTube, a bunch of Bach/Bach-Busoni Chaconnes in D Minor. Violin: Szeryng, Hilary Hahn, Milstein Piano: Kissin, Michelangeli, Tipo

RIP. Wonderful performer. Lots of Bylsma recordings in the Sony Vivarte boxes.

Those are tough to beat. In the honorable mention category: I watched him play @ Wrigley Field several times...I question the surname prefix: surely it should be "Le", not "La"... Pete often figured in trivia questions, as his father Peter Marshall was host of the "Hollywood Squares" TV game show. Actress Joanne Dru was his aunt (I'd forgotten that - just reminded via Wiki). BTW, I saw Rusty K. play @ Comiskey Park.

Etchebarren was known as one of the least handsome big leaguers. Speaking of which, I recall the Joe Torre dig from (the late) Jim Bouton's Ball Four...the best quote I can find on the Internet goes: “Jim Pagliaroni joined the club tonight and is going to be a welcome addition. He was describing a girl that one of the ballplayers had been out with and said, 'It’s hard to say exactly what she looked like. She was kind of Joe Torre with tits.' This joke can only be explained with a picture of Joe Torre. But I’m not sure any exist. He dissolves* camera lenses.” * I recall the term as "melts", but haven't looked at the book in years and could be mistaken.

Please post impressions. As mentioned in some other thread, I've effectively read several excerpts from the book (Gann posted them, or talks based on book excerpts, etc. over the years). Not sure I'm a big enough Cageian to justify purchase, and it's not available on my interlibrary loan network (only Gann work thereon is American Music in the 20th Century).

+1. Liked him in general, esp. in BR.

Starting in the "middle" of the box, CD 3-5.

The bar was set pretty low in the USA in '60s and '70s. I even remember trying the British import Watney's back in the mid-'70s and thinking it was good...years later I found that it had a nickname something like "piss" (forget the details).

Well, kinda...All three commodities have become, thank goodness, more "artisanal" in recent decades. Beer - can't speak to the '60s, but in the '70s various (mostly regional) beers were considerably less urinous than the American norm. On the national level, Michelob (a "premium" brand) was fairly tasty. Likewise IMO Stroh's (Michigan) and F X Matt (NY State, I think they still brew some prestigious names under contract). I'm sure others could cite examples from their regions. In the '70s, Coors (when regional to CO) was the "hippest" beer, often mentioned by rock stars, but I found it watery and never cared for it. Labatt's and Molson (Canada) were always worth paying up for relative to standard American crap.

I grew up in the Chicago area, and Schlitz was really big in Chi-town. Tasted like Scheisse but was cheap. I recall lots of bars in the 60s and 70s having Schlitz neon signs in the window.

Lettering looks a lot like Schlitz.