In a way, what “BOYFRIEND” is to IGOR is similar to what “Saint Pablo” is to The Life Of Pablo, in that they’re both songs that fit into the narratives of their respective albums yet were added months after the albums’ initial releases (“Saint Pablo” was added to TLOP 4 months after its first edit dropped). However, there’s a major difference between the two. “Saint Pablo” brings the stunning TLOP narrative full circle, as well as creating a loop out of Kanye’s career up until that point. (“We Don’t Care,” the first song from Ye’s 2004 debut LP The College Dropout, features the line “we weren’t supposed to make it past 25, joke’s on you, we still alive” while “Saint Pablo,” The Life Of Pablo’s closer, has the line “I wasn’t supposed to make it past 25.”) That loop is what makes The Life Of Pablo such a great album (I hold it in equally high regard as I do IGOR; both are in my top 4 albums of all time) with such an emotionally moving narrative. The addition of “BOYFRIEND” to IGOR doesn’t create an earth-shattering change in the album (albeit still a significant one) and doesn’t drastically improve or ruin it either. In some ways, it’s just there. No such reservations apply to the famous sequence of Beethoven overtures housed in CD 4. This has always been an admired disc which was recorded with the Lamoureux in stereo in 1958. Together Markevitch and the orchestra generate magnificent – but unsaturated - sonority and dramatic intensity. Little telling rubati in Egmont, accelerandos in Fidelio and a sensationally fine Consecration of the House are just a few things to listen out for.

Igor Levit - The Guardian On DSCH: Shostakovich and Stevenson/Igor Levit - The Guardian

Recording Location: Salle de la Mutualité, Paris, France, 11–17 January 1961 (Berlioz), 17–18 (Cherubini, Auber) January 1961 Recording Locations: Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin, Germany 26–28 February 1954 (Schubert), 19, 20 December 1954 (Cimarosa); Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, France, 29, 30 October 1957 (Haydn); Polydor-Studio, Paris, France, 4–5 December 1958 (Mozart)Thematically, IGOR’s arc describes a love story: falling madly in love but eventually breaking it off and accepting that the relationship is over while attempting to remain friends. Discs 7 and 8 are given over to Brahms. The First Symphony was recorded in mono at the same sessions that gave us the Eroica. Its inexorable opening tread is sufficiently varied metrically to generate an accumulation of tension, the symphony being seen as an absorbing arc. Both Rodziński and Bruno Walter had made earlier studio recordings of the work in New York by this time and Markevitch’s authority is such that his reading is hardly less compelling. The Fourth Symphony is a Lamoureux recording in stereo though with a greater spread of sonics comes a slight blunting of impact. On this same disc is Harold in Italy with Heinz Kirchner and the Berlin Philharmonic with a cut in the finale

Months After Its Release Tyler, the Creator Changes IGOR Months After Its Release Tyler, the Creator Changes IGOR

All-French repertoire can be found on disc 12. Gounod’s Second Symphony, propulsive and buoyantly played, has its complement of expressive nobility and whilst Bizet’s Jeux d’enfants is full of verve, Martinon is possibly even finer with his Paris Conservatoire recording. La Mer is vivid and colourful and Suzanne Cotelle is the harp soloist in the Danse sacrée et Danse profane. All these are with the Lamoureux but only the two Debussy pieces – La Mer thankfully included – are in stereo. Given the country of his birth – though he left at the age of two and always considered himself to be a French artist – Russian music was always a core component of his repertoire. Rimsky’s music features quite heavily in CD 13 with pride of place going to the Le Coq d’or suite arranged by Glazunov and Maximilian Steinberg and to the Russian Easter Festival overture. Sterner fare, and one of the symphonic high points of his recording career, comes in the following disc with the Pathétique symphony, here with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1953. His Tchaikovsky symphonic cycle, in stereo with the LSO, is contained in the Eloquence Philips box and the sixth there is probably better known for that reason.Discs 19 and 20 focus on the earlier version of the Mozart Coronation Mass and his mono 1955 recording of Haydn’s The Creation. The cast list sees doubling; Irmgard Seefried is Gabriel and Eve, whilst Kim Borg takes Adam and Raphael. The tenor is Richard Holm and the forces those of the Berlin Philharmonic and the choir of St. Hedwigs Cathedral. Seefried is in radiant voice and the standout singer and Markevitch paces the work pretty much perfectly. The only thing that may strike one adversely in the slightly boxed-in sound of the chorus, at least as recorded. The album was voted the Genius community’s Best Album of 2019, surpassing Ariana Grande’s thank u, next and Billie Eilish’s WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?. The album received a GRAMMY Award for “Best Rap Album” at the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards. This choice stirred up some controversy, as some believed that the album should not be considered a rap album and the nomination was racially motivated. Tyler himself stated his frustrations during a Radio Room Interview after the GRAMMYs: There are three Mozart symphonies in the second disc all in mono. Numbers 34 and 38 are with the Berlin Philharmonic, then still – just about, he died later in the year – Furtwängler’s orchestra. The Haffner was recorded three years later in Paris with the orchestra he directed for several years until it had had enough of him, the Lamoureux. No 34 sports a plushly affectionate slow movement and Markevitch interpolates the Minuet from K409, probably on the precedent of the suggestion in the third revision of the Köchel catalogue that it was intended for the work, for which there seems no tangible evidence. The Prague is warmly accomplished too but there’s a rather greater sense of sonic and interpretative personalisation in the Paris Haffner. Sonorities are tauter and brighter in Paris, the string sound less opulent and the brass tight and gleaming, all of which gives a sense of aeration of texture. His Lamoureux recordings were inevitably lithe and exciting.

Tyler, The Creator - IGOR Lyrics and Tracklist | Genius

Given his reportorial versatility this particular box is of special interest – not, of course, that the others aren’t. But as his Cherubini was as good as his Mozart and his Mozart as astutely directed as his Beethoven and his command of somewhat overlooked French repertoire, such as Gounod’s Second Symphony, as secure as his Damnation of Faust, you can sense that the pleasures enshrined in this box are – to be simplistic – two-fold: frequently inspired interpretations across a variety of repertoire, both well-known and obscure. BEFORE WE GET FURTHER INTO THIS, I'D LIKE YOU GUYS TO KNOW THAT ME WRITING IN ALL CAPS DOESN'T MEAN I'M PISSED OFF. I'M NOT YELLING AT YOU, OK?Recording Locations: Salle Pleyel, Paris, France, 12 November 1957 (Russian Easter Festival Overture), 8–10 (Le Coq d’or), 11 (May Night) June 1958; Salle de la Mutualité, Paris, France, 15 December 1959 (Borodin, Glinka), 23 May 1960 (Lyadov)