Labels specialising in French chamber music

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Frankly, I'd rather buy from Naxos, if what they do is OK. Hope Bev comes in on this.

MG

[A Lark Ascending]

I get my Naxos discs either via e-music (you need a subscription) or from Classicsonline which is like any other vendor. Anything with less than about 15 tracks is cheaper on the former (they charge by the track); over that and it's cheaper on COL (standard price per album).

Have a look here for Classics Online:

http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=3564

(It switches from US $ to real money when you register/log in - £4.99, I think).

You usually get liners included on more recent recordings, not always on the older.

There are links on the Naxos site to liner notes:

http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.554456&catNum=554456&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English#

Edited July 22, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Thanks Bev. This one has 28 tacks and the Naxos site took me to Classics on line. I see now, looking a little more carefully, that there's a .pdf file I can download. So I'll get this tomorrow. Thanks very much.

MG

[David Ayers]

Thanks Bev. This one has 28 tacks and the Naxos site took me to Classics on line. I see now, looking a little more carefully, that there's a .pdf file I can download. So I'll get this tomorrow. Thanks very much.

MG

Worth noting that if you order the CD from amazon.co.uk (not from amazon sellers) you get the download included free...though not the pdf

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Thanks Bev. This one has 28 tacks and the Naxos site took me to Classics on line. I see now, looking a little more carefully, that there's a .pdf file I can download. So I'll get this tomorrow. Thanks very much.

MG

Worth noting that if you order the CD from amazon.co.uk (not from amazon sellers) you get the download included free...though not the pdf

Yes, I knew that, but I'm getting this stuff without using shelf space - which is a bit short.

Just downloaded it.

MG

[mikeweil]

Took me a bit of time to track this down but, amazingly, with the help of the All Music Guide, I've found this.

Piddling little image. Anyway, it's Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, 'Serenades Francaises' on Naxos. I used to have a collection which included his bassoon concerto, which I always thought was lovely.

Before I spring for this - although it's not terribly expensive - does anyone have any view on what you get when you download from Naxos?

MG

Just ordered me a copy for € 5 including shipping - though that music is not a violin feature, it's very lovely. Boismortier is a very underrated composer, IMO.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Yes, now I've heard all the album - much of which is snippets one or two minutes long, but very lovely melodies - I'm going to get some more over the following months.

MG

[Liberdade]

May be worth checking out the Erato catalogue - there´s some very good performances in there, including Messiaen´s piano music with Yvonne Loriod, and Chausson´s wonderful sonatas. The Domaine Musical is also a particular area of interest for me, with some seminal performances from the 1950s and early 60s, of works such as Boulez´s Le marteau sans maître.

[MomsMobley]

MG-- best/least known body of 20th c. French chamber music is that of Albert Roussel; three CD set on Brilliant (originally on Timpani, I believe?) get you nearly everything--

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KEHMHU/

He's not French of course but don't be afraid to check out Czech exile, Bohuslav Martinu, in whom a # of French currents run strong. String quartet cycle is a fine place to start; the oboe quartet too--

I kinda burned out on the French baroque but Blandine Rannou's Rameau concerts still ranks, as does Celine Frisch solo--

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rameau-Pieces-Clavecin-Celine-Frisch/dp/B001EVPBXU

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

May be worth checking out the Erato catalogue - there´s some very good performances in there, including Messiaen´s piano music with Yvonne Loriod, and Chausson´s wonderful sonatas. The Domaine Musical is also a particular area of interest for me, with some seminal performances from the 1950s and early 60s, of works such as Boulez´s Le marteau sans maître.

I used to have a lot of Eratos in the sixties/seventies. Can't see the one I really loved - Daniel-Lesur's Symphonie de danses.

Do they have a website?

MG

[mikeweil]

Erato was bought by the Warner group many years ago and shut down in 2001. Reissues are found on other labels of that company, but they obviously neglect that catalogue.

[Liberdade]

Do they have a website?

MG

There is a searchable catalogue on the Warner site;

http://www.warnerclassics.com/search.htm?label=erato

Hopefully one or two things will be of interest - I like this, for example;

http://www.warnerclassics.com/release,LaloChaussonRavelSymphonieEspagnolePoemeTzigane_2238.htm

[mikeweil]

Well, that's only a fraction of the 2560 recordings ERATO made ...

[David Ayers]

I really hope the jazz obsession with reissues doesn't take over in classical. There are so many great recordings coming from France now, especially of baroque music, I can't get sentimental over badly played, badly recorded, badly re-mastered Erato back-catalog.

[A Lark Ascending]

I'd say that's been happening for a long time - if anything the classical labels are even better at marketing their back catalogues, playing up the concept of the uniqueness and distinctiveness of performers or performances of the past that any self- respecting connoisseur 'must' own. Look at all those megalopaboxes thundering out.

When I first started buying classical recordings you bought older performances because they were cheaper on budget imprints of labels (though even then there was a heritage industry fetish with the past - the labels today just seem to have got better at marketing it to a much broader audience)

Edited July 30, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I frequently bought Czech recordings because they were even cheaper. THEY seem to have gone now, too.

MG

[Liberdade]

I really hope the jazz obsession with reissues doesn't take over in classical. There are so many great recordings coming from France now, especially of baroque music, I can't get sentimental over badly played, badly recorded, badly re-mastered Erato back-catalog.

Do you mean the Erato baroque recordings, or more generally? I'm just thinking of the Bartok, Debussy and Messiaen recordings I have on Erato, and they're excellent, in terms of both recording and interpretation.

I frequently bought Czech recordings because they were even cheaper. THEY seem to have gone now, too.

MG

The Supraphon catalogue is great, even if the vinyl is often noisy. Ancerl's Mahler with the Czech Philharmonic is superb - the 9th probably being the version I listen to most. The Bartok edition is also a goldmine!

[David Ayers]

I was thinking about older baroque recordings in general, including Erato. Not many of them hit the mark. I was remembering a miserable trawl I had through the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi reissue program.

[A Lark Ascending]

I frequently bought Czech recordings because they were even cheaper. THEY seem to have gone now, too.

MG

The Supraphon catalogue is still there and widely available for download. The difference now is that there are many more labels at the cheaper end. In Downloadland the price differential between full price, mid and budget is much narrower than it used to be. £7.99 the norm for a full price recording - 10 years ago I was paying up to £15 with the mid price reissues coming in at the 7.99 mark. Edited July 31, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I frequently bought Czech recordings because they were even cheaper. THEY seem to have gone now, too.

MG

The Supraphon catalogue is still there and widely available for download. The difference now is that there are many more labels at the cheaper end. In Downloadland the price differential between full price, mid and budget is much narrower than it used to be. £7.99 the norm for a full price recording - 10 years ago I was paying up to £15 with the mid price reissues coming in at the 7.99 mark.

I never heard a version of the Debussy and Ravel quartets that came anywhere near the Supraphon version by the Vlach Quartet. I was looking for it but nothing turned up - so I started this thread.

So, how can you get Supraphon material, Bev?

MG

[David Ayers]

I frequently bought Czech recordings because they were even cheaper. THEY seem to have gone now, too.

MG

The Supraphon catalogue is still there and widely available for download. The difference now is that there are many more labels at the cheaper end. In Downloadland the price differential between full price, mid and budget is much narrower than it used to be. £7.99 the norm for a full price recording - 10 years ago I was paying up to £15 with the mid price reissues coming in at the 7.99 mark.

I never heard a version of the Debussy and Ravel quartets that came anywhere near the Supraphon version by the Vlach Quartet. I was looking for it but nothing turned up - so I started this thread.

So, how can you get Supraphon material, Bev?

MG

The DL is on amazon and it is also on Spotify. Listening now. Sorry - I'm not Bev!

[A Lark Ascending]

http//www.supraphon.com

Suspect it's available through most of the dl sources.

I've mainly used Amazon and E-music.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Yes - I've seen it now on Amazon UK. I think I must just have been looking at CDs or something before. Or maybe because it has a much less mysterious sleeve than the original, I just didn't recognise it.

Thanks to David and Bev.

MG

[A Lark Ascending]

It's often worth looking for downloads specifically under the Mp3 category at Amazon - sometimes they don't show under Music or Classical.