Albert Brendel playing Schubert, Carlos Kleiber conducting the Vienna Philharmonic for Beethoven's 5th, and Sonny Rollins' Moving Out. Japanese mono reissue of Furtwangler conducting Beethoven's 3rd on deck.
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T_Bone, excellent listening session! The Carlos Kleiber recording is my favorite performance of the 5th - what a great LP. The past Saturday with friends, a very eclectic music free for all for the afternoon: Hank Mobley, Soul Station Eva Cassidy, Songbird Stravinsky, Firebird (Dorati) Ella Fitzgerald, Live in Berlin Louis Armstrong, Satchmo Plays King Oliver Holst, The Planets (Previn, of course :-)) Buddy Miles, A Message to the People Porcupine Tree (not sure which album) Laurinda Almeida, Virtuoso Guitar (45rpm D2D) Chet Baker, Picture of Heath ...and more. |
Bill Evans Trio "Bill Evans at Town Hall" (Verve UMV 2053) Japanese pressing Grofe "Grand Canyon Suite" Ormandy/Philadelphia (Columbia MS 6003) six eye Wei Li/Fei Song "Autumn Yearning Fantasia" (First Impression Music FIM LP 003) Dvorak "Cello concerto in B Minor, Opus 104" Dorati/LSO/Starker (Mercury SR90303) |
Albeniz "Suite Espanola, Op.47" Fruhbeck De Burgos/New Philharmonia (Super Analogue Disc KIJC 9144) Japanese pressing of the original Decca. Another wonderful recording by Kenneth Wilkinson David Gilmour "Live in Gdansk" Sides 2-5, (Columbia 88697344701 DC1) Nat "King" Cole "Penthouse Serenade" (Pure Pleasure Analogue PPAN T332) |
Hubert Parry, "Symphony No. 5", "Symphonic Variations", "Elegy for Brahms" - Boult/LPO - EMI ASD 3725 (another gorgeous large orchestra recording effort by the "two Christophers" EMI recording partnership: Christopher Bishop and Christoper Parker.) ... While the English composer Hubert Parry is often considered a composer "of relative insignificance,"* I find many of his works enjoyable if not intellectually challenging. I'm not sure I "get" the sprawling Sym 5, but it sure makes for wonderful sheets of symphonic sound. The Symphonic Variations and Elegy for Brahms, on the other hand, are very engaging works. I'd still choose the Lyrita SRCS48 recording of the Variations and Elegy for the even better recording quality from Kenneth Wilkinson, also with Boult conducting. Josquin Des Pres, "Missa Pange Lingua" - Peres/Ensemble Organum - Harmonia Mundi HMC 1239 - (The Ensemble Organum gets a most unusual choral blend of voices and textures. Well worth hearing in this recording of Missa Pange Lingua, one of the great pieces of choral music in the literature.) . |
Dvorak's "Piano Trio in F minor, op65" - The Jung Trio - Groove Note GRV 1043 (This is a new direct to disc, 45 rpm, recording, mastered by Bernie Grundman and produced by Ying Tan and Joe Harley. Mike Fremer's recent review is on target about the sound quality here. The recording and engineering superbly capture the instruments in a very realistic and natural soncis. Excellent performance by this young trio. Highly recommended - the listening partner liked it!) Sibelius, "Karelia Overture," "The Bard," and "Festivo" - Gibson/ScottishNO from 1967 on EMI HQS 1070 (yes, yes - nice performances and recording) Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du Printemps (Rite of Spring)" - Ansermet/OSR, London LL 1730 mono (a lean, taut, driving performance by Ansermet, with L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande's uniquely piquant timbre in the winds and astringency of the strings, this is a wonderful record. It also has a great album cover!) . |
Hmmm..., let's fix the link to that album cover from Stravinsky Rite of Spring, London LL 1730. |
Flight to Denmark, a jazz trio album by Duke Jordan, Ed Thigpen, and Danish bassist Mats Vinding, recorded in 1973 (Steeplechase Records RJ-6004). An elegant and simple trio album, well-recorded (though it's definitely a PIANO trio album rather than a jazz TRIO album. One of the best party-background-music-albums-I've-never-heard-but-I'd-love-the-disc records I own. And I''m using a recently obtained FR-7f cart which is magic with this kind of music. |
Jennifer Warnes, "Famous Blue Raincoat" - 45 rpm reissue ...I continue to be impressed with just how good this 45 rpm reissue sounds. Just a great mastering job by Bernie Grundman. These are going fast, so if you have any interest in an outstanding pressing of this music, act soon. Of course, if the music is not for you... . |
"The Thelonius Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall" - Mosaic MQ1-321 (Wow!! To think that the tapes of this live 1957 performance sat in the Library of Congress archives untouched and never released for over 40 years is just an amazing story unto itself. Notwithstanding the erroneous jacket credits duplicated from the CD cover, this LP is mastered from the original analog mastertapes and the sound quality is excellent. The interplay of Monk and Coltrane in this live setting is something to treasure! Highly recommended.) "Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz" Smithsonian P6 11891 - coming as primarily a classical music listener, I've been trying to learn more about jazz over these past half dozen years. This 6LP Smithsonian Collection has been on my shelf for a dozen years and I'm sorry not to have started working my way through its contents earlier. Listening to just one side at a time and reading the extensive materials in the enclosed booklet is serving as an excellent tutorial on the history of jazz and its development. Much of what I'm listening to elsewhere is making a lot more sense now. Ken Burns "History of Jazz" series -- OK, this is a DVD. But the photos, film clips, commentary and soundtracks are great for this jazz novice. I know this has been a controversial series among jazz cognoscenti, but it's serving as a great resource for me to gain context and some appreciation for the history of the music. . |
My sister in laws neighbor just gave me her old record collection. Many seem to never have been played: The Eagles Greatest Hits 71 -75 The Judds (great recording) Journey - Escape The Police - Ghost in the Machine There's a lot more, and a lot of it is crap, but after cleaning these, there are no pops, no scratches, nothing. It's a good Friday. |
Vivaldi "The Four Seasons, op 8" - Marco Fornaciari and the Fone Ensemble on Fone 007 (2LPs) - a muscular, full-tone performace with a "big sound" from this small ensemble, playing with just one instrument per part. This recording is very closely miked (albeit with all-tube microphones) and cut at a high level, with overload apparent periodically. I ended up raising my tracking force just a touch to help tame it. Overall, a very enjoyable performance that sounded delightfully "different" in this day of more demure HIP performances. Using Strativari, Guarneri and Amati instruments, the group gets a big, full and forceful presentation of this music that was a pleasure. I just wish the miking were not quite so close and that the LP cutting had not been at quite such a high level. Still, a keeper that I will come back to. |
Orlando Gibbons, "Fantaisies Royales" - Jordi Savall, viola da gamba; Christopher Coin, baroque violin; Sergi Casademunt, harpsichord and organ positif - Astree AS 43 (Renaissance chamber music at its best! Outstanding musicians captured in a superb recording by Astree that beautifully presents the nuance, timbre and tonal color of these period instruments.) . |
I love the story, Jim! The closest I can come at the moment is admitting to listening to "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in the summer time. I'm currently hooked on the 45 rpm reissue of this classic as re-mastered by Hoffman and Gray (Fantasy 8431-45, Analogue Productions). I have to listen to this after my wife has gone to bed. . |
I have recently acquired and listened the one-sided 45 RPM version of the Decca Mendelssohn in Scotland recording with Maag conducting reissued by Speakers Corner (thanks to Barry Konigsburg for showing me this disc). If this disc is any indication, I should be begging Speakers Corner to reissue more of their great Decca catalog in this format, much as I hate spending money on more versions of the same recording. It is a revelation in dynamics (micro as well as macro) and transparency compared with the good 33-1/3 rpm version. I generally dislike the 45 rpm pressings because of having to get up four times to hear a symphony, but some of the Speakers Corner Decca reissues (Rossini Overtures, Suite Espanola, and others featuring shorter, discrete pieces) would seem ideally suited for the format. |
Russ, I agree with you completely about this 45 rpm Speakers Corner reissue. It's a shame they didn't continue with more 45 rpm reissues from the Decca catalog because this one is certainly superb. For some reason I can't fathom, it got poor write-ups by some of the reviewers when it was originally issued and it didn't sell well. Kai Seeman (the force behind Speakers Corner) decided not to continue the experiment in 45s. Such a shame. I'd love to see more of the wonderful Decca catalog released in 45 rpm with the same care that went into this one. Not only is this one of the great Decca recordings and one of the great performances of this music, the sonics of the reissue place it firmly in the top tier of my orchestral LPs. I have recently acquired and listened the one-sided 45 RPM version of the Decca Mendelssohn in Scotland recording with Maag conducting reissued by Speakers Corner |
Rush, thanks for the scoop, I did not know the story behind the Speakers Corner 45s. I can understand the limited market for this product; as I said, I'm tired of buying multiple formats of the same recording, but after hearing it this was just too good to ignore. I cannot understand the bad reviews this record got; I can only attribute them to people whose listening priorities are not close to mine. The 45 prm version gets rid of so much of the muddiness and congestion that I hear on the 33-1/3 rpm version (partially a function of my vinyl rig, perhaps) that it's almost like listening to a completely different recording. |
My 12 year old wanted to hear it. Even though "Thriller" was released 15 years before she was born, it still has an impact. Kids of her generation like the title track. My soul remains intact and dedicated to the classical genre.... ;) The biggest selling LP of all time at 50 million copies, and after yesterday, likely to sell many, many more. |
We're just pulling on your chain, Joe. As I'm sure you know. ;-) Michael Jackson was a supreme entertainer. For all his personal tragedy, his accomplishments in the music industry are to be respected. Even I have a copy of Thriller (and "Off the Wall" and "Bad"). He's part of our late 20th C culture. |
What the hey, can't sleep tonight and I haven't posted in forever...and judging by the LP stack here, I guess I *have* been tearing up the turntable a bit the past couple of days. In no particular order (and somewhat selective, that is to say, if I wasn't totally diggin' it, or just a cut or two, I ain't listing it!): King Pleasure - "Mr. Jazz" (UA) Barney Kessel/Harold Land - "El Tigre" (Charlie Parker) Marvin Hamlisch - "The Swimmer" Soundtrack (Columbia) Phil Woods - "Greek Cooking" (Impulse!) Nelson Riddle - "Arranges & Conducts The 101 Strings" (Alshire) The Impressions - "The Never Ending Impressions" (ABC Paramount) The Bar-Kays - "Soul Finger" (Volt) The Yardbirds - "Little Games" (Epic) Betty Everett - "It's In His Kiss" (Vee Jay) Peter & Gordon - "Sing And Play The Hits Of Nashville Tennessee" (Capitol) Paul Odette/Hopkinson Smith - "Italian Lute Duets" (Seraphim) Lex Eisenhardt - Fernando Sor Guitar Music (Etcetera) Raymond Lefevre & Orchestra - "Soul Coaxing" (Kapp 4 Corners) James Brown & The Famous Flames - "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" (King) The Staccatos - "A Wild Pair" (Nimbus 9) Clark Terry/Bob Brookmeyer - "Tonight" (Mainstream) Ray Bryant - "Ray Bryant Trio" (New Jazz) Fred Neil - "Fred Neil" (Capitol) The Soulful Strings - "String Fever" (Cadet) Duke Ellington - "New Orleans Suite" (Atlantic) Jimmy Castor - "Hey Leroy" (Smash) The Barracudas - "Drop Out With The Barracudas" (Voxx) Joe Wilder Quartet - "Jazz From Peter Gunn" (Columbia) Shuggie Otis - "Inspiration Information" (Luaka Bop) William Bell - "Do Right Man" (Charly) Sinatra/Hefti - "And Swingin' Brass" (Reprise) Dizzy Gillespie - "Manteca" (Quintessence/Camden) |
Last night, a shoot out between the 45, 33 rpm issues of Sonny Rollins' "Saxophone Colossus" with the 15 ips Tape Project version. The tape is a mono transfer from the original analog masters and the piano is really recessed. It is almost as if the piano was not mic'd, but is picking up spill from other mics. Quite a different presentation from both LP pressings. On first two listens, I think I prefer the LP versions better. |