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| 25 new of 268 responses total. |
arabella
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response 150 of 268:
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Jun 10 06:20 UTC 1993 |
We bought the Skopelitis recently, but haven't really listened
much yet. Will try to review it soon. I also got the new
Dave Edmunds anthology (2 CD boxed set) from Rhino a couple
of weeks ago. Have only listened to the first disc so far,
but I'm really impressed with it. The sound quality is terrific,
the selections are great, and I'm really pleased to have several
Love Sculpture selections that I wasn't aware of before.
I think this would be a first-rate introduction to Edmunds for
a newcomer to his music, and it's also a nice career delineating
collection for the dedicated fan. And it has a couple of non-
album tracks (a couple of single-only releases, and a couple
of unreleased tracks) which will appeal to the collector.
A very worthwhile purchase.
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md
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response 151 of 268:
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Jun 28 13:26 UTC 1993 |
The latest CD by Neeme Jarvi and the DSO features Samuel Barber's
Second Symphony , and the Adagio for Strings. The Adagio is of
course familiar tto everyone from the movies Platoon and The Elephant
Man. The Second Symphony was rejected by Barber, who went to the
Schirmer offices in New York and personally tore up all copies of
it there. After his death, a complete score was found in England
and a new recording was made by Andrew Schenck which did nothing
to justify, except on historical grounds, reviving a work which
Barber obviously had thought better of. The Jarvi recording, however,
is a shocker. If the composer had been Beethoven instead of Barber,
this would be one of the most controversial recordings ever made.
It's a Boulez-like laying bare and exposing of the music's inner
workings. I don't recall ever hearing a conductor demand that much
precision in a performance of Barber's music, which has always been
valued chiefly for its flights of lyricism, by the mass of listeners
and critics. I think this is a great recording of a great performance.
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chelsea
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response 152 of 268:
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Jun 28 13:43 UTC 1993 |
I want to understand what you're talking about. The only Barber I
own is the Adagio. But I'm ready to be seduced. What would you
suggest I purchase for the foreplay?
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md
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response 153 of 268:
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Jun 28 15:22 UTC 1993 |
The Second Symphony is probably not a good place to start foreplaying.
Maybe the Jarvi/DSO recording of the First Symphony and the School
for Scandal Overture would be better. The Violin Concerto is very
popular, too. I think Nadia Sonnenberg-Salerno (sp?) has a newish
recording of it out. Do let me know if you think Sam is a good kisser.
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md
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response 154 of 268:
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Jul 26 17:59 UTC 1993 |
Now cometh a flute virtuoso named Jennifer Stinton who fell in love
with Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto, and so transcribed the violin
part for flute. She has recorded her version, called simply
"Concerto", on Collins Classics, along with J.-P. Rampal's
transcription of the Khachaturian Violin Concerto.
Barber's Violin Concerto is less all-of-a-piece than his Piano
Concerto or his flute/oboe/trumpet "Capricorn" Concerto. The first
movement is Barber at his best. It's soaring, lyrical music that
sounds like no one but Barber, but which is oddly "American"
sounding: it has the smug contentedness of a summer morning in an
affluent suburb, one of those splendid sunshiny days when the
sprinklers are all going and kids are lazily riding their bikes to
the playground, and everyone forgets, if they ever knew, that most
of the rest of the world is starving to death. I actually think I
like it better on the flute than on the violin, and I love it on
the violin.
The second movement, which most people like best of the three, is a
beautiful swoony elegy that doesn't work quite as well on the
flute, in my opinion.
The third movement is a nonstop moto perpetuo that's brilliant but
doesn't really match the first two movements. In any case, it
cannot possibly be performed on any wind instrument. Period, end
of discussion. So, Ms. Stinton's performance becomes an exercise
for the listener in can-you-catch-her-taking-a-breath. The liner
notes say that this recording is the first performance of her
transcription -- ie, she's never performed it in public. I'd like
to see it done. My guess is that this is a digitally stitched-
together series of takes, and that Jennifer Stinton wishes Barber
had chosen to conclude his Violin Concerto in some other way.
So the Barber machine rumbles on. Incredible to think that it
actually stalled in 1966, and that Barber spent the last fifteen
years of his life trying unsuccessfully to kick-start it.
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chelsea
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response 155 of 268:
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Jul 27 13:15 UTC 1993 |
Ah, I'm reminded. I did purchase the Jarvi/DSO recording of
Barber's First Symphony (Chandos?) and listened to it in its entirety
twice. It was ordinary. Is Barber maybe a little like yogurt
in that there is a slow enjoyment curve to contend with?
I guess if I was to describe what I didn't like it would be
that I found myself wondering what his next trick would be. And
it all came off as sweet and I really don't like sweet music (unless
it's played by a high school orchestra). Certain movements sounded
appropriate for a movie soundtrack - something out of California.
Anyhow, I ended up returning the CD and selecting another -
Dvorak's Cello Concerto. Nemme Jarvi conducts the Gothenburg
Symphony Orchestra for this BIS recording (my favorite label).
By the end of the first movement I was putty in his hands.
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md
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response 156 of 268:
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Jul 27 21:36 UTC 1993 |
I'd've thought you and Sam were made for each other, but I was
wrong, alas. If I'm right, that there isn't much of an enjoyment
curve with this symphony, then your reaction wouldn't've changed on
repeated hearings. I think a good listener will love it either
instantly or never at all. (The School for Scandal Overture and
the Amy Beach "Gaelic" Symphony didn't redeem the CD for you?)
You like cello concertos, why not try the Yo Yo Ma recording of
Barber's? It's certainly a more mature piece (he wrote the First
Symphony when he was still a kid) and it's one of my least favorite
Barber pieces, so who knows, you may love it. ;-)
So where is this store that lets you sample CD's and then exchange
them if you don't like the music on them? (By "where" I mean
directions for the benefit of out-of-towners, please.)
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md
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response 157 of 268:
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Jul 28 15:36 UTC 1993 |
*Actually*, Mary, the Barber piece most highly regarded by the
critics is "Knoxville, Summer of 1915" for soprano and orchestra.
The best recording is said to be the one with Leontyne Price.
Eleanor Steber and Dawn Upshaw are both good, too. If "sweet"
music turns you off, though (and by "sweet" I assume you mean music
that gentlier on the spirit lies than tired eyelids on tired eyes
sort-of-thing), then "Knoxville" might turn you off big time.
If you want something saltier, try the Piano Sonata. The best
recorded performance I've heard was by Ruth Laredo. (Even better
than the Horowitz, in my opinion.) The tape was in my car when it
was stolen last year, alas. Laredo plays the fourth movement
awesomely.
You might also like the Piano Concerto. The second movement is
rather Hollywoodish, I admit. Imagine Bernard Hermann's take on
what a Hitchcock audience expects a grand-manner romantic piano
concerto to sound like, while the neurotic heroine is being seduced
by the sinister composer who is secretly plotting to murder her,
and so on. (But, see, *I* think this sort of thing is great fun.)
But the first and third movements are famously difficult. When
John Browning, for whom Barber wrote the concerto, told Barber the
third movement was unplayable as written, Barber took the
manuscript to his old friend Vladimir Horowitz for a second
opinion. Horowitz agreed with Browning, and so Barber toned it
down just enough to enable Browning to play it. To me, it still
sounds as if you'd have to stop and blow on your fingers every
thirty seconds or so.
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chelsea
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response 158 of 268:
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Jul 29 14:56 UTC 1993 |
I'm sure I'll be listening to more Barber and will especially
consider the Cello Concerto and the Piano Concerto, maybe on a
used CD. I buy most of my CDs (both new and used) at SKR
Classical, on Liberty, in Ann Arbor. If you've ever been to the
Michigan Theatre you've only been about 100 feet from SKR as it's
just west of the theatre. They don't advertise a "try and return
if unsatisfied" policy but I've heard them offer it to folks who
are considering a recording both the purchaser and the staff have
not yet heard. It may also have something to do with being a
frequent customer - don't know.
Anyhow, there are a couple of sales people who have been there
since SKR opened about ten years ago and who have managed to
figure out what my descriptive criteria (gutsy, with an edge,
robust, clean, original intent) means. I'm sure the experts would
probably disagree with my terms and evaluations but that doesn't
much matter as long as I'm able to end up with a recording that
suits, and for the most part these guys are good at interpreting
what I want.
I've often wondered how others decide which disc to choose of say
Beethoven's Ninth when there must be 30 recordings in the
bin. By the conductor? Nah. As good as Karajan was with Mahler
he overplays Mozart; Mozart is St. Martin-in-the-Fields under
Neville Marriner. By artist? Now Yo-Yo-Ma is great on anything
when pared with Ax but when it comes to solo work he can get
somewhat mushy relying heavily on romantic vibrato. So for the
Bach Solo Suites I prefer Janos Starker who plays it with a
technical edge best suited to the composer. With ensembles I
never buy two recordings by the same group, well, rarely, for the
same reason I seldom buy vanilla ice cream.
I'm not sure what that all had to do with Barber but I was on a roll.
Borders is supposedly branching out into offering a large classical
CD area in their newer stores. Is the Borders in your area doing the
same?
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md
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response 159 of 268:
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Jul 29 20:36 UTC 1993 |
Yep, the Borders in Novi is said to have a CD section as well as a
coffe shop of some kind. Some neighbors of ours claim to have spent
the entire afternoon there last Saturday. Borders Birmingham is still
"just" a book shop, though, unless they've changed in the past week.
Thanks for the info on your music shop. Maybe we'll give 'em a try
on of these weekends. Our kids love the hands-on museum and we
haven't been there in a while...
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md
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response 160 of 268:
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Aug 2 16:54 UTC 1993 |
[apropos Border's in Novi, see my response to item 17]
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md
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response 161 of 268:
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Aug 31 19:38 UTC 1993 |
The Sony CD rerelease of an old favorite: Ormandy/Philadelphia playing
Respighi's Pines, Fountains and Festivals. But I find this ADD disk
just excruciating. It's as if all the music is coming through a dense
distorting fog.
The "British Line" CD of Britten's Purcell Variations (Young Person's
Guide), Bridge Variations, Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from
Peter Grimes. Very, very nice. The Variations on a Theme of Frank
Bridge is one of the best performances I've heard. The sound is
perfect throughout.
The Gerard Schwarz/Seattle Orchestra "Tribute to William Schuman" CD.
It has Schuman's orchestration of Ives's Variations on "America", the
New England Triptych, Symphony #4, and the ballet score "Judith".
This underscores that Schuman really had a very small bag of tricks.
They were brilliant and beguiling tricks at times, but he just kept
doing them over and over again.
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redwood
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response 162 of 268:
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Sep 11 02:44 UTC 1993 |
Those digidiots are ruining everything. Analog rules!
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mcnally
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response 163 of 268:
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Oct 7 01:34 UTC 1993 |
(Hey, I've logged on twice in the last two days..
A recent record for me..)
Interesting recent purchase:
Dick Dale - "Tribal Thunder"
About the last thing I expected to be buying was a Dick Dale comeback
disc but I've always liked good surf music and in his day he was responsible
for some of the best. His latest album is very good -- the furious energy
of the music is somewhat surprising considering Dale's age and his decades
of inactivity (or at least obscurity.) Very Ventures-sounding but not simply
a 60's rehash. Check it out if you like surf music.
Yo La Tengo - "May I Sing With Me"
I'm surprised I haven't heard more about Yo La Tengo and I guess I'd have
to attribute it to the somewhat hit-or-miss nature of their music. Some
of the tracks on this album manage to sail on a sea of feedback and others
just seem to sink. The tracks I like I like a great deal but the others
annoy me considerably. I'd like to hear some more of the mellower tracks
with Georgia Hubley's vocals.
Game Theory - "The Big Shot Chronicles"
After having picked this album up once in a free LPs bin outside of PJ's
records I'd been waiting a while for it to reappear on CD. Probably Game
Theory's best album (certainly the best one I've heard) and much, much more
solid than their other releases. Check it out if you like mellow jangly
guitar pop with above average lyrics. The CD re-release has four bonus
tracks which range from decent cuts to forgettable novelty items like a
guitar version of Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy".
Muslimgauze - "Zul'm"
Not what I was expecting at all, this album is most similar to some of
the trance/techno albums I've heard, but with pronounced Arabic and
Indian influences. Interesting, but I prefer music that's more involving.
Trance stuff makes great background music but I'm not a background-music
sort of person.
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robh
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response 164 of 268:
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Oct 7 02:16 UTC 1993 |
"Weird Al" Yankovic's new album, "Alapalooza", is now out. The high
point is definitely _Bohemian_Polka_, a polka version of a certain
Queen song I'm sure everyone's heard before.
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tpryan
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response 165 of 268:
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Oct 10 20:43 UTC 1993 |
Bought that "Weird Al" album today (Sumday). Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
was heard in the
"Wayne's World" movie and soundtrack. So there was was a recent revival
of this tune. Other tracks on the albums do required having listened to
Rock & Roll radio in the past year and paying attention. Some tunes are
Al's originals, with a very rock fell to them.
however,
Stan Rogers - Home in Halifax
is a new CD availabe from Fogarty Cove records (bought it at Schoolkids)
It is a 64 minute concert album that was recorded March 12, 1982 by the
CBC (radio), it was made availbe only to radio stations last year, and
now by popular demand is available to all.
If you enjoy this Canadian singer/songwriter this is a wonderfull
addition to your collection. Stan Rogers died in 1983(?)
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md
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response 166 of 268:
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Oct 22 14:22 UTC 1993 |
Loren Mazel conducting the Cleveland Orchestra in Shostakovich's
Fifth Symphony and Stravinsky's Sacre. An unusual coupling.
Maazel gives both pieces his usual quirky take. On the Shostakovich
he's Karajan/Bernstein, on the Stravinsky he's Boulez. But I
attribute the latter to the orchestra's collective memory of the
stunning landmark recording of Le Sacre they made under Boulez
twenty or so years ago. This is the next best to Boulez, and the
antiseptic Telarc sound is oddly appropriate for this piece.
Not so appropriate for the Shostakovich, however. I have never
heard, and this is saying something, a recording of Shostakovich's
Fifth to match Berstein's first recording of it ages ago.
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polygon
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response 167 of 268:
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Nov 5 00:04 UTC 1993 |
Re 165. We got "Home in Halifax" a couple months ago. I agree.
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md
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response 168 of 268:
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Dec 7 15:54 UTC 1993 |
A Sony CD rerelease of Ormandy conducting Hindemith's "Mathis der Maler,"
the "Symphonic Metamorphosis," and Walton's "Variations on a Theme
of Hindemith." I bought it because I like to play the first movement
of "Mathis der Maler" as Christmas music. Very nice CD.
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rcurl
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response 169 of 268:
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Dec 7 17:12 UTC 1993 |
Somebody once "ruined" Mathis der Maler for me, by an observation he
made, but I won't repeat it.
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remmers
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response 170 of 268:
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Dec 7 21:03 UTC 1993 |
That's not *Johnny* Mathis, is it?
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aa8ij
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response 171 of 268:
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Dec 8 01:26 UTC 1993 |
I don't think so.
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cwb
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response 172 of 268:
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Dec 9 21:55 UTC 1993 |
"Mexican Moon" by Concrete Blonde. This is a neat album, and the
recent concert was wonderful despite the criminal way in which it was mixed,
but more on that later. If you like the riding-the-edge angst-wail nature
of albums such as "Bloodletting" or "Walking in London" this might seem a
bit anticlimactic. It's less edgy, less hard, almost prettier.
"Rumor and Sigh" by Richard Thompson. I like some selected stuff off
this, but I can take or leave the rest. I think it's his voice which works
well when he sings more traditional stuff but wanders into the realm of the
annoying when he tries to be to popoid.
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power
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response 173 of 268:
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Dec 11 21:51 UTC 1993 |
Re: 168 What's the title of the CD? Where'd you get it? I *LOVE*
Symphonic Metamorphisis, and would like to get it on CD, and if you say
the other is good too.... well, then :).
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md
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response 174 of 268:
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Dec 13 16:09 UTC 1993 |
I don't think it has a title, except for the titles of the pieces
themselves. Go to your favorite classical CD shop and look in the
Hindemith section and it should be there.
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