Monthly Archive: July 2007
Art Farmer – To Duke With Love – Test of Time Records
The rich and warm sound of Farmer’s Flugelhorn is distinctive and oh-so-classy.
ISAAC ALBENIZ: Suite Iberia – Arranged and played by The Brazilian Guitar Quartet – Delos
World premiere recording of the complete piano cycle transferred to four guitars
Budapest Klezmer Band – Yiddishe Blues
A different sort of crossover – Eastern European/Hungarian/gypsy music mixed with Yiddish klezmer
SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 38, “Spring”; Manfred Overture, Op. 115 – Boston Symphony Orchestra/ Charles Munch – HDTT DVD-R & CD-R
This recording is probably the best “Spring” on the market, and in 96K sonics it has never sounded so good.
The Patriot: Extended Cut, Blu-ray (2000)
Revolutionary War history – dramatic and bloody
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21; RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30 – Witold Malcuzynski, piano/ Philharmonia Orchestra/ Paul Kletzki – Guild
1949-vintage recordings by a world-class Polish pianist
Audio News for July 11, 2007
Universal To Provide Music to iTunes on “At Will” Basis; XM Radio Shows Two New Receivers; Bluetooth Home Audio Systems From Philips
BARTOK: String Quartet No. 1, Sz. 40; String Quartet No. 2, Sz. 67 – Parkanyi String Quartet – Praga
In surround sound, the individual timbres of cello and first violin, alone and blended with fellow players, allow Bartok’s expressive harmony a decided expansiveness.
The Messengers, Blu-ray (2007)
A different take on the usual haunted house story, due to twin Chinese directors
3 Lip-Sync Error Delay Units
Due to the extensive processing requirements of HDTV, images are increasingly lagging behind sound varying amounts. You need one of these dynamic delay boxes to delay your audio to match up.
RESPIGHI: La Sensitiva; La Pentola Magica; Aretusa – Damiana Pinti, mezzo soprano/ Orchestra Sinfonica del Teatro Massimo di Palermo/ Marzio Conti, conductor – CPO
Unusual and attractive fare from a composer of spectaculars
Instant Karma: The Songs of John Lennon – Save Darfur project – Warner Bros (2 CDs)
Purchasing uneven Lennon tribute: an exercise in good karma
The Godowsky Edition, Volume 5: Romantic Transcriptions and Arrangements – Carlo Grante, piano – Music & Arts
Grante wants us to know that polyphony is his forte, the sheer joy, a la Busoni and Liszt, of multiple lines of music
Seven Years in Tibet, Blu-ray (1997)
Seven Years in Tibet, Blu-ray (1997) Starring: Brad Pitt, David Thewlis Studio: Sony Pictures TriStar 18696 Video: 2.40:1 enhanced for 16:9 widescreen, color, 1080p HD Audio: English Uncompressed 5.1 PCM, Dolby Digital 5.1, French DD 5.1 Subtitles: English EDH, English, French, Spanish, Thai, Portuguese Length: 136 minutes Rating: ***** A magnificent, epic film that reminded me of the sweep of Ghandi – though 7 Years is not really about the Dalai Lama but about Austrian mountain climber Heinrich Harrer. The screenplay was based on his book about being imprisoned in India by British soldiers at the outbreak of WWII, escaping after many attempts, and meeting the new Dalai Lama. Pitt was criticized at the film’s release for his poor Austrian accent, but in general he does a terrific job portraying his gradual conversion from a self-centered-ass Nazi mountain climber who has run out on his wife because he can’t handle her pregnancy, to a fine and loving human being. It is all due to his evolving close relationship with the winsome young Dalai Lama – who was acted by three different Tibetan youngsters: aged 4, 8 and 14 – and the power of the Tibetan Buddhist way of life. (That […]
It’s All True (Documentary: 1993, Original Footage: 1942)
A documentary about and a restoration of a lost masterpiece from Orson Welles’ early years.
KLAUS EGGE: Piano Concerto No. 2; Piano Sonata No. 1 (The Dream Ballad); Halling Fantasy; Short Piano Pieces by GRIEG, BERGH, HURUM & TVEITT – Havard Gimse, piano/(in Concerto:) Trondheim Soloists/Øyvind Gimse – Naxos
The response of Norwegian piano music to the fertile folk music culture of Norway.
Bud Shank, alto sax & Bill Mays, piano – Beyond the Red Door – Jazzed Media
All are played with the greatest creativity, virtuosity, good humor and unexpected turns of phrase and rhythm.
MENDELSSOHN: 17 Songs Without Words; BRAHMS: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5 – Walter Gieseking, piano – Urania
The artistry of pianist Walter Gieseking shows his exquisite touch and limitless palette, a refined sonority abetted by pedaled nuances.
Nigel Kennedy – Blue Note Sessions – Blue Note/EMI
Who knew that the iconoclastic classical violin superstar is equally at home swinging like mad in the midst of an all-star jazz band?
WAGNER: Tannhauser: Overture and Venusberg Music; Tristan und Isolde: Prelude to Act III; Das Rheingold: Entrance of the God into Valhalla – Symphony of the Air and Chorus/Leopold Stokowski – HDTT
Stokowski’s scale is huge, on a par with that of Karajan but without sacrificing the warmth and passion of the moment.
Youra Guller plays CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2, solo pieces, bonus interview – Tahra
Nikita Magaloff quipped Guller embodied at once the best and worst of Horowitz
DVORAK: Hussite Overture, Op. 67; BRAHMS: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 – Henryk Szeryng, violin/ Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/ Rafael Kubelik – Orfeo D’Or
This concert of 11 June 1967 from the Vienna Konzerthaus features two intensely committed musicians
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
