Sibelius - Violin Concerto [Yang/ Chistiakov-Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra]

Here's another new disc that i acquired recently, i believe i got it from some seller on Ebay from the Far East, and here's the thing, if i search for Classical Artists in the Far East [mainly Japan], a whole ton of them come up that aren't available in the West [i'm from England], sure we have Japanese and Korean Artists very popular in the West, but there's so many that are big in Asia, but unknown where i am, and why?, that's why Ebay is such a great venture, every now and again a really desirable disc becomes available from one of these sellers, i always search under 'violin' every now and again to see what it churns up.

So yet another Sibelius Violin Concerto, i just counted 15 versions of this work in my library, but there's always room for another, hehe, come to think of it i want to get the Vilde Frang disc, the booklet cover pic [by Jeng-Jin Ko], is really good, a very nice pose with the violin in hand.

Sung-Sic Yang is unknown to me, and i can't find anything on the internet about him, except that he is South Korean, this is what i mean about 'unknown to the West, but well known in Asia' syndrome!.

Again i was taken aback by the slow second movement, the recording is slightly boxy, and Yang's violin sounds deep and rich, almost halfway to sounding like a viola at times!, there's three parts i especially noticed this time, when the orchestra drones in with forte [3:03+], and the trumpets blast their fanfares three times [3:17, 3:35 & 3:43], a really lovely moment, and more towards the end, where the violin goes up into the treble stratosphere [4:51+], like a high wire trapeze artist climbing the ladder, and starts doing high trills / thrills [4:59+], and reaches a superb zenith [5:11], and after that Yang slowly floats downward and becomes lost in the orchestra, a short time later Yang does the same again, he starts climbing again [6:11+], and a superb zenith is reached again [6:37], these are really teasing, a good tremendous musical rush, Sibelius's Violin Concerto is a genius of a creation.

Here's Vadim Repin playing the second movement on YouTube, with Valery Gergiev conducting, live from the London Proms.

Various Composers - Flute Fantaisie [Milan/Brown]

This is my very first Flute disc i'm mentioning in my Blog, it's got some great stuff in it, rather than a Flute Sonata disc, with roughly three Sonatas, this has ten shorter pieces, from roughly 3 minutes to 9 minutes, a great variety of items, with of course some virtuoso flute playing by Susan Milan, she is an English Flautist.

The two pieces that really impressed me the most, were tracks 7 & 10, the Faure is short and sweet, the Louis Ganne piece called Andante et Scherzo is darker and mysterious, at least in the Andante, it's lighter and frothy in the Scherzo, the opening piano intro sets the tone [0:00-0:08], a serious intro, with a touch of orientalism about it, the flute then sings out the main melody [0:08+], a ravishing tune couched in mystery, it suits the breathy tone of the flute perfectly, the piano echoes the flutes opening [0:38+], an excellent little touch from Ganne, towards the end of the Andante, there's the reprise of the opening couple of minutes [2:44+], and it's so lovely to hear this dark mysterious opening played anew, the Scherzo [starting 4:44+] is more happier and bubbly, and about halfway through the piano superbly reminisces on a happier version of the opening Andante tune [5:40+], and the flute obliges by copying the piano's lead [5:46+], with the piano rippling away in the background, it's a really lovely piece, especially the Andante, French flute music holds a treasure trove of lovely works if you search through its gems.

Here's Minja Marcetic playing the Andante et Scherzo by Ganne on YouTube.

Vivaldi - The Four Seasons [Accardo-I Solisti Delle Settimane Internazionali Di Napoli]

After a little bit of a hiatus, i seem to be playing this work more and more, only this month i was listening to Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg play this Concerto [5th September 2010], it's a timeless piece, no wonder it's so popular, you can't argue with good music, and Vivaldi's ten minute Concertos are a treat, they never outstay their welcome, and oftentimes they're over all too soon.

Salvatore Accardo was born in Italy in 1941, he's 69 tomorrow, happy birthday Salvatore!, and has made many recordings for the Philips label, lots of Vivaldi, and Paganini for DG, i like the booklet cover, a simple but effective photo of a Strad, with lines of lettering, and Antonio Stradivari's signature in gold at the bottom.

This recording is made on original instruments, with the Accardo the leader, the group is small, roughly a dozen instrumentalists, and you can feel that in the performance, the keyboard playing of Bruno Canino is quite prominent, Accardo plays a different Strad Violin for each season, an interesting idea.

Again i find that i enjoyed the final movement of summer, it has a frenzy about it, basically it's the orchestra and the violin taking turns to excite the listener, almost in outdoing each other, it starts off in frantic low strings, and then comes the 'rain' [0:12-0:48], the higher strings dividing in two, mirror and echo each other, with their raining down from high to low, the volume might ebb and flow, but it's a real storm, the chamber orchestra also get to show off their virtuosity [1:06-1:29], especially with some wonderful 'waves' [1:20-1:24], and thereafter some more frenzied low strings [1:24-1:28], Accardo also gets the chance to show off his virtuosity [1:29-1:43], it's like a tag boxing partnership thereafter, a real blistering tour de force.

Here's Salvatore Accardo playing the Presto final movement of summer on YouTube.

Wynton Marsalis [Standard Time - Volume One]

I haven't had any Jazz on my Blog for ages, even though i've now got 21 Jazz entries, this is my first mention of Jazz for over four months, i don't know why, i love Jazz, it's that relatively i haven't got a lot of Jazz discs, probably roughly 75 discs, Jazz oozes improvisation and spontaneity, it's almost made up by the musicians as they go along, in this sense there's nothing like Jazz, and it's a joy to listen to a band 're-create' music on the go.

Wynton Marsalis is now 48 years old, with a huge discography, he's approaching Keith Jarrett status, to collect all his albums would mean pushing aside many other artists in the quest to listen to Marsalis, rather i like dipping into his discography, and in my mind his 'Standard Time' series that he is pursuing, has got off the tracks somewhat, but the first disc is the best, and maybe he ought to have stopped at two or three.

Here's Wynton marsalis playing Caravan live on YouTube.

Brahms - String Quartet 2 [Takacs String Quartet]

Here's another lovely box set of the Brahms String Quartets, with the Piano Quintet, over previous months i have extolled some of the other works on this disc [22nd August 2010] and [14th July 2010], i am no expert on these String Quartets, in fact they're fairly new to me as works that i'm starting to truly appreciate, it's a wonderful discovery to finally 'get' what Brahms is trying to say!.

It's good to have all three of the String Quartets of Brahms in one handy box, the Takacs string quartet has really come of age recently, they are now very highly regarded by critics, and again i must make mention of the booklet cover [not the original that came with this set], a very well proportioned shot, with an unusual camera angle from below, with lovely horizontal and vertical lines, browns and blues!, lovely.

The first movement really caught my heart, it's in A Minor of course, and it's quite a sad movement, the opening is a sad refrain [0:00-0:32], fairly quiet, the Quartet nicely swirls out of this, later there's a nice little jaunty tune [1:10+], where the cello uses excellent use of some nice deep pizzicato bass to keep things bumbling along, and this section comes to an end with an endearing conclusion [2:22+], this whole section is then repeated again, the return of the start [3:23+] is a wonderful moment, it cements and solidifies the original opening when you hear it all over again just over three minutes later, and then towards the end this triptych appears yet again [8:07+], this time the endearing end to the section becomes the start of the coda, and the thing winds down to its ultimate conclusion, a sad but satisfying piece of music.

Here's the Jerusalem Quartet playing the first movement on YouTube.

Dvorak - Violin Concerto [Frank/ Mackerras-Czech Philharmonic Orchestra]

The Dvorak Violin Concerto is not one of my very favourite Violin Concerto's, but each time i hear it i'm very thankful i took the time to stop and listen, it's full of those Slavic rhythms and tunes that Dvorak is so good at.

Pamela Frank is American,

Beethoven - Symphony 6 [Sawallisch-Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra]

Here's the companion Symphony to the Fifth i reviewed last month [11th August 2010], again i must say this is a slightly muddy recording, but i toned down the bass, and increased the volume to compensate, and it sounds fine.

And again i mention the booklet cover, gold and purple!, the red logo stands out, with Mr Sawallisch in a side profile pose.

The opening movement was a sweet revelation, what a delicious way to start a Symphony, full of the joys of the countryside,

Here's Myung Whun Chung conducting the first movement on YouTube.