Monthly Archive: December 2009
CHOPIN: Etudes (complete; 2 recordings) – Juana Zayas, piano – Music & Arts
Cuban virtuoso Juana Zayas assumes the mantle of her compatriot Jorge Bolet by traversing the complete sets of Chopin Etudes–twice: in 1983 and in 2005.
Public Enemies, Special Edition (2 discs), Blu-ray (2009)
A very good bio of the last year and half in the life of the Depression-era anti-hero John Dillinger.
Phil Kelly & The Northwest Prevailing Winds – Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles – Origin
Another good’un from Phil Kelly’s big band.
Eddie Harris and Ellis Marsalis – Homecoming- Elm Classics/ Spindletop Records
Covering all the bases.
Erik Deutsch – Hush Money – Hammer & String
Because of his fellowship in Charlie Hunter’s trio and his solo ventures, Deutsch is becoming a jazz artist to notice.
SHOSTAKOVICH: String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 122; String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Minor, Op. 138; String Quartet No. 15 in E-flat Minor, Op. 144 – Mandelring Quartet – Audite
The Mandelring Quartett completes its cycle of the Shostakovich string quartets with the late intensely dark visions of impending loss and death.
Livio Pandora Internet Radio SRP: $150
The first stand-alone Internet radio also offering the versatile free Pandora music service.
Dave Rawlings Machine – A Friend of a Friend – Acony
A Friend of a Friend is a collection of originals, co-written tunes and covers played with an assortment of acquaintances in a friendly front-porch atmosphere.
* BERNSTEIN: Serenade after Plato’s “Symposium”; BLOCH: Baal Shem – 3 Pictures of Chassidic Life; BARBER: Violin Concerto Op. 14 – Vadim Gluzman, v./Sao Paulo Symphoy Orchestra/John Neschling – BIS
******** MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH *********
Exciting and sonically excellent versions of all three violin-orchestra works.
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat Major, OP. 26 “Funeral March”; Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101; Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106 “Hammerklavier” – Maria Yudina, piano – APR
The fiery iconoclastic Maria Yudina performs three Beethoven sonatas in her plastic, intellectually aggressive style.
MICHAEL NYMAN SOUNDTRACKS (The Composer’s Cut Series Vols. l – III) The Piano; Nyman/Greenaway Revisited; The Libertine – Music composed, conducted and produced by Michael Nyman, mostly with The Michael Nyman Band and String Orchestra – Panagyric (3 CDs)
He recorded these three new views of some of his musical cues in 2005 with his own ensemble.
Conductor Fritz Busch = R. STRAUSS: Till Eulenspiegel, OP. 28; Don Juan; MOZART: Symphony No. 36, “Linz”; Overtures to Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Cosi fan tutte – BBC Sym. Orch. (Till, Linz Symphony)/London Philharmonic/Glyndebourne – Guild
Conductor Busch set down his first inscriptions 5-6 March 1934, when he stepped into the HMV studios to record Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks by Richard Strauss.
Oppo BDP-83SE Universal Blu-ray Disc Player, Special Edition
A definite hearable upgrade to all the player’s analog audio outputs as well as the coaxial/optical out.
BRAHMS: 21 Hungarian Dances – Kantorski-Pope Duo, piano – Whaling City Sound
The setting for piano four hands allows Brahms any number of layered effects, counterpoint, syncopations, and octave unisons that reverberate with pungent dynamics.
HAYDN: 6 String Quartets, Op. 50 (complete) – Auryn Quartet – Tacet (2 CDs)
Volume 7 of the Auryn Haydn series appears, and the quality remains very high.
BACH: St. Matthew Passion – Bostridge, Scholl, Gura, etc. / Collegium Vocale Gent/ Philippe Herreweghe, conductor – Harmonia mundi (3 CDs)
Philippe Herreweghe conducts Bach in a performance of Gallic elegance and beauty.
GESUALDO: Il Canto dell’Ombra – Responsoria – De Labyrintho led by Walter Testolin, with Vittorio Ghielmi, viola da gamba – Stradivarius
The recording is of audiophile quality, with solo and multiple voices hinting at analogue quality beneath the digital sampling, and gambist Ghielmi producing bowed and plucked sounds that are almost tangible.
ZEMLINSKY: The Mermaid (Symphonic Fantasy); Sinfonietta, Op. 23 – New Zealand Symphony Orchestra/ James Judd, conductor – Naxos
If you don’t know this composer and love post-romantic music, here is a great place to start.
ASGER HAMERIK: Symphonies – Randi Stene (mezzo-soprano) /Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra / Danish National Symphony Orchestra /Thomas Dausgaard – Dacapo (4 SACDs)
Those with a love for Romantic and late-Romantic music will need little encouragement to sample this first-rate release.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Blu-ray (2009)
Entertaining and a definite improvement over the second film, “Ice Age: The Meltdown”.
HANDEL: Messiah (complete oratorio) – Julia Doyle, soprano/ Iestyn Davies, counter tenor/ Allan Clayton, tenor/ Andrew Foster-Williams, bass/ Polyphony/ Britten Sinfonia/ Stephen Layton, conductor – Hyperion
An excellent effort from one of the finest choral groups around.
HOFFMEISTER: Quintets Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 – Simon Fuchs, oboe/ Primoz Novsak, violin/ Michel Rouilly, viola/ Katja Fuchs, viola/ Jakob Hefti, horn/ Manfred Sax, bassoon – Tudor
Once noted and now semi-forgotten, these works show a master musician at work.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
