Monthly Archive: April 2009
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 – NBC Symphony Orchestra/Arturo Toscanini – Pristine Audio
This Toscanini reissue delivers a D Major Symphony that appeals to us instinctively, a most gratifying performance.
MAHLER: Symphony No. 8 – Viktoria Yastrebova, Ailish Tynan & Liudmila Dudinova, sopranos/Lilli Paasikivi & Zlata Bulycheva, mezzos/Sergey Semishkur, tenor/ Alexey Markov, bar./ Evgeny Nikitin, bass/Choirs/London Sym. Orch./Valery Gergiev – LSO Live
A performance of great emotional extremes, one that squeezes every drop of expression in between the notated score, and takes the time in doing so.
MOZART: Piano Concertos No. 20 K. 466 & No. 27 K. 595; Clifford Curzon (piano) / Benjamin Britten /English Chamber Orchestra – Esoteric
The sound on the SACD is terrific, unsurprising with Kenneth Wilkinson at the helm at the sessions, and is a substantial improvement over the standard CDs issued by Decca.
DVORÁK: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 “From the New World”; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / István Kertész – Esoteric
A vintage Decca recording, engineered by James Brown, and remastered by Motoaki Ohmachi, the chief producer and President of Esoteric, from original tapes via DSD to a hybrid stereo SACD.
Les Grands Interpretes Hermann Scherchen, Vol. 6 = MAHLER: Kindertotenlieder; Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos. 1-6: ST.-SAENS: Carnival of the Animals – Scherchen conducts – Tahra (2 CDs)
The collaborative pathos achieved between West and Scherchen’s forces makes this inscription eminently valuable to any Mahler connoisseur.
JOLIVET: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1950); RAVEL-CONSTANT: Gaspard de la nuit (orchestrated 1990); DEBUSSY-MOLINARI: L’isle joyeuse (orch. 1917) – Pacal Gallet, piano (Jolivet)/ Duisburger Philharmonic/ Jonathan Darlington – Acousence
An imaginative program from a German orchestra with a rich history of over 125 years.
Audio News for April 28, 2009
Blu-ray Sales Up 105%; 4K Digital Cinema Might Be Next; GE 500GB Holographic DVD
The Bad Plus, joined by Wendy Lewis – For All I Care – Heads Up
Intense, energetic, and intelligent arrangements of pop songs and 20th Century classical music from one of the most interesting progressive jazz trios performing today.
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 5 – Orchestre des Champs-Élysées /Philippe Herreweghe – Harmonia mundi
The cyclopean colossus of Bruckner 5th Symphony is given new perspectives in this stripped-down version by the Champs-Élysées Orchestra.
GIACINTO SCELSI: Preludes, Series I – IV – Alessandra Ammara, piano – Arts Music
Scelsi sought a unique, spherical and cosmic sound – expanding the potentialities of the black and white keys.
Leonard Rose: Live in Recital, 1953-1960 = Music of BACH, BEETHOVEN, SCHUMANN, DEBUSSY, BARBER, MARTINU, HAYDN, IBERT, CHOPIN, FRANCK, FRANCOEUR – with var. performers – VAI (2 CDs)
If there is an ideal sound for the cello, Rose had it.
Spyro Gyra – Down the Wire – Heads Up
The best-selling jazz/pop/fusion/smooth jazz quintet of 30 years keeps on keeping on.
* BEETHOVEN: The Complete Nine Symphonies
****** MULTICHANNEL DISCS OF THE MONTH **********
An absolutely essential set of the glorious nine.
Mel Martin – Where the Warm Winds Blow – Jazzed Media
Mr. Versatility
Derrick Gardner & The Jazz Prophets + 2 – Echoes of Ethnicity – Owl Studios
Strong young post-bop lions
Jermaine Landsberger – Gettin’ Blazed – Resonance Records
Landsberger initially began on guitar as a Django Reinhardt fan, and then took up the piano and it wasn’t until 2001 that he switched to Hammond organ.
Charnett Moffett – The Art of Improvisation – Motéma Music
Charnett Moffett is an undisputed bass champion, a musician’s musician who has worked with everyone from Wynton Marsalis to Ornette Coleman, and from Art Blakey to Pharoah Sanders.
D’INDY: Symphony for Orchestra and Piano on a French Mountain Air, Op. 25 – Daniel Wayenberg, piano/Orchestre du Theatre des Champs Elysees/Ernest Bour – Pristine Audio
A fine remastering from a 1954 10-inch LP.
BEETHOVEN: Symphonies No. 3 (Eroica) and No. 7 – The Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam /Erich Kleiber – Pristine Classical
Decca’s CD produced from the master tape has a scrawny sound. Pristine’s restoration (from an LP) gets the orchestra sounding far more like it does in the Concertgebouw, and complete with its unmistakeable acoustic.
HAYDN: String Quartets, Vol. 2 – Op. 20, No. 4 in D major; Op. 64, No. 6 in E-flat; Op. 77, No. 1 in G major – The Amsterdam String Quartet – Channel Classics
A welcome second volume in what I hope will become an ongoing series. Superb!
Jerusalem, City of the Two Peaces: Heavenly peace and Earthly peace – Montserrat Figueras and many other performers/Hesperion XXI/Jordi Savall – Alia Vox (2 discs)
Wow! What a production!
BRIGHT SHENG: Red Silk Dance; Tibetan Swing; The Phoenix; H’un (Lacerations) – Bright Sheng, piano/ Shana Blake Hill, soprano/ Seattle Symphony/ Gerard Schwarz, conductor – Naxos
Good introduction to an important composer.