Monthly Archive: August 2008
STEVEN MACKEY: “Speak Like the People, Write Like the King.” String works – Ars Moriendi; ‘Lude; Gaggle and Flock – Borromeo String Quartet/ Brentano String Quartet with violist Hsin-Yun Huang – Bridge
Mackey drives his own wagon through the musical landscape. So jump on for a wild ride.
BACH: Cantatas Vol. 25 – BWV 86, 87, 97, 44, 150 & 183 – Monteverdi Choir/ English Baroque Soloists/ John Eliot Gardiner – Soli Deo Gloria (2 CDs)
Gardiner’s Bach Cantata Pilgrimage continues to be a splendid journey.
JACQUELINE FONTYN: Orchestral Works – Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra/David Porcelijn – Cybele
Dignified and elegant music from one of Belgium’s most widely known and famous living composers.
Todd Sickafoose – Tiny Resistors – Cryptogramophone
Fascinatingly textured, layered chamber jazz/West Coast weirdness
ALEXANDER SCRIABIN: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 thru 10 – Vladimir Stoupel, piano – WDR/Audite
The maniacal composer began under Chopin’s influence but developed a whole new sound world.
Audio News for August 12, 2008
Opera House Venue for Met Opera-in-Hi-Def; All-In-One Extended Service Plan; Survey Shows Lukewarm Blu-ray Sales
Bill Monroe: Father of Bluegrass (1993/2008)
A documentary about the inventor of Bluegrass music, told in interviews and musical performances.
Ed Saindon & Dave Liebman – Depth of Emotion – World Improvised Music
Very pleasant and thoughtful jazz from two pros
Brand Upon the Brain! (2006)
Iris-in on the totally weird imagined childhood of eccentric Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin!
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 4 in E minor – Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra / William Steinberg – Everest VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Job, a masque for dancing; Overture to The Wasps – London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Adrian Boult – Everest
Two more of the new Everest reissue CDs from HarkIt.
SATIE: Orchestral Music – French National Radio and Television Orchestra/ Manuel Rosenthal – Everest RAVEL: Bolero, Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2, La Valse, Rapsodie Espagnol; Halle Orch./Sir John Barbirolli – Everest
Manuel Rosenthal, one of those conductors who worked well into old age, produces zinging and witty performances here.
GUSTAV MAHLER: Das Lied von der Erde, chamber orchestra version by Arnold Schoenberg, completed by Rainer Riehn – Smithsonian Chamber Players & Santa Fe Pro Musica/ Kenneth Slowik, conductor/ John Elwes, tenor/ Russell Braun, baritone – Dorian
The wonderful oboe and flute solos are beautifully played by the Smithsonian/ Santa Fe musicians.
Bernstein: In Rehearsal/Performance of Shostakovich First Symphony
You are in for a very illuminating and historical document of maybe the greatest conductor of the last century.
MESSIAEN: Quartet for the End of Time; Theme and Variations – Trio Wanderer/ Pascal Moragues, clarinet – Harmonia mundi
A brilliant performance that is stunning in its restrained musicality.
EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA: Manhattan Trilogy; Symphony #3 – Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/ Leif Segerstam, conductor – Ondine
The Third Symphony grows mysteriously, organically, like Bruckner, with a nobility of sound throughout the first movement.
Van Cliburn in Moscow Vol. 3
Cliburn showed that music could provide a cultural bridge between peoples that transcended Cold War politics.
Jose Serebrier, Live at Chester Cathedral (2007)
Guest-conductor Jose Serebrier appears in triple guise as composer, conductor, and student-acolyte of his own mentor, Leopold Stokowski.
SIEGMUND VON HAUSEGGER: Natursymphonie (Nature Symphony) – WDR Rundfunkchor Köln;/ WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln / Ari Rasilainen – CPO
Inspired by the mountainous landscape round Graz, this grand work opens with a description of Alpine solitude.
Trumpet Masque = Baroque music by COUPERIN, LULLY, PURCELL and others – Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, trumpet/ Daniel-Ben Pienaar, piano – Linn
Basically solid playing, but there are some issues
Coastal Dawns, Blu-ray (2008)
This is the first of a proposed series of meditational, relaxing, background-visuals Blu-rays.
Joan Jeanrenaud, cello & effects – Strange Toys – Talking House Records
A worthwhile part of the general effort many cellists have been making to expand the original narrow concept of their instrument.
BRAHMS: Hungarian Dances; JOACHIM: Variations in E minor – Hagai Shaham, violin/ Arnon Erez, piano – Hyperion
The Hungarian Dances are exciting and life-affirming to all who yield to their charms.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
