Monthly Archive: January 2012
Conductor Fritz Busch in works of MOZART, HINDEMITH, BERG, LARSSON, REGER & BERWALD – Guild
Restored concerts by Fritz Busch expand his recorded legacy and enlighten us as to the power of Hindemith and Lars-Erik Larsson.
Kinshasa Symphony, Blu-ray (2011)
I feel this film on the struggles of the only symphony orchestra in the Congo may be the best documentary of the year.
Audio News for January 24, 2012
Classical News; iTV Partly Steve Jobs’ Creation; 2012 – The Year of the New Gigabit Wi-Fi Standard; Ford Sync Provides On-Demand NPR News
Jamie Ousley – A Sea of Voices – T.I.E. Records
Jazz creativity and conservational cause come together.
IRELAND: Piano Concerto; BRIDGE: Phantasm; WALTON: Sinfonia Concertante – Kathryn Stott, p./ Royal Philharmonic/ Vernon Handley – Dutton
High energy in rare keyboard works from three British composers, of whom the Ireland remains most familiar and the other two demanding more fame.
Belle De Jour, Blu-ray (1967/2011)
The classic Bunuel film with Catherine Deneuve living two diametrically-opposed lives due to her masochistic impulses.
HANDEL: Agrippina (complete opera) – Soloists/Ak. für Alte Musik/ Rene Jacobs – Harmonia mundi (3 CDs)
René Jacobs’ Agrippina is as powerful and individual as his ideas about the score, voiced in some very interesting notes to the recording.
Andreas Haefliger: "Perspectives 5" = BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 29 “Hammerklavier”; LISZT: Annees de Pelerinage: La Suisse – Avie (2 CDs)
Andreas Haefliger finds spiritual kinship in two towers of the keyboard repertory, which he realizes with powerful sensitivity and charisma.
VERDI: La Traviata (complete opera), Blu-ray (2011)
A superb Violetta, but the production smacks of egocentricity.
‘Drive American’ = Works of JOHN ADAMS, JOAN TOWER, WM. BOLCOM & Others – Heidi Louise Williams, p. – Albany
A wonderful collection of some very “American” originals!
Al Di Meola – Morocco Fantasia, Blu-ray (2011)
Concert and extras on the guitarist’s appearance at the 2009 Moroccan music festival in Rabat.
MOZART: Le Nozze di Figaro (complete opera), Blu-ray (2011)
Beautiful filming, excellent Blu-ray adaptation, but lacking a little sparkle.
“Il caro Sassone: HANDEL in Italy” = Lucy Crowe, sop./ The English Concert / Harry Bicket – Harmonia mundi
Vocal and instrumental highlights from Handel’s heady years in Italy, very attractively presented.
Carl Schuricht Conducts = Works of R. STRAUSS, LOTHAR, FRANCK, ZANDONAI & REZNICEK – Pristine Audio
Elusive recordings, 1941-1942, by Carl Schuricht enjoy vivid restoration from Pristine, and offer a fine display of the conductor’s wide range of repertory.
Eastern Voices, Blu-ray (2012)
East meets West in a very harmonious fashion.
Audio News for January 20, 2012
CEA Joins in Opposing SOPA & PIPA Acts; World’s First Used Digital Marketplace; Is Copying a CD or Download You Own a Crime?; Rovi Provides Cloud Access to Collectors of DVD & Blu-rays
Jack De Johnette- Sound Travels – Golden Beams/E1
An audacious and compelling disc.
Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (1957) – Jazzland/Fantasy Thelonious Monk – Something Blue (1971) – Black Lion/Pure Pleasure
Two great Monk sessions on vinyl.
The SIBELIUS Edition: Vol. 13, Miscellaneous Works – BIS (4 CDs + 1 DVD)
Discoveries galore in Volume 13, many of them well worth exploring, and some world premieres.
SCHUMANN: Piano Quartet in E-flat Major; BRAHMS: Piano Quartet in G Minor; Piano Quartet in C Minor: Andante – Mozart Piano Quartet – MD&G
Not the usual pairing, and that’s all to the good.
DVORAK: Love Songs, Op. 83; 5 Cypresses for String Quartet; Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 – Adriana Kucerova, soprano/ Quatour Thymos/ Christoph Eschenbach, piano – Avie
Pianist Christoph Eschenbach collaborates with a marvelous quintet of young performers to capture the quintessential lyric impulse in Dvorak.
Three Ballets by Kenneth MacMillan = Elite Syncopations (Scott Joplin); The Judas Tree (Brian Elias); Concerto (Shostakovich), Blu-ray (2010)
A worthy tribute to a master choreographer.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
