Monthly Archive: June 2015
Audio News for June 30, 2015
Sony and Best Buy Plan Hi-Res Music Demos in 70 Stores; Interesting Article on “Audio Overkill”; High Ranking of Samsung HDTVs; PS Audio Launches PCM/DSD DAC for $1299; Jasco GE Chargers to Untangle the Nest of Wires
Leonard Cohen – Can’t Forget: A Souvenir of the Grand Tour [TrackList follows] – Columbia/Legacy /Sony Music/Old Ideas
Leonard Cohen gives us a memento that’s better than a postcard or an Instagram picture.
BEETHOVEN: Complete String Quartets, Vol. IV = String Quartet No. 1 in F Major; String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor – Quartetto di Cremona – Audite
The fourth installment of the Quartetto di Cremona’s Beethoven cycle embraces works at the extremes of his spiritual development, each masterly.
“Janus” = BACH: 3 Movements from Partita in E Major; RACHMANINOV (arr. Wild): O Cease Thy Singing, Maiden Fair; BARTOK: Sonata for Piano; SCHUMANN: Arabeske in C; CHOPIN: Ballade No. 1; PROKOFIEV: Piano Sonata No. 7 – Rajung Yang, p. – Blue Griffin
Rajung Yang delivers a recital that looks to both past and present for musical and dramatic points.
NEIL THORNOCK: Between The Lines – Matthew Coley/ John Kizilarmut /Iowa State U. Percussion Ens./ Gerald Morris – New Focus
Contemporary percussion music for those with an open musical mind.
Creation – Keith Jarrett, solo piano – ECM
Perhaps his best solo piano effort since the Koln Concerts of 1999.
Troy Roberts – Secret Rhymes [TrackList follows] – Inner Circle Music
There’s nothing surreptitious about this prominently-swinging music. Troy Roberts – Secret Rhymes [TrackList follows] – Inner Circle Music
Marian Filar, piano = CHOPIN & BRAHMS works (1949-52) – MeloClassic
A Holocaust survivor with a grand musical gift, Marian Filar gives us Chopin and Brahms with bountiful panache and style, 1949-1952.
The Forger, Blu-ray (2013/2015)
A rather sentimental father/son film rather than a shoot-em-up heist movie.
Lost Songs – The Basement Tapes Continued – Blu-ray (2015)
The quest for Dylan material continues in this unusual video documentary.
RIMSKY-KORSAKOFF: Scheherazade – Chicago Sym. Orch. /Fritz Reiner – RCA Living Stereo/ Analogue Productions PROKOFIEFF: Lieutenant Kije; STRAVINSKY: Song of the Nightingale – Chicago Sym. Orch. /Fritz Reiner – RCA Living Stereo/ Analogue Productions
Analogue Productions re-released these classic chestnuts in superior three-channel sound.
RIMSKY-KORSAKOFF: Scheherazade – Chicago Sym. Orch. /Fritz Reiner – RCA Living Stereo/ Analogue Productions PROKOFIEFF: Lieutenant Kije; STRAVINSKY: Song of the Nightingale – Chicago Sym. Orch. /Fritz Reiner – RCA Living Stereo/ Analogue Productions
Analogue Productions re-released these classic chestnuts in superior three-channel sound.
TERRY RILEY : Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector; One Earth, One People, One Love; Cry of a Lady; G Song; Lacrymosa; Remembering Kevin; Cadenza on the Night Plain – Kronos Quartet – Nonesuch
Must-have collection of music by the man who created minimalism.
Audio News for June 26, 2015
SMPTE Australia Conference & Exhibit; SACD Is Staging a Comeback as a Computer Audio Option; Gunther Schuller and James Horner Die
JH ROMAN: The 12 Flute Sonatas – Dan Laurin, recorder/ Paradiso Musicale – BIS
The Swedish Handel in his only published music.
Circulation – The Music Of Gary McFarland – The Gary McFarland Legacy Ensemble – Planet Arts
A perceptive and gracious look at the music of Gary McFarland.
EGIL HOVLAND: Elementa Pro Organo – Organ Works [TrackList follows] Anders Eidsten Dahl, organist – Lawo Classics
Contemporary organ music from Norway, well-played and well-recorded.
MOZART: Complete Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin – Rachel Podger, v./ Gary Cooper, fortepiano – Channel Classics (8 CDs)
Brilliant performances of the Mozart Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin suffer a bit in comparison sonically to the SACDs.
Revolution – Flute Concertos – Emanuel Pahud – Composers: FRANÇOIS DEVIENNE, LOUIS GIANELLA, CHRISTOPH W. GLUCK, IGNACE JOSEPH PLEYEL (TrackList follows) – Basel Chamber Orchestra/ Giovanni Antonini – Warner Classics
A fine thematic collection of flute music from the time of the French Revolution.
Geza Anda – The Telefunken Recordings = SCHUMANN: Carnaval; Symphonic Etudes; BACH: Partita No. 2 in c minor; HAYDN: Piano Sonata No. 23; MOZART: Piano Sonata in D – Geza Anda, p. – Audite
Geza Anda has a gap in his discography filled in this generous selection of Telefunken inscriptions, 1950-1951.
*VIVALDI: l’Estro Armonico – 12 Concertos for Violins and String Orch. – Brecon Baroque/Rachel Podger, v. & director – Channel Classics ( 2 discs)
************ MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH ************
Rachel Podger and company bring technical brilliance and virtuosity in spades to these much-played concertos.
Branford Marsalis Quartet – Coltrane’s A Love Supreme: Live in Amsterdam – Marsalis Music/ Okeh – CD + DVD
A spiritual connection… Coltrane’s A Love Supreme done by Branford Marsalis Quartet.