Monthly Archive: April 2009
Audio News for April 10, 2009
Panasonic Buys Sanyo; National Chains Going Green; Netflix Raises Fees for Blu-ray Rentals; Is 3D DOA?
Blue Gold – World Water Wars (2008)
This important documentary won as Best Environmental Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival and has been aired on PBS.
Audio News for April 7, 2009
Changes at Telarc and Heads Up; 3D Mobile Video Eyewear; Harman Supports New Standards for 802.1 Ethernet
Space Sound – Multichannel Electroacoustic Music by six composers: Thomas DeLio, Thomas Licata, Agostino Di Scipio, Kristian Twombly, Kees Tazelaar, Linda Dusman – Capstone Records
An extremely avant sampling with one knockout animation-and-music track.
2L – The Nordic Sound, Blu-ray audio-only sampler (2009) – [TrackList below] – 2L
The 19 selections on the discs (the two discs are identical) all feature Norwegian composers and performers and an international repertory.
Bobby Hutcherson, vibes – Head On – Blue Note
Five of the tracks are original compositions by a San Francisco-based composer, arranger and pianist, Todd Cochran.
Toscanini: In His Own Words
A visual conversation-piece, interspersed with historical footage from the life and career of Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini.
DVORAK: Piano Concerto in G Minor, Op. 33; CHOPIN: 4 Impromptus; TCHAIKOVSKY: Doumka, OP. 59; Nathalie Waltz, Op. 51, No. 4; Nocturne from The Snow Maiden, Op. 12 – Boris Bloch, piano/Duisberger Philharmoniker /Jonathan Darlington – Acousence Classics
The concerto holds a special place, perhaps not so much as a vehicle for bravura and showmanship, but as among the most lyrical of the composer’s works.
Andras Schiff with Cappella Andrea Barca
Schiff’s repute as a conductor burgeons as he continues to direct music from the keyboard, or repertory closely akin to the concerto at hand.
Hawaiian Starlight, A Cinematic Symphony (2008)
The striking images are supported by a soundtrack of New Age “Halo Music” that fits beautifully and makes excellent use of the surround field.
Doubt, Blu-ray (2009)
Clearly one of the best films of the year, Doubt had five Academy Award Nominations and drew magnificent performances from all four of its leading characters.
Vinyl Feature for April
Reviews of 15 Jazz, Blues & Pop Audiophile LPs
Van Cliburn in Moscow, Vol. 2
Cliburn brings a decided capacity to make tone in broad and ringing cascades, curlicues, and purrings, as the composer demands.
Audio News for April 3, 2009
New Lossless MP3 Format; History of AV Format Wars
LAGQ Live (Los Angeles Guitar Quartet) (2006)
This is a fine video of an entire live concert by the Grammy-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, taped at Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis in 2005.
Vittorio Gui Conducts = MOZART: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543; HAYDN: Symphony No. 95 in C Minor – Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra/Vittorio Gui – Pristine Audio
The lightness, clarity, and expressiveness of the Mozart Andante hints as much of Karl Bohm as it does of Toscanini.
Ministriles Reales (Royal Minstrels) – Instrumental music of the Renaissance and Baroque 1450-1690 – Hesperion XX & XXI/Jordi Savall – AliaVox (2 SACDs)
The instrumental interludes collected on these two SACDs come from recordings made by Jordi Savall’s Hesperion XXI for other labels from 1978 to 2004.
Great Recordings of the Century: The DVD
Concert footage of many of the luminaries who graced the EMI music catalogue and whom we might not have had the privilege of seeing in person.
MOZART-GRIEG: Works for Two Pianos, Vol. II – MOZART: Sonata in D Major for two claviers KV448; Fantasie in C minor KV 475; GRIEG: Old Norwegian Romance with Variations for two pianos Op. 51 – Dena Piano Duo – 2L Blu-ray + SACD
Mozart clearly had an audiophile mentality when he created music for any instrument, and he seems to have been fascinated by the special sounds of a pair of identical pianos.
No Country for Old Men, Blu-ray (2007/2009)
The unique Coen Brothers mix of suspense, quirkiness, black humor and a talented stable of actors supports a basic plot of a really evil guy chasing after a not-so-evil guy to kill him.
Favorite Classical Music Bloopers (April Fool’s Special)
We used to do an annual April Audio Fool’s Special but have missed the last couple years. Here’s our purloined effort for this year.
Editorial for April 2009
Welcome to Adobe GoLive 6 Our April drawing/giveway will quickly expand the collections of three lucky AUDIOPHILE AUDITION readers. To celebrate its 30th anniversary, the British classical label Chandos has released a lavish boxed set of 30 of some of the best CD titles they have drawn from their rich catalog. The Milestones Set includes such classics as Bax Symphonies, Hummel Piano Concertos and Masses, Symphonies of Vaughan Williams, The Grainger Edition, Handel’s Chados Anthems, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and songs of Stanford. Chandos is distributed in the U.S. by Naxos of America. All 30 CDs are complete works, not selections. To be eligible all you need do is be one of the AUDIOPHILE AUDITION readers who register here on the site this month. Here are the dozen lucky readers who won the pair of instructive Michael Fremer DVDs in last month’s drawing: 21st Century Vinyl, and It’s a Vinyl World, After All = Bob Marton, West Valley City, UT; Fred Scholl, Lemon Grove, CA; Robert Keiser, Bowie, MD; Marilyn Wons, Miramar Beach, FL; Terry Qualman, Sand Springs, OK; Scott Steinhaus, Glencoe, MN; Edward Gronenthal, Renton, WA; Richard Brooks, Wauwatosa, WI; Cary Walker, Sanford NC; Waldo Babcock, Prattsburgh, NY; […]
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
