Monthly Archive: December 2005
BRAHMS: Music for Two Pianos = Variations on a Theme of Haydn, Op. 56b; Sonata in F Minor, Op. 34b = Emanuel Ax, piano/ Yefim Bronfman, piano – Sony
Piano duo of inexhaustible talents in two sonorous Brahms works
Aprés Vous (2005)
French comedy with several twists and lots of wine
VIVALDI: Gloria in D Major; BACH: Magnificat in D Major – Soloists/Boston Baroque/ Martin Pearlman – Telarc
Two shorter celebratory liturgical works appropriate to the season
BEETHOVEN: The 3 Razumovsky Quartets, Op. 59 – Tokyo String Quartet – Harmonia Mundi
A new Beethoven Quartet cycle launched due to new members of the Tokyo Quartet
Audio News for December 21, 2005
Concord Purchases Telarc; DTV Transition and Public Safety Act Passed; Recording Artists Fight DRM
SPOHR: Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in C Minor; Clarinet Concerto no. 2 in E-flat Major; Potpourri in F Major, Op. 80; Variations in B-flat Major – Michael Collins, clarinet/ Swedish Chamber Orchestra/ Robin O’Neill – Hyperion
Similar sound and sensibility to Carl Maria von Weber in these Spohr concertos
Recent Soundtrack CDs
King Kong, Narnia, War of the Worlds, A Very Long Engagement, Ladies in Lavender, Pride & Prejudice, A History of Violence, Crash, Hostage, Cinderella Man, Beauty and the Beast, Les Misérables, The Maltese Falcon and other Adolph Deutsch scores, Monty Python’s Spamalot
Grzegorz Krawiec, guitar “Journey-Podroz” = TARREGA: Variations on Paganini’s The Carnival of Venice; KLEYNJANS: A l’aube de dernier jour; D’ANGELO: Due Canzone Lidie; HENZE: Drei Tentos; MERTZ: Elegie; LASKOWSKI: Reminiscencje – MA Recordings
Spanish and Polish works show Krawiec’s guitar to have an extraordinary range of colors
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 2 in D; Symphony No. 7 in C – London Philharmonic Orchestra/Paavo Berglund – LPO
Powerful performance/recording, conducted by a longtime Sibelius specialist
BRAHMS: Piano Quintet in F Minor; SCHUBERT: Piano Quintet in A Major “The Trout” – Clifford Curzon, piano/ James Edward Merrett, double-bass/ Amadeus String Quartet – BBC Legends
Live concert from 1974 brings two gems to chamber music collectors
Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra – Not In Our Name – Verve
A patriotic musical protest to the current state of war, arr. & conducted by Carla Bley
Gerald Wilson Orchestra – In My Time – Mack Avenue Plus Gerald Wilson – Artist Selects – Pacific Jazz
87-year-old jazz master’s latest big band disc, plus a compendium of his best work in the 1960s
Earth2 – The Complete Series (1996, 2005)
All 21 episodes of the Sci-Fi Channel series about not-always-happy campers stuck on an alien planet
SCHUMANN: Cello Concerto in A Minor; LALO: Cello Concerto in D Minor; SAINT-SAENS: Cello Concerto in A Minor – Janos Starker, cello/London Symphony Orchestra/ Stanislaw Skrowaczewski & Antal Dorati cond. – Mercury
A trio of great cello concertos in superb performances and originally recorded 3-channel on 35mm film
British Modern Vol. 1 – The Louisville Orchestra on First Edition
Concertos and an orchestral work by BLISS, RUBBRA, ARNOLD & ADDISON
Isaac Stern on CBC-TV (1967)
An intimate and musically devout Sunday afternoon recital
Audio News for December 17, 2005
Higher-Res and Artist-Friendly Music Download Site; Coalition of Plasma Makers Formed; VCRs Facing Extinction
Re-Releases for Christmas: Some Top-Flight SACD Stuff by Max Dudious
These classic reissues are more than an effort to get us to buy the same recordings all over again
Cop Au Vin (Poulet Au Vinaigre, 1984)
Greed becomes the fuel for murder in this small town thriller by Claude Chabrol
BEETHOVEN: The Six String Quartets, Op. 18 – The Miro Quartet – Vanguard
The Miro plays with “fine-honed accuracy and easy grace of execution”
Fireworks! The Empire Brass = PURCELL: Rondeau and Air from Abdelazar; Incidental Music from The Fairy Queen; DOWLAND: Lachrimae Antique Novae; Lachrimae Tristes; HANDEL: Royal Fireworks Music Suite; Water Music Suite – EMI
Colorful transcriptions for the fun-loving brass quintet
Sam Cooke – The Best of Sam Cooke – The Hits – Sony/BMG Legacy 02876-6955002 6
Terrific remastering job but rather short on tune content