Author: Rob Pennock
While at university trained as a singer and learnt about music as a hobby. Write for Audiophile Sound and Classical Source. Have thousands of LPs and love DSD (particularly 512) because it is the nearest digital has got to the stunning analogue sound produced by the likes of Decca and Mercury. Endure, rather than admire, boring modern straight-line ‘music-making’ and have thousands of hours of historical performances, where expressive interpretive license is taken for granted. HIPP is fine in anything pre-Haydn, but silly little chamber orchestras in Beethoven and emaciated forte pianos are unacceptable.
Weill – The Seven deadly Sins
Originally written for Classical Source. Read original article HERE. Despite the best efforts of various record labels, outside of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, The Threepenny Opera and the Little Threepenny Music, Kurt Weill’s music remains largely unknown. These concert performances open with the nine movement ballet The Seven Deadly Sins, […]
‘Espansiva’ is Fascinating Listening
OUR Recordings specialise in Danish music and performers, usually recorded in very high-definition sound, and here we have Denmark’s greatest composer’s own arrangements of three of his works played by Danes. Those used to being able to access multiple recordings of the works might ask why he bothered; forgetting that back then it was usually […]
Janácek: Katya Kabanova in 3 Acts
Janáček: Káťa Kabanová, JW 1/8 (Opera in 3 Acts) Káťa Kabanová: Amanda Majeski (soprano)Boris: Simon O’Neill (tenor)Kabanicha: Katarina Dalayman (mezzo-soprano)Tichon: Andrew Staples (tenor)Kudrjáŝ: Ladislav Elgr (tenor)Varvara: Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano)Dikoj: Pavlo Hunka (bass-baritone)Glasha & Feklusha: Claire Barnett-Jones (mezzo-soprano)Kuligin: Lukáš Zeman (baritone)London Symphony Orchestra & ChorusSir Simon Rattle Recorded live at the Barbican, London on 11 January […]
Simon Rattle & LSO – Britten in Three Works
Elizabeth Watts (soprano)Alice Coote (mez-soprano)Allan Clayton (tenor)Tiffin Boy’s, Children’s and Girl’s School ChorusesLondon Symphony Orchestra and ChorusSir Simon Rattle Recorded live at the Barbican Hall, London in September 2018, May 2019 and May 2021LSO0830 Performance: 5 Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, which was first performed by John Barbirolli and the New York Philharmonic in March 1941, […]
Folk Songs / Delius: A Mass of Life / Kynaston on the Organ
These reviews were originally written by Rob Pennock for The Classical Source. Folk Songs Works: Béla Bartók – 5 Hungarian Folk Songs, BB 108, Sz. 101 Luciano Berio – Folk Songs Maurice Ravel – Cinq Mélodies populaires grecques Xavier Montsalvatge – 5 Canciones negras Artists: Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano), Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle Recorded at the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum, […]
Review of Reference Recordings ‘Tchaikovsky & Schulhoff’
Performance: 5 This is Manfred Honeck’s second Pittsburgh recording of this great Symphony. His first, which derived from a May 2006 concert, appeared on the Exton label and at first glance, because the timings – discounting applause – are virtually identical, you might wonder who needs this new one. Well, the new one is even […]
LSO: Rachmaninoff Symphony No.2 in E minor, Op.27
This is Rob’s review of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No.2 in E minor, Op.27 performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simon Rattle on the LSO Live label. Recorded live at the Barbican Hall, London in September 2019. Rob reviewed the Stereo DSD 512 edition download from NativeDSD Music. Originally published in Audiophile Sound (Italy). In […]