Monthly Archive: August 2005
CÉSAR FRANCK: Symphony in D Minor; STRAVINSKY: Pétrouchka – Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Franck); Boston Symphony Orchestra (Stravinsky) Pierre Monteux cond. – RCA Living Stereo multichannel SACD
Classic performances taped in l959 and 1961, from the original 3-track tapes RCA used to allow for more flexibility in mixing to mono and 2-track
Bobby McFerrin – Try This at Home (2001)
Amazing DIY music-making elicited from and with his audience by the versatile singer/conductor/improvisorr
DVORAK: Four Tone Poems=The Golden Spinning Wheel; The Wood Dove; The Midday Witch; The Water Goblin – Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle – EMI Classics
Rattle has a large conception of these imaginative works, which are delivered with sonic splendor
PROKOFIEV: Lieutenant Kijé Suite; STRAVINSKY: Song of the Nightingale – Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Fritz Reiner – RCA Living Stereo/JVC xrcd
Reiner and his dynamic Chicagoans give these two 20th century works their all in superb golden age sonics
BEETHOVEN: Fifth Symphony; SCHUBERT: “Unfinished” Symphony – Boston Symphony Orchestra/Charles Munch – RCA Living Stereo/JVC xrcd
Two super classics from early in the golden age of Living Stereo recordings
MAHLER: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection” – Kathleen Battle, soprano/Maureen Forrester, contralto/ Saint Louis Symphony Chorus and Orchestra/ Leonard Slatkin – Telarc
For the first time we now hear all the hi-res information in the 50K Soundstream masters Telarc made 22 years ago
BARTOK: The Three Piano Concertos – Krystian Zimerman, piano (No. 1)/Chicago Symphony;Leif Ove Andsnes, piano (No. 2)/Berlin Philharmonic; Helene Grimaud, piano (No. 3)/London Symphony Orchestra/ Pierre Boulez, conductor – DGG
Three different pianists and orchestras perform the three concertos
The Composer’s Voice/ New Music From Bowling Green, Volume III – Bowling Green Philharmonia / Emily Freeman Brown, conductor – Albany Records
Accessible new works by such as John Williams and Jennifer Higdon, plus a song cycle with Dorothy Parker lyrics
Romantic Music for the Cello = MENDELSSOHN: Songs w/o Words; DVORAK: Rondo; FAURE: Elegy; Sicilienne; CHOPIN: Introduction and Polonaise Brillante; SCHUMANN: 3 Fantasy Pieces; ST.-SAENS: The Swan; POPPER: Hung. Rhapsody – Shapira & Shapira, cello/piano
Mother/son duo in collection of cello hits
“Stokowski Rhapsodies” – LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2; ENESCO: Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A; SMETANA: The Moldau; The Bartered Bride: Overture [also on SACD: WAGNER selections] – Leopold Stokowski cond. – JVC xrcd & RCA/BMG 3-channel SACD
Comparison of xrcd and SACD versions of the early 1960s Stokowski favorites on RCA’s Living Stereo
Howard Tate – The Truly Legendary Verve Sessions – Hip-O Select/Verve Limited Edition
Reissue of tracks featuring one of the most important voices in the history of soul music
Audio News for August 15, 2005
Demise of CRT TVs Greatly Exaggerated; New Classical Label Adapts to the Market; Other Classical Label News
MAHLER: Symphony No. 6 in A Minor – Berlin Philharmonic/Claudio Abbado – DGG Multichannel SACD
Abbado returns to the Berlin Phil which he left four years ago to record live his five Mahler Symphony with them
MENDELSSOHN: Symphonies Nos. 4 in A “Italian;” 5 in D Minor “Reformation” – Boston Symphony Orchestra/Charles Munch – RCA Living Stereo/JVC xrcd
Highly detailed sound from these tapes made in Symphony Hall in the late 1950s
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 6 in A Major; Te Deum – Heather Harper, soprano Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano/ Richard Lewis, tenor/ Marian Nowakowski, bass/ BBC Chorus and Orchestra/Otto Klemperer – Testament
1961 stereo discings add to the Klemperer legacy
BACH: Psalm 51 (After Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater); Cantata 82 “Ich habe genug” – Karina Gauvin, soprano/Daniel Taylor, countertenor/Les Violons du Roy/Bernard Labadie – ATMA Multichannel SACD
Spirited readings of two of Bach’s spiritual works, in surround
MAHLER: Symphony No. 4 in G Major – Lisa Della Casa, soprano/Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Fritz Reiner – RCA Living Stereo multichannel (3 channels) SACD
Though not a Mahler specialist, Reiner brings us an acoustical marvel of an interpretation
Dynavector SuperStereo Adapter SS ADP-3
Designed to easily transform any two-channel system into an immersive surround experience from any stereo and even mono sources
Oskar Fried, A Forgotten Conductor = WEBER: Oberon Overture; HUMPERDINCK: Fantasy on Motives from Hansel und Gretel; WAGNER: Eine Faust-Overture; R. STRAUSS: Eine Alpensinfonie – Berlin State Opera Orchestra/Oskar Fried – Music&Arts
Acoustic recordings by an important German conductor of the 20s and 30s
Star Trek: Enterprise– The Complete Second Season (2002-2003)
Scott Bakula bounces his crew around the universe a hundred years before the original Star Trek series
Leonard Bernstein’s Candide (complete operetta)
A highly-dramatised concert performance with superb acting and singing plus backing by the NY Philharmonic
BEETHOVEN: String Quartets, Vol. 1 of 4 – Op. 18, Nos. 1 – 6 – Auryn Quartet – Tacet DVD-A
312 minutes on one disc! Two versions of all six quartets, including one with the players moving around…
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
