Various Composers - Violin Showpieces [Perlman/Mehta-New York Philharmonic] 

This disc resides at number 7 in my all time favourite list, out of 1600 odd discs i own that's high!, i've played this countless times, and each time i've marvelled at the playing of Itzhak Perlman, in his heyday he could play the violin so effortlessly, even under extreme pressure of complex / virtuosic scores, and do it with such panache and insouciance, for an idea of what i mean, just listen if you can to the closing pages of Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy, the screws of difficulty tighten and tighten, but Perlman takes it in his stride, almost laughing it off, turn to Anne-Sophie Mutter and you can feel the pressure and the grimace as she tries to hold it together. 

Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli Violinist, born in 1945, making him 65 today, he recorded this disc in 1986.

Well on this listen i have to admit that it was the closing work on this disc that made my heart jump, the Introduction And Rondo Capriccioso from Saint-Saens, is a 9 minute extravaganza, but full of poetry too, i must admit there doesn't seem a lot of structure to the piece, it meanders all over the place, more like a Fantasy than a Rondo, the Introduction [0:00-1:38] lasts roughly 20% of the piece, a more quiet and sad refrain, but at the changeover into the Rondo Capriccioso there's an orchestral / timpani 'jump', and then the fun starts!, like the strike of midnight and all the colourful characters and magic begin, some of the highlights are as follows,

1:50, 3:13 & 5:34 - right after each of the three 'jumps', the violin plays a lovely gypsy / fiddle figure, each time i hear it i marvel at Perlman's virtuosity.

2:22 - Perlman plays some high trills and a few screeching notes, very effective.
2:43 - and very short quick notes and trills, nicely up and down the violin.
5:20 - and high notes, up very high in the violin tessitura, extremely short and fast too, but quickly coming down to the bass, a lovely shot of virtuosity!.
7:02 - again another set of high wire trills, one after another.
7:23 - 8:01 - then comes for me the highlight of the piece, all sorts of effects are displayed by the Fiddler, but it's the violin that chugs along on it's trapeze act, while an oboe appears [7:40], and plays the sad melody, while the oblivious violin keeps going.
8:18 - and of course there's a finale, where the violin just can't resist showing off in a lovely ending.

Here's Perlman playing Saint-Saens Introduction And Rondo Capriccioso on YouTube.

Mozart - Piano Concerto 20 [Barenboim-Berliner Philharmoniker] 

Another disc played while walking on the way to Church, my favourite Mozart Piano Concerto, this is a Concerto where the Conductor plays the piano as well, i'm not too sure if this is good practice, how can you possibly conduct when your hands are on the piano keys?, even though i must admit i very much like Uchida conducting from the keyboard [see below], and it works very well with a small chamber unit, also on YouTube both Andras Schiff and Friedrich Gulda conduct this work from the keyboard too, so Barenboim is not alone.

Daniel Barenboim is an Argentinian conductor and Pianist, now 68 year old, he recorded this work in 1988, the booklet picture is pleasing enough, showing Barenboim conducting with blurred hands, i believe Barenboim recorded a cycle of the late Mozart Piano Concertos for Teldec [20-27], available in 4 discs individually, each one has a different colour theme, with this one in green.

I very much enjoyed the opening first movement of this work, it's a gorgeous dark opening [in my favourite D Minor], full of lovely rhythms and surges, first off the recording, i must admit it's a bit fierce, too shallow in the stereo, the individual instruments aren't separated enough left and right, also it can be quite shrill in the treble in fortissimos, there's not enough of a warm bloom on the recording, also i wonder if the work was properly rehearsed beforehand, there's a few ugly moments where the Orchestra blast away at full volume, when a more restrained approach would have been more pleasing, maybe the BP were on autopilot, but the gear changes between certain sections don't spring naturally from one to the next, having said all that, it's a testament to the genius of Mozart that his music is so compelling, even when the recording / performance is not ideal, don't get the idea i think this is a poor performance, in fact i enjoyed it so very much.

On to the actual music, and how i felt about it, the opening is sheer magic [0:00-2:24], like i said, in a dark minor key, and Mozart takes advantage of this in spades, the surges and waves at the beginning are incredible, there's almost an incantation intoned by the lower dark strings in the bass, like a repetitive mantra, and it's so wonderful to hear it as a delicious rhythm in the background, but it's not just about constant volume surges, but also waves of volume, you can hear at [0:16+] the agitation getting louder and more desperate, then there's the fortissimos [0:29+], thunderous blasts on the timpani, followed by angry strings, the dark / brooding / frantic way the strings surge away at [1:21+] has me on the edge of my seat as it were, this whole orchestral intro has got to be the very best part of the whole work, and the only thing that comes close to it is these opening rhythms with piano, the orchestra repeats the very opening [2:50+], and then magically the piano comes in with bass warblings [2:58+], that turn slowly into treble warblings, another great moment from the masters workbench, there's an oboe and bassoon melody that is punctuated by flute [4:12+ & 9:30+] that is such a breath of fresh air, there's also a lovely transition from bass piano musings, to the opening very opening rhythms again [7:38+], and it's these opening rhythms that appear all over the place in this movement, which tingle and delight every time, all in all an endless wealth of ideas and sheer enjoyment from Mozart.

Here's Mitsuko Uchida conducting and playing the first movement on YouTube.

Dvorak - Symphony 9 [Mackerras-Prague Symphony Orchestra] 

This is the first time Dvorak's Ninth appears in my Blog, and this is well overdue, it's my favourite Dvorak Symphony, and this is only the second time i've played this actual disc, but what revelations!, a wonderfully mellow recorded disc, bringing out all sorts of subtleties.

Charles Mackarras was an Australian Conductor, he died 7 months ago at the age of 84, he recorded this live disc in 2005, a nice pleasing photo of Mackerras [by David Port], in a relaxing pose, nicely lit, with some nice shadows on the left, which give depth and show nice contours.

Of course i love the beautiful slow Largo, with its gorgeous cor anglais solo, but... on this listen i was even more thrilled with the Scherzo [Molto Vivace] third movement, like i said earlier, i really like the glow of this recording, it isn't clinical and sharp, there's a certain degree of ambivalence to it, a real autumnal feeling, the Prague Symphony Orchestra doesn't sound large, and there's definitely this space in which the woodwinds can be heard so magically, also the movement fires along at a very brisk pace, and yet it doesn't sound garbled and hurried, just a certain fizz to it all, i guess one of the things i notice more than ever, is the extensive use of the triangle!, right from the beginning of the movement it rings away like an alarm clock, startling and waking me up, and it comes back all over the place, i like the way the woodwind bleat away in morse code [0:08-0:13], and right after the timpani fire off a couple of triple beats [0:21 & 0:24], and these timpani can be well heard, a very nice acoustic echo, the whole opening is repeated again [0:40-1:23], and it's so good to hear the timpani again [1:02-1:05], the middle part of the movement has some glorious rustic music, and i love the way Dvorak uses his woodwinds here, the bassoon shyly introduces us to this section [1:24+], then the cor anglais and clarinet give us one of those immortal tunes [1:29-1:57], these woodwinds are so unassuming in the recording, they let the nostalgic tune do the speaking, i cannot speak highly enough of how this little half a minute makes me feel, this is the highlight of the Symphony for me today, and notice the triangle ringing all over the place, the second part of the middle section brings in another glorious rustic tune, and the frantic strings and the warbling woodwind toss around this tune in a playful way [3:26-3:52 & 4:05-4:30], the opening comes back, and even the middle section has a reprise, it's a movement packed full of goodies, when you slit it's belly open and look inside with an autopsy!.

Here's Herbert Von Karajan conducting the third movement on YouTube.

Bruckner - Symphony 8 [Sinopoli-Staatskapelle Dresden] 

I played this disc to participate on a Classical discussion forum, listen to the Symphony and post your thoughts / feelings, i decided to listen to the Sinopoli discs, his reading is 86 minutes long, spread over two discs, yes his is a measured reading, other versions can be issued on one disc, it's one of those works that seems to hit the 80 minute mark, some go over and some under, compared to other Bruckner Eighths that i have,

Barenboim - 77

Wand - 81

Harnoncourt - 83

Haitink - 85

Sinopoli - 86

Giuseppe Sinopoli was born in Italy, and died of heart attack sustained during the conducting of Verdi's Aida in 2001, he was 54, the booklet shows the Opera House of the Staatskapelle Dresden, and in the background the bombed out ruins of the Second World War, not too sure what it's trying to say alongside Bruckner's Eighth.

Well this listening experience was truly staggering, i've never enjoyed this Symphony so much, all the movements were a pure revelation, at the moment the 4th Symphony is my favourite, but i really feel that could change, and this one could surpass it, 

Herbert Von Karajan conducting the third movement Adagio on YouTube.

Various Artists [Essential Seventies] 

As it says on the back inlay, 'exclusively produced for Boots', at one time Boots the Chemist used to have a line of their own compact discs, even a small Classical music range, most of the discs were poor, but this one i picked up as it really did have some very nice tracks on it, i grew up in the Seventies, and it's a nostalgic time for me, it's a great mix of tracks and styles, there's Glam Rock, Two-Tone / Ska, Disco, and good old plain Rock amongst others, but somehow it all gels together.

The booklet shows a great shot of a black girl with a huge afro hairstyle, very seventies, and a nice pose too, i guess in hot pants with her legs crossed, the lettering is a bit naff on the front cover, but the back inlay is really nice, with a mini front cover picture, and the track numbers in alternative black and white is a nice touch, very easy to read.

The tracks that i really enjoyed were 2-6, 9-10, 13-14 & 16-19, with tracks 10 & 14 which were especially memorable, of course there's lots of memories here, the remembrance Glam Rock with one of my favourite bands Wizzard, and Tiger Feet by Mud getting to number 1, those crazy days of the late Seventies with Gerry Rafferty being kept off the top spot in both the UK and the US, and i just remember the Marshall Hain hit Dancing In The City getting close to the top in the late Seventies too.

But it's track 14 Don't Take Away The Music by Tavares which hit me the most, during the Seventies i wasn't so much into Disco at the time, but now it means so much more to me, this is a tremendous hit, it got to number 4 in the UK in 1976, .

Here's Tavares singing 'Don't Take Away The Music' on YouTube. 

Chris Isaak [Heart Shaped World] 

Back in 1994, i was searching through a second-hand shop in London, i was looking for interesting new Artists to delve into, i came across a cassette of this album, it looked real good, who was this guy Chris Isaak?, it cost £2 as i remember, and the subsequent disc i bought as a result, has proved to be a fairly major find in my extensive discography [it sits at 145 in my favourite albums of all time list], 'you gotta take a risk to find a fantastic disc', strangely Chris Isaak's other albums really haven't impressed me.

Chris Isaak is an American Rock musician and singer, now 54 years old, he basically specializes in old time Rock n Roll, almost bordering on Rockabilly i guess, very much in the vein of early Elvis Presley and others around that time, he has a discography of 14 albums now, this one was released in 1989, i really love the cover of this disc [one of the things that attracted me to it in the first place], a tremendously atmospheric black and white shot of Isaak in a motel room [photo by Lex Van Rossen], which just captures the loneliness i guess of being on the road, living out of rented rooms, and it's that damn No3 in the mirror that really says something?, the diffused light coming from a window is so excellent, casting wonderful light and shadow across Isaak, and the somewhat grainy shot creates a starkness all of its own, the colours of orange and blue stand out tremendously, and are carried over onto the back inlay, all in all a phenomenal visual package.

In a number of ways it's a fairly dark set of songs, there's sadness and loss in there, track 6 'Blue Spanish Sky' has some excellent acoustic guitar work, and it's a hazy lumbering song full of regret, very well paced, track 10 'In The Heat Of The Jungle' is strange to some degree, conjuring up exotic vocals and the darkness of night, but it's track 2 'I'm Not Waiting' that impressed me most, it has tremendous rhythms to it, lovely guitar work, both electric and acoustic, the opening acoustic guitar has a lovely echo twang to it [0:00-0:04], and the drummer has such an incredible gentle beat on the snare drum, reminiscent of using brushes, the vocals come in with Chris Isaak in beautiful voice [0:15+],

I have pictures in my troubled past

and they're shaped like broken glass

i have memories i kept of you

i return them with goodbyes

sounds like broken photographs that cut him badly, and such sad memories need to be binned in the past, there's this fantastic hawaiian guitar playing in the background, hitting just the right notes inbetween the vocals, and some nice strumming on the acoustic guitar in the chorus, a great little electric guitar solo after the first chorus [1:22-1:42], full of reverberant twang, and the second verse comes straight after with phenomenal effect [1:42+], it's just that 'skiffleness' to the whole thing, it's so catchy, forget about 'Wicked Game', this is the best track on the album.

Here's Chris Isaak singing Blue Spanish Sky on YouTube.

Haydn - String Quartet 79 Op76/5 [Lindsay String Quartet] 

The Op76 String Quartets are a group of six Quartets [Nos 75-80], and this is the second disc of those Quartets, how good it would be to put both into a double disc box set?, Haydn's String Quartets may seem a bit unimaginative compared to late Schubert and Beethoven, but like his many Symphonies, they have a life of their own, each Quartet seems to have a really good movement out of the four, Haydn's inability seems to not being able to get four of them into the same Quartet, but his String Quartets are worth a listen, and i'm always happy after hearing one of his efforts.

The Lindsay String Quartet or 'The Lindsays' as they later have become to be known, were one of the leading String Quartet units throughout the world, justly famous for their interpretations, they formed in 1965, and disbanded in 2005 after 40 years together, they have been recording the Haydn String Quartets disc by disc, and i'm not sure if they have recorded all the Haydn Quartets, but certainly at least the major bulk of them, this disc was recorded in 1999.

I very much enjoyed the very last movement of this work, the short Presto fourth movement, it clocks in at under 4 minutes, but where it's short on time, it's certainly the opposite on content, it's so packed full of good things, that i really find it hard to pull it apart and show where the best parts are, as it's all so good, it's like an intricate watch, pulling one tiny mechanism out to show its beauty has a tendency to pull the whole thing apart!, a feature of this movement is the background rhythms produced by a quick monotonous bowing figure [0:04], and Haydn uses this excellent rhythm to fuel the whole movement, the first violin and the cello throw around a nice tune while the second violin and viola play this rhythm [1:30], it's so gorgeously enthusiastic and contagious, and it doesn't let up till it's ended, a great little piece of music to get to know. 

Here's the Ysaye String Quartet playing the fourth movement on YouTube.