Monthly Archive: November 2007
BEETHOVEN: Complete Piano Sonatas, Volume 3 – Paul Lewis, piano – Harmonia mundi
Paul Lewis’ collection compares remarkably well to both of my reference sets in terms of his choices of phrasing and tempi.
J.S. BACH: Cello Suites – Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello – Harmonia mundi
It represents reference quality in every aspect, from performance, to recorded sound and even in its really superior packaging.
“Gut, Wind and Wire” – Instruments of the Baltimore Consort – Dorian
The actual instruments are replicas of those used from 1500 to about 1700 to play instrumental music.
GRIFFES: Piano Sonata; Fantasy Pieces Op. 6; Three Tone Pictures: Nos 1 & 3; The White Peacock; SCRIABIN: Sonata No. 6; Etudes Op. 8 (selections); Fantasy in B minor – Stephen Beus, piano (supported by the American Pianists Association) Harmonia mundi
These two off-the-beaten-track composers were almost contemporaneous and had many similarities.
Daniel Barry – Walk All Ways – OA2Records
The writing is fresh and imaginative, and has a hip, tongue-in-cheek sort of style that sets it apart from most of the similar efforts of the “third stream” period.
PAUL SCHOENFIELD: Four Parables for piano and orchestra; Four Souvenirs for violin and piano; Cafe Music for piano trio – Andrew Russo, piano/Prague Philharmonia/Joann Falletta/ James Ehnes, violin/ Edward Arron, cello – Black Box
His Four Parables are regarded by fans as “a sort of Gershwin Concerto in F for the new millennium.”
VIVALDI: Cello Concertos RV 400, 401, 405, 407, 408, 411, 415, 417, 419, 420 421, 523, 544 & 561 – Roel Dieltiens, dir. & solo cello/ Ensemble Explorations – Harmonia mundi
Vivaldi developed his concertos beyond the strictures of Corelli’s concerti grossi.
Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette – My Foolish Heart (Live at Montreux) – ECM
Displays the unequaled improvisational capabilities of what has come to be regarded as the leading piano trio in modern jazz today.
HINDEMITH: Kammermusik 1-7; Der Schwanendreher – Soloists/Berlin Philharmonic/Claudio Abbado; Tabea Zimmermann, viola/Bavarian Radio Sym. Orch./David Shallon (Schwanendreher) – EMI Classics
The neo-classic Baroque influence has caused some to consider the Kammermusiks a modern equivalent of The Brandenburg Concertos
Howard Wiley – The Angola Project – H.N.I.C. Music
Inspired by the historic field recordings made in the 1950s by Alan Lomax and Harry Oster
Audio News for November 6, 2007
Higher Frequency Wireless Speaker Technology; Home Theater Scalers Create 1080p Output From Different Sources; Custom, Ultra-high-end Digital Music System; Warner Bros. May Go Blu-ray Exclusively; Naxos to Distribute Chandos Catalog
Kitaro – Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai, Vol. 3 – Domo Music Group
The music creates a rich and resonant flow around soaring semi-electronic melodic lines
FALLA: Piano Music, Vol. I = Nocturno; Serenata; Serenata andaluza; Allegro de concierto; Homenaje a Claude Debussy; Sobre la tumba de Paul Dukas; Cuatro piezas espanaolas; Suite de El amor brujo – Daniel Ligorio, piano – Naxos
A vigorous, flowing style, marked by trills, arpgeggios, and a flamboyant lyricism, mark these youthful works.
Carla Bley – The Lost Chords Find Paolo Fresu – Watt
Today some critics compare her writing to Ellington and Mingus.
McCoy Tyner, piano – Afro Blue – Telarc Jazz
A most listenable sampling of the work of one of the best jazz pianists around.
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68; VIEUXTEMPS: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Minor, Op. 37 – Lola Bobesco, violin/ Cologne Radio-Symphony Orchestra/ Karl Boehm – Audite
Boehm was a literalist who often achieved strong yet diaphanous textures in the scores he admired
The Bassface Swing Trios Plays Gershwin – Stockfisch Stereo SACD + Direct-to-Disc
May be a first to compare the three different formats sonically
LARRY GOLDINGS – Quartet – Larry Goldings, et al. – Palmetto Records
The group is playing in the spirit of the great Miles Davis group of the sixties
“Fantaisie Triomphale” – French Symphony Organ Works with Orchestra – Ian Tracey, organ/BBC Philharmonic/Gamba – Chandos
Some French composers saw the possibilities of combining their new concert grand organs with the symphony orchestra for an even bigger and more impressive panoply of sound.
Audio News for November 2, 2007
FCC Forced to Reverse Support of Conglomerates Controlling U.S. Communications; Consumer Education Campaign on DTV; Boston Pops Launches Net TV Program
Spider-Man 3, Blu-ray (2007)
It’s long, it’s action-packed, and you get your money’s worth.
BACH: Concerto in F Major, BWV 971 “Italian” .; Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, BWV 825; Partita No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 826; Concerto in D Minor after Alessandro Marcello; Chromatic Fantasy in D Minor – Glenn Gould, piano – Sony Classical
The young Gould always played as he and Bach were in league within a temenos or sacred space into which we had intruded.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
