Monthly Archive: August 2013
Allen Toussaint – Songbook – Rounder Records
Allen Toussaint – A New Orleans institution…
Mark Masters Ensemble – Everything You Did, The Music of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen – Capri
A natural musical fit – a big band jazz tribute to Steely Dan…
The Miles Black Trio With Grant Stewart – Cellar Live
A buoyant album filled with bright ideas.
KEVIN PUTS: If I Were a Swan; To Touch the Sky; Symphony No.4, “From Mission San Juan” – Conspirare/Craig Hella Johnson, dir.,/Baltimore Sym. Orch./Marin Alsop – Harmonia mundi
Truly beautiful works from this break-through composer you should know.
PETER MAXWELL DAVIES: Symphony No. 6 – Time and the Raven – An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise – Royal Philharmonic Orch./ Sir Peter Maxwell Davies – Naxos
Two out of the three works here are terrific!
MAHLER: Symphony No. 4 in G (chamber arr. by Erwin Stein)/ DEBUSSY: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun – Deanna Breiwick, sop./ Martingale Ens./ Ken Selden – MSR Classics
You might like this, or you might not—it depends on your sense of the truthfulness of history and the way some things were once done.
FRANCISCO DE PENALOSA: Missa Nunca fue pena mayor; motets; instrumental works – Ens. Gilles Binchois/ Les Sacqueboutiers/ Dominique Vellard – Glossa
The best and most popular composer of Spain before Morales, Penalosa’s Mass is probably his best work.
Audio News for August 9, 2013
Home Entertainment Spending Up 2%; U.S. Consumer Confidence Dips from Five-Year High; Convenience Killed Piracy in Norway; Top Entertainers Urge Congress to Force Radio Stations to Pay Royalties; Evolution of Online Video to Multiscreen Online Video
BARTLOMIEJ PEKIEL: Missa a14; Resonet in laudibus; Dulcis amor Jesu; Magnum nomen Domini etc. – The Sixteen/ Eamonn Dougan – Coro
Rarities by the first Renaissance Polish court composer who doesn’t quite stand up to his Italian masters.
The Piano Guys 2 – Portrait – Sony Masterworks
Cello and piano meet popular song mashups in this second album by the YouTube sensation The Piano Guys.
“Bach Crossings” = Bach Transcriptions for Piano Four Hands by KURTAG, GLEICHAUF, and REGER – Stephanie Ho & Saar Ahuvia, pianos – New Focus
Delightfully anachronistic and idiomatically ear-pleasing all at once.
VAGN HOLMBOE: Concertos = Concerto for Viola; Concerto for Orchestra; Concerto for Violin No. 2 – Lars Anders Tomter, viola/ Erik Heide, violin/ Nörrkoping Sym. Orch./ Dima Slobodeniouk – Dacapo
Inspiriting music from Denmark’s great neo-Classicist.
It’s a Beautiful Day 1968 – Live at the Fillmore – Classic Music Vault CD + DVD
A most enjoyable combo of performances of the band over three periods plus 80 minutes of their hits on a CD.
“Mood Indigo – Symphonic Music of ERIK LOTICHIUS:” Variations and Finale on “Mood Indigo” (Duke Ellington); Concerto No. 1 for piano and orch.; Four Songs on American Poetry; Ragtime for Orchestra – Sandro Ivo Bartoli, p. (Concerto)/ Miranda van Kralingen, sop. (Four Songs)/ St. Petersburg Academic Sym. Orch./ Vladimir Lande – Navona Records CD + DVD
This Dutch composer got a St. Petersburg recording session for four of his works, including one consisting of variations on the Ellington tune.
Tardo Hammer – Simple Pleasure – Cellar Live
A sparkling album that deserves wide recognition.
Glenn Cashman’s Southland Nonet – Music Without Borders – Primrose Lane Music
A sharp and often scintillating album.
Steve Pierson and Blues Head – Blue Me Away, DVD-DualDisc (2013) – Aix
This disc features video of Steve Pierson and Blues Head playing in the studio on one side and high resolution DVD-Audio on the other.
SCHUBERT: Symphonies 3 & 4 – Freiburger Barockorchester/ Pablo Heras-Casado – Harmonia mundi
Idiosyncratic but eminently convinced readings of two Schubert staples of his developing symphonic style, these performances by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra will have Schubert lovers refreshed in their musical allegiances.
MOZART: Piano Sonata in C Major; Piano Sonata in F Major; BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major “Les Adieux”; Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor “Moonlight”; Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor – Wilhelm Backhaus, p. – Testament
Wilhelm Backhaus, aged seventy-six, returns to England for concerts at the BBC, 1960-1961, an artist undiminished by age or keyboard technique and in thorough command of his artistic milieu.
SCHUBERT: Winterreise, D. 911 – Thomas Meglioranza, baritone/ Reiko Uchida, p. – self
It’s hard to believe that a vanity issue could rise to the ranks of the very best, but that is exactly what happens in this stunning reading.
Audio News for August 6, 2013
New Trends in Consuming Video Online; FCC Says US Consumers Have More Choice in TVs Than Ever; Australians Overcharged for IT Goods; Consumer Reports Tests Wireless Speakers
BACH: Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor; Violin Concerto in E Major; Violin Concerto in A Minor; Concerto for Three Violins in D Major – Freiburg Baroque Orch./ Petra Müllejans, v. /Gottfried von der Goltz, violin & dir./ Anne Katharina Schreiber, v. – Harmonia mundi
Wonderfully assertive readings of these Bach masterworks; it took me a little time to adjust, but I’m now a believer.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
