Monthly Archive: September 2009
Donny McCaslin – Declaration – Sunnyside
Varied fare from saxist/composer McCaslin.
Heroes, Season Three, Blu-ray, 5-Disc Set (2009)
Heroes Season Three picks up where the previous season’s cliffhanger ending left it, with an unresolved assassination attempt, and unfortunately offers us precious little to identify either the victim or the assassin.
J.S. BACH: Goldberg Variations – Ronald Hawkins, piano – MSR
A good supplement, but it feels like a conception still in progress.
Jörgen Van Rijen = “I was like Wow!” – Honegger, Martin, Mozart, Jongen, Castérède, Padding, Gaubert, Veldhuis – Jorgen van Rijen, trombone/ Frits Damrow, trumpet / Paolo Giacometti, piano/ Combattimento Consort/ Jan Martin de Vriend – Channel Classics
One of the world’s finest trombonists, Jörgen van Rijen, – teacher, chamber musician and not least, principal trombone of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Duplicity, Blu-ray (2009)
Writer and director Tony Gilroy wrote the screenplays for the three highly successful Bourne films, and he also wrote and directed Michael Clayton.
An American Werewolf in London, Full Moon Edition, Blu-ray (1981/2009)
The element that most interested me was that it is touted as mixing the usual macabre with a sense of humor.
BARTOK: Mikrokosmos – Complete – Georges Solchany, piano – EMI Classic
An essential primer for anyone fascinated by Bartok’s musical evolution and pedagogy.
VILLA-LOBOS: Complete String Quartets – Latin American Quartet – Dorian
A new classic, and a mandatory purchase, maybe the best of the entire year.
STRAVINSKY: Jeu de Cartes; Agon; Orpheus – BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/ Ilan Volkov – Hyperion
Agon (1957) marks Stravinsky’s serious encounter with 12-tone serialism, which makes its presence felt in the Coda to the galliard.
Randy Brecker – Nostalgic Journey: Tykocin Jazz Suite (The Music of Wlodek Pawlik) – Summit
Another fine combination of a jazz soloist backed by orchestra, band or strings.
Arturo Toscanini = ATTERBERG: Symphony No. 6; BARBER: Adagio for Strings; FERNANDEZ: Reisado do pastoreio Butuque; R. STRAUUS: Don Juan; RAVEL: La Valse = NBC Symphony/Arturo Toscanini – Guild
Some of the more esoteric works in the Toscanini recorded repertory.
Cyrus Chestnut, piano – Spirit – JLP
More gospel piano from Cyrus Chestnut.
Dave Glenn – National Pastime – Origin
National Pastime celebrates two of America’s cultural institutions: baseball and jazz.
Dexter Gordon – Dexter Calling – Blue Note / Analogue Productions
Prime Dex.
Short Stories = IVES: String Quartet No. 1; JENNIFER HIGDON: Short Stories; FRED STURM: Picasso Cubed; MICHAEL TORKE: July 1995; DAVID BIXLER: Heptagon; CARLETON MACY: Elusive Dreams; JELLY ROLL MORTON: Black Bottom Stomp – Ancia Sax Quartet – Naxos
A rarity—an album of modern sax quartet music that hasn’t a clunker on it.
BEETHOVEN & BRITTEN: Violin Concertos – Janine Jansen, violin/ The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the London Symphony Orchestra/ Paavo Järvi – Decca
Jansen and Decca have surpassed themselves with their new recordings of the Beethoven and Britten concertos.
Greg Skaff – East Harlem Skyline – Zoho
New York City guitarist Greg Skaff is helping to keep the jazz organ combo alive and well.
Adventureland, Unrated (2009)
More of a coming-of-age dramedy than a straight comedy.
Resonance Big Band Plays Tribute to Oscar Peterson – Introducing Marian Petrescu, piano – Resonance Records
George Klabin wanted to carry on the Peterson legacy by issuing the first recording “in the spirit of Oscar Peterson without Oscar Peterson.”
Constant Lambert Conducts = RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Overture to Ivan the Terrible; GRIEG: Homage March; PURCELL: Comus Ballet Suite; ADAM: Excerpts from Giselle; CHABRIER: Danse slave – various orchestras/Constant Lambert – Historic-Recordings
The impeccable work of Constant Lambert continues to beguile in these restored shellacs.
MOZART: Don Giovanni (complete opera, Vienna version, 1788) – Jacobs, Blu-ray (2008) MOZART: Don Giovanni (complete opera)- Muti (1987/2004)
A battle of video Don Juans…
Audio News for September 11, 2009
Phoenix Rises From Ashes; One-Fourth of Entire Music Market is Now iTunes; 4K – the Next Movie Resolution Enhancement
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
