Sting - Fields Of Gold [The Best Of Sting 1984-1994]

Wow, Sting will be 60 next year!, seems like a short time ago i got a 'Message In A Bottle' and was 'walking On The Moon', this compilation comes from his first four albums, and i feel that some of those individual albums didn't have enough quality to justify having, and yet there's some nice individual tracks that are, so this is one of those discs that collect the best bits of an Artist.

Well i really enjoyed tracks 3, 5-6 & 12-15, but most of all track 3 'Fields Of Gold', it's his best song ever, so full of nostalgia, a romantic moment years ago, remembered years later, it aches with bittersweetness, there's this 'tick tock' throughout the song played by the drumstick, representing the inevitable/inescapable passing of time, the lovely strumming/picking of the spanish guitar makes the song so sunny, at the end of the song Sting sings of the passing years,

'Many years have passed since those summer days

Among the fields of barley

See the children run as the sun goes down

Among the fields of gold'

sounds so much like they both had children and grew old together, but... they still look back on fondness to their earlier years... in the fields of barley.

Here's a clever/creative video of Sting performing Fields Of Gold on YouTube.

Delius - Piano Concerto [Lane/Lloyd Jones-Ulster Orchestra]

The Delius Piano Concerto is truly underrated on disc, which is a real shame, as this Concerto is one of the best things he wrote, and it's hard to fathom why it isn't better known, it's a real find if you love Piano Concerto's.

Hyperion's 'The Romantic Piano Concerto' series is a great idea, and even though the series is a mixed bag, certain individual recordings are gems, i would not wish to collect the whole lot, just dip into single discs that are appealing.

This concerto had a long gestation period, this is the original version recorded here, although i have a recording of the revised version, also played by Piers Lane, but with Vernon Handley conducting, i feel that the revised version is superior, but i really need to listen to both more before i can pinpoint why, the revised version is roughly six minutes shorter.

The first movement really got to me this time, there are two themes running through it, the first one heard at the outset, nice and pastoral, heard on the strings [0:00-0:19], but soon turns more exuberant, and then the second tune, more lovelier, first heard on the horns [1:40-2:03], but followed by an exquisite dreamy piano solo [2:03-2:39], the feel and mood of this Concerto is most like Schumann's Piano Concerto, the two themes intertwine back and forth, maybe in places it might sound somewhat disjointed and pasted together, and maybe that's where the revised version comes in, near the end of the Concerto, there's a lovely episode, where the second gentle tune appears on the flutes/woodwind [8:44-9:09], in anticipation for the piano serenading away [9:09-10:01], with flute/recorder? in the background, which turns to solo violin, Delius surely knows how to spin a wonderful tune.

Well i have not lived long with this Concerto, i'm still in the process of discovering it, but so far what i hear is a forgotten masterpiece.

Here's the first movement played on YouTube.

Prokofiev - Piano Concerto 3 [Krainev/ Kitaenko-Radio Sinfonie Orchester Frankfurt]

This is a lovely set of the Prokofiev Piano Concertos, i don't think Vladimir Krainev is very well known, born in 1944 in Russia, now lives in Germany, but mainly has worked in the East.

The booklet cover is by Ernst Kirchner, a surprisingly good painter, his painting Nollendorfplatz is really powerful.

The third Concerto is probably the most famous, i love the wonderful variations in the middle movement, full of quirky surprises, endless variety, and clashing instrumentation, this is Prokofiev at his best, the movement is jam packed with so much drama, i will just mention my favourite moments, variation 2 [2 :11-3:01] has this fanfare by muted trumpet, sharp and brittle, nicely clashing with everything else, as the piano runs up and down the keyboard, in variation 3 [3:01-4:14] the piano stamps out chords, with an out of tune lumbering gait, this for me is the best moment of the whole Concerto, in the middle of variation 4, there's this fluttering by the high woodwind [5:44-6:06], from treble down to bass, as if a bird has flown down from a tree to the ground, or a leaf has fallen, very effective, there's something new to find every time i listen to it.

Here's Yuja Wang playing the middle movement Theme and Variations on YouTube, with Dutoit conducting.

Various Composers - French Soprano Opera Arias [Kanawa/Tate-Orchestra Of The Royal Opera House Covent Garden]

Kiri Te Kanawa has a very distinctive voice, you can tell it's her singing, although her voice sometimes gets in the way, maybe it's too distinctive!, sometimes you want to get into the character of the role, but her voice remains the same.

This recital of French Opera arias is special, i remember playing this disc extensively on a holiday in Cornwall, and i really got to deeply know some of these arias there, the booklet is nice, a lovely blue-tinged photo by David Scheinmann.

I love the Massenet aria from Le Cid, 'Pleurez pleurez mes yeux' [weep weep my eyes], the Heroine is Chimene, she is torn between her love for Rodrigo, and for her Father [whom Rodrigo has killed in a duel], she laments her deep sadness, the aria starts off with an introduction by the clarinet [0:00-0:44], very reminiscent of a Bellini aria, those smooth clarinet lines keep coming back later in the aria [1:18-1:38 etc], and are a wonderful feature that make this aria justly famous, there's a happier episode in the middle, where Chimene reminisces on earlier days, with a caress of the harp, and the clarinet as backing [3:16-3:59], and Chemine gets more passionate, and so do the strings, a lovely sad aria.

Here's Angela Gheorghiu singing this aria on YouTube.

Beethoven - Piano Concerto 3 [Perahia/ Haitink-Concertgebouw Orchestra]

Here's the Perennial Beethoven again, his last three Concertos are masterpieces, the third was one which i fell in love with right away, this boxset is ideal, Murray Perahia is a great interpreter.

So what of Bernard Haitink?, some people think he's a genius, others i've heard don't think he's anything special, i guess the jury's out in my corner, i don't particularly 'listen' to a Conductor, maybe a soloist, i prefer listening to the Composer instead, maybe Haitink can be a little slow, he's now over eighty years old!.

The first movement is full of drama, very Mozartian? in it's intro, the Maestro is still somewhat under the shadow of Mozart, written in a minor key [C Minor], i suppose it has its double with Mozart's Concerto 24 in the same key [which i also love], it has that edge of 'conflict' about it, it's hard to pinpoint a certain passage which made me 'sit up and take notice', it's the whole thing that i got into, ok maybe half way through there's this little woodwind 'intro' [7:35-7:40], which leads into the piano playing the main theme, while the strings chug in the background [7:42-8:21], a nice intense moment, the Concerto is very satisfying indeed.

Here's the first movement played by Perahia on YouTube, this time with Marriner conducting.

Bantock - Tone Poem 5 'The Witch Of Atlas' [Handley-Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]

Granville Bantock seems to have been a forgotten composer, until the early nineties, when Hyperion Records started to record his works, and it's a wonder that he has remained unearthed for so long, because he should be much better known, and surprisingly he has a wonderful way with a tune, deft at using the orchestra to paint literary works with lovely tone colours.

I bought this disc in the early nineties, because everyone was raving about it, i quickly learned what all the fuss was about, i have nearly 1600 discs now, and this gets in my all-time top five!, yes it's that good, i haven't heard a lot of Bantock, but i would urge anyone to acquire this disc.

Bantock wrote six Tone Poems, this is the fifth, and it's gloriously rich in the most exquisite musical sonorities, Bantock has a thing about creating a soundworld to immediately fall in love with, it starts off with a solo violin, pleading [track 6 0:03-0:22], and then an oboe mirroring the tune [track 6 0:20-0:56], and then what sounds like a bass clarinet also mirroring the tune [track 6 1:01-1:37], this is the wonderful intro, really sets the scene, the music changes with horn calls, and Bantock begins to weave his magic with some very atmospheric woodwind & strings [track 7 0:41-2:17], mysterious and ghostly in places, again with a soft clash of the cymbal, it changes with some chattering piccolos [track 8 0:05-0:20], readying for the surge of the strings, who enter with such heartwrenching passion [track 8 0:21-0:49], this is the very best moment of the piece, it sounds like a Tchaikovsky waltz, it quietens down but becomes more impassioned again, a truly breathtaking moment, towards the end there's this short section where the piccolos chatter like birds, and then the chattering ripples down through all the woodwinds to the bassoons [track 12 0:38-1:11], a nice touch!, in the coda the opening is reprised [track 13 1:08-2:43], with some glockenspiel & harp tinkling to end things, if this was a Tchaikovsky or Sibelius Tone Poem it would justly be world famous, do yourself a favour and acquaint yourself with a masterpiece of mood.

Here's the piece played on YouTube.

Mahler - Symphony 5 [Jarvi-Scottish National Orchestra]

Mahler's Fifth Symphony is my favourite among his Symphonies, it breaks from the traditional four to a five movement work, and this works a treat, it has a real cohesiveness to it, even though it must be noted that Mahler composed it with only three distinct parts to it, both the first two movements are in a minor key, and the last three are in the major, which shows turmoil coming to a resolution, and even glory.

I've listened to this Symphony countless times, but this is the first time i've listened to Jarvi with Mahler, and the jury is out, i really need to listen to this some more before i can properly give an informed opinion, but it's certainly not bad.

The movement that hit me this time was the second movement, full of very agitated brass, it seems this movement is based on variations of the opening fanfare at the very beginning of the Symphony, very nice clear recording, the brass sounding loud and crisp, and inner voices coming from the woodwind can be heard very clearly, some very nice low muted string work early on [2:33-3:15], followed by some equally nice rumblings from the timpani, punctuated by stabbings from the brass [3:26-3:36], and in the middle of the movement there's this serene string serenade [6:30-7:14], then changes start to happen, there's a glorious brass fanfare [7:47-8:31], which makes it sound like the piece is turning into a Brass Symphony, near the end the whole thing erupts in a brass blaze of glory [11:16-12:30], a real resolution and untying of the knots made earlier, damn!, that Mahler knows how to give you goosebumps.

Here's Gergiev conducting the second movement on YouTube.