Houston Archive
RESPIGHI: Roman Trilogy – Texas Music Festival Orch./ Franz Anton Krager – HDTT
RESPIGHI: Roman Trilogy – Roman Festivals; The Fountains of Rome; The Pines of Rome / Texas Music Festival Orch./ Franz Anton Krager – 5.0, 24 bit/192k high-res digital with a 2.0 version – DTS-HD MA recorded live in public concert 11 June 2016 in the Moores Opera House, University of Houston by John G. Proffitt – HDTT ***1/2: A fine performance of these familiar works with a stunning surround audiophile production. It’s always nice to get a new recording of these three orchestral showpieces, and getting a fine surround recording is a real plus. This Blu-ray audio disc from the folks at High Definition Tape Transfers is a new recording, from June of 2016. HDTT has made its reputation with remastering of older recordings on prerecorded tape (and lately off actual older vinyls), but they seem to be moving toward adding brand new recordings, and that is to be applauded. The Texas Music Festival Orchestra is in fact a youth orchestra, but don’t let that put you off. They do the Respighi proud. It’s hard to believe this is a non-professional group. And the Respighi can trip up any professional player, especially in some of the horn solos, which are […]
DVORAK: Sym. No. 6 in D Major; 2 Slavonic Dances – Houston Sym. Orch./ Andres Orozco-Estrada – Pentatone
A nicely recorded and persuasive performance. DVORAK: Symphony No. 6 in D Major, Op. 60; 2 Slavonic Dances, Opus 72, No. 3, Opus 46, No. 8 – Houston Sym. Orch./ Andres Orozco-Estrada – Pentatone multichannel SACD PTC 5186 575 [Distr. by Naxos] ****: There really isn’t any kind of consensus on the best recordings of the Dvorak Sixth. Written in response to a Vienna commission by Hans Richter after the wild success of the Slavonic Dances, the 1880 work has served as the Cinderella to the more famous stepsisters of Symphonies 7, 8, and 9. That’s unfortunate, because the piece is as fresh and charming as one could ask for, not as “profound” as the subsequent issues—though that term doesn’t really fit Dvorak in general—but full of ingratiating and fully lyrical impulses of gratifying propensity. My favorites are Kertesz and Kubelik, and until now, Colin Davis’ remake for LSO Live (SACD). But hearing the Davis now makes him seem rather lackluster, and LSO Live had not yet perfected the rather boxy sound that makes so many of their live issues sound like concert-in-the-park recordings under a closed acoustical shell. Enter Orozco-Estrada, with a renewed perspective and high energy content, and […]
MAHLER: Symphonies 2, 8 & 10 – Wyn Morris – HDTT (2 audio-only Blu-rays)
Three Mahler symphonies in hi-res sound and recent recordings on Blu-ray audio-only. GUSTAV MAHLER: Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand”; Symphony No. 10 (Deryck Cooke version) – 2016 – High Definition Tape Transfers Blu-ray stereo ****: GUSTAV MAHLER: Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” – 2016 – High Definition Tape Transfers Blu-ray 5.0 surround and 2.0 stereo ****: The first of these SATA has little technical information, but features the Symphonica of London conducted by Wyn Morris with the New Philharmonia Chorus, Brucker-Mahler Choir of London, Ambrosian Singers, The Orpington Jr. Singers, the Highgate School Choir and the Finchley Children’s Music Group. This strange Mahler symphony opens with the glorious Veni Creator Spiritus, and then goes to the three movements from Goethe’s Faust, with a stultifying number of soloists in the various parts of the opera about Faust and the Devil. A number of different arrangers have had their hand at completion of the Tenth Symphony of Mahler, and many orchestras perform just the first movement, since that was the closest to Mahler’s intention at the time. However, the indefatigable Deryck Cooke has produced a full-length performing version of the Tenth, which is heard here, played by the New Philharmonia Orchestra […]
BACH: Cantatas 131, 147, 35; Prelude in c; CPE BACH: Magnificat – The Bach Choir and Orch. Houston/ Rick Erickson/ Sigurd Melvaer Øgaard, organ cont./ soloists – HDTT
Want to remember why you so love Bach? Just listen to this. BACH: Cantatas 131, 147, 35; Prelude in c, BWV 546/I; CPE BACH: Magnificat, Wq 215 – The Bach Choir and Orch. Houston/ Rick Erickson/ Sigurd Melvaer Øgaard, organ cont./ Jennifer Lane, mezzo (in Solo Cantata 35) – HDTT 5.0 24/192 (2015) & 2.0 24/192 DTS-HD MA audio-only Blu-ray, 129:47 *****: First of all there is a lot of confusion on this disc and the information provided on the HDTT website that they should clear up. The cover to this disc says it is a 24/96k resolution disc in 5.0 surround sound and stereo. The disc itself is imprinted with the same information, as is the website. However, the notes inside the disc say it is a 24/192k resolution in 4.0 surround and stereo. Based on previous releases I am assuming this is indeed a 192k disc, and I can affirm that there is stereo, and that the surround sound is indeed five-channel. The web notes also indicate that this category is “Baroque – modern instruments”, though this ensemble in the disc notes makes a big deal in saying “the most significant development has been the shift to the […]
BRUCKNER: Sym. No. 9 arr. for 2 Pianos & Mass No. 3 – HDTT audio-only Blu-rays
Two newly-recorded Bruckner items in hi-res surround on Blu-ray. ANTON BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 9 in d arr. for Two Pianos – Till Alexander Korber & Reinhold Puri-Jobi, pianos – HDTT 4-channel 24/192 (2015) DTS-HD MA audio-only Blu-ray ****: ANTON BRUCKNER: Mass No. 3 in f – Cynthia Clayton sop./ Melanie Sonnenberg, mezzo/ Joseph Evans, tenor/ Timothy Jones, bass-bari./ Sigurd Ogaard, pipe organ/Houston Sym. Chorus/Moores School Sym./ Franz Anton Krager – HDTT 5-channel 24/96 DTS-HD MA audio-only Blu-ray, TT: 1:18:43 ****: Considering the orchestral impact of most of the Bruckner symphonies, to reduce the immense sonics, including major crescendos, of the full orchestra to just two pianos in an arrangement seems a bit unneeded. However, this live public concert (just recorded by John Proffitt last year at Stift St. Florian in Austria) by the two pianists does stress the clarity of Bruckner’s themes and counter-themes and shows that he really poured everything he had into his Ninth Symphony – which he worked on up to and including the day of his death. A German author and critic, Karl Grunsky (who died in 1943) transcribed all nine of Bruckner’s great symphonies for two pianos, and this is the last of them. This […]
Rothko Chapel – Works of ERIK SATIE, MORTON FELDMAN, CAGE – Kim Kashkashian/ Sarah Rothenberg/ Steven Schick – ECM New Series
A maddening very contemporary session unless you’re heavily into Feldman.
![Chris Cortez – Top Secret [TrackList follows] – Blue Bamboo Music](https://www.audaud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/CortezChris.jpg)
Chris Cortez – Top Secret [TrackList follows] – Blue Bamboo Music
Guitarist Chris Cortez: no secrets here, he’s an overt devotee of swinging jazz tradition.
* “here/after songs of lost voices” = HEGGIE: Camille Claudel: Into the Fire; Pieces of 9/11: Memories from Houston; Soliloquy; Friendly Persuasions: Homage to Poulenc; Rise & Fall; A Question of Light; Fury of Light – Var. performers – Pentatone Classics (2 discs)
************* MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH *************
Heggie goes beyond himself in this unbelievably outstanding collection of vocal pieces.
Mao’s Last Dancer, Blu-ray (2009/2011)
A lovely and inspiring drama based on the true story of ballet dancer Li Cunxin.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
