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The Five Sacred Trees (Bassoon Concerto) by Slatkin & Detroit Symphony Orchestra (Naxos) - new 2015 recording


Mari

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About time... now if they only release those on CD...

I'm confused as to why you say "about time". Was this performance recorded a long time ago, but only made available now?

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About time... now if they only release those on CD...

Slowly but surely, Slatkin continues his JW's recording project.

Someday, it will make a beautiful boxset!

Previous Slatkin's recordings:

1992 - Violin Concerto/Flute Concerto (Leonard Slatkin/London Symphony); Reissued for digital download in 2014, Varèse Sarabande.

2010 - Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, Digital Release (Leonard Slatkin/Detroit Symphony)

2011 - Concerto for Violin and Orchestra rev. 1998, Digital Release (Leonard Slatkin/Detroit Symphony)

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About time... now if they only release those on CD...

I'm confused as to why you say "about time". Was this performance recorded a long time ago, but only made available now?

Yes, it was recorded 2 or 3 years ago. This series is ongoing since a few years now--Slatkin is performing all of Williams' concerti with the DSO, using the principals of the orchestra as soloists. So far they did the Horn Concerto, the Violin Concerto, the Tuba Concerto, the Flute Concerto, the Cello Concerto (revised version) and the Bassoon Concerto. If I'm correct, next season they're gonna do the Trumpet Concerto.

All of these are planned to be released on Naxos, but so far only Horn and Violin have been issued.

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Yes, I'm aware of Slatkin's "project", but I didn't know he had conducted this years ago. Maybe I didn't notice because I'm so pleased with Williams' own recording. Thanks for the info, in any case.

IMO, he should prioritize the concerti that have no commercial release at all (like the viola concerto) or those that only have crummy-sounding releases with dubious legality (like the clarinet concerto). Of all the works he has recorded so far, only the horn and harp concerti had no previous commercial release, AFAIK.

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The Harp Concerto has been released digitally on the BSO label.

IMHO it's always good to have further interpretations of JW's concert works released, even if there are other recordings available.

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The Harp Concerto has been released digitally on the BSO label.

Yeah, I know. But Slatkin's recording was the first, AFAIK. Same with the horn concerto. The others he has done recently have had previous recordings/releases. Nothing wrong with new recordings and interpretations (I welcome them!), but as a completist I would rather have the unreleased works out there (and those that have crummy bootlegish recordings).

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Slatkin did the Harp concerto when? Are you sure you aren't making any sort of confusion on that one?

I only know of one commercial release (that one being the BSO label digital release one, a live recording of the third and final performance with the BSO back when it was premiered), and while I've heard it performed a few other times over web radio streams, I can't recall of any performance with Slatkin conducting (by the way, Williams successor at the Pops, Keith Lockhart lead the European premiere of that one a few years ago).

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Slatkin did the Harp concerto when? Are you sure you aren't making any sort of confusion on that one?

Could be. I'm often confused! :)

I guess I just thought the recent release of the harp concerto was part of Slatkin's series (what with the album's cover and all).

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The recent release if from 4 years ago :)

And the cover has little to do with the ones Naxos has been using for their releases.

Having said that, I do long for more recordings of this particular work. Though as you mentioned before, priority should go to the Clarinet and Viola concertos... Though I wonder if Williams will allow for a performance of the former, as it hasn't been conducted by anyone else but him, and the last time he did it was over 20 years ago. As for the later, I can see that happening, as at least another violist has performed it already.

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The recent release if from 4 years ago :)

And the cover has little to do with the ones Naxos has been using for their releases.

I think it follows the basic template from the Slatkin recordings fairly well, with the fonts and everything. It must have been that which caused the confusion.

600x600.jpg

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Though as you mentioned before, priority should go to the Clarinet and Viola concertos... Though I wonder if Williams will allow for a performance of the former, as it hasn't been conducted by anyone else but him, and the last time he did it was over 20 years ago. As for the later, I can see that happening, as at least another violist has performed it already.

I'm sure the Viola Concerto will be performed and recorded by Slatkin (and hopefully also by other artists!), I guess it's a matter of time. Maybe the BSO label will also release the performance conducted by JW with Cathy Basrak as soloist.

As for the Clarinet Concerto, it's still some kind of a mystery. The work has never been published (I guess it's not available for rental either) and hasn't been performed since 1993. Maybe it's one of those works JW was planning to revise, but other commitments always prevented him of doing it?

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About time... now if they only release those on CD...

I'm confused as to why you say "about time". Was this performance recorded a long time ago, but only made available now?

Yes, it was recorded 2 or 3 years ago. This series is ongoing since a few years now--Slatkin is performing all of Williams' concerti with the DSO, using the principals of the orchestra as soloists. So far they did the Horn Concerto, the Violin Concerto, the Tuba Concerto, the Flute Concerto, the Cello Concerto (revised version) and the Bassoon Concerto. If I'm correct, next season they're gonna do the Trumpet Concerto.

All of these are planned to be released on Naxos, but so far only Horn and Violin have been issued.

Not tge biggest fan of Slatkin. But I would buy all of those in one CD collection

Karol

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The recent release if from 4 years ago :)

And the cover has little to do with the ones Naxos has been using for their releases.

I think it follows the basic template from the Slatkin recordings fairly well, with the fonts and everything. It must have been that which caused the confusion.

600x600.jpg

I have to disagree on that one...

By the way, the Cello Concerto is also being released:

https://itunes.apple.com/pt/album/id999526871?mt=1&ign-mpt=uo%3D6

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I have to disagree on that one...

Well, the eye is in the beholder, as they say. With my eyes, I see many similar overlapping features here -- the font, the "stripe" with the text that is superimposed over the background picture, the colour scheme etc. If they hadn't been similar in style, I would never have confused this with the Slaktin recordings.

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  • 5 years later...

Is this recording available anywhere for digital purchase? Their Naxos website doesn't allow digital downloads, and they don't seem to be on any of the usual websites (HDTracks, Presto, eclassical, etc.)...

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In terms of perception (and really only by this metric), I think it is this concerto that spurred many classical music enthusiasts who were not fond of Williams to re-evaluate him and take his compositional chops more seriously.   

 

 

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11 hours ago, j39m said:

I bought my copy off of Google Play before they turned down that entire segment. It looks like you can still purchase from HighResAudio and Chandos.

 

EDIT: oh look, it's available from Qobuz as well.

 

11 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/ZH 0904
 

Here you go! A great recording. 

Thank you both! Chandos it is.

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