Monthly Archive: July 2010
HINDEMITH: Das Marienleben – Soile Isokoski, soprano/ Marita Viitasalo, piano – Ondine
Here is a voice that befits as one of the pillars in the vocal world.
Ken Fowser & Behn Gillece – Little Echo – Posi-Tone
A tight, bright party album.
Hal Galper – E Pluribus Unum – Origin
Out of many moods, one solid album.
Hommage `a MOZART = Sonatas for Two Pianos K448 (1 movt.) & K19d; MICK BAUMEISTER Ballade about Mozart; Vicious Circle; RICHIE BEIRACH: Fantasy on a Theme from Mozart Piano Concerto; LISZT Reminiscences de Don Juan – piano duo/jazz duo – Ars Musici
A surprisingly mind-bending excursion into what we think Mozart sounds like.
J.S. BACH: St. John Passion, BWV 245 – Uta Graf, soprano/Marga Hoeffgen, contralto/Julius Patzak, tenor/Gerard Souzay, baritone/Walter Berry, bass/Vienna Symphony and Vienna Singers Academy/Fritz Lehmann – Music & Arts
A restored classic, the live 1955 St. John Passion realized by devoted and devout musicians led by Fritz Lehmann.
DOHNANYI: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 3; Rural Hungarica – Kocian Quartet/ Vaclav Bernasek, cello/ Jaromir Klepac, piano – Praga Digitals
Wonderful performances of late Romantic quartets by the Hungarian composer Erno Dohnanyi.
Matthias Goerne, bar. – SCHUBERT Edition Vol. 4 “Heliopolis” – with Ingo Metzmacher, piano – Harmonia mundi
“Schubert is the composer who is the starting point of absolutely everything, unless you’ve really understood and absorbed Schubert, I’d go as far as to say, it’s impossible to grasp Schumann, or Brahms, or Mahler, or everything that comes afterwards.”…Goerne
The Hot Spot: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Universal Music Special Markets
All-Time Greats Brought Together By One Of The All-Time Greats.
Audio News for July 16, 2010
Another Audio Show; iPad Pushing All Electronics Sales; Renewed Mass Interest in Audio; Best Buy Recycling Goal; Japanese Manufacturers Need to Consolidate
“Off the Beaten Path: Solo Piano Music” – CLEMENTI, CZERNY, GERSHWIN, GODARD, KREISLER, LISZT, MEDTNER, MOSCHELES, SIBELIUS & THALBERG – Ian Hominick, piano – MSR Classics
This is a nice program, but the execution is not equally grand throughout.
“Music for Battle Creek” = SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Allegro; Works of CLIFFORD BROWN; JOSEPH TURRIN; BILL CONTI; OFFENBACH; CHABRIER; WAGNER – Brass Band of Battle Creek – MSR Classics
The performances on this disc are all infectiously lively, the product of performance in front of a live audience.
Fritz Lehmann, Vol. 2 = BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme by Haydn; FRANCK: Redemption–Morceau symphonique; SIBELIUS: Night Ride and Sunrise; WOLF: Italian Serenade; WEBER: Preziosa Ov.; SUPPE: Light Cavalry Ov. – various orch. – Historic-Recordings
A second installment of rarities from Fritz Lehmann, a conductor whose musical currency seems once more in vogue.
JÁNOS TAMÁS: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; Lichtspiel; Improvisations; Eisblumen: 14 Miniatures – Paul Goodwin, c. – Oehms Classics ALBERTO GINASTERA: Glosses sobre temes de Pau Casals for Orchestra; Variaciones concertantes – Ben-Dor, c. – Naxos
Here are works that pay homage in one way, or maybe more than one way, to the music of Bartók.
U2 – Let Them Be: The Second Chapter (2010)
Let Them Be provides a trenchant glance at U2’s career during the 1990s and 2000s.
The Nigel Kennedy Quintet – …Shhh! – EMI Classical
England’s unpredictable musician extraordinaire redefines himself…again.
Steve Turre – Delicious And Delightful – High Note
Delightful, Indeed.
“GERSHWIN By Grofé” (Ferde Grofé’s original orchestrations and arrangements of Gershwin) – “I Got Rhythm” Variations for piano and orchestra; Rhapsody in Blue; 9 songs – Lincoln Mayorga, p./Harmonie Ensemble of New York/Steve Richman – Harmonia mundi
These piano-orchestra Gershwin works were not originally performed in full symphony orchestra versions as normally heard today.
SCHUMANN: Fantasia in C Major, Op. 17; Kreisleriana, Op. 16; Arabeske, Op. 18 – Hideyo Harada, piano – Audite
“Trust and Poetry” find their way into Harada’s renditions of romantic Schumann, another installment in the litany for hi bicentennial.
“Times and Spaces” – GLASS: Saxophone Quartet; ITOH: Echolocation; ROGER W. PETERSON: Chasing the Silence; In Dreams; DAVID MacDONALD: Falling Up the Down Escalator; JOHN MACKEY: Strange Humors – h2 Sax Quartet – Blue Griffin
Some very tight ensemble playing and exciting new repertory make the ‘h2’ an ensemble worth hearing!
“Rhapsody” – Chamber Music of RICHARD FAITH: Poems for cello & piano; Sonata #2 for trumpet & piano; Nocturne for piano; Rhapsody for flute & piano; Fantasy Trio #1; Movements for horn & piano – The Missouri Chamber Players – MSR Classics
Here is a composer whose work deserves to be more widely known!
Brian Chin, trumpet – “Universal Language” (with Lisa Ponten, soprano; Kevin Johnson, piano) – ROBERT KECHLEY: Poesia; JASON BERG: Universal Language; Tracks; EDWARD CASTRO: Fractured Trance; DANIEL BUKVICH: Sonata – Origin Classical
Aside from just a bit of recording balance issues, here is an excellent showcase for a talented young trumpeter and some very interesting new recital repertoire!
Carole King and James Taylor – Live at the Troubadour (2010) – (2 discs) DVD & CD – Concord Music Group
James Taylor and Carole King bring intimacy and friendship to the fore on Live at the Troubadour.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
