Monthly Archive: February 2015
Audio News for February 17, 2015
Headphones Category Continues Growth; North American Sales of Portable Navigation Devices Falls; Onkyo Intends To Have the Largest Hi-Res Platform Available; Determining Whether Actually Hi-Res or Not; GoRave Multi-room Wireless Audio System
JAKE HEGGIE: Out of Darkness: An Opera of Survival – Caitlin Lynch, sop./ Sarah Larsen, mezzo/ Morgan Smith, bar./ Music of Remembrance/ Mina Miller – Naxos JAKE HEGGIE: “Connection: Three Song Cycles” = Natural Selection; Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia; Eve-Song – Regina Zona, sop./ Kathleen Tagg, p. – Naxos
Terrific cycles by the best song composer today.
JAKE HEGGIE: Out of Darkness: An Opera of Survival – Caitlin Lynch, sop./ Sarah Larsen, mezzo/ Morgan Smith, bar./ Music of Remembrance/ Mina Miller – Naxos JAKE HEGGIE: “Connection: Three Song Cycles” = Natural Selection; Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia; Eve-Song – Regina Zona, sop./ Kathleen Tagg, p. – Naxos
Terrific cycles by the best song composer today.
Rosewater, Blu-ray (2015)
Jon Stewart’s moving film on journalist Maziar Bahari’s imprisonment in Iran.
![Jakob Gimpel, piano, Vol. I [TrackList follows] = St. Laurent Studio](https://www.audaud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/JakobGimpel.jpg)
Jakob Gimpel, piano, Vol. I [TrackList follows] = St. Laurent Studio
The too-often neglected Jakob Gimpel, in restorations from 1942-1946, reminds us of the extraordinary breadth and power of his musicianship.
Force Majeure, Blu-ray (2014/15)
Unlike any movie you’re probably ever seen. Won the Jury Prize at Cannes.
George Benson – Give Me The Night – Qwest Records/ Warner Brothers /Pure Pleasure vinyl
A superior hi-res stereo vinyl of singer-guitarist George Benson.
“Belle Nuit” = (TrackList Follows) – Kathryn Goodson, piano/Randall Hawes, Bass trombone/Timothy McAllister, & Donald Sinta, sax/Gail Williams, horn – Navona (2 CDs)
Like being in a French café!
BACH: Mass in b – Lydia Teuscher & Ida Falk Winland (sopranos)/ Tim Mead (countertenor)/ Samuel Boden (tenor)/ Neal Davies (bass)/Arcangelo/ Jonathan Cohen – Hyperion (2 CDs)
A wonderful performance, easily one of the best on the market.
Tales from Earthsea, Blu-ray (2015)
Not as good as the other Studio Ghibli animation features.
Hilary Hahn, violin, in program of VON WEBER, SHOSTAKOVICH, BACH & DVORAK, with Berlin Philharmonic (2011)
A fine performance by Ms. Hahn, but the recording is not a recent one.
Nicolai Golovanov conducts TCHAIKOVSKY = Moscouw Cantata; Voyevoda; Overture Solennelle, The Tempest – Praga Digitals mono
Selected music of Peter Tchaikovsky finds an illustrious interpreter in Nicolai Golovanov, whose original inscriptions gain a new, vivid life in these Praga restorations.
Audio News for February 13, 2015
B&O Improves Home Automation Integration; Nine Atmos-Enabled Blu-rays Now Out; Dish Targets DirecTV Subscribers; Samsung Response to Smart-TV Privacy Concerns; Onkyo Music Store Now in Operation; Russound Launches KNX Interface
The Zero Theorem, Blu-ray (2014)
An amazing Giliam film – almost as good as Brazil!
Search for Paradise, Blu-ray (1956/2014)
Big and brash three-screen spectacular, but mostly dumb and offensive.
BACH: Köthener Trauermusik, BWV244a (Funeral Service for Leopold d’Anhalt-Köthen) – Sabine Devielhe (sop.)/ Damien Guillon (alto)/ Thomas Hobbs (tenor)/ Christian Immler (bass)/ Pygmalion/ Raphaël Pichon – Harmonia mundi
New text? You bet. New music? Nope—but still worthwhile.
Audio News for February 10, 2015
RadioShack Store Closures Begin; Pioneer Posts Gain in Q3 Sales, But Higher Net Loss; ProSource Adds Stewart Filmscreen; Control4 Buys Leaf for $9 Million; Joe Grado, of Grado Labs, Dies at Age 90
PARIS – Music for Trumpet by SATIE, RAVEL, PIAZZOLLA and others – Alison Balsom, trumpet – Guy Barker and Orch. & others – Warner Classics
British trumpeter impresses with arrangements of her French favorites.
MICHAEL NYMAN: Symphony No. 11, “Hillsborough Memorial” – Kathryn Rudge, mezzo/ Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Choir/ Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orch./ Josep Vicent – MN Records
A worthy idea to memorialize the 96 victims of a horrible football tragedy, but the music doesn’t live up to the moment.
* BRUCKNER: Sym. No. 4 in E-flat, “Romantic” – Pittsburgh Sym. Orch./ Manfred Honeck – Reference Recordings
************ MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH *************
The best Bruckner Fourth ever recorded? It’s tough to think of a better one.
Wu Han Live, plays works of BACH, HAYDN & MENDELSSOHN – ArtistLed
The indefatigable Wu Han has a fine tribute to her keyboard talents in various displays of solo and concerted energies from her Menlo, California venue, 2003-2013.
Fitzcarraldo, Blu-ray (1982/2015)
An amazing Blu-ray reissue of the 1982 Herzog masterpiece.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
