Monthly Archive: January 2007
Audio News for January 31, 2007
Focus on Digital Rights Management
Music for Compline = Works of TALLIS, BYRD, SHEPPARD, WHITE, ASTON – Stile Antico – Harmonia mundi USA
Music meant for SACD surround like no other
PHILIP GLASS: The Light; Heroes Symphony – Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/ Marin Alsop – Naxos“GLASS Reflections” – Symphony for Eight; Company; Mishima; Facades; 5 Selections from “The Secret Agent – Cello Octet Ibérico/Arizcuren – Orange Mt. Music
Glass x 2: Symphonic Glass + Cello Ensemble Glass
JEAN FRANCAIX: L’Horloge de Flore (Flower Clock) & other works – Lajos Lencses, oboe & ens. – CPO JACQUES IBERT: “Jacques Around the Clock” – Sue Ann Kahn, flute & ens. – Albany
Works having to do with clocks and featuring two witty French composers of delightful chamber music
ROSSINI: “Album de Château” Complete works for piano Vol. 7 – Paolo Giacometti, piano – Channel Classics
Parlor-piano selections with humor in both the titles and music
PUCCINI: Tosca (complete opera) – Monserrat Caballe, Jose Carreras, Ingvar Wixell, Samuel Ramey/ Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus, Covent Garden/ Sir Colin Davis – PentaTone Classics
A wonderful opera reissue in an eight-to-four channel mix for the first time
Cookin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet – Prestige
One of the five RVG Remasters to be released Feb. 6
BRAHMS: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51, No. 2; String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111 – Vladimir Bukac, viola/ Prazak Quartet – Praga Digitals
Vibrant, vivid realizations of two Brahms chamber music staples, in explosive surround sound
VocalEssence with Garrison Keillor – Hymn to Potatoes and Other Masterworks from “A Prairie Home Companion” – Garrison Keillor, narrator/VocalEssence Ensemble Singers/Philip Brunelle, conductor/ Charles Kemper, piano/Richard Dvorsky – VocalEssence Records
Garrison Keillor’s warm homespun humor is paired with masterful choral singing by VocalEssence.
AGRICOLA: Chansons; FITCH: Agricologies — Michael Chance, countertenor/ Fretwork – Harmonia mundi
One album of Agricola’s music should grace every serious collection
Carlos Santana presents Blues at Montreux 2004
Buddy Guy, Clarence “Gatormouth” Brown and Bobby Parker play on three-DVD set
Vinyl Audiophile Reissues Feature
20 Recent 180-gram platters from Classic Records, Mobile Fidelity, Cisco Music, Acoustic Sounds, Sundazed, Speakers Corner, Pure Pleasure Records, Tacet
Lang Lang, piano – Dragon Songs – The Yellow River Piano Concerto; 7 Chinese piano pieces; 3 Duos with folk instruments – plus interview/introductions to the short pieces on DVD, plus a Documentary on Lang Lang’s China tour – DGG CD + DVD
This packed-to-overflowing alternative to the DualDisc format shows the right way to go about providing both an audio and a video program.
Audio News for January 27, 2007
Warner Bros. Claims a Solution to the HD Format War; Samsung Introduces 1.8-inch 60GB Hard Drive; German High End Audio Firm Steps Into Multichannel
Andy Narell – Tatoom – Music for Steel Orchestra – Heads Up
He merges his unique jazz writing with a big steel band which is basically himself overdubbed many times.
ROSSINI: Semiramide Overture; MAHLER: Symphony No. 6 “Tragic”; NIELSEN: Symphony No. 5; Jascha Horenstein with Deryck Cooke – BBC Symphony Orchestra (Rossini)/ Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Mahler)/ New Philharmonia/Horenstein – BBC Legends
The orchestra renders huge, sweeping arches of sound, alternately militant and yearning, with bits of irony liberally peppered throughout.
“Espana” = RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Capriccio Espagnol; GRANADOS: Andaluza, Danza Espanola No. 5; CHABRIER: Espana; MOSZKOWSKI: Spanish Dances, Book 1 – London Symphony Orchestra/ Ataulfo Argenta – Decca/First Impression Music
Another great Decca analog recording licensed by F.I.M. for their classy reissue series on xrcd, which requires no special player or decoding.
The Cries of London – Theatre of Voices & Fretwork /Paul Hillier – Harmonia mundi
Theatre of Voices sings the “Cries” with rich characterization, in contrast to the well-articulated playing of the viol consort
GRAUN: Te Deum; Three motets – Monika Mauch, soprano/ Elisabeth von Magnus, mezzo-soprano/ Bernhard Gartner, tenor/ Klaus Mertens, bass/ L’arpa festante/ Basler Madrigalisten/ Fritz Naf, conductor – CPO
A lovely work of subtle spiritual countenance in calmly enveloping sound
HANDEL Arias – Angelika Kirchschlager, soprano/ Kammerorchester Basel/ Laurence Cummings – Sony Classical
They have gone all-out in this production for Sony’s resident Babe-soprano
Yojimbo / Sanjuro (1961 & 62)
Magnificent restorations of the two samurai films of Akira Kurosawa
“The Big Picture” – Selections from Hollywood’s recent action blockbusters with sound effects – Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra – Telarc
Reissue of a 1997 DTS-only surround CD, this time with SACD surround and stereo CD options
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
