|
Post by erik on Jan 27, 2016 18:29:35 GMT -5
To mark the 260th birthday of one Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born on this day in 1756 in Salzburg, Austria: A pairing of two of Mozart's greatest piano concertos, #21 (with a slow movement that, because of its use in the 1967 Swedish film "Elvira Madigan", gave it its nickname), and the dark C Minor #24, with Robert Casadesus at the piano, and George Szell on the podium conducting the Cleveland Orchestra (vintage 1961): The final two symphonies of the composer, #40 in G Minor, and #41 in C Major (Jupiter), with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra led by Gerard Schwarz: And the work that Mozart was in the process of creating when he died a much-too-untimely early death, less than two months short of his 36th birthday--the Requiem In D Minor, which his pupil Franz Xaver Sussmayr helped to complete, here in a recording featuring a quartet of incredible vocal soloists, the Leipzig Radio Choir, and the Dresden State Orchestra under the direction of noted tenor vocalist Peter Schreier:
|
|
|
Post by profblues on Jan 28, 2016 11:54:11 GMT -5
courtesy of NPR 's First Listen. Lucinda Williams newest album "The Ghosts of Highway 20" www.npr.org/2016/01/27/464433522/first-listen-lucinda-williams-the-ghosts-of-highway-20First Listen: Lucinda Williams, 'The Ghosts Of Highway 20' Few roots-leaning songwriters have inspired such intense adoration, or as much emulation, as Lucinda Williams. Since her 1998 masterpiece Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, Williams has served as a template for many Americana hopefuls; if the bristly sensuousness of her songwriting voice is impossible to reproduce, plenty of followers have at least aspired to her leathery alt-country and blues-rock aesthetic and Southern Gothic scene-setting. It's worth noting that there seem to be just as many men as women among her acolytes. So often, male songwriters are the ones admired for playing the role of the wanderer, free to inscribe their visions on the landscape and cultivate or sever bonds of emotional attachment as they choose. Meanwhile, songwriting women have been defined by supposedly domesticated, softer and — more to the point — lesser concerns, their natural inclination presumed to be that of spinning slight wounds and worries into major melodramas. Through sheer stubbornness and devotion to her craft, Williams has always resisted such binaries, excelling at humid portraiture of people and places, but also cathartic emotional confrontation, all of which she's approached with primal urgency as she strains to exert her will over memories, feelings and fate. Witness the vehemence with which she once vowed to ditch a spirit-sapping lover and scour every town in her path until she recovered her joy. Williams' new 14-song set, The Ghosts Of Highway 20, is a road album of a sort, as well as a remarkable distillation of her writerly gifts. Traveling an old, familiar byway through the Deep South evidently conjured for her an array of images and impressions. The moony, ominous title track maps the connections between Williams' imagining of the past as a haunted domain and the ferocity of her songwriting voice. Concrete description of muggy days, "sweet coffee milk" and hellfire warnings lights her way into a clear-eyed appraisal of conflicted childhood experiences in the bittersweet reverie "Louisiana Song." Elsewhere, Williams pivots to obstinacy, as she purges her existential pain through devil-may-care, down-home blues ("Bitter Memory"), fantasizes about challenging the cruelness of death ("If My Love Could Kill") and insists upon romantic perseverance ("Can't Close The Door On Love"). Even at her most whimsical, as in the gentle pop-folk waltz "Place In My Heart," she accentuates the tenacity in her affection. "Even though you take my love for granted," she sings, her drawl dissolving into a brittle vibrato, "I'm pretty strong when I admit it. You might be surprised at what I can manage, so don't you ever forget." In the lyrics — all her own, with the exception of one co-write with her manager-husband Tom Overby, a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Factory," and an adaptation of an erotic exchange from Woody Guthrie's posthumous novel House Of Earth — Williams cultivates economy and startling directness, occasionally establishing and repeating a pattern until it passes from self-indulgence into an almost meditative space. Framing her songs is the ornate interplay of two very different guitarists who've contributed to her albums in the past: Bill Frisell, with his spiderwebbed, iridescent guitar figures, and the grittier but no less precise Greg Leisz, who co-produced this collection with Williams and Overby. After the guttural blues growling that pervaded her previous album (Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone) and some earlier recordings, Williams has circled back to a world-weary affect, a consciously burdened delivery style that emphasizes the emotional labor she's performing in her music. It's no wonder, really, that folks are willing to follow her down Southern back roads and into the visceral depths of desire. you can hear all of the tracks by clicking on the link and then the links to each track
|
|
|
Post by egoodstein on Jan 29, 2016 13:56:35 GMT -5
I'll def. check the new LW when time-- sounds intriguing. I love those Casadesus/Szell recordings of Mozart piano concertos: musical magic for me . Today: German pianist Matthias Kirschnerheit playing Handel Concertos (transcribed from organ works) . Dee-liteful! Also listening to new one from Nashville (orig. Houston) 'pop/art song' singer/songwriter Brooke Waggoner, 'Sweven'. 1st impressions: not as experimental as her 'Go Easy Young Doves' from c10, but pretty cool:
|
|
|
Post by egoodstein on Jan 29, 2016 14:02:33 GMT -5
Also, queued up for later today: '13 one of mixed material by cabaret/B'way singer Judy Kuhn, All this Happiness, from '13, & and one from '07 just catching up to of Delta Saxophone Quartet album of Soft Machine tunes ('Dedicated to You. . . But You Weren't Listening'-- great title of course ):
|
|
|
Post by erik on Feb 2, 2016 18:28:48 GMT -5
Revisiting this 1980 recording by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and conductor Gerard Schwarz of three Russian works: Igor Stravinsky' orchestral suite "L'Histoire Du Soldat" (The Soldier's Tale); the Piano Concerto No. 1 of Dmitri Shostakovich (with pianist Carol Rosenberger, and Stephen Burns playing trumpet obligatto); and the always-popular Symphony No. 1 of Sergei Prokofiev, his celebrated Classical Symphony, a kind of early 20th century approach to the late 18th century symphonic styles of Haydn and Mozart.
|
|
|
Post by jhar26 on Feb 3, 2016 3:46:45 GMT -5
All Them Witches - Our Mother Electricity (2012) A band from Nashville, Tennesee. Their sound is original, but also rooted in traditions that go as far back as the late 60's. It's sort of a mix of psychedelic blues/Southern/stoner rock with some grungy elements also as part of the mix. Lots of heavy distorted guitar riffing and good soloing which in the better tracks is pretty exciting. There's also some filler here though. Still, a promising debut album. They have released two others since. (6/10) www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhzvanE-O14Peggy Lee/Ella Fitzgerald - Songs From Pete Kelly's Blues (1955) Nine songs by Peggy Lee and three by Ella Fitzgerald. This is not the real soundtrack to the movie but re-recordings from the same songs that are in the film. It's not bad - how bad can a 1950's album from Peggy and/or Ella be? But it doesn't rank with their best work either. (6/10) www.youtube.com/watch?v=WThdqO1-XXAHiromi - Another Mind (2003) Incredible virtuosic piano playing on this one. Oscar Peterson on steroids. The girl has both incredible fingers and incredible energy. That makes her both very exciting and also a bit exausting to listen to over the course of a 70 minutes plus album. But let's not be a pain in the ass. This girl is no doubt one of the major talents on the jazz scene today. She's a very good composer and as a musician/technician there are few that can compare to her. (8/10) www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6pgM-NVfWg
|
|
|
Post by erik on Feb 3, 2016 19:37:43 GMT -5
This past Sunday would have been the 219th birthday of one of the great composers of all time, and a worthy successor to Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven--one Franz Peter Schubert. So, however belatedly, I am revisting this 2-CD recording of the composer's Fifth and Sixth settings of the Latin mass made back in 1971 by a whole host of great vocalists, the Leipzig Radio Choir, and the Dresden State Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch:
|
|
|
Post by profblues on Feb 3, 2016 20:50:14 GMT -5
Kinky Friedman: The Loneliest Man I Ever Met Texas Legend Kinky Friedman's latest album tracks: 1. Bloody Mary Morning (Willie Nelson) 2. Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis (Tom Waits) 3. I'm the Loneliest Man I Ever Met 4. My Shits Fucked Up (Warren Zevon) 5.Lady Yesterday 6. Freedom to Stay 7. Wild Man From Borneo 8. Mama's Hungry Eyes (Merle Haggard) 9. Pickin Time (Johnny Cash) 10. Girl From the North Country(Bob Dylan) 11. Wand'rin Star (Lerner and Lowe) 12. A Nightingale in Berkeley Square
|
|
|
Post by egoodstein on Feb 3, 2016 21:36:38 GMT -5
Today: lovely new 'art song/jazz' song cycle mainly in English 'My Songbook' by Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi, singer Simona Severini & sev. fine Italian musicians: Terrific album Néere f. soprano Véronique Gens w. pianist Susan Manoff of French songs mainly late 19th cent. & one just came in, 'Kingsized' by a fave power pop group of mine from Denver, Dressy Bessy, feat. Tammy Ealom. Very good as oft. for them on early listening
|
|
|
Post by erik on Feb 20, 2016 22:21:00 GMT -5
This probably will end up on my Ten Best list at year's end, even though we are only fifty-one days in 2016:
|
|
|
Post by egoodstein on Feb 21, 2016 11:56:30 GMT -5
Some fine recently released 'string oriented' albums of classical music, one of Beethoven cello/piano works by French pair Xavier Phillips (cello)/François Guy (piano): & one of rarely done or certainly 'paired' violin concertos by Britten and Korngold, played in 'effervescent' style by Vilde Frang: & impressed lately by this one from jazz bassist/composer Michael Formanek: large ensemble album The Distance:
|
|
|
Post by erik on Dec 13, 2016 20:32:45 GMT -5
One of the best albums of 2016 by any artist in any genre is Midwest Farmer's Daughter, by Aledo, Illinois native Margo Price. It is rooted in old-school honky-tonk C&W, but also has elements of Memphis/Muscle Shoals R&B and California country-rock as well. Tracks like "Four Years Of Chances", "About To Find Out", and "Hurtin' (On The Bottle)" are a testament to the high quality of this album. A 1987 recording by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Andre Previn of two works of one of the musical giants of the 20th century, Sergei Prokofiev: the "Scythian Suite" (from his never-performed 1913 ballet "Ala and Lolly"), and the strikingly modern Symphony No. 6, a work that got the composer in a lot of trouble with the tin-eared Joseph Stalin and Stalin's equally tin-eared lackey Andrei Zhdanov back in 1947.
|
|
|
Post by egoodstein on Dec 16, 2016 10:13:37 GMT -5
Last couple days I've been binging on dusky 'lo-fi' jazz singer Meredith d'Ambrosio's albums. Latest, her first w. then new husband Eddie Higgins f. '89: Sadly Higgins died a couple years ago. M d'A still going, if more a visual artist than singer these lately. And also spinning from Naive Records fine collection of Vivaldi operas, Atenaide, one from his 'early late period' [1728], featuring some great specialists in that era works like Sandrine Piau, Paul Agnew, Vivica Genaux & Conducted by Federico Maria Stradelli leading Modo Antiquo, Great series f. Naive. Recorded '05/'06 I think. Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by erik on Jan 11, 2017 19:54:14 GMT -5
One of my favorites from 2016: Colombian-born Andres Orozco-Estrada steps onto the podium once occupied by, among others, Leopold Stokowski, Andre Previn, and Christoph Eschenbach, that of music director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra, with a superb recording of Dvorak's Sixth Symphony, along with two of the composer's Slavonic Dances (No. 3 from the Opus 72 set; and No. 8 from Opus 46).
|
|
|
Post by egoodstein on Jan 18, 2017 0:53:31 GMT -5
Today (mainly) listening to new & IMO great one by Steeleye Span, Dodgy Bastards (mainly new lineup but fine): Also duet album 'Arcanum' by violaist Kim Kashkasian and pianist/composer Lera Auerbach, 'Arcanum,' arrangements of Shostakovich's 24 Preludes transcribed for piano/viola, plus LA's own title piece duet. Fascinating/appealing if needs a few listens. . . Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by erik on Apr 29, 2017 11:16:48 GMT -5
Twenty-five years ago today, on April 29, 1992, four white LAPD officers were acquitted in the beating of African-American motorist Rodney King, leading to the worst urban riots in L.A.'s history. This is how Tom Petty looked at it:
|
|
|
Post by egoodstein on Apr 29, 2017 19:56:27 GMT -5
Today I've been listening to latest lovely/layered folk album by Scottish folk singer/songwriter Amy Duncan, Antidote. Also very interesting/beautiful early music one of motets (religious songs) perhaps written by Lucrezia Borgia's daughter, Leonora (who was a nun in charge of a Ferrara convent), collab. of UK early music groups Musica Secreta & Celestial Sirens:
|
|
|
Post by erik on May 12, 2018 16:38:53 GMT -5
John Williams' intense score to Steven Spielberg's equally intense 2017 political drama/thriller THE POST: Liberty, the Southwest/Mexico concept album by Canadian alt-country gal Lindi Ortega:
|
|
|
Post by erik on Jan 28, 2019 9:41:19 GMT -5
SoCal-born Americana singer/songwriter Alice Wallace's new release (on her own Rebelle Road label) finds her bringing the "old school" style of country-rock pioneered by Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris and combining it with her own unique songwriting perspective. Three standout tracks in particular are "Desert Rose" (her look at the migrant experience through the eyes of a Mexican woman trying to enter America via El Paso); "Echo Canyon" (a slice of existential Western imagery); and "Santa Ana Winds" (about the hot, dry winds that turn the vegetation into kindling and fuel the incredibly destructive and increasingly deadly firestorms we keep having).
|
|
|
Post by egoodstein on Jan 28, 2019 11:50:36 GMT -5
Thanks for mentioning. She has a very nice voice (at least on couple of other albums by her I've heard). Lately, I just got and totally knocked out by resissue w. some previously unreleased 'takes' & a couple 'new' ones of jazz reedsman Eric Dolphy's 1963 albums Conversations and Iron Man. Very avant-garde for the time, and still challenging in a good way, if much fun too. Titled: Musical Prophet: The Expanded New York Studio Sessions.
|
|
|
Post by egoodstein on Jan 28, 2019 12:00:36 GMT -5
Also recently enjoying DVD from Ohio Light Opera group of 1917 musical/operetta of Jerome Kern's Have a Heart. Very fun & some good/fun tunes not so well known. And from late 2018, very well sung duets and solos of Handel's early Italian Cantatas from Emmaneulle Haim & her group L'Astrée, with soprano Sabine Devieilhe and mezzo Lea Desandre. Beautifully sung/realized I think. e Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by aramintaa83 on Apr 2, 2022 15:19:47 GMT -5
Here is some good news for everyone: Turkey will welcome international tourists in 2022. Travelers can now apply for a Turkish evisa online. A traveler fills out an online form and can receive an approval email in approximately 24 hours.
|
|