Monthly Archive: October 2008
Amy Stephens Group – My Many Moods – OA2
Pleasant music straddling the line between “smooth” and “real” jazz.
Mostly Other People Do the Killing – This Is Our Moosic – Hot Cup Records
Postmodern jazz of a very high order.
Pierre Fournier, cello = ELGAR: Cello Concerto in E Minor; DVORAK: Cello Concerto in B Minor; BEETHOVEN: 12 Var. on Mozart’s “Ein Maedchen oder Weibchen,” – Cologne Radio-Symphony Orch./Hans Rosbaud (Elgar)/ George Szell/Fr. Holetschek, p. – MediciArts
A meeting of kindred spirits in each of the musical encounters on this disc.
Dave Holland Sextet – Pass It on – Dare2 Records/Emarcy/Decca Music Group
Dave Holland not completely at the top of his game is still better than 95% of other jazz.
Portland Cello Project – www.portlandcelloproject.com
Probably appealing most to fans of indie and avant-garde music, this is certainly an unconventional album.
Jeff Coffin Mu’tet – Mutopia – Compass Records
A band in search of a sound.
Arturo Stable – Notes on Canvas – Origen Records
A brilliant follow-up to his initial release as leader, 3rd Step.
“Air” – Music of DEBUSSY: Sacred and Profane Dances; Syrinx; Sonata; TAKEMITSU: And Then I Knew ‘Twas Wind; Toward the Sea II; Air for Flute – Yolanda Kondonassis, harp/Joshua Smith, flute/Phelps, viola/Oberlin 21/Bridget-Michaele Reischl – Telarc
Each had their own distinctive musical language, but they were both fascinated by aspects of the sea, wind, and air.
Will Bernard – Blue Plate Special – Palmetto
Tour de Funk – combining Right, Left, and Bottom Coasts.
HANDEL: Concerti grossi Op. 6; Concerti grossi Op. 3; Organ Concertos Op. 4 – The Academy of Ancient Music/Andrew Manze & Richard Egarr, directors (Egarr, organ in Op. 4) – Harmonia mundi 4 CD box set
Harmonia mundi has assembled five outstanding mid-priced boxed sets consisting of from four to nine CDs of Handel classics from their catalog.
KABALEVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 3, “Youth;” Rhapsody for piano and orchestra on the song “School Years”; Poem of Struggle; RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Piano Concerto in C sharp minor – Hsin-Ni Liu, p./Russian Philharmonic Orch./Dmitry Yablonsky – Naxos
Much of his music is fairly straightforward and tonal, with an optimistic tone, and frequent use of march-like rhythms.
Rebecca Kilgore and Dave Frishberg – Why Fight the Feeling? The Songs of Frank Loesser – Arbors Jazz
Dave says of Rebecca: “She’s the easiest to play for of any singer I’ve ever worked with.”
Bill Evans Trio – Sunday at the Village Vanguard – Keepnews Collection Thelonious Monk, solo piano – Thelonious Himself – Keepnews Collection
These two are the only physical CDs in the sixth installment of the Keepnews Collection reissue series from Concord.
Eileen Farrell = WAGNER: Wesendonck Lieder; Siegfried: Act III, Scene 3 – Eileen Farrell, soprano/Set Svanholm, tenor/Symphony Orchestra/Leopold Stokowski/Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra/Erich Leinsdorf (Siegfried) – Testament
Farrell does not lack for sustaining power nor the ability to subito into a suave sotto voce.
CONSTANT LAMBERT: Rio Grande (complete) – Hamilton Harty, piano / St. Michael’s Singers (A. W. Whitehead, contralto soloist) / The Hallé Orchestra cond. by Constant Lambert – Pristine Audio
There is depth to the sound, the piano sounds well, and there is only the slightest of surface noise to remind one of the age of this recording: 1930!
Audio News for October 10, 2008
Amazon Cuts Blu-ray Movie Pricing; First Impression Music Ultimate Disc; Denon Debuts High-End SACD Player; Sony Desktop for Movie Buffs
CLIFFORD BENSON: Piano Works – Michael Dussek / John Reid – Landor Records
Composing had been one of his interests from a young age, and his upcoming 60th birthday was a good reason to put these on a recording.
NINA SIMONE – To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story – Sony Legacy (4 disc set incl. 1 DVD)
Uses tracks from albums she made for Bethlehem, Colpix, Philips, RCA, CTI and Elektra – 51 audio tracks in total.
SIR MICHAEL TIPPETT: A Child of our Time – Indra Thomas, soprano/ Mihoko Fujimura, alto/ Steve Davislim, tenor/ Matthew Rose, bass/ London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/ Colin Davis, conductor – LSO Live
An opportunity wasted from a sound perspective, despite the good performance.
ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD: The Piano Music – Martin Jones, piano, with Richard McMahon on two 4-Hand works – Nimbus (4 CDs)
I would highly recommend this set for an introduction to a fascinating area of piano literature not often explored today and more than worth it.
Frank Sinatra – Nice ‘n Easy – with Nelson Riddle Orch. – Capitol/Mobile Fidelity
The tunes are mostly in the romantic ballad bag, which he could do better than almost anyone.
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 7 in E Major; WAGNER: Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg – Bavarian Radio-Symphony Orchestra/RAI Turin Radio-Symphony (Wagner)/Otto Klemperer – MediciArts
This version of the Nowak edition (from the 1885 Bruckner original) moves with deliberate grace as well as noble monumentality.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
