Saint-Saens - Cello Concerto 1 [Haimovitz/ Levine-Chicago Symphony Orchestra] 

Another new disc getting its first outing [and incredibly this Saint-Saens Cello Concerto makes its debut in my Blog too!], i remember way back i had a tape of several Cello Concertos, i believe it was Schumann / Lalo / Saint-Saens, or Offenbach, something like that, and i didn't like it, they didn't seem to fit the mould of Dvorak and Elgar, but now i've fallen for these Cello Concertos, and it means i'm always on the lookout for other worthy versions, hence the entrance of this disc, i like the programme, i like the idea of the Bruch piece, a work that i don't know well, and yes i enjoyed its acquaintance today [very much like some of his Scottish Fantasy], and on first listen i find it hard to pinpoint any uniqueness from any other disc of the same music, so the jury is out, and it's always the Composer / work i listen to foremost on first go, and then later i can start listening to Artists / interpretations, so today was just basking in this lovely music, listening to Saint-Saens rather than Haimovitz / Levine.

Matt Haimovitz is Israeli i guess, born in 1970, making him 42 today, but his parents moved to America when he was five, and i now believe he lives in Canada, he made this recording in 1988 when he was only 17, and you can see the boyish looks in the photograph [by Christian Steiner], a nice inventive shot of Haimovitz and Levine, with the cello between them, the black background lends a spotlit quality to the shot, nice colours.

Scriabin - Piano Music [Lisovskaya] 

This disc gets its third outing in my Blog [24th April 2012 & 1st April 2011], a nice once a year regular, this is a good collection to have, not immensely representative, it veers towards the Preludes side of things, but he also composed Mazurkas, Etudes, and Poemes, but it's a nice mix, there's gems aplenty, if you're new to Scriabin, then one thing about his music for the novice, is that all his compositions can sound fairly much the same, it takes extra listening to find the uniqueness of each piece, today i did a lot of groundwork to really appreciating these pieces for the future, i can feel Scriabin starting to seep into my soul.

Sophia Lisovskaya is Russian, she's now 36, and she made this recording in 2000, the front cover photograph is by Karen Kartashian, and it's a wonderful portrait, a side profile i guess, not far off turning her back to the camera, as if she's caught from a session on the piano, just full of different shades of brown, almost a monotone shot, i like this portrait a lot, it's different and inventive.

Three pieces really took a shine to me, tracks 10, 15 & 23, here's a synopsis of each,
10 Prelude 8 [Op11/8] - A lovely surprise, i know the 24 Preludes Op11 fairly well, and Lisovskaya gives a selection of ten of them here, a nice mix, and this really stood out as something exceptional, marked Allegro Agitato, and in the fairly remote key of F Sharp Minor, it certainly lives up to the 'agitato' tag, the right hand sings in the treble, then has a jagged downward run, while the bass rumbles in the left, there's delicious turmoil there, lovely and restless, has to be heard to truly explain, a great little discovery for me today.
15 Prelude 1 [Op16/1] - One of the most gorgeous things Scriabin has ever done, i fell in love with this on a Lucille Chung disc, in some ways it sounds like Satie, but also a cross with the very best of Rachmaninov, the tune that the left hand conjures up is just stunning [0:12-0:45], something you can just float away on, very dreamily done, the amazing thing about it is Scriabin actually creates something more heavenly with it, the music turns to the treble keys to heighten their poetry [0:45-0:59], now that's one of those wow moments, and when the left hand opening returns [1:12+], it's a moment of pure magic, maybe it loses some of its specialness towards the end, but it's one hell [heaven!] of a creation.
23 Prelude [Op59/2] - Another amazing piece tucked away in his late oeuvre, Scriabin marks the score Sauvage / Belliqueux [wild / warlike], at first it's quite a complex muddle of things, but then it turns into these mysterious runs [0:31-0:51 & 1:25-1:45], full of the vague anchoring of any centre, and then it finishes almost in mid sentence, a great little piece once you get to know it.

Chopin - Piano Music 'The Poor Sad Angel' [Lugansky] 

'The Poor Sad Angel', a reference to Chopin from George Sand, this collection brings together a nice bunched up load of Opus numbers [Op49-62 / 1841-1846], the later years where he was involved with George Sand, a lot of these compositions were composed at Sand's summer estate in Nohant, central France, and shows a nice snapshot of Chopin in his later years, plus this is a great little snapshot of Lugansky in his earlier years, from the Master to the Pupil. 

Nikolai Lugansky is Russian, he is now 40, he made this recording in 1996 at the age of 24, in his earlier years on the Vanguard label, great things were expected of him, especially from his teacher Tatiana Nikolayeva, and maybe he's turned out to be very accomplished, but the 'New Messiah'?, the front cover photograph [by Piet Roorda] i like very much, a close up head and upper torso picture, top of the head purposely cut off, arms folded, nice expression, an accomplished portrait.

On this listen it was tracks 1-2, 5 & 7-10 that i enjoyed the most, and surprisingly there's one exception to the Op49-62 'bunch' of compositions, and that's the lone Nocturne Op27/2 [Nocturne 8], and it's this piece that i found most compelling, it's my favourite Nocturne of Chopin, 

Here's Nikolai Lugansky playing Nocturne 8 live on YouTube, plus i must post a performance by a young Asian girl called Rachel, she's so superb in her interpretation on YouTube.

Brahms - Piano Concerto 1 [Curzon/ Szell-London Symphony Orchestra] 

Now this was such a wonderful experience, it was a cold day, but i went out for a long walk and played this, i always enjoy this work [it was the first Piano concerto i ever listened to], but on this day it all came together, the first two movements were scintillating, there are times when you hear a work, and you forget about the performers, and just revel in the music, not being 'distracted' by by interpretation, in fact the interpretation is so perfect that it becomes 'invisible', and you're 'free' to just wallow in the music, that's what happened today, this disc is now very rare, and i'm glad to have secured a copy, and it turns me on to more Curzon, what else has he got that's worth hearing?.

Clifford Curzon is English [1907-1982], he recorded this work in 1962, and it's certainly amazing that this recording is now more than 50 years old, it sounds so good, lovely and clear, i can hear wonderful inner textures, it would put some modern recordings to shame, the front cover photo is an excellent one [by Fritz Curzon], a dark photograph, that especially emphasises the light areas, a certain glow around the face, nice pose, and the lettering nicely placed, a great visual product.

Various Composers - Guitar Preludes / Songs / Homages [Sollscher] 

One of the best guitar recital discs i own, this is full of good things, and back in 2000 i really played it a lot, it still gets a fair amount of play, however this is its Blog debut, which is surprising, it consists of 23 guitar miniatures, and delves into some off the beaten path Composers, just about everything is worth hearing, and some are real gems, just put it on shuffle and relax.

Goran Sollscher is Swedish, he is now 57, a mainstay of the DG label, he recorded this disc in 1997, the booklet photograph [by Henrik Bjornsson] is a little treasure, expertly done, shows movement in the hands, and a good pose, i guess the background has been cut away, but i like the lettering, even if his name is rather large.

A whole host of tracks were so enjoyable with four that were especially tremendous 2, 7, 9, & 15, but i would like to give a synopsis of the track 15, the Sor piece, it's my favourite piece on the whole disc, and in fact one of the greatest Guitar Miniatures ever written, Sor is not a household name, his crime was composing for the guitar, that's why he has a certain degree of obscurity, but he was the 'Chopin of the guitar', if this piece was originally written for piano it would be famous, it's a tremolo study, and it's one of those gorgeous pieces where two separate melodies intertwine, rather like left and right hands on a piano, the background tremolo accompaniment is like a gentle spinning wheel, it's written in the key of E Minor, and there's a certain sense of longing to the piece, here expertly played by Sollscher, there's certain moments where you have to hang notes in the air for an extra moment for the whole thing to truly take effect, the piece also just cries out in certain places, Sor gets underneath the skin, the music also rises and falls superbly, and it carries you on the crest of a wave at times, there's this one penultimate moment near the end where time stands still [2:41+], the equal of Chopin's Etude Op10/3, i feel better for having listened to this today.

Here's Warren Haskell playing Sor's Etude Op6/11 on YouTube.

Lalo - Symphonie Espagnole [Mutter/ Ozawa-Orchestre National De France] 

One of my most favourite Violin 'Concertos', and an early disc for Mutter [1985 when she 22], is it a Violin Concerto or isn't it?, i guess it really doesn't matter, it certainly veers away from the established formula, with a five movement 'suite', playing dazzling music, Lalo composed the work for the Violinist Sarasate, and it's so good to hear this work again, it was just over a year ago that this disc appeared in my Blog [8th January 2012].

Anne-Sophie Mutter is German, she's now 49, and her half century beckons this year, she recorded this disc in 1985, and the front cover picture is by Christian Steiner, a pleasing enough portrait, but not incredibly clear, the supposed blacks are just dark brown.

The whole of this work is tremendous, every movement is different, a different mood and vibe, but the whole thing is tied together by Spanish idioms, and by a certain virtuosity, it was the third and fifth movements i liked the best, i guess over the years it's the third movement Intermezzo that has become my favourite, and it certainly hit the mark again today, it's a fairly 'angry' movement of music, at the start there's a stamping rhythm played by the strings, interspersed with a more serene echo by the flutes [0:00-0:57], the Violinist takes up this theme, but drifts away from the anger, and becomes more sweetly lyrical [1:32+], and then by turns more towards virtuosity [2:30+], and even though the orchestra try to bring back in the anger, Mutter keeps it lyrical, even though through a high level of virtuosity, i just like the many twists and turns the whole thing gives, the perfect middle movement.

Here's Anne-Sophie Mutter playing the third movement Intermezzo on YouTube.

Ron Sexsmith [Eponymous] 

I heard such great things about Sexsmith from reviews of his first album, especially the Jackson Browne references, that i took my chances and just bought this album right off the bat, and i guess a mixed feeling at first, it was a good album, but i was expecting great, but this disc has been a slow burner, and this most recent listen has been the best yet, he's a great SongSmith, and i really need to delve into some further albums by him, but which one should be next?, i think i'll plump for Long Player Late Bloomer, this appeared in my Blog back in 2010 [31st July 2010], and i write this review while purposely not looking at that one, i don't want to 'steal' from previous thoughts.

Ron Sexsmith is Canadian, he's now recently 49, so the big 5-0 looms on the horizon, this is hsi first album, but he now has a whole spread of 13 albums, he recorded this one in 1995, the front cover portrait makes him seem like a little boy, probably because it's shot from a slight height, plus he's so much younger [31 years old], a black & white shot, really well done [photo by Daniel Lanois], tousled hair, a zip up raincoat / jacket thing, hands look like they're behind his back, grainy shot, and the purple lettering for his name, i like it, i think it's great, and in complete contrast the back inlay is very colourful, though i suspect it's a black & white that's colour tinted, again from a height, making him even more look like a little boy, the track listing is excellently done, it really stands out well, the numbers were added by me, so i know where i am, great stuff indeed.

Bruce Springsteen [The Ghost Of Tom Joad] 

I'm not a great fan of Springsteen's 'anthems' [Born In The USA etc], but his more acoustic output really gets me, my favourite album of his is 'Tunnel Of Love', he really gets under your skin, and finds the detail and essence of life in his observations, on first listen i found this just too laid back, in places Springsteen almost ends up talking with a slight guitar twang in the background, almost like a book of poems, but once you notice these very underestimated lyrical tunes, you realise what an incredible Singer / Songwriter Springsteen really is, he has that ability to transport you away to a time and place of his choosing, you truly fall into his world, some of these songs are gut-wrenching, on this hearing this album truly clicked, before i used to like a few of the songs, now i find almost all of them precious gems, songs of unemployment, crime, illegal immigrants, vagrancy, loss, revenge etc, this could well prove to eventually be my favourite Springsteen album in time.

Bruce Springsteen is American, now 63 years old, he recorded this disc in 1995, the front cover picture is crap, well maybe that's a bit severe, it certainly isn't great, but its low key-ness actually goes along with the music.

So many of these tracks were just revelatory today, i have never heard this album so good, it gets better and better on every hearing, my favourite three tracks are 5-6 & 11, and here's a synopsis of all three,
5 Sinaloa Cowboys - My absolute favourite of all, the ending is so powerful and strong, it makes you want to weep, and i catch myself every time, it ends 'there in the dirt he dug up ten thousand dollars, all that they'd saved, kissed his brother's lips and placed him in his grave', now that's so gripping, earlier their Father had warned them 'My sons, one thing you will learn, for everything the north gives, it exacts a price in return', and here his maxim comes true, the hole in the ground of buried treasure, for one of them doubled as his grave, it gives and takes in return, the imagery is fantastic, the music is just Springsteen and his acoustic guitar, a certain Mexican sounding melody, it just ambles along, Springsteen's voice cracks at times, there's a very subtle use of emphasis, try 'ah but if you slipped', it's poetic storytelling at its best.
6 The Line - A touching yet sad tale of lost love, a girl that he met, and then lost, and then spent his life trying to find her, again a gentle strumming song, there's a lovely crux near the end, where he stands between Bobby Ramirez [loyalty], and Louisa [love], and the music almost hangs in mid air at the lyrics 'I felt myself moving', as his hand rests on his gun, again a great moment where Springsteen can say in a few words what others would spend pages to say.
11 Galveston Bay - A surprise addition, i liked this a lot, very very sparse, just really a slight twang from Springsteen's guitar, just very much his raw voice, it's the nearest you'll get to Bruce just reciting a poem, and it's his ability to quote nonchalant insignificance like 'In the early darkness, Billy rose up, went into the kitchen for a drink of water', and yet to make it so profound, as if the whole song hangs on a moment of rare nothing, it's a doodling guitar album with the mutterings of a prophet.

This listening inspired me to buy Springsteen's earlier sparse album 'Nebraska', i'm sure it's going to be just as good.