KD Lang [Ingenue]

Two non Classical discs in a row!, actually knowing my love for non Classical music this doesn't surprise me, yet my Blog is very much a mirror of my love for music, this is the 304th day of the year, and so far 244 days have been represented by a Classical disc, this leaves 60 days where i reported on a non Classical disc in my Blog, so it's roughly 80% Classical!, i hope to change this in the future, if i'm a 'Musical Octopus', then i'm picking Classical music with six of my tentacles!, this really needs to change.

KD Lang is of course Canadian, she will be 49 in a couple of days, she's very much a Country singer i suppose, yet on this disc she casts that all away, and sings more serious pop ballads, the booklet cover [by Glen Erler] is a soft focus shot of Lang, sepia toned, really nice lighting from above, and the lettering is really clever, at the top and bottom, making a nice sandwich.

This album is a great mix of musicians, two especially i would like to mention, Gary Burton, a Jazz vibes player, he also plays marimba on this recording, not an upfront soloist, but someone who colours things in the background, very effective indeed, the vibraphone is a wonderful instrument, and also Myron Schultz, a Clarinetist, he makes some nice noises, and even a solo or two, well chosen colourists.

This time on listening, i really got into it, really enjoyed most of the songs, but especially tracks 7 & 10, certainly 'Constant Craving' is my favourite, but on this listen i was really affected by track 7, 'Season Of Hollow Soul', there's a nice bass undercurrent to the song, sounding like an upright bass, Lang's voice is so smoky and soulful, it's the three verses that are so interesting, filled with rich imagery and poetry,

Keen to the shifting of wind

I bend to it blind

To rid these kisses of sin

That must stay behind

Sour of the fruit of neglect

The core of my doubt

Deprived are my veins you infect

With or without

Seeds of uprooted chance

Are grains of goodbye

Waving boughs so slowly dance

Questioning why

and it's the third verse that takes off [1:07+], a nice extra kick of volume, interspersed with cello and clever sparing piano, and then a lovely clarinet solo [2:30-3:02], lasting a half minute, nice and jazzy, slightly disembodied, right at the end comes a lovely outtro [4:17-4:55], which mimics the intro, a great way to finish the song, it was so nice to examine and analyse this today.

Here's KD Lang singing 'Season Of Hollow Soul' on YouTube.

Eliza Carthy [Rice]

This is the first Folk disc in my Blog, yes i listen to Folk too, but my discs in this genre are slim, i have 13 Folk albums, very meagre, i hope to change that in the future.

Eliza Carthy is an English Folk Artist, she is now 35, she roughly has eight solo albums in her catalogue, she made this album roughly 12 years ago, it was originally issued as a double disc called 'Red Rice', but has been issued separately, the photographs on the front of these two discs are fantastic [by Tom Howard], with Eliza lying on a bed of rice, with bright red hair in curls, it's a great idea and pic, with the lettering small, it still stands out, i also like the graphics on the back, a nice track listing.

Half the album is made up of instrumental tracks [reels and jigs], the other half are vocal songs, on this listen track 5 'Herring Song' really impressed, with a nice off kilter lop sided beat to the instrumental intro, the vocals almost seem to be a tongue twister, quite repetitive, Eliza Carthy plays the fiddle, and Saul Rose plays the melodeon amongst others, it's a lovely bouncing tune, that constantly swings to and fro from vocal to instrumental, the fiddle gives it a lovely old world feel.

I'm not so wowed by the instrumental tracks, and this certainly isn't one of my cherished albums, but i like this, and it touches a musical nerve.

Here's Eliza Carthy singing Herring Song on We7.

Shostakovich - Symphony 6 [Haitink-Concertgebouw Orchestra]

I haven't played this disc for quite some time, in fact i don't play a lot of Shostakovich's Symphonies all that often, only the Fifth and the Tenth get decent play, so it's good to re-familiarize myself with these two Symphonies, the Sixth is fairly short by Shostakovich standards, just over 30 minutes, and is cast in the unusual three movement structure, it does have a huge first movement, which is longer than the other two put together.

Bernard Haitink is Dutch, born in 1929, he's now in his eighties, he was with the Concertgebouw Orchestra for many years, and recorded for the Philips, Decca, and EMI labels extensively, including many full cycles of Symphonies, including a full Shostakovich cycle in the eighties, this is where the reissue of these discs come from, these Decca Ovation discs are not good visually, i think they're a poor idea, but sonically the music is great, there is just a hint that Haitink can be a bit bland, Shostakovich is quirky by nature, and a degree of extremeness works with this Composer, Haitink can be very conventional, and sometimes slow, the music can lose its bite, i was troubled by Haitink's interpretation of the Eighth Symphony, a degree of blandness and somewhat boring, but maybe the fault lies somewhat with Shostakovich himself.

I very much enjoyed the first movement of the Sixth Symphony today, the beginning sounds very similar to the start of the Tenth Symphony in a way, sour and solemn, if i were to assign a word to this movement, it would be 'bleak', near the beginning there's this one pizzicato bass note [1:54+], that seems to start the Symphony off proper, low and high sad strings weave their magic, there's a tremendous section slightly later, a lone trumpet plays the main theme [5:07+], while the frantic strings screech out high in the treble [5:15+], but go down the scale in stages, lots of timpani and brass here, and become a low brooding tremolo, the bass pizzicato re-enters [5:54+], and it's this lovely backdrop of tremolo strings and pizzicato bass heartbeats, that a bleak cor anglais solo appears [5:54-6:45], very effective, and very atmospherically Shostakovich, the trumpet finishes what the cor anglais started [6:48-6:57], a sad and lonely trumpet solo, this is probably the best section of this movement [5:07-6:57], later there's a ghostly flute [12:40+], and out of this grows a sustained glockenspiel ring [13:10-14:04], and the brass uses this canvass to paint an autumnal refrain [13:18+], this is just some of the wonderful things i notice on this listen, Shostakovich's Symphonies have a depth if you care to dig and find out!.

Here's Semyon Bychkov conducting the first movement on YouTube.

Bruckner - Symphony 2 [Solti-Chicago Symphony Orchestra]

Bruckner's earlier Symphonies have never received the fame his later ones have, two unnumbered Symphonies, and numbers 1 and 2, when we get to the third, then you can hear the real Bruckner emerging, so this is somehow a transitional Symphony, a link between amateur and professional if you will, this is probably only the second time i've heard this Symphony, so it's hard to describe a work i'm not familiar with, but it certainly isn't sub standard Bruckner, a Symphony well worth hearing.

Sir Georg Solti passed away 13 years ago at the age of nearly 85, he was born in Hungary almost 100 years ago [1912], and he has lived a full happy life, and i feel he is a Brucknerian of great distinction, i especially like his interpretation of Bruckner's Fifth Symphony.

I was impressed with the second movement, it has a Brucknerian innocence to it, it has a greater tendency to have start / stops to it, but Bruckner would get better at fusing in themes and ideas, so that it all sounds so much more legato, Bruckner also uses a fair bit of string pizzicato, but already the trademark burnished horns are there, near the beginning there's a passage that sounds like it's lifted straight out of 'Harold In Italy' by Berlioz [0:39-1:09], about a third of the way through the movement comes the soothing reprise of the opening [5:11+], and it sounds so much better when it's repeated, than it does right at the beginning, and just after it the 'Harold In Italy' quote again [6:53-7:25], right near the end Bruckner brings back another reprise of the very opening [14:26+], this time slightly slower and very coda-esque, really it's a Symphony that i certainly need to get to know better to make a proper judgement on.

Here's Solti conducting the second movement on YouTube.

Hanson - Symphony 2 [Slatkin-Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra]

Hanson's Second Symphony is now eighty years old, it's of course very romantic as the title suggests, nothing like the avant garde of other Composers, it remains his most popular work, the two works on this disc make a very logical coupling, both blessed with serene slow movements, they are similar in a number of way, of course one of the obvious is that they're both American Composers.

Leonard Slatkin is also American, now 66 years old, he made these recordings in 1987.

The second movement is wonderful, unashamedly romantic [as the title suggests], at times he can sound like a film Composer, and certain parts of this Symphony wouldn't be out of place in the reflective moments of a Star Wars movie [and the slow movement was used at the end of the Alien movie!], it starts off with gentle flutes [0:00-0:44], and the horns bray in the background, the music gets harder and more serious [0:44-1:38], with horns / brass, and certainly those sweet romantic strings, this quietly introduces the lovely main tune to this movement, later there's an orchestral 'cloudburst' [3:22-3:55], the music turns to major, and the horns blaze away, the strings soar sweetly, with more horns [3:55-4:28], towards the end, the opening theme reprises [5:38-6:52], nice and gentle again, but with brass / trumpet in the background, and the harp strumming away, and again the opening theme comes back much the same as before [6:52-7:15], if you like your music sugary and tonal, then this soothing music is just your thing, i'm glad i acquainted myself with this Symphony today.

Here's the second movement being played on YouTube.

Brahms - 3 Intermezzi Op117 [Grimaud]

A few days ago i played these same pieces by Nicholas Angelich [22nd October 2010], and like promised there, i played this set of pieces also, and i find it's so good to hear another perspective in fairly close proximation, some people may question 'why do you buy another disc of the same exact work?, isn't it just a waste of money?, doesn't it sound the same really?', a good point from the uninitiated, but when you really fall in love with a work, you do find enlightening differences, which can bring a new fresh understanding to the work.

So what are the differences?, well as i said last week, Angelich's discs take 85 minutes, whereas Grimaud's disc takes 75 minutes, on this work it's Angelich 17 minutes, and Grimaud 15 minutes, Grimaud is more volatile, more angrier in places, more extreme, takes more risks, Angelich is more lyrical, speeds seem more ideal, the opening number of this work is taken a minute slower, Angelich makes it beautiful, but Grimaud still has excellent ideas, both interpretations are certainly worth listening to, one thing i do notice, is that Angelich is better recorded, a wonderful and beautiful piano sound, nice stereo image, Grimaud on the other hand has a piano that doesn't sound in perfect shape, and the left / right imaging seems a little stereo flat, but don't let that put you off, Grimaud still has an excellent modern sound, both is better than one!.

The booklet photo is great [by J Henry Fair], a wide eyed Helene Grimaud, spotlit, with a nice highlight background, dark clothing, and really nice lettering that stands out.

Well listening to these three lovely pieces again, i wasn't so wowed by the first piece, she takes it rather fast, and it loses some of its poetry, but the second piece was beautiful, starting with a gently flowing Andante on the piano [0:00-0:55], very Schumannesque, nice and lyrical, a nice hint of regret, later there's these lovely treble notes that lead back into this very opening [2:11-3:13], and this section develops towards a forte, right at the end, the whole thing slows down, and this time with some deep bass notes [3:55-4:18], that slowly trickle up to treble to finish the piece, a clever and satisfying ending, after falling in love with the first piece of these Intermezzi, it's now good to start to learn to fall in love with the second piece.

Here's Helene Grimaud playing the second piece on YouTube, a fairly quiet recording.

Sibelius - Violin Concerto [Batiashvili/ Oramo-Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra]

Here's yet another Sibelius Violin Concerto, last month i spoke about having Fifteen versions of this work [27 September 2010], well here's the sixteenth!, and a great addition, the coupling is a world premier recording of Lindberg's Violin Concerto, hmmm interesting, i've only listened to it once, and i need to listen to it more to form an opinion, the Sibelius is a live recording, but i only discovered such when it got to the end and everyone started clapping!, and not coughing during the performance!.

Lisa Batiashvili is Georgian / East European, she was born in 1979, and she made these recordings in 2007, the booklet / back insert are exceptional, some superb photography [by Mat Hennek], virtually monotone pictures, apart from of course the violin itself, which nicely stands out, especially that lovely wood grain that Liza shows off on the front cover.

I so much enjoyed this middle movement, one thing i notice about this disc, is the superb sound coming from Batiashvili's violin, really well caught, the initial entry of the violin [0:40+] is lovely, a nice husky sound, like a mezzo-soprano, about a third of the way through, the low strings turn to forte [3:12+] with double bass 'beats' in the background, and then the three trumpet blasts come [3:25, 3:42 & 3:50], with timpani growing in volume throughout, i love these trumpet blasts, an excellent use of brass from Sibelius, and straight after the Batiashvili's violin pleads over sorrowful double strings [3:56+], while the bass continues to chug in the background, towards the middle end of the piece, the violin starts to soar [5:00+], and reaches its climax [5:19], and thereafter slowly floats back down to earth, this disc is a great addition to my growing collection, and it's good to have Batiashvili's account in there too.

Here's Lisa Batiashvili playing the second movement on YouTube.

Szymanowski - String Quartet 2 [The Carmina String Quartet]

The String Quartets of Szymanowski are not exactly well known, they still remain closed unexplored to too many people, even within the Classical world, but like say the Janacek or the Smetana String Quartets, they are starting to break out of their unknown shell.

These Quartets are not huge forty minute statements like the best of Beethoven or Schubert, but almost miniatures by comparison, each lasts well under twenty minutes, each is also cast away from the usual four movement models created by Haydn and Mozart, and Szymanowski wisely creates his own individual ideas in a couple of three movement works.

The Carmina String Quartet here are made up of,

Matthias Enderle - Violin

Susanne Frank - Violin

Wendy Champney - Viola

Stephen Goerner - Cello

They have been going since 1984, and still have the original line up, i believe they received a Gramophone award for this disc, which propelled them into the limelight, they have been stuck on the Denon Label, which has less exposure than other well known labels, but it's is one of the very best innovative labels out there, Denon discs are very desireable, they recorded this disc in 1991.

The Second String Quartet inhabits that same world as his Mythes [especially The Fountain Of Arethusa], and Notturno [from Notturno E Tarantella], ghostly and mysterious, i very much enjoyed the first movement, it starts with a very original quiet and gentle chugging away in the background, by i take it the second violin and the viola [0:00+], over this the first violin comes in, and it has an almost sinister use of its high registers, to create a tune full of mystery and intrigue [0:05-0:42], this is what Szymanowski is so good at, the cello adds to the violin atmosphere [0:40+], and eventually the chugging stops, and instead there's a degree of pizzicato [0:51+], there's a very inventive passage just after this [1:19-1:45], the first violin plays high [1:19+], the cello mirrors quietly at the other end of the spectrum [1:26+], and the chugging starts up again [1:27+], Szymanowski's a master at this, right after this there's glassy glissando's [1:46+], later the first violin creates some nice out of tune woodwind effects [2:49+], very atmospheric, with quiet but busy strings in the background, the opening returns again towards the end [4:58+], and with everything that's gone on before, this is a glorious refreshing, hearing things again really throws them into your memory banks, the conclusion is that Szymanowski is the master of highly original sonorities, his String Quartets are worth getting to know, and i enjoyed the acquaintance today.

Here's The Carmina Quartet playing the first movement of the Second String Quartet on YouTube.

Schubert - String Quartet 12 [Lindsay String Quartet]

This is only a one movement String Quartet, commonly called 'Quartettsatz', it's really yet another one of Schubert's 'unfinished' works, after composing this first movement, he just lost interest, not that it means this piece isn't interesting, rather the opposite, he just left it in torso, it makes a great companion piece to the great String Quartet 14 on this disc, that i spoke so highly about last month [19th September 2010], and it lasts nearly ten minutes.

The members of the Lindsay String Quartet on this recording are,

Peter Cropper - Violin 1

Ronald Birks - Violin 2

Robin Ireland - Viola

Bernard Gregor-Smith - Cello

You can certainly hear whiffs of 'Death And The Maiden' in this piece, very much in the opening busy strings [0:00-0:32], this Quartet is also in a Minor key [C Minor], but it soon lightens up and becomes really tuneful, but those busy strings come back again [2:55-3:28], and the sweetness of the following passage is all the more sweeter [3:28+], basically the piece oscillates between this sweet and sour, roughly every minute we get a change, it keeps the interest up, and it would have been good to hear this as a full blown Quartet, but there again maybe only the first movement would be of any true value, maybe it was best to leave Schubert to his own devices, well the darkness wins in this Quartet, as the agitation ends the Quartet [9:21-9:39], a very satisfying makeweight to the main work.

Here's the Amadeus String Quartet playing this movement on YouTube.

Brahms - 3 Intermezzi Op117 [Angelich]

Ahh, more Brahms wonderful piano music, you know i'm loving these pieces more and more, Beethoven and Schubert seem to be the masters of the Piano Sonata, Brahms tried his hand at these, pretty much unsuccessfully, but he turned his hand to books of piano pieces, much like say Debussy would do, individual pieces that didn't need to relate to their neighbour structurally and architecturally, but could stand on their own, maybe Brahms was influenced by Schubert's 3 Klavierstucke [which Brahms named and edited].

This two disc set is ideal, bringing together the whole set of the four books of pieces, however Angelich plays a tad on the slow side, which means he spills over onto a second disc [roughly 85 minutes], Helene Grimaud only used one disc for these same works [roughly 75 minutes], and i'm going to play her set this weekend, so watch this space, but Angelich is still beautiful, these discs are very desirable.

Nicholas Angelich is actually American [i thought he was French], but he seems to have lived for many years in France, he is still relatively young at 40, these discs were recorded in 2006, now i like this booklet [photo by Stephane de Bourgies], some may feel a very kitsch shot, a chair turned around backwards, and the sitter straddles the back with their legs, a pose overdone?, i believe it works very well indeed, the lighting is not uniform, nice shadows, and the lettering across the middle of the booklet is great, inspired to use blue in Brahms, i really like it, the back cover is a thoughtful pose.

Again this first piece is glorious [Op117 / 1], the opening is really melting, and this work is fast becoming a real endearment to me, Angelich starts off with an ideal speed, lovely and well sustained, a beautiful sound coming from his piano, and the genius of Brahms's melodies are well caught [0:00-1:19], there's a darker middle section [1:20-3:28], which is not so easy to love, and takes a greater degree of concentration to admire, when the repeat for the opening comes around again [3:28+], it's just that bit more faster, and varied, what a beautiful creation by Brahms.

Here's Azusa Ichijo playing the first Intermezzo from Op117 on YouTube.

Beethoven - Symphony 3 [Sawallisch-Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra]

Beethoven's Third, the Symphony that began my love of Classical music, the very first Classical album i ever bought [though not by Sawallisch], and it remains my favourite Beethoven Symphony to this day.

It was this time last month that i listened to Sawallisch conduct Beethoven's Sixth Symphony [21st September 2010], his is an excellent cycle, this disc was recorded in 1993, all of the booklets in this cycle have Sawallisch in some sort of pose [by Paul Huf], and and the lettering in black on gold, with a coloured segment with the number of the Symphonies on it in a 'wallpaper' design, and very good it is too.

The second movement Funeral March has always moved me, a slow and steady dirge, but filled with invention and variety,

Here's Paavo Jarvi conducting the second movement on YouTube.

Liszt - Piano Music [Hough]

Another disc that i haven't heard for some time, i must admit that i'm somewhat perplexed by Liszt's piano music, he's not a favourite Composer of mine, unlike say Chopin, who's so organized, putting his works into sets of 24, or a set of 4 etc, Liszt is all over the place, he's hard to methodically collect, plus Liszt can sound bombastic at times, he's undeniably a virtuoso, but sometimes there's no poetry, or architecture, or even creative invention, it's all lots and lots of bombastic notes.

A really good Liszt recital seems hard to come by, there's so many that are a mis-matched bunch of compositions, and there are so many 'average' compositions of Liszt to choose from, so it's good that Stephen Hough has assembled some very nice works, this compilation / recital gels together, with only six pieces, all major compositions lasting a significant amount of minutes.

Stephen Hough is English, he is now 48, he made this recording quite some time ago in 1987, the booklet cover is great, a very inventive photo [by Hanya Chlala], with Stephen Hough with his back to the piano, arms draped over the keyboard, what's really clever about this shot, is it's taken from a height looking down at the pianist, using some step ladders or something, the track listing on the booklet could of done with being in a darker colour to stand out.

The piece i found the most enlightening, was 'Pensees De Morts' [Thoughts On Death / The Dead], this comes from the larger work 'Harmonies Poetiques Et Religieuse' [Poetic And Religious Harmonies],

Here's Andrea Bonatta playing 'Pensees Des Morts' on YouTube.

Rachmaninov - 24 Preludes [Ashkenazy]

Here's a lovely two disc box set of the Rachmaninov 24 Preludes, this is now reissued by Decca in a two disc slimline case, but these fatbox original issues are very desirable, i like these sturdy things, and the original picture on the front, of Rachmaninov himself, standing by a giant tree, with an old suit and even wearing gloves, nicely sepia toned, and the lettering done in orange and yellow, this is wonderful to own one of these.

Vladimir Ashkenazy is now 73, born in Russia, still going strong, i think he concentrates more on his conducting nowadays, rather than being a pianist, he made these recording in the mid seventies.

This time in listening to these wonderful miniatures, [miniatures in time, but not in scale and concept], i was amazed at the variety and endless creativity of Rachmaninov, each Prelude is like a mini Tone Poem, but without any story like to help you along, on this listening, i was most impressed with Preludes 5, 16 & 23 [Op23/4, Op32/5 & Op32/12], the first two are quite similar, very serene, beautiful and touching, in sweet major keys, and the last is agitated and troublesome, in a minor key, my favourite Prelude has to be No16 [Op32/5], it starts off with a note that just hangs in the air for a moment, adding a special emphasis, the tune in the right hand is so endearing [0:13+], and when those gorgeous trills come along [0:33+], it's perfect, they make you truly melt, this opening is repeated again [0:50+], with the gorgeous trills on [1:10+], the opening is played a third time, but louder and different [1:46+], with constant trills until the original beginning comes back [2:10+], but this time the added trills are missing, in their place is some ghostly very quiet murmur of the trill in the left hand, very cute and appropriate in closing down the work, the piece lasts just over 3 minutes, but Rachmaninov is able to pack so much into so little, and Ashkenazy is a great advocate of Rachmaninov.

Here's Valentina Lisitsa playing Prelude No16 on YouTube.

Eileen Rose [Shine Like It Does]

I've had this disc for maybe a decade, it's never appeared in my daily highlight 'disc of the day', it's by far not a great album, usually discs like this are quickly purged out of my collection as a liability, a disc that gets in the way, whereas i could be listening to something else, a useful asset of a disc, well i played this today, and even though i admit that it's no great shakes still, i never seem to get the desire to just sell it, today i actually enjoyed playing it, it's got something to it, an album doesn't take ten years to work on me, maybe this will be a first, i can't see myself finding this a great album in another ten years though.

Eileen Rose is an American Singer-Songwriter, she's really quite unknown, she's got four albums in her catalogue, and this is her first, i bought it in a second-hand shop in London, i was initially attracted by the booklet cover, a really well laid out shot, in some American diner, with an empty stool in the foreground, she now tours with her band The Holy Wreck.

On this listen, the two tracks i liked the best were tracks 1 & 8, with track 8 'Shining' the most impressive, this is where the title of the album comes from, and i don't know why this track isn't called 'Shine Like It Does'!, it's very bluesy in a way, and it's hard to pigeon hole Eileen Rose, it starts off with a really clever acoustic guitar riff, and Eileen sings solo over this for nearly a minute, other instruments come in one by one, especially in the second verse [1:28+] it cranks up the invention, drums and glockenspiel come in [1:38+] a really enlightening moment, the rest of the song gets heavier, and her voice gets louder, and with sing a long chorus, she sure knows how to create something in layers.

Here's Eileen Rose singing 'Shining' live on YouTube.

Suk - Asrael Symphony [Belohlavek- Czech Philharmonic Orchestra]

In 1992 this recording appeared, alongside another recording by Pesek on the Virgin label, out of the blue we seemed to have gone from this Symphony sorely under represented on disc, to now spoilt for choice amongst two equally great recordings, at the time people raged what a great long lost work this was, and why hadn't it been 'discovered' sooner, as it should rightly be a well recorded work, on the strength of this, i bought this disc in 1993, it's a big work, lasting almost an hour, in five movements, it's certainly worth getting to know.

Jiri Belohlavek was born in Czechoslovakia in 1946, now 64, he has made many wonderful recordings for the Chandos label, Dvorak, Suk, Martinu, to name a few of the Composers he's recorded.

Suk's Asrael Symphony has an interesting compositional story, his Father in law and mentor, maybe even his hero Dvorak passed away, in his memory Suk wrote this Symphony, Asrael is the angel of death, that leads the newly deceased to the land of eternal bliss, it was planned as a five movement work, and initially it was to be a joyous creation and celebration of the life of Dvorak, however, after completing three movements, the same angel of death took Suk's wife also, and the last two movements were composed in her honour, and the Symphony now took a darker, more questioning spirit about life, now composed in two parts, the first part contains the first three movements played without a break, and dedicated to Dvorak, and the second part contains the last two movements dedicated to his wife.

However, on this recording it's the fifth and last movement that i'm really impressed and moved by, it has an optimistic, even an 'on to glory' type of feel to it, rather than dark and bleak, it has this wonderful optimistic silver lining to it, the whole Symphony has some lovely sonorities in it, clever and inspiring musical ideas,

Here's the start of the fifth movement, conducted by Walter Weller on YouTube.

Mozart - Piano Concerto 20 [Previn-London Symphony Orchestra]

Well Previn conducting the orchestra from the keyboard, when i first saw this disc, i assumed it was Radu Lupu who would be the Pianist in the first work on this disc, so i was somewhat disappointed that it's only Previn, but in listening to it i've changed my mind, Previn is in fact a Pianist of the highest order.

Andre Previn was born in Germany, but later emigrated to the USA, and became a citizen, he is now unbelievably 81, he recorded the Piano Concerto 20 in 1976, visually this is an excellent disc, these 'studio plus' discs are wonderful from EMI, nice colour co-ordination, and great pics of Previn and Lupu, nicely well balanced and sharp, the browns go well with the red.

I bought this disc on Ebay, i forget for how much, it's a disc i have never seen before, and i haven't seen since, if you don't buy / win certain discs, you never seem to get a second bite at the apple, it's a great addition to my library of discs [now roughly 1600].

The first movement of this Concerto is incredible, full of real momentum, plus Mozart uses the D Minor key to the fullest, creating tensions and conflict, which clash in organized ways with a lovely precision and flow!, the opening of the whole thing on droning dark strings is nicely tragic [0:00-0:30],

Here's Mitsuko Uchida conducting and playing the first movement on YouTube, in a truly inspiring video, i hope she records this on disc again with her conducting a small chamber group from the keyboard.

Debussy - Estampes [Arrau]

Another box set in this Arrau Edition series, this one is a two disc set, earlier in the month i played a Brahms box set by Arrau [3rd October 2010], this i feel is a more logical bunch of works, especially the Images and the Estampes, but also the 24 Preludes are given some enlightening interpretations by Arrau, a set to dip into and enjoy over the years.

These works were recorded between 1979-1981, when Arrau was 76 to 78 years old, and like i've said before, as he got older his interpretations somewhat slowed down with age, but also like a fine wine he matured in his insights, here we have the later thoughts of a master, roughly ten years before he passed away.

These box sets are wonderful, lovely pictures of Arrau [photos by Christian Steiner], with sheet music in the background, nicely housed in a handsome fatbox, with a thick 44 page booklet, very informative, it's a joy to own one of these, and they're quite rare now, i can't see any on Ebay at the moment.

I very much enjoyed the first two pieces in this triptych, especially the opening Pagodes, in many ways it's quite a complex piece, or is it that Debussy makes the simple sound complex?, it's a beautiful tone painting of East Asia, incorporating Oriental melodies, and even Eastern instruments, it's hard to nail down what i specifically find wonderful about this piece, as i find every bit of it so beautiful, so just some things i notice about Arrau, i love the way he has this ping ping at the end of the opening phrase [0:15 & 0:23], that is so gorgeous!, the two hands are almost commanded to play as separate entities, both almost unaware of each other, but the Pianist has to link them both by the heart, it's a joy to somehow hear the hands playing apart, and yet creating something greater than either of them can do, the piece gets louder and more agitated at [1:00+], but then mysteriously subsides, and the tolling bell starts up [1:29+], it gets forte again, but the quietness comes back, and the tolling starts again, but this time it's a double toll [2:11+] which develops an exciting trill to it, towards the end there's this wash of notes in the treble, like light rain [3:53-5:03], that last until the end of the piece, oh my gosh!, i haven't described a tenth of what's going on in this supreme piece of music, Debussy is surely a genius, and Claudio Arrau is a superb advocate of his music, this truly was a joy to retread these musical steps again as i reviewed my listening pleasure, my Blog is the literary spice which excites my ears all over again.

Here's Ying Chen playing Pagodes on YouTube.

Various Artists [Glam Slam - The Definitive Glam Rock Collection]

A long time ago, back in 1973, i bought my very first vinyl 45 [Life On Mars by David Bowie], this began the start of my obsession of collecting music, not long after came the Glam Rock revolution in the British charts, i think it started with T Rex, but soon bands like Slade, Sweet, Wizzard, and Gary Glitter joined in, and i bought many vinyl singles by Slade, Wizzard, and Sweet, it also found a market in the United States, with acts like Kiss and Twisted Sister, even the Punk Rock image is like an outrageous form of the opposite of Glam, and even today people like Marilyn Manson owe their image to the Glam Rock revolution, all those vinyl 45's are long gone, so this is like an ideal collection of all those singles i used to own, i got this disc in 1997, and it's proved a regular feature in my disc player.

My favourite Glam Rock act were Slade, they weren't merely an image and a bygone era, they wrote classy songs too, ok Dave Hill had some outrageous costumes, and they were visually over the top in their platform soled shoes, but underneath they were musical craftsmen, and they tended to get better with age, Noddy Holder's megaphone voice was straight out of what would now be termed as Glam Metal, and songs like 'The Banging Man' really were Metal, but at the other end of the spectrum they could be really refined and melodic.

Their best track was 'Cum On Feel The Noize', complete with misspellings [even the the band name is a misspelling], and it's good that it's on this disc, the other two tracks that i really enjoyed were track 8, 'Angel Fingers' by Wizzard, and track 13 'Sugar Baby Love' by The Rubettes, 'Cum On Feel The Noize' starts with Noddy screaming 'Baby, baby, bayyybe', and then after a short introduction '...Yo!', the verses are sooo good, thumping bass, nice rhythm guitar, and great drums, the chorus really is a chorus of all band members, what really makes the song is the sheer tuneful invention of the verses, which rightly has three verses, makes the song miles better, and Noddy Holders wonderful full throated voice, got to No1 in 1973 for four weeks, beats the Quiet Riot version any day.

Here's Slade singing 'Cum On Feel The Noize' on YouTube, recorded on Top Of The Pops.