Schumann - Piano Concerto [Barenboim/ Fischer Dieskau-London Philharmonic Orchestra]

Here's another instalment of this disc i played last year [29th June 2010], the Piano Concerto is a master of the sublime and the extravagant put together, there's a chimerical fantasy feel to the work, probably the best thing he's ever done.

Daniel Barenboim is Argentinian, born in 1942, he's now 68, he still straddles two careers, one of Pianist, the other of Conductor, he recorded this work in 1974, not a great recording sonically, a bit dry and brittle, not enough stereo-ness to it, the front cover [of his wife] is excellent [by Reg Wilson], and it's good to have the Husband / Wife collaboration of the Cello Concerto on this disc, and of course shows a close up of her face, nice lighting from above, highlights in the hair, and the colour scheme [blue and red, usually clash] is wonderful too.

Brahms - Handel Variations [Katin]

I bought this disc to sell, but looking at it, i find it's really quite nice, so i gave it a spin, just to see if i should keep it or not, the Brahms repertoire is excellent on this disc, especially the Handel Variations at the end, and Katin really is a good Pianist too, my luxury is that i really have got a disc collection that is bordering on 'too many discs', so is there room for Katin's Brahms as well?.

Peter Katin is a British Pianist, now 80 years old, he seems to have been stuck on smaller labels, and has never become really well known, he made this recording in 1990.

The Handel Variations along with the Goldberg Variations are my favourite, what makes the Handel Variations so special is how Brahms so carefully strings them all together, each one prepares us for the next one, and each preceding variations build on the next variation, like a strong rope, each strand is relatively weak, but put them all together and they become strong, each one builds you up, so that when the next appears you are so much more in the thrall of the work, the four Variations that were absolutely delightful were, 7, 12, 14 & 22, and i would like to give a brief synopsis below, the YouTube video's are of Roman Rabinovich, the timings are the place in the videos where the individual variations are,
Variation 7 [6:28-7:06], a nice staccato variation that seems to rock back and forth, and i so much enjoy the lovely way in which Variation 8 just so naturally evolves out of it. 
Variation 12 [0:54-1:50], so delicate and beautiful, Katin captures a certain innocence with it, i can't help thinking of bells / glockenspiel when hearing the opening right hand treble, a lovely way of presenting the tune.
Variation 14 [3:29-4:09], and here's a variation that sounds like the hand scampers up and down the keyboard, full of vitality and wit, lots of fun, those trills are excellent, another ingenious way of presenting the initial theme.
Variation 22 [1:03-1:58], a nice respite from some of the more robust variations, nice treble chiming, much like Variation 12 in character, towards the end there's some nice extra judicious high treble notes.
Brahms was a master of the variation medium.

Schubert / Mahler - String Quartet 14 [Mito Chamber Orchestra]

Here's a nice insight into the working mind of Mahler, a String Orchestra arrangement of Schubert's String Quartet 14, which also dresses up the Schubert work in new clothes, it's not merely a quadrupling up of string forces [there's 11 violins, 4 violas, 4 cellos, and 2 double basses], the weight of the piece seems to fall to extra violins, but in balancing things out, Mahler adds two double basses, probably to create a wider dynamic, an even greater variety of colour would have been achieved by bringing in woodwind, brass, and percussion, but this is a fascinating release, though my final verdict is it in no way replaces Schubert's genius, Schubert composed an Octet, and he knew what he was doing, so he easily could have done what Mahler did if he thought it would improve his work.

The Mito Chamber Orchestra is in essence conductorless, organized in 1990, i guess it's rather like the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, this disc was recorded in 1993, this is a Sony Japanese disc, a lot of the writing on the back is in Japanese, and so are most of the notes in the booklet, the front cover is excellent [photo by Makoto Yamazaki], couched in lovely autumnal browns and oranges, a wide angle lens showing the nice architecture of the place, and the starburst lights above.

Again it was the second movement which i found the most interesting, however the overloading of violins has a tendency to sweeten the movement, the work is in D Minor, and in many ways it's a sad and even brutal theme, but that gets blunted somewhat under Mahler's recreation, i couldn't help thinking while i was listening to it, 'give me the Lindsay's anyday', at the start of the theme, there's definitely a lovely lush orchestral texture, and this bides well for the theme as a whole [0:00-2:10], in the First Variation, i love the way the violins swell [2:50-3:08 & 3:29-3:47], the dark Second Variation is abuzz with bubbling undercurrents, bass and treble nicely terraced [4:11-6:34], it's in the louder and menacing Third Variation where i missed the String Quartet, it's my favourite variation, and it just doesn't work as well here [6:35-8:39], the Fifth Variation is really good, there's a mystery at first, which transitions into menace, nicely works for a string orchestra, some very busy string work [10:03-12:49], certainly a work more than worth getting to know in its 'Mahler garb'. 

Here's Georgi Pavliy conducting the second movement on YouTube.

Various Artists [Wings Of Love]

I love these compilation albums, giving me some of my most favourite songs by different Artists, and also giving me a varied selection of nice other songs i wouldn't otherwise listen to or collect, this compilation comes from the A & M back catalogue, sixteen excellent songs.

Out of all these songs, it was tracks 1-3, 6-9, 11-13 & 15-16 which were the best, i guess that that's nearly all of them!, the three real highlights were tracks 2, 6 & 8, and i would like to discuss each track below,
2 Elton John - Sacrifice, one of my most favourite Elton John songs, and his first number one hit in the UK, i just love the drumstick roll on the cymbal right at the beginning, what a stroke of genius!, the high synths, with its glockenspiel sounds, are judiciously used as accompaniment, and yet it makes such a tremendous contribution, out of all proportion to the amount it's played, but it's Elton John's voice which is the real star, a nice creamy voice, and a lovely ballad, in the first verse, i like the lyrics 'when the scent of her lingers', conjuring up all sorts of visuals, in the second verse it just gets better, a cleverly added guitar [or probably a keyboard synth] makes the music all the more powerful, and lots of glockenspiel synth at the end.
6 George Michael - A Different Corner, the best thing he has ever done, it's a slow smouldering song, very sparse instrumentation, and just focusing on that incredible soulful voice, with heavy bass chords and background piano, and an overriding string synth, George Michael can really plumb the depths and heights of the vocal range, and his voice nicely cries and breaks at the right points, a very breathy delivery, the lyric 'turn a different corner and we never would have met' is fantastic, just a slight different roll of the dice, and a completely different outcome would have happened.
8 Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight, a superb guitar theme runs throughout the whole song, and a gentle tap tap flow on the cymbals, and a swirling organ accompaniment underpins everything, three verses, each telling the same story 'you look / i feel / you are' wonderful tonight.