Monthly Archive: July 2013
Bob James & David Sanborn – Quartette Humaine – Tappan Zee /Okeh
Sanborn and James: throwing out expectations by sustaining traditional jazz.
Barbara Morrison – A Sunday Kind Of Love – Savant Records
An album filled with soulful magic.
Bela Fleck and The Flecktones – Rocket Science – E1Bela Fleck & The Marcus Roberts Trio feat. Rodney Jordan & Jason Marsalis – Across the Imaginary Divide – Rounder Records
The amazing virtuoso banjo-plucker has at it on two CDs.
MAHLER: Symphony No. 9 – Vienna Philharmonic Orch./ Bruno Walter – Pristine Audio
Andrew Rose breathes even another life into the classic 1938 Bruno Walter performance of Mahler’s last-completed symphony, itself a paean to dying man and a beleaguered vision of civilization.
“O’Riley’s LISZT”: = Reminiscences de Don Juan (after MOZART); Fruhlingsnacht (after SCHUMANN); Prelude & Liebestod (after WAGNER, ed. Moszkowski and O’Riley); Fruhlingslaube (after SCHUBERT); BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique (trans. LISZT) – Christopher O’Riley, p. – Oxingale Records (2 CDs)
Christopher O’Riley performs an illustrious series of Liszt transcriptions—each brilliant, audacious, and sensuous in its own way, a dazzling tribute to the transcriber and architect of keyboard magic.
ANTILL: Corroboree – Suite from the ballet; GOULD: Interplay ballet music – London Sym. Orch. /Sir Eugene Goossens (Antill); Morton Gould & his Orch. (Gould) – HDTT 24/96 DVD-R
Makes available at a reasonable price a super-audiophile favorite in hi-res.
Will Calhoun – Life in This World – Motéma
Will Calhoun: from Living Colour rocker to worldly jazz artist.
BARTOK: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 – Isabelle Faust, violin/ Swedish Radio Sym. Orch./ Daniel Harding – Harmonia mundi
Isabelle Faust and Daniel Harding perform ‘labors of love” for the two Bartok violin concertos, performances as rich in character as they are in authenticity and inspired musical scholarship.
“Old New Borrowed Blue” – Duo Imaginaire – Chromart Classics
An unusual and appealing combination that mostly succeeds.
VAN DER ROOST: Sirius and other works for Orchestra = Sirius; Sinfonia for Orchestra; Manhattan Pictures – St. Petersburg State Sym. Orch./ Vladimir Lande; Philharmonic Orch. of the Belgian Radio/ Fernand Terby – Navona
An appealing collection from the Belgian composer well played and recorded.
Madeleine Peyroux – The Blue Room – Decca
More blue than Blue Room.
Joe Magnarelli – Live at Smalls – Smalls Records
Joe & Mulgrew…
“Evensong” = VLOEIMANS & FONDSE: Evening; VLOEIMANS: Lex; Requiem; Your Majesty; FONDSE: Waterfront – Eric Vloeimans, trumpet/ Netherlands Sym. Orch. /Jurgen Hempel – Challenge Classics
An update from the Netherlands in the style of the Miles Davis/Gil Evans collaborations.
BEETHOVEN: The Complete Piano Trios, Vol. 2 = Gould Piano Trio – Somm
A well-sorted program of Beethoven trios; all receiving excellent performances in this live recording.
“Close Connections” = LOUIS WEINGARDEN: Triptych; ROBERT HELPS: Shall We Dance; STEFAN WOLPE: Passacaglia; WILLIAM HIBBARD: Handwork; OLDŘICH KORTE: Sonata – Garrick Ohlsson, piano – Bridge
Modern music well off the beaten path from a respected interpreter of piano standards.
Eric Burdon – ‘Til Your River Runs Dry – ABCKO
Senior Citizens Unite – Eric Burdon still going strong…
Audio News for July 19, 2013
ORG Announces 15 New Decca/London & Mercury Vinyl Reissues; Wilson Audiophile Recordings to be Released as Hi-Res Downloads; How to Have Better Sound with Hi-Res Audio; This is a Golden Era of Home Theater Systems; Cambridge Audio Speakers Use Waves Maxx Technologies
Duke Ellington’s Spacemen – The Cosmic Scene – Columbia CL/ Pure Pleasure vinyl
A wonderful Elligton session, reduced to a nonet size and with ultimate fidelity.
David Benoit – This Side Up [TrackList follows] – Dead Line/ TopMusic International
David Benoit – This Side Up [TrackList follows] – Dead Line/ TopMusic International gold CD TM-GCD9802 ****: (Alto Saxophone – Brandon Fields (tracks: 3, 5); Bass – Bob Feldman (tracks: 1, 6, 7, 8); Nathan East (tracks: 2, 3, 4, 5); Concertmaster – William Henderson (2) (tracks: 1, 6, 8); Conductor – Kenneth Bonebrake (tracks: […]
LEWIS SPRATLAN/JENNY KALLICK/JOHN DOWNEY: Architect (A Chamber Opera) – Julia Fox, sop./Jeffrey Lentz, tenor /Richard Lalli, bar./ Amherst College ens./ Mark Lane Swanson – Navona (CD + DVD)
This opera is visually interesting and the topic is a first.
CHABRIER: Orchestral Works = Joyeuse Marche; Overture to “Gwendoline”; Habanera; España; Lamento; Bourrée fantasque; Suite pastorale; Three movements from “L’Étoile”; Two movements from “Le Roi malgré lui” – Orch. de la Suisse Romande/ Neeme Järvi – Chandos
This is where I’ll turn now on when I want to hear Chabrier’s lively orchestral music.
C.P.E. BACH: Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. II = Sonata in F-sharp Minor; Sonata in E Major; Sonata in C Minor; Sonata in A Major; Fantasie in F-sharp Minor; Rondo in D Minor – Danny Driver, piano – Hyperion
Having shed the “learned” affections of his father, C.P.E. Bach cultivated a “sensitive” and dramatic style that pianist Driver finds completely sympathetic to his own virtuoso ambitions.