Monthly Archive: February 2009
British Light Music Pianist BILLY MAYERL
Mayerl was rightly famous for his “nimble fingers” and he had some success in London’s West End contributing songs for revues and with several musicals.
Audio News for February 17, 2009
AIX Records to Release Blu-ray Series; Cable Services Threatened by Netflix Broadband Model; Thiel Introduces Self-powered IP-addressable Speakers
MAHLER: Symphony No. 1 in D Major; R. STRAUSS: Tod und Verklaerung, Op. 24 – BBC Symphony Orchestra (Strauss)/London Philharmonic Orchestra/Bruno Walter – Testament
Distant sonics muffle the impact of particular instrumental voicing
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1; String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6 – Quartetto Italiano – PentaTone
Music and music-making spectacular on all counts from 1972 (Op. 18) and 1973 (Op. 59)
Guarneri Quartet: The Hungarian Album = DOHNANYI: String Quartet No. 2 in D-flat Major, Op. 15; String Quartet No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 33; KODALY: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10 – Guarneri String Quartet – RCA Red Seal
As fine a “farewell” gesture from the Guarneri as anything they have played over the course of an illustrious career.
MAHLER: Symphony No. 3 – Birgit Remmert / Schweizer Kammerchor / Zürcher Sangerknaben / Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich / David Zinman – RCA Red Seal
The Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra rises to the challenge of this enormous work with great credit and David Zinman’s cool, clear-headed approach lets the music breathe.
Jon Hassell – Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street – ECM
Jon Hassell – Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street – ECM 2077, 1 hr. ***** [Release date: Feb. 3, 09]: (Jon Hassell – trumpet, keyboard; Peter Freeman – bass, percussion, guitar; Jan Band – live sampling; Jamie Muhoberac – keyboard, drums; Rick Cox – guitar, loops; Kheir Eddine M’Kachiche – violin; Elvind Aarset – guitar; Helge Norbakken – drums; Peter Lockett – Drums; Dino J.A. Deane – live sampling, Steve Shehan – percussion) Take an hour’s journey into other dimensions with Jon Hassell, and that’s not just hype. His surreal aural ambiances seem to take you around the world and forward and back in time. One moment in an Arabic market, another floating in the warm water of a tropical bay, moving thru New Age or futuristic architectures, trotting with the dinosaurs, you name it. The composer deliberately follows a cinematic construction of his score. The instrumental sounds are often very vocal – especially Hassell’s electronically-processed trumpet. Brian Eno has spoken of how Hassell’s music is drawn from his whole cultural experience without fear or prejudice. Although Hassell makes a strong effort to not have his sounds clearly identifiable by the listener as coming from […]
The October Trio and Brad Turner – Looks Like It’s Going to Snow – Songlines
The undisputed showpiece is the 17-minute, three-part opus “The Progress Suite”
Stokowski BACH Transcriptions 2 = Works of BACH, PALESTRINA, BYRD, CLARKE, BOCCHERINI, MATTHESON & HAYDN – Bournemouth Sym. Orch./Jose Serebrier – Naxos
Bernard Hermann remarked that Stokowski released “the great cosmic sound” that Bach must have had in mind but could not be realized under the conditions which produced his original organ works.
HARSANYI: L’Histoire Du Petit Tailleur (The Story of the Little Tailor): SAINT-SAENS: Le Carnaval des Animaux (The Carnival of the Animals) – Smaïn, narrator/Caroline Sageman, Lidija Bizjak, pianists/Suisse Romande Orchestra/Yannis Pouspourikas – Lyrinx
The main focus here is on the actor-narrator known as Smain who has narrated both works and written a new text for the Saint-Saens suite.
John Stetch – TV Trio – Brux
Rarely has anyone used such subject matter in such an engaging manner.
MACMILLAN: St. John Passion – Christopher Maltman, baritone/ London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/ Colin Davis, conductor – LSO Live
A Passion that rises to the top of the list
Sean Noonan’s Brewed by Noon – Boxing Dreams – Songlines
With his second release, Sean Noonan consolidates and extends the territory he brilliantly annexed—Afro-Celt rave-up jazz—on his first disc, “Stories to Tell.”
Sam Barsh – I Forgot What You Taught Me – RazDaz/Sunnyside
Deceptively profound: music this simple-sounding is very difficult to make interesting
Edition Ferenc Fricsay Vol. X = BRAHMS: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77; Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 – Gioconda De Vito, violin/RIAS Symphony Orchestra, Berlin/Ferenc Fricsay – Audite
From the RIAS archives come two distinctly rare and exquisitely musical Brahms performances.
* MAHLER: Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 10 (Adagio) – Elena Mosuc, Zlata Bulycheva / London Symphony Chorus & Orchestra / Valery Gergiev – LSO Live
********* MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH ********
A largely first-class recording sounding splendid in both stereo and surround programs.
Chuck Bernstein – Delta Berimbau Blues – CMB Records
There’s a natural affinity between various Mississippi Delta blues guitar styles and the berimbau, brilliantly brought out by Chuck Bernstein
VIVALDI: Seven Cello Concertos – Han-Na Chang, cello/ London Chamber Orchestra/Christopher Warren-Green – EMI Classics
Vivaldi’s violoncello da spalla was a small version of the instrument which one played against the body, a design long extinct, yet he wrote some 30 cello concerti.
BACH: Motets, BWV 225-230 and ANH 159 – Flemish Radio Choir/ Bo Holten, conductor – Glossa
Another fine reading in excellent surround of these wonderful works
CLARA SCHUMANN: Soirees musicales; 3 Romances, op. 11; Romance; 3 Romances, op. 21; Four pieces fugitives – Marie-Josephe Jude, piano – Lyrinx
Who would have thought we would hear Clara Schumann in surround?
Audio News for February 13, 2009
The Great Home Control Collision; Epson and Atlantic Technology Take Home-Theater-in-a-Box Further; Slowed Growth of Blu-ray
HAYDN: String Quartets Op. 74 Nos. 1-3 (The Auryn Series XIX) – Auryn Quartet (Matthias Lingenfelder and Jens Oppermann, violins. Stewart Eaton, viola. Andreas Arndt, cello) – Tacet
There is no shortage of great Haydn quartet recordings, though few combine elegance and energy with such richly magisterial drama as this one.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
