Audio News for October 29, 2013

by | Oct 29, 2013 | Audio News

Bob Dylan and Nirvana Special LPs for Record Store Day Nov. 29 – A month from today, as party of the vinyl-focused event “Back to Black Friday,” Bob Dylan, Nirvana and Lady Gaga are releasing exclusive new vinyl albums – part of 100 new releases – mostly reissuing some of their previously hard-to-find records on vinyl. Side Tracks will be a trove of Dylan esoterica, a limited-edition 3-LP set with tracks which will appear for the first time, plus soundtrack songs and other recordings that never made it onto a proper Dylan release. The out-of-print soundtrack to the 1970 Antonioni movie Zabriski Point will also be reissued on a two-LP set with music by Pink Floyd, John Fahey, Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead.

Classicalite’s Five Best Books on Music:
Tito Gobbi, My Life
Charles Osborne, Letters of Giuseppe Verdi
Stephen Sondheim, Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics
Humphrey Carpenter, Benjamin Britten: A Biography
Alex Ross, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century

Norwegian Brothers Invade America – Well, already we have this season’s ”Gangnam Style,” viral video and pop hit, only it’s not satirizing anything, just plain dumb. But like millions of others, you’ll probably like it. Here’s “What Does the Fox Say?”

Keith Jarrett’s First Classical Recording in 15 Years – We’ll shortly review Keith Jarrett’s double-CD set with violinist Michelle Makarski of Bach’s Six Sonatas for Violin and Piano—his first classical recording since his 1998 set of Mozart piano concertos. After he had recovered from chronic fatigue syndrome in the late 1990s, he felt he was done with classical recording, and focused on his Standards Trio (which is celebrating its 30th anniversary) and his improvised solo piano live concerts. He was recently named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. The new Bach recording developed out of some impromptu get-togethers at the pianist’s home, Makarski had previously played Jarrett’s compositions on the 1993 album Bridge of Light. Jarrett felt there was minimal rehearsal time with other musicians in classical recording and an overemphasis on technical perfection at the expense of emotion. This was remedied at the recording sessions. Next month ECM will release two more Jarrett jazz albums from its archives.

Changes in the Whole-House Audio Area – are mostly related to the growth of the wireless audio market, thanks to new products from Samsung, Lenbrook, Bose, NuVo Technologies, Russound, Voco and others. Sonos has been the benchmark audio firm in the wireless area and now have new less expensive offerings. Many consumers don’t want a dedicated home theater room or a whole-house AV system that requires a substantial infrastructure for the special wiring. More consumers are going for affordable and easy-to-use wireless systems.

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