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Post by egoodstein on Apr 13, 2014 15:49:20 GMT -5
Rather tired today for a variety of reasons, so somewhat chilling out as much as possible. . . Listening to Helen Forrest some-- by chance it was her b. day April 12 ('17-d. 99) : Also early this AM to gentle, but intense/haunting in its own way new folk/improv album by a couple of Norwegian gals: hardanger fiddle player Benedicte Maurseth and singer Asne Valland Nordli, 'Over Tones': album promo : Here's Nordli from early project she did, a more folk song:
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Post by erik on Apr 17, 2014 17:33:59 GMT -5
Revisiting a superb DG collection of Ravel's best-known works, including the ultimate 20th century musical experiment, "Bolero", with a baton-free Pierre Boulez conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Post by erik on Apr 25, 2014 22:42:55 GMT -5
Tift Merritt's second album Tambourine, from 2004, which built on her 2002 Linda/Emmylou-influenced debut album Bramble Rose with some Memphis/Muscle Shoals R&B influences. Richard Strauss from an expert, namely Herbert Blomstedt, in this 1995 recording, his final one as the music director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (he is now the orchestra's Conductor Laureate). The comical "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" is included alongside the metaphysical tone poems "Also Sprach Zarathustra" and "Death And Transfiguration."
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Post by erik on May 1, 2014 17:37:10 GMT -5
On the classical side: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg performs not only Mendelssohn's hugely popular E Minor Violin Concerto, but also two short works for violin and orchestra by Camille Saint-Saens (Havanaise; Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso), and the Meditation from the opera "Thais" by Jules Massenet. Gerard Schwarz conducts the New York Chamber Symphony Orchestra. Irish pianist John O'Conor takes to Mozart with his performances of the 19th and 23rd concertos, as well as the Rondo In A Major for piano and orchestra. The late Sir Charles Mackerras, no slouch at Mozart either, conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. On the pop side: The 2003 album High Dive by Maria McKee, who for my money is among the most unfairly overlooked female singers of the last forty years. This album is far removed from what some might expect from the former lead singer of Lone Justice (but then so was What's New when it came to Linda). Legendary jazz-rock fusion keyboardist Herbie Hancock's 1973 album Sextant may have a grand total of three tracks on it, each of which are extremely elongated, but it remains a consistently interesting album even after more than four decades (IMHO).
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Post by erik on May 6, 2014 19:22:11 GMT -5
From his final decade as this orchestra's music director, Eugene Ormandy leads the Philadelphia Orchestra in one of the ultimate sonic blockbusters, Gustav Holst's immortal "The Planets', but also tempers it with two works by Ralph Vaughan-Williams that spotlight the orchestra's vaunted string section, the "Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis" and "Fantasia On Greensleeves."
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Post by egoodstein on May 6, 2014 23:14:59 GMT -5
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Post by robertaxel on May 9, 2014 13:30:48 GMT -5
I'll have what she's having!.. A Dutch video where the singers seem to really... umm.. enjoy themselves....
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Post by egoodstein on May 11, 2014 11:34:08 GMT -5
Hard to follow that one Robert posted! Listening this AM to standards album 'When the World Was Young' by Mary Ellen Tanner, a singer from Cincinnati. Well known there if not elsewhere & well-regarded by peers like Rosie Clooney, whom she resembles a bit, & others: Not on the album but a few nice YT's:
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Post by erik on May 12, 2014 18:54:21 GMT -5
Legendary cellist Heinrich Schiff joins Andre Previn and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on this recording, made at UCLA's Royce Hall in April 1989, of two very late works by Sergei Prokofiev: the fiendishly challenging Sinfonia-Concertante for cello and orchestra; and the Symphony No. 7 (sometimes referred to as the "Youth" symphony, since the composer dedicated it to the youth of the world). Neither one of these works is heard every day of the week; and after listening to this, you'll probably ask yourself why. As a sidenote: Prokofiev had the sad misfortune of dying on March 5, 1953, the same day as Joseph Stalin--and unfortunately, the Russian people mourned Stalin more than they did one of the greatest composers their country had produced since Tchaikovsky!
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Post by erik on May 26, 2014 17:29:42 GMT -5
Memorial Day edition (both music scioes by John Williams):
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Post by egoodstein on May 26, 2014 19:12:11 GMT -5
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Post by erik on Jun 2, 2014 18:22:03 GMT -5
Mahler's immortal Symphony No. 1, the Titan Symphony, in a 1972 recording by the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam led by its Conductor Laureate, Bernard Haitink.
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Post by egoodstein on Jun 2, 2014 21:24:28 GMT -5
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Post by erik on Jul 3, 2014 18:49:12 GMT -5
The first is a great recording of Stravinsky's 1928 ballet "Apollo" (which I reviewed in the Classical Works Spotlight #288 on June 28th), paired with the composer's Symphony No. 1, with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra led by their Conductor Laureate Antal Dorati (a recording made in 1981). The second is Sir Colin Davis' 1984 recording of four Mozart symphonies (30, 31, 32, and 33) with the Dresden State Orchestra; this CD's recording of W.A. Mozart's 30th will be reviewed in the Classical Works Spotlight on July 5th).
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Post by egoodstein on Jul 4, 2014 1:05:51 GMT -5
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Post by erik on Jul 15, 2014 18:47:28 GMT -5
This day, July 15, 2014, it's all about Linda, who is celebrating her 68th birthday.
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Post by egoodstein on Jul 16, 2014 9:12:14 GMT -5
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Post by jhar26 on Aug 1, 2014 13:10:16 GMT -5
Been listening to this surprisingly 'hip' and 'urban' soul-ish album from Whitney. It would be a stretch to call it a masterpiece because it runs out of steam in the second half. Even so, I like hearing her in this context. Speaking about Whitney "in general" - I've always had a love/hate thing going with her. I am absolutely in awe of her talent. Going on talent and potential alone she's truly one of the all time greats imo. I can't believe how good she is/could be actually. She TRULY IS "the voice." But than I hear those records...... Often such weak material and the production is so oppressive, devoid of anything human, so glossy - it sucks all soul out of her, and she has soul imo. We're just not allowed to hear it because she and/or those around her were too obsessed with record sales. Having said that, her debut album is great in that it's the best possible album of this type imo. And I also sorta like the above one for different reasons. But as for the rest (leaving aside a track here or there)....poor Whitney. Still, even her worst is still better than Mariah's or Celine's best imo.
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Post by erik on Aug 1, 2014 17:00:24 GMT -5
The urge for movie soundtracks strikes again for me: A most underappreciated film composer, Jerry Fielding, with one of his best, the soundtrack to English director Michael Winner's first US film, the terribly underrated 1971 psychological western LAWMAN. There are some indications of jazz influences in the score (and this for a Western!), and much of it is in minor keys, underlining the dark nature of the film. The collaborative relationship between master filmmaker Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams reached another apex in 2005 with the score for this movie, a dark look at the aftermath of the 1972 killing of eleven Israel athletes by the Black September terrorist group at the Summer Olympics in Munich, and Israel's response to it. As with Williams' score for SCHINDLER'S LIST twelve years earlier, many elements of Jewish music abound in the score.
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Post by egoodstein on Aug 2, 2014 12:32:07 GMT -5
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Post by erik on Aug 14, 2014 17:40:28 GMT -5
I'm normally not a fan of period instrument performances (I often refer to their rushed tempos as being of the kind in which the performers are in a hurry to get to a fire sale); but this is a recording that works better than most, with one of the newest classical superstars, British trumpet player Alison Balsom, performing on a trumpet of the period, the royal music of both Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel, including Purcell's "King Arthur" and "The Fairy Queen", and Handel's "Water Piece In D", with conductor Trevor Pinnock and his English Concert.
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Post by egoodstein on Aug 14, 2014 19:18:23 GMT -5
I like that Sound the Trumpet album, & Balsom in general (what I've heard anyway). I do like a fair number of 'authentic instrument/historically informed/early music' recordings too though. Today listening to new fine chamber jazz one 'Touch of Radiance' by Russian pianist (now living in No. Carolina), Yelena Eckemoff w. cool quintet. Here's promo: Also, earlier working through Quartetto Italiano box set of Beethoven String Quartets, which I recently picked up for bargain $25 for 10 records. Cool/elegant-- their box of Mozart Quartets is probably my fave collection. & this real nice too, esp. at that price . Here they are playing very late, complex Beethoven op. 132 concerto in A Minor-- whole thing!: Pop-- most recent enjoying Texas country singer Sunny Sweeney's new Provoked album. Lot of production but she manuevers pretty well round it. A couple from it: Bad Girl Phase: Backhanded Compliment:
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Post by erik on Sept 15, 2014 19:07:54 GMT -5
The complete cycle of the Rachmaninoff piano concertos, plus the ever-popular "Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini", from the mid-1980s, with Hungarian-born pianist Zoltan Kocsis at the keyboard, and Edo De Waart conducting the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The added bonus here is Mr. Kocsis' solo piano adaptation of the composer's famous work "Vocalise."
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Post by egoodstein on Sept 16, 2014 0:05:37 GMT -5
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Post by Kathy ~ on Oct 7, 2014 19:36:36 GMT -5
Lady - off 24k gold by Stevie Nicks.
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