Best Cowbells ??

[alpsman]

Real church bells are out of the question-

The Berlin Philharmonic uses church bells at the European concert 2001 in Agia Irini in Constantinople, Jansons conducting.
They play Berlioz's Fantastique, and the bells are not of large size but quite sonorous.

[Polarius T]

"Constantinople"? I can tell you are from Athens... 

You can try reproducing that through the telly:



To what I understand that's the oldest church in town. Now that's really old. Been there, seen that, but not heard them bells.



-PT

[Eric Nagamine]

A late reply, but conductor Harold Faberman (an ex Boston SO percussionist IIRC) bought a set of cow bells off the cow from a farmer in Switzerland and used those in his LSO recording of the 6th symphony. (Useless Info I know, but fun trivia)

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Eric Nagamine

[alpsman]

"Constantinople"? I can tell you are from Athens...

Right on target PT.   

Now dont't you find this a nice dvd? The Fantastique has so sonorous percussion.

[john haueisen]

Hey, why didn't anyone mention the cowbell sound of Ivan Fischer and Budapest?

[barry guerrero]

Hmmmm, it's not really the cowbells that stick in my memory from the I. Fischer M6. Instead, it's the way he begins the second subject of the first movement, the so-called "Alma theme". He just bursts right out of the starting gate, rather than making it ultra-languorous (as so many do). That, and his tidy, purposeful reading of the finale. Up until the finale, the performance is a tad light weight, I feel;  which is OK, as long as everyone involved nails the finale. I'm glad I've kept that one, so I'll revisit its cowbells. What the heck!

Barry

[Polarius T]

"Constantinople"? I can tell you are from Athens...

Right on target PT.   

Now dont't you find this a nice dvd? The Fantastique has so sonorous percussion.

Actually, I don't have this DVD and was only alerted to these BPO "Annual European Concerts" documents just now by you (thanks btw), so it's a forthcoming pleasure still. I really crave for the other installments as well, they seem very attractive.

PT

[john haueisen]

I've just been listening to Thomas Sanderling's (St. Petersburg) M6.
Not only does it have one of the best "cowbell effects," but also a remarkable aliveness of the timpani and horns.  Has anyone else heard this Sanderling performance?
Another question:  the hammerblows in this performance:  does anyone know if Sanderling is using something other than a giant mallet and wood block?  It just doesn't have the dull, crushing, thud that I favor for the hammerschlag.
JH

[barry guerrero]

You might want to run this question to Dave Hurwitz in the private messages section. He gave this recording a 10/10 at Classicstoday. I used to own it, and stupidly traded it away. Then again, I still own over a dozen recordings of M6, if you include all the pirates of live performances, etc. It truly is a good one.

Barry

[alpsman]

Polarius T
As for Berlin Philharmonic European concert, this must be another topic but anyway:

I urge anyone to have these concerts in dvd( it's the only format they released). They are extremelly interesting.They play each year at 1st of May-the official founding day of BPO. The cities that were played are: Prague(twice), Florence,London.Meiningen,Krakow, Stockholm,Madrid, Lisbon,Constantinople, Athens, Berlin(twice), St.Petersburg, Moscow(these year), Budapest, Paris, Palermo.
The venues are not concert halls(only in Prague, Budapest , Berlin, Moscow and St.Petersburg), but monuments of great historical and cultural importance-such as: Medici palace, Escorial monastery, great churces and monasteries in Lisbon and Krakow, Odeion Herodes Atticus, Vasa museum............

There are also in this dvds very nice documentaries about these cities and venues, about music in these cities etc.
Conductors: Abbado(of course have the lion share), Haitink, Boulez, Rattle, Jansons, Barenboim, Mehta.
Soloists: Pires, Barenboim, Shaham, Kavakos, Zimmermann(vioilinist), Ax, Schaffer, Pahud, Batiasvili, Sarah Chang.........

And the final world: NOT A SINGLE NOTE BY MAHLER!!!!!
Now that's a cause for boycoting the Berliners.