Monthly Archive: March 2008
Slipstream (2008)
A brave, mind-tweaking experiment in storytelling on film
Bud Shank – Against the Tide – Portrait of a Jazz Legend
A fascinating 60 year musical journey with Bud Shank
Olivier Ker Ourio – Oversea – Dreyfus Jazz
He’s played the chromatic harmonica since he was a boy and boy, can he play it!
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor; Polonaise in A-flat Major; BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major; Rehearsal of Brahms – Artur Rubinstein, piano/ Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra/Witold Rowicki – Altara
The immediacy of Rubinstein’s playing in the opening Chopin Concerto is its utter spontaneity and poetic breadth.
Klezmic Zirkus – Vitamine – homerecords
Another highly original musical stew from the path-breaking Belgian record label – this one in a klezmer bag.
Marian McPartland – Twilight World – Concord Jazz
This is the 21st album by jazz legend pianist McPartland, and later this month she will be observing her 90th birthday.
BRAHM: Piano Concerto No. 1, Haydn Variations – Cedric Tiberghien /BC Symphony Orchestra/Jiri Belohlavek, conductor – Harmonia mundi
Sonically, this Red Book CD is first-class; the astonishingly good performances make this a compelling offering indeed.
Audio News for March 7, 2008
Disc Copyright Protection News; Blu-ray for Audio-Only Recordings?
BARTOK: 6 String Quartets – Belcea Quartet – Corina Belcea-Fisher, Laura Samuel, violins/ Krysztof Chorzelski, viola/Antone Lederlin, cello – EMI
First string quartet I’m aware of including two women, so it’s interesting to see how they stack up against the typically more male-dominated segment of the chamber music genre.
BEETHOVEN/HUMMEL: Piano Trios – Andreas Staier, pianoforte. Daniel Sepec, violin/Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello – Harmonia mundi
BEETHOVEN/HUMMEL: Piano Trios – Andreas Staier, pianoforte. Daniel Sepec, violin/Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello – Harmonia mundi 901955, 70 min. **** : This entertaining disc offers piano trios by Beethoven and Johann Nepomuk Hummel; according to the informative liner notes, the chamber music of both composers was quite favorably compared in their day, even though history has chosen to smile more prominently on Beethoven. The notes also relate an interesting anecdote regarding Beethoven’s arrival in Vienna; a concert was held at the residence of Prince Karl von Lichnowsky, the dedicatee of the three early Piano Trios Opus 1. The soiree was attended by just about everyone in Vienna’s musical firmament, and included Franz Joseph Haydn. The elder Hadyn offered Beethoven his approval of the young maestro’s work – yet also suggested that he not publish the third trio. Beethoven was incensed by Haydn’s criticism – the third trio was his favorite of the three – and immediately removed the Opus 1 designation that he’d previously given to another work. He then presented the three trios for publication, freshly endowed with the demarcation Opus 1; all indications suggest that this was simply to spite Hadyn! This excellent new disc from Harmonia mundi offers […]
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 8 – Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra /Karl Bohm – Audite
While this disc is obviously aimed at Karl Bohm completists, it still offers a really good performance in really good (for the era) sound.
Little Feat – Little Feat – Lowell George, guitar and vocals/ Bill Payne, keyboards and vocals/ Richie Hayward, drums/ Roy Estrada, bass – Mobile Fidelity
If you’re a huge fan of the band, this disc is absolutely essential listening.
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Symphony No. 5 in D Major (1943); Dona Nobis Pacem – Renee Flynn, soprano/Roy Henderson, baritone/ BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/ Ralph Vaughan Williams – Somm
A gratifying realization of his bucolic Fifth Symphony owes its existence to recording engineer Eric Spain transcribing the live broadcast to acetate long-playing records.
MARTINU: Complete Music for Violin and Orchestra, Vol. 2 – Bohuslav Matousek, violin/ Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/ Christopher Hogwood – Hyperion
Superb in every aspect from performance to recording quality; will really force the listener to re-evaluate Martinu’s place among composers
101 Dalmatians, 2-DVD Platinum Edition (1961/2008)
A beautifully-restored visual and auditory treat that doesn’t betray its 47-year-old nature in the least.
Charles Lloyd Quartet – Rabo de Nube – ECM
The versatile Lloyd sounds better than he ever has on his latest album!
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Major, K. 449; March in D, K. 335; Six German Dances, K. 571; Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 – Rudolf Serkin, piano/English Chamber Orchestra/ Alexander Schneider – BBC Legends
Along with often overly bold strokes in his sound projection, Serkin managed any number of rhythmic variations in his approach to rubato and agogic accents.
Nat “King” Cole – The Very Thought of You – with Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra – Capitol/EMI Collectors’ Choice
Nat’s second album with Gordon Jenkins and considered their most successful and artistic.
Rostropovich: Life & Art (2007)
While the performances are uniformly superb, the real heart of the package is the 29-minute documentary containing a wealth of classic archival footage.
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11; Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21 – Paul Badura-Skoda, piano/Vienna State Opera Orchestra/Artur Rodzinski – Music & Arts
The Viennese tradition in Badura-Skoda pays elegant stylistic homage to Chopin, though we could argue that the performances are more of Hummel than the Polish salon.
Mike Garson – Jazz Hat – Reference Recordings
Athough this performer wears many hats, this time around he’s clearly wearing his Jazz Hat.
MAHLER: Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” – Mimi Cortese, sop./Lucretia West, contralto/ Vienna State Academy Ch. Choir/Vienna State Opera Orchestra/ Hermann Scherchen (1958) – Westminster/HDTT
A 96K/24bit DVD reissue from a 1958 2-track prerecorded open reel tape – intense music-making and great sonics!
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
