People talking about recordings of classical music
August 5, 2024 10:00 AM   Subscribe

Many years ago, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation ran a series of programmes about classical music called "The Sunday Classic". (The Danish title was "Søndagsklassikeren"). Each episode would feature a host and three guests. The host would play excerpts from six different recordings of a particular classical work (say, Beethoven's fifth symphony), and then the guests would discuss the merits and shortcomings of these excerpts. At the end, they would pick a winner, and the winning recording would be played in full.

Well, "The Sunday Classic" does not exist anymore, and it seems very hard to get access to the old episodes. My question is: Is there anything out there today which is remotely similar to what I've described above? It could be a podcast, an audiobook, a multimedia DVD, whatever. It doesn't have to be free, and it doesn't have to be in English. I don't care much for the exact structure of "The Sunday Classic" - what interested me was the juxtaposition of a specific recording on the one hand, and one or more persons talking about it on the other hand.
posted by WalkingAround to Media & Arts (4 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Classical Fix podcast might fit the bill.
posted by Clyde Sparrow at 10:22 AM on August 5, 2024 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Building a Library on BBC Radio 3 is essentially this format.
posted by rd45 at 10:33 AM on August 5, 2024 [5 favorites]


Best answer: I always enjoyed Robert Harris's take on music when he spoke to Michael Enright on CBC's Sunday Morning. It doesn’t look like he has a dedicated podcast, but there's lots to choose from. Heres a taste, and here's dessert. I just googled robert harris cbc Sunday morning. He takes on all kinds of music.
posted by kate4914 at 5:07 PM on August 5, 2024


Best answer: These are somewhat non-answers - because I, too, would like to find such a thing (so thanks for great answers above!) and these are not quite it but the closest I've come across:

* Dave Hurwitz's Ultimate Classical Music Guide. It's just one person (Dave) but he often does review, compare, and contrast different recordings of the same work. He is opinionated and funny, and always worth listening to. Due to copyright strikes etc etc etc you don't ever hear anything like a full recording of the works he discusses but searching at the usual places like Youtube Music I can generally find & listen to everything he talks about.

* Far less well known, and also somewhat more off the track of what you're asking, but someone whose videos & performances I've really grown to appreciate, is The Independent Pianist.

He very often compares and contrasts different recordings and performances of the same work with really inciteful analyses and comments about what makes them different, what different performers are trying to achieve, and why he likes one over the other. Just for example, his recent episode about "My No. 1 Favorite Horowitz Recording" was really great - and compares and contrasts others performing that same work to make the point. He also uploads his own performances from time to time - but usually with an extensive analysis and comparison of other performers & recordings of the same piece. So very much in the same vein.

Also of interest, he often does breakdowns of the recorded works of various artists, often a bit older or more obscure - recently, for example, Ignaz Friedman, Josef Hofmann, Cziffra, Kempff, etc.

Finally, his episode on "The Worst Piano Recording of All Time?" is absolutely hilarious.'

* Finally, the furthest from your actual question but somewhat in the same vein: Sticky Notes by conductor Joshua Weilerstein usually breaks down one classical work in detail from the perspective of a conductor.
posted by flug at 7:14 PM on August 5, 2024 [2 favorites]


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