Monthly Archive: December 2006
Jazz Shots From the West Coast Vol. 1
Nine videos of West Coast players
Grooving Classics – A Strings & Percussion Fest! – Music of HAYDN, MOZART, OFFENBACH,STRAUSS JR., DVORAK & TCHAIKOVSKY – Harold Farberman cond. – First Impression Music
Unique marriage of four strings and four percussion
HENRY BRANT: Music for Massed Flutes = Ghosts and Gargoyles; Mass in Gregorian Chant for Multiple Flutes; Angels and Devils (1931) – The New York Flute Club/ Robert Aitken, cond. – New World Records
Works for similar instruments by the world’s leading composer of acoustic spatial music
Audio News for December 20, 2006
TV Retailers Fighting the Bargain Outlets; Both HD Player Formats Hit the UK; Content Is Important for Sirius Satellite Radio Chairman
WAGNER: Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Love-Death; R. STRAUSS: Four Last Songs; Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24 – Christine Brewer, soprano/ Atlanta Symphony Orchestra/ Donald Runnicles – Telarc
Definitely for the Strauss lover who wants to hear every nuance
Leonard Bernstein, An American Life – Narrated by Susan Sarandon; produced by Steve Rowland; written by Larry Abrams (11 hour radio documentary on 11 CDs)
A penetrating audio survey of the life and career of one of our nation’s most important musical figures
LISZT: Dante Sonata; 3 Petrarch Sonnets; Mephisto Waltz No. 1; Impromptu (Nocturne) for Princess Gortschakoff; Valse-Impromptu; Song Transcriptions: Fruehlingsnacht; Widmung; Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 – Jon Nakamatsu, piano – Harmonia mundi
Bittersweet and devilishly fascinating Liszt, thoughtful and acrobatic all at once.
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Live in ’58
Another of the fine Jazz Icons Series
FALLA: The Three-Cornered Hat (complete ballet); Interlude and Dance from La Vida Breve – Suisse Romande Orchestra/Ernest Ansermet/Teresa Berganza, mezzo-soprano – Decca/First Impression Music
Best Performance and Best Recording of the work
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Major,. Op. 35; Serenade melancolique in B Minor, Op. 26; Valse-Scherzo, Op. 34; Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op. 42 – Julia Fischer, violin/ Russian National Orchestra/ Yakov Kreizberg, conductor and piano – PentaTone
May remind auditors of what Nathan Milstein could accomplish in this concerto, although he rarely had the engineering so good.
Pandora’s Box (1929, 2006)
May be both most important film of the black-helmeted screen vixen as well as the most important German silent film
Keeping Score – Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (2006)
One of four SF Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas videos on important concert works, combining documentary and live performance
Arrested Development – Season Three (2005) – Two Disc Set (2006)
One of the funniest shows on television. Period.
Moscow and the Golden Ring – A Musical Journey
One of a new series of musical travelogues
Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra – MTO Vol. 1 – Sunnyvale Communications
The project grew out of the arranger’s work on the Altman film Kansas City
BARTOK: String Quartet No. 5, Sz. 102; String Quartet No. 6, Sz. 114 – Parkanyi Quartet – Praga
Focused, immaculate playing by the Parkanyi Quartet in sterling sonics.
In the Fiddler’s House: A Journey Into the Heart of Klezmer (1995)
“If you think classical chamber has give-and-take, look at klezmer,” quips Perlman.
ARNELL: Symphony No. 3, Op. 40; The New Age Overture – Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Martin Yates – Dutton
A major discovery of spectacular symphony
Steven Mercurio – Many Voices – Sumi Jo, soprano/Andrea Bocelli, tenor/Gino Quilico, baritone/Marcello Giordani, tenor/Ana Maria Martinez, soprano/Rolando Villizón, tenor/The Prague Philharmonia/Steven Mercurio, conductor – Sony Classical
He composed, orchestrated and conducted all the selections on this disc.
Audio News for December 16, 2006
Blu-ray Marketing Campaign Underway; RIAA Seeks to Cut Performers’ Royalties; Home Audio Without Wires
Pablo Aslan – Buenos Aires Tango Standards – Zoho
A most successful blend of modern jazz and tango
DON GILLIS: Symphony No. 1: An American Symphony; Symphony No. 2: A Symphony of Faith; Symphony No. 5 1/2: A Symphony for Fun – Sinfonia Varsovia/ Ian Hobson – Albany
Lifelong goal of the composer who died in 1978 was “to reach the people”
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
