Classical Music for Aficionados

Speaking of colors and composers here's a Swedish composer who was also active as a watercolor painter:

Hugo Alfven: Symphonies 1-5, Swedish Rhapsodies, Royal Stockholm Phil/Jarvi.

Have had this for a week or so and was not immediately impressed. Then, listened to the 2nd Symphony a second time, and was hooked. Worth investigating.

The 4th Symphony "from the outermost Skerries" uses two soloists singing only vowels. At times its brilliant and at other times, doesn't quite seem to work.

Lots of incidental music of interest; performances/fidelity range from good to very good.

twoleftears:

As regards diverting attention, I have a similar concern with bluray music performances. Have the Holst Planets by philharmonic orchestra/Salonen that is an over-the-top recording (signum vision). Huge number of mics and cameras and the sound is the best of any Holst I have heard.

There is, however, so much visual action/panning that the mind is pulled away from the musical content and I find myself preferring just CDs that simply provide the music.

Curiously, do not encounter this same divergence in live orchestral performances where the musical content and performers' actions seem to blend naturally. Perhaps in one, you decide where to turn your attention to and in the other, the engineer is doing so for you  and you must pay attention to this view.