Monthly Archive: February 2016
The Emigrants; The New Land, Blu-ray (1971-72/2016)
A terrific pair of Jan Troell films from 1971 & ’72, with gorgeous restoration and fascinating extras. The Emigrants; The New Land, Blu-ray (1971-72/2016) Director: Jan Troell Cast: Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Eddie Axberg Studio: Swedish Film Industry/Warner Bros./ The Criterion Collection 796/797 (2/9/16) [2 discs] Video: 1.66:1 for 16:9 wide screen, 1080p HD color Audio: Swedish PCM mono Subtitles: English Extras: New intro by theater/film critic John Simon, New conversation with film scholar Peter Cowie and Jan Troell, New Liv Ullmann interview, To Paint with Pictures – an hour-long 2005 documentary on making of the film, Trailers, Illus. booklet with essay by critic Terrence Rafferty. Lengths: Emigrants: 191 min.; New Land: 202 min. Ratings: *****, **** B0184DLI1Y This is a long couple of films: over six and half hours total plus the hour-long documentary. Vilhelm Moberg, upon whose novels the two films are based, considered his original four volumes a single work. Many Swedes had already read the novels about the journey to America in 1850. The fact that Troell keeps up interest during the long story, aided by the terrific acting of the youngish Ullmann and von Sydow, makes this a simply wonderful survey of human drama […]
LARS GRAUGAARD: Venus – NYU Contemp. Music Ens. and other NYU performers – Dacapo
LARS GRAUGAARD: Venus – NYU Contemp. Music Ensemble; NYU Percussion Ens./ NYU Sym. Orch. / Jens Georg Bachmann & Jonathan Haas, conductors/ Patti Kilroy, violin/ Ian Shafer, oboe/ Patrick Swoboda, double bass – Dacapo multichannel SACD 6.220628, 58:52 (10/9/15) [Distr. by Naxos] ***: Contemporary computer-composed music in hi-res surround. The four works on this SACD by Lars Graugaard (b. 1957) were composed especially for the ensembles of New York University, in what is referred to as a “joint search for a new rich and varied musical discourse.” Endeavoring into the complex relationship between composition, perception and emotion, Graugaard uses a computer as a sophisticated performance vehicle and a compositional tool in scored and interactive music, creating a unique and radical sound experience. The composer’s experiments have led him to use software to create the emotional content of his compossions. Normally, I am skeptical of these experimental attempts to have computers create cogent music, but I think here the efforts are largely musical and successful. The first piece on the disc, Venus is interestingly scored, and to my ear it is an accessible piece of music. Layers of Earth is also highly listenable, starting with percussion and then turning contemplative and […]
Audio News for February 26, 2016
Jazz and Classical Music Culture in Spotlight in Kenya; Net Neutrality Defied by Verizon; Six Computer Video Players Tested; Here Active Listening Earbuds
Joe Turner – The Boss Of The Blues – Atlantic Records (1956) /Pure Pleasure (2015)
Joe Turner – The Boss Of The Blues – Atlantic Records (1956)/Pure Pleasure PPAN 1234 (2015), 44:49 mono vinyl *****: This is a perfect mixture of blues and jazz! (Joe Turner – vocals; Joe Newman – trumpet; Lawrence Brown – trombone; Pete Brown – alto saxophone; Frank Weiss – tenor saxophone; Pete Johnson – piano; Freddie Green – guitar; Walter Page – bass; Cliff Leeman – drums; Jimmy Nottingham – trumpet; Sheldon Powell – tenor saxophone) The genesis of rock and roll can be traced to converted R&B players like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley. They amalgamated blues, gospel and jazz to form a populist, rollicking free-for-all genre that has lasted six decades. Quintessential rockers have paid tribute to the early pioneers, especially blues artists. Notable performers like The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt did their best to sustain this legacy, often recording and touring with their heroes. But even the rock and roll legends have a common thread to the past. A lot of blues and jump swing artists learned their craft from jazz, and in particular big band jazz. Possibly the greatest link between jazz/blues and rock and roll is Big […]
BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 3; Piano Trio No. 1 (orig. version) – Trio Wanderer/ C. Gaugue, viola – Harmonia mundi
The dark, tragic romance of the Brahms chamber music experience lies in these performances by Trio Wanderer. BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 3 in c minor, Op. 60; Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8 (orig. version) – Trio Wanderer/ Christophe Gaugue, viola – Harmonia mundi HMC 90222, 73:54 (1/22/16) ****: Trio Wanderer – Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabedian, violin; Raphael Pidoux, cello; and Vincent Coq, piano – have resuscitated (rec. January 2015) the 1854 version of the Brahms First Piano Trio, which the composer extensively cut some thirty-five years later, in 1889. Much in the spirit of Schumann, Brahms had inscribed his name on the original score as “Johannes Kreisler, junior.” Having little affection for the work, Brahms essentially denied its existence until intimations of mortality had already oppressed him. The opening movement Allegro con moto underwent drastic changes, with Brahms’s having excised long, intricate passages of rather brooding character that adumbrate the extensive fugato that he intended as homage to both Beethoven and Schumann. If the older first movement lacks classical focus and concision, it possesses a broad effusion of emotion consonant with sturm und drang ideas, certainly musical antecedents for the likes of young Schoenberg’s romantic impulses and those […]
Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto – Getz/Gilberto ’76 – Resonance / Stan Getz – Moments in Time – Resonance
Two more archival historical releases from Resonance Records- Getz/Gilberto ’76 & Moments in Time… Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto – Getz/Gilberto ’76 – Resonance HCD 2021, 55:15 ****: (Stan Getz – tenor sax; Joao Gilberto – vocals, guitar; Joanne Brackeen – piano; Clint Houston – bass; Billy Hart – drums) Stan Getz – Moments in Time – Resonance HCD 2020, 64:41 ****1/2: (Stan Getz – tenor sax; Joanne Brackeen – piano; Clint Houston – bass; Billy Hart – drums) In early 1962 Stan Getz helped bring bossa nova to mainstream American audiences with the Jazz Samba recording with guitarist Charlie Byrd. In March 1964, he furthered the bossa nova craze by bringing famed Brazilian guitarist Joao Gilberto and pianist/composer Antonio Carlos Jobim to New York City to record Getz/Gilberto. It became one of the best selling jazz albums of all time and featured “The Girl from Ipanema” sung by Joao’s wife, Astrud Gilberto. Its intoxicating sensual groove proved irresistible to American audiences. Getz soon returned to straight-ahead jazz as well as fusion, and recorded with Gary Burton, Chick Corea, and Bill Evans. In May 1975, Stan reunited with Gilberto to record The Best of Two Worlds. It was released in […]
“The Return” = Preludes of RACHMANINOFF, Works of BABAJANIAN – Raffi Besalyan, p. – Sono Luminus CD & audio-only Blu-ray
Riveting sound and brilliant performances add up to a most desirable set. “The Return” = RACHMANINOFF: Prelude Op. 3, No. 2 in C sharp minor; Prelude Op. 23, No. 5 in G minor; Prelude Op. 23, No. 6 in E flat major; Prelude Op. 23, No. 7 in C minor; Prelude Op. 23, No. 5 in G minor; Prelude Op. 23, No. 10 in G flat major; Prelude Op. 23, No. 12 in G sharp minor; Étude-Tableau, Op. 33, No. 6 in E flat minor (published as No. 3); Étude-Tableau, Op. 39, No. 1 in C minor; Étude-Tableau, Op. 39, No. 5 in E flat minor; Étude-Tableau, Op. 39, No. 6 in A minor; Variations on a theme of Corelli, Op. 42; ARNO BABAJANIAN: Prelude; Melody and Humoresque; Elegy; Vagarshapat Dance – Raffi Besalyan, piano – Sono Luminus DSL-92187, 65:42 (CD + audio-only Blu-ray – 5.1 & 7.1 DTS, 2.0 PCM with FLAC and MP3 files downloadable) *****: I had no idea that such a powerhouse pianist as Raffi Besalyan worked so close to me. Just downtown from where I live, as Assistant Professor of Piano at Georgia State University, resides this technical wiz and bold Rachmaninoff master. On the […]
![TIPPETT: Symphony No 2* [ world première]; BLISS: Short works – Boult/Bliss – Pristine Audio](https://www.audaud.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/TippettBliss.jpg)
TIPPETT: Symphony No 2* [ world première]; BLISS: Short works – Boult/Bliss – Pristine Audio
An intriguing collection of English Music from both sides of the coin. TIPPETT: Symphony No. 2* [ world première]; BLISS: Welcome The Queen – March; March from ‘Things to Come’; Checkmate (excerpts); Theme and Cadenza for violin and orchestra; Overture: Edinburgh / BBC SO / Sir Adrian Boult*/ BBC Concert Orch. / Sir Arthur Bliss – Pristine Classical PASC460; 78:20 [www.pristineclassical.com] reviewed as a 24-bit download (24 & 16-bit download or CD-R available) ****1/2: Pristine Classical presents a very valuable Janus of a release, the two faces of which are clear from the contents. First we hear the world premiere, together with its unfortunate collapse early on the performance, of Sir Michael Tippett’s knotty and energetic Second Symphony, and then some of the urbane Sir Arthur Bliss’s music on the lighter side. Widely differing music by widely differing composers make for an intriguing combination and a successful one. Sir Michael Tippett was inspired for his athletic and boldly rhythmic Second Symphony by the insistent rhythms of music by Vivaldi to which he was listening, captivated, while on holiday by the shores of Lake Lugano in the early 1950s. It took some years for the inspiration to gestate and assume the […]
“Tavener Conducts Tavener” – Cappella Nova/ Alan Tavener – Linn
A Tavener tribute of substance and compelling emotion. “Tavener Conducts Tavener” – Cappella Nova/ Alan Tavener – Linn CKD 539, 74 min. [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Cappella Nova has a long association with the music of the late John Tavener (2013), and so this tribute album is bookended with music from the very first composition they commissioned from him, Resurrection. Conductor Alan Tavener is a relation, but not close, though he seems to have an innate understanding of this music that only a close relative could! Cappella sings everything here with endearment and understanding. In fact this is as fine a compilation of Tavener’s music as I have heard, and there are many. He was an uneven composer; at his best, as in many of the smaller choral works, The Protecting Veil, and in my opinion his finest piece, The Veil of the Temple, his music approached the sublime. At the other end it often felt as if he were on autopilot, or at best unsure of his direction. Spiritually towards the end of his life this same dilemma plagued him, though he professed to remain an Orthodox Christian. His influence however, is not in doubt. Just listening to the […]
Ken Peplowski – Enrapture – Capri
Ken Peplowski – Enrapture – Capri 74141-2, 53:27 ****: The band has tons of experience and each of the players knows how to connect with each other for a harmonic musical experience. (Ken Peplowski – clarinet, tenor saxophone; Ehud Asherie – piano; Martin Wind – bass; Matt Wilson – drums, percussion) Finding a musical “hook” in today’s crowded CD releases is no easy matter. However it appears that Ken Peplowski has done so with his release Enrapture. By bringing together a set-list of mostly lesser-known numbers, from a diverse group of composers, he and his cohorts have found a musical story worthy of telling. Opening with a 1940s composition from Duke Ellington entitled “The Flaming Sword” the Latin-flavoured number is done in an up-tempo fashion with Peplowski featured on clarinet that is perfectly suited to the theme of the tune. Drummer Wilson lays down the intricate rhythm necessary to move the song along, and pianist Ahud Asherie acquits himself with style. In 1957, Leo McCarey directed An Affair To Remember , a love story starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. The title tune was sung over the opening credits by Vic Damone. Here it is done as mid-tempo ballad with […]
Audio News for February 23, 2016
Corsair VOID Brings Surround to Gaming Audio on Top Platforms; Epson Moverio Smart Glasses Use OLED Technology; Its Own Streaming Video Service Could Help Apple; Does Google’s $35 Chromecast Audio Still Deliver?
“1615, Gabrieli in Venice” – Choir of King’s College, Cambridge/ His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts/ Stephen Cleobury – King’s College SACD + Blu-ray
A good place to start if you are an audiophile and don’t know this composer. Are there any out there? “1615, Gabrieli in Venice” – Choir of King’s College, Cambridge/ His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts/ Stephen Cleobury – King’s College multichannel SACD + audio-only Blu-ray KGS0012 (2 discs), 73:10 [Distr. by Naxos] ****: The only thing I wish is that these albums about Gabrieli in Venice were actually recorded there! Just like E. Power Biggs used to do in his Columbia series. But King’s College, though far from the acoustics of St. Marks in Venice, is no slouch, and so this new SACD + Blu-ray disc proves a sonic spectacular indeed. In fact the choir was arranged to give the maximum impression of how this music might have sounded in the revered church itself, and the surround effects—with in Blu-ray or SACD—are extremely effective. [Remember St. Mark’s is all mosaics inside and perhaps not the best acoustic environment…Ed] Of course the music here is taken from the 1615 collection Symphoniæ sacræ, that seminal publication that looks backward to the brilliant polychoral style as well to the more mature motets. And the good news is that most of this music, for […]
“Bach & Beyond, Part 2” = BACH: Sonata No. 1 in g, BWV 1001; Partita No. 1 in b, BWV 1002; BARTOK: Solo Violin Sonata, Sz. 117; SAARIAHO: Frises – Jennifer Koh, v. – Cedille
This second installment is every bit as engrossing as the first! “Bach & Beyond, Part 2” = BACH: Sonata No. 1 in g, BWV 1001; Partita No. 1 in b, BWV 1002; BARTOK: Solo Violin Sonata, Sz. 117; SAARIAHO: Frises – Jennifer Koh, v. – Cedille CDR 90000 154 (2 discs), 91:18 [Distr. by Naxos] *****: I still remember Jennifer Koh’s first recordings years ago—she was being hyped as one of the finest young virtuosos ever to hit the scene, and though it took a while for her to become well known—largely because the recording industry was in transition—she has now entrenched herself among the finest players in the world, and Cedille is lucky to have her in the stable at the moment. Koh is one of the most passionate players I have ever heard, but her playing is never—repeat, never—out of control. No matter how emotive any particular moment happens to be, the unflagging technical perfection and perfect intonation remains intact. This makes her Bach particularly interesting, as I can only describe it as a combination of Grumiaux’s elegance, Szeryng’s technical finesse, and Joshua Bell’s passion. If I still prefer Lara St. John’s more unbuttoned approach to this music […]
Lydia Mordkovitch Tribute – British Violin Concertos = Works of BAX, BLISS, DYSON & VEALE – Chandos (2 CDs)
Chandos celebrates the late Lydia Mordkovitch, assembling her stunning performances of rare British concertos. Lydia Mordkovitch Tribute – British Violin Concertos = BAX: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra; BLISS: Concerto for Violin and Orch.; DYSON: Violin Concerto; VEALE: Violin Concerto – Lydia Mordkovitch, v./ London Philharmonic Orch./ Bryden Thomson/ BBC Nat. Orch. of Wales/ BBC Sym. Orch./ City of London Sinfonia/ Richard Hickox – Chandos CHAN 241-53 (2 CDs) 78:39, 77:36 (7/15/15) [Distrib. by Naxos] ****: Chandos celebrates the artistry of the late Lydia Mordkovitcxh (1944-2014), the Russian violinist who had served as David Oistrakh’s assistant before emigrating to Israel (in 1974) and then to Great Britain in 1980. Besides having been voted Outstanding Woman of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, Mordkovitch became a Professor and Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music and a founding artist for Chandos Records. The British concertos inscribed here derive from sessions of 1991-2006. The Violin Concerto of Sir Arnold Bax (1938, rev. 1943) had been meant for Jascha Heifetz, but that virtuoso expressed his disappointment with the solo part. Rewriting the work for Eda Kersey, Bax found his long-awaited premiere from her and Sir Henry Wood with the BBC Symphony. The Concerto’s […]
FISCHER TULL: 7 works + interview with composer – Keystone Wind Ens. – Klavier
Fischer Tull is a man whose music is definitely worth exploring. FISCHER TULL: Terpsichore; Prelude and Double Fugue; Concerto for Piano and Wind Ensemble; Cryptic Essay; Jargon; Accolade; Sketches on a Tudor Psalm; Interview with Composer – Keystone Wind Ens./ Jack Stamp – Klavier K11207, 79:37 [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Fisher Mickey Tull (1934-94) is not a name that rings a bell for most music fans, but for those in the know, or those who were involved in the school band program after 1965 the name stands as an icon for all that is good and true and noble in the production of a certain kind of twentieth century music. Although his catalog is rather small due to an early death, his compositions for orchestra, band, and chamber ensemble are pretty much equal in number, about 80 total. But it is his band music that continues to live on, and his tonal-oriented excursions into medieval and renaissance forms coupled with a high rhythmic energy and fluent contrapuntal skill make every work he penned an adventure in the utmost compositional craftsmanship. This new disc, containing a number of lesser played works (but still as good as they get) is a rich […]
CAROLA BAUCKHOLT: Need to talk to friends – Cikada Ensemble – 2L Pure Audio Blu-ray + SACD + downloads
CAROLA BAUCKHOLT: Ich muß mit Dir reden (Need to talk to friends) – Cikada Ensemble – 2L Pure Audio Blu-ray 2L-116-SABD + multichannel SACD, 54:20 – DTS-HD MA 192kHz/24 bit 5.1 & PCM stereo, mShuttle: stereo FLAC 96kHz + MP3 – (2/26/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: A haunting electronic score with superb sonics. This disc is a collection of contemporary music by composer Carola Bauckholt. Played by the Cikada Ensemble which has gained a reputation far beyond the boundaries of Scandinavia as a special ensemble for contemporary music, as well as for projects at the nexus of composition and improvisation. Its repertoire includes works for electrically amplified string quartet, as well as works which combine acoustic string sound and live electronics. The quartet also often works in unorthodox instrumental combinations such as quintet with accordion. The quartet’s core repertoire includes major works from the second half of the 20th century by composers such as Kaija Saariaho, Rolf Wallin, Luigi Nono, Iannis Xenakis, Toshio Hosokawa, and James Dillon as well as collaborations with musicians across genres such as Annette Peacock, Steve Swallow and Trygve Seim. Ms. Bauckholt was born in Krefeld, West Germany. She worked at the theater at the Marienplatz […]
Cowboys & Frenchmen – Rodeo – Outside In Music
Jazz influenced by cinema, geography and youthful zeal. Cowboys & Frenchmen – Rodeo [TrackList follows] – Outside In Music 1502, 52:42 [11/4/15] ***1/2: (Ethan Helm – alto saxophone, flute, clarinet; Owen Broder – alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet; Chris Ziemba – piano; Ethan O’Reilly – bass; Matt Honor – drums) Jazz musicians are influenced by other jazz artists. Filmmakers are inspired by other movie directors. But the world being what it is there are numerous facets which can motivate someone to create. For example, there is the New York City jazz quintet, Cowboys & Frenchmen. The group’s name comes from a David Lynch 1988 short film called The Cowboy and The Frenchman. On the band’s 52-minute debut, Rodeo, Cowboys & Frenchmen combine original material with unexpected covers by the Beatles and from the folk/country field. Some pieces represent musical portraits of European landscapes, while others allude to Buddhism. Cowboys & Frenchmen consists of multi-horn players Ethan Helm (alto saxophone, flute, and clarinet) and Owen Broder (alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet); pianist Chris Ziemba; bassist Ethan O’Reilly; and drummer Matt Honor. Co-leader Broder has performed with Trio Globo, and the Gil Evans Project. Ziemba, Honor and the other co-leader, Helm, were […]
Pacific Harp Project = Works of Grandjany, Debussy, Ravel, Liszt & others – The Pacific Harp Project
Pacific Harp Project = MARCEL TOURNIER: Sonatine; MEGAN BLEDSOE WARD: Revenge of the Harpies; Portrait; Willow Waltz; Serafina; MARCEL GRANDJANY: Rhapsodie; CLAUDE DEBUSSY: Danse Sacree et Profane; MAURICE RAVEL; Introduction and Allegro; FRANZ LISZT: Un Sospiro; ALLAN WARD: First Take; Incognito – The Pacific Harp Project (Megan Bledsoe Ward, harp/Noel Okimoto, vibes/Jon Hawes, bass/Allan Ward, drums) – Pacific Harp Project, 60:00, (12/04/15) ***1/2: Very innovative combo and some delightful tunes. The Pacific Harp Project is mainly the brain child of harpist Megan Bledsoe Ward and husband and drummer Allan Ward. Their idea is simple and yet so refreshingly clever; to seek out or create new avenues for harp in a chamber setting – which is largely solo harp and rhythm section. This concept may sound rather weird but the results are pretty entertaining. We get some arrangements of harp “standards” performed by the Wards that includes pieces most non-harpists know, such as the positively ethereal Danses Sacree et Profane of Debussy and the equally rapturous Introduction and Allegro of Ravel. (I happen to love both those pieces.) These combo renditions, only slightly “jazzed up”, work quite well and are beautiful in any guise. We also get a few transcriptions and […]
“At the Far Edge” = DANIEL ASIA : Symphony #1; Symphony No. 4; At the Far Edge – New Zealand Sym. Orch. / James Sedares – Summit + catalogue
“At the Far Edge” = DANIEL ASIA : Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 4; At the Far Edge – New Zealand Sym. Orch. / James Sedares – Summit + catalogue – DCD 256, 61:57 (2/15/00) ***: Interesting contemporary compositions but an uneven recording. This very listenable disc from Summit Records is not a new release, but rather one from 2000. Why they sent an older release for review is a mystery (perhaps it’s a re-release?), but it’s a fine set of performances, so I have no complaint. I wanted to raise the issue of this old release up front. Daniel Asia is an American composer, born in Seattle, and he is now head of the composition Department at the University of Arizona at Tucson. He was formerly on the faculty at Oberlin. There are three works on this disc, his Symphony No. 1, the Symphony No. 4 and a single movement composition, At the Far Edge. The Symphony No. 1 (1987) is a work for large orchestra. It’s derived from a Piano Sonata written earlier by Asia. Of the two symphonies offered, it is the more ‘classical’ in tone and structure, although it consists of five movements. The Symphony No. […]
KUHLAU: Piano Quartets 1 & 2 – Copenhagen Piano Q. – DaCapo
If you think Kuhlau is simply all about flighty flute music, you’ll be in for a big surprise here. KUHLAU: Piano Quartet No. 1 in c, Op. 32; No. 2 in A, Op. 50 – Copenhagen Piano Quartet – DaCapo multichannel SACD 6.220596, 72:44 [Distr. by Naxos] ****: It’s odd how the one-eyed German who adored Beethoven more than anyone else became one of Denmark’s most admired composers. He was nonconformist to the extreme, loved his drink and his smokes, avoided the cliquish inner circles of Copenhagen (where much of his support came from), and was offered Danish citizenship and the post of Royal Court Musician. He was also a terrific pianist. Though most today know him by the somewhat pejorative title of “Beethoven of the flute” since he wrote so much music for an instrument that enjoyed enormous popularity at the time. In fact his operas and other chamber works make for an impressive expanse of creativity in many genres, of exceptional quality. Such is the case of the first two of his three Piano Quartets, written rather closely together despite the divergence in opus numbers. In fact, the Second Piano Quartet was written at the same time as […]
HENRY KIMBALL HADLEY: 6 Works – BBC Concert Orch./ Rebecca Miller – Dutton Epoch
HENRY KIMBALL HADLEY: Scherzo Diabolique; Salome; Cleopatra’s Night; Othello Overture; San Francisco; The Enchanted Castle – BBC Concert Orch./Rebecca Miller – Dutton Epoch CDLX 7319 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi], 78:16, (9/11/15) ***: Pleasant enough and somewhat obscure but just not that interesting. Henry Kimball Hadley was an early twentieth century American composer from Boston who studied under George Whitefield Chadwick and who became fairly popular and respected in his time. Hadley and others in this time and place were writing music that sought, mainly, to be at least the equal of anything that Europe was producing at the time; such as the works of Elgar, Dukas, Finzi, et al. However – albeit a sign of the times – therein lies the problem when trying to assimilate these works into a collective listening experience. Each of these works makes for pleasant listening; at best charming and at least, nothing too ‘strange’ or tough on the ears. However, there are heavy strains of other composers such as Elgar, Dukas and the “Boston Six” and even early Richard Strauss that echo throughout but minus anything truly captivating or original to garner our lasting attention. We have themes or concepts on the timeless subjects […]
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto; Symphony No. 5 – Ruggiero Ricci, v./ New Sym. Orch./ BBC Sym. Orch. (Op. 64)/ Sir Malcolm Sargent – Guild
Vintage Sir Malcolm Sargent renditions of two Tchaikovsky staples, which according to your taste may prove exceptional. TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35; Symphony No. 5 in e minor, Op. 64 – Ruggiero Ricci, v./ New Sym. Orch./ BBC Sym. Orch. (Op. 64)/ Sir Malcolm Sargent – Guild GHCD 2425, 78:56 [Distr. By Albany] ****: Sir Malcolm Sargent (1895-1967) had long proved a strong advocate for the music of Tchaikovsky, so in 1950 Decca arranged for him and Ruggiero Ricci (1918-2012) to record what would become the first LP version of the Violin Concerto to be issued in Europe. Given the burnished tone of Ricci’s 1734 Guarneri del Gesu instrument, the Concerto certainly has its moments of sweet bravura. While the scale of Sargent’s performance seems less grand than say, Ormandy’s, and less ferociously intense than that of Mitropoulos, the streamlined affection – among the faster of first movement renditions – remains palpable. Ricci treats the first movement cadenza strictly like an extended Paganini caprice, rife with slides, spiccati, and brilliant changes of register with double stops. I remain skeptical about the cuts that he and Sargent take for the first movement and the third, while I […]
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
