Beethoven - Piano Concerto 5 [Perahia/ Haitink-Concertgebouw Orchestra] 

I played this exact same work last year [12th January 2010], when my Blog was only 12 days old, i've come a long way since then, and it's good to re-visit this work, i really do notice the bass-heaviness this time around.

Murray Perahia was relatively young when he made this recording in 1986, at the age of 39, he is now 63, and he looks young-ish on the front cover.

This Concerto really got me going today, all the movements were virtually equally as inspiring, but i guess it was the opening movement that affected me the most,  

Scriabin - 21 Mazurkas [Pizarro] 

This is the first time Scriabin appears in my Blog, his piano music has that ethereal mysticism about it, almost as if he as a Composer purposely took a different path from what others had done before him, one of the things i notice about these Mazurkas as i played them again, is how much Scriabin had a great tendency to repeat himself, some of these pieces sound very similar!, as if he couldn't break free and create something truly uniquely original, there's deja-vu all over the place!.

Artur Pizarro is Portuguese, born in 1968, and now 42 years old, he recorded this disc back in 1993, the front cover is really quite bland, but pleasing enough i guess.

My favourite Mazurka has always been Op25/8 [track 18], it has a certain 'John Ireland' about it, and it could easily have come from his pen, it's quite an individual Mazurka, however, on this listen i was taken aback with the earlier Op3/4 [track 4], which actually sounds very much like a Chopin Waltz!, very bright and cheerful and tuneful, at the opening [0:00-0:18] i can just imagine a sweet couple gently gliding across the floor to this waltzy opening, it's such an innocent and unassuming theme to the whole piece, and it's the constant return of this opening tune again and again [0:44, 2:59 & 3:44] that makes it such a joy to listen to, there's a central section which plays a new very lyrical and slow variation of the opening theme [1:12-2:59], and within this it has a central section which is darker, agitated and troubled [2:04-2:24], altogether a brilliant little piece of music from an underestimated Composer who should be known even better.

Here's Artur Pizarro playing Mazurka Op3/4 on YouTube.

Dvorak - Symphonic Variations [Sawallisch-The Philadelphia Orchestra] 

A very underestimated bunch of variations, nowhere near as well known as Elgar's Enigma Variations, and yet just as thrilling and inventive, one of the things that sets Dvorak's work apart, is that there are 27 variations [plus a theme and finale] all in roughly 21 minutes of music, and considering that the finale is 4 minutes long, that makes on average 36 seconds per variation, it chops and changes rapidly, another feature is the way Dvorak oftentimes blends the end of one variation into the start of the next, and without track listing it's hard to find your way around, but it's a great device, there's a nice continuous flow, i spoke about these variations nearly a year ago [28th March 2010], and what i said there very much applies here.

Wolfgang Sawallisch was born in Germany, now 87 years old, this disc was recorded in 1991, the front cover booklet very much suggests that this is really a disc for Dvorak's Cello Concerto, and the Symphonic Variations are there to just fill the disc up, but they're certainly not filler!, the front cover booklet is a nice shot of Sawallisch with the Cellist Natalia Gutman [photo by Bonnie West], with a bright and colourful blue background, and the red logo 'nicely clashes'.

Well i found that each variation is actually quite evenly weighted against every other variation, but for me i suppose, it's in the middle of the work where the best 2 variations lie, in numbers 14 and 15, here's a little synopsis,
Variation 14 [track 18], starts off as if something coming out of his Ninth Symphony [0:00], and there's a lovely place for a quiet solo flute to weave some peaceful magic [0:07-0:31], this is taken up by the bassoon [0:31-0:47] that has a little bit more of a lilting tune, and the flute now becomes a background rhythm to this bassoon solo, with a nice delicate quiet version of the main theme.
Variation 15 [track 19], in complete contrast this variation is quite vulgar, sounding loud and brash, it starts off with the dark brass blasting out the theme in forte [0:00-0:12], and in contrast a quieter woodwind have their little say / reply [0:12-0:22], but the brash brass come back, this time with the orchestra in tow [0:22], which naturally leads into a brass fanfare [0:33], and the lower strings start to build up [0:44], with the higher strings joining in, which fuses into the short 16th variation [only 19 seconds long], which strangely sounds as if it's the finale of the previous variation?, or did they splice the track listing wrong? [and another little point, the variations are individually cued, which really helps in a work like this].
either way these two 'opposite ends of the spectrum' variations show how Dvorak juxtaposes intense contrast one with another, get to know them all, they reveal all sorts of nice surprises.

Here's Dvorak's Symphonic Variations being played on YouTube, Variation 14 starts at 7:36, and Variation 15 starts at 8:36. 

Big Head Todd & The Monsters [Sister Sweetly] 

Big Head Todd & The Monsters are probably not familiar to most people, i got this album in early 1995, those were the years that i went to my local Library to check out possible new Bands / Artists, i saw a cassette tape of this album there, and it looked good, to hire it out for 2 weeks only cost £1, it's inexpensive risks like this that can yield some great results, and this album i took to straight away, i haven't played it for a while, but today i gave it a spin, and all the memories of why i thought it was great 15 years ago came flooding back, it really is a soulful hard rock album, with some tremendous vibes to it.

A mention of the back insert, it doesn't actually go with the front booklet, that's because i've amalgamated two discs into one, i used the Sister Sweetly booklet, and used the back insert from their Strategem album, with a sticker in the corner with the Sister Sweetly album tracklist.

Big Head Todd & The Monsters are an American Rock Band, formed in Colorado in 1986, with,

Todd Park Mohr - Vocals, Lead Guitar

Brian Nevin - Drums

Rob Squires - Bass Guitar

the Booklet front cover [by Melodie McDaniel], is of a disused rural wooden church in the background, and some out of focus effects, the lettering is quite nice.

The tracks that really impressed me were 1, 3 & 5-10, well that's almost all of them!, and on this listen, the track which impressed me the most was track 7 'Soul For Every Cowboy', here's the highlights,

1 - Broken Hearted Saviour, with a nice chugging background riff. lyrics - 'and every passing day, she flickers and she fades', the remembrance / forgetting of an old flame.

3 - Turn The Light Out, this is certainly heavier, with a groovy vibe to it. lyrics - 'i closed the door, she stole the key', sounds like she left and burned her bridges so he couldn't follow.

5 - It's Alright, a very lazy beat, soul music almost, a bit of a reggae-ish vibe. lyrics - 'only when you're broken down, is that what friends are for?', 'friends' appear only when they need you!.

6 - Groove Thing, almost a 'talkie' track, like a DJ talking over an instrumental 'soul man' groove. lyrics - 'what is the colour of the soul?'.

7 - Soul For Every Cowboy, like the opening track, a gently chugging riff, reverberant vocals, nice guitar solo. lyrics - 'his heart soon forgets, that ever he was loved or wanted to be loved'.

8 - Ellis Island, another innocent vibe, very nice drum work here. lyrics - 'New York lady slips underneath the dim trumpet light', wow! sounds so Jazzy, like a spotlight meant for Miles Davis or something, best lyrics on the album.

9 - Bittersweet, a lovely laid back groove, sweet soulful vocals, sounds almost a live track, this is my favourite track, a sort of soulful Dire Straits. lyrics - 'of brighter meadows, melting sunsets, her hair blowing in the breeze', remembering her as she was.

10 - Circle, a more harder track, negative in a way, but another good groove. lyrics - 'cause all life, is really just a circle', we all go round and round and round, no real beginning and no end!. 

You can listen to some samples on the Amazon website.

Haydn - String Quartet 78 Op76/4 [Lindsay String Quartet] 

Last month i played the 79th Quartet from the Lindsays [25th January 2011], this one here is the previous number, nicknamed as the 'sunrise' Quartet, all of Haydn's Quartets are genial enough, very much foreshadowing Mozart, they're lively and fun, with some quirky little surprises at times, but nothing revolutionary as Beethoven, the numbering of these Quartets are mine, i seriously feel that they may well be in error, but it's what i've always called them!.

The Lindsay String Quartet are a British chamber music group, they formed in 1965, and were together for 40 years before disbanding in 2005, they embarked on a Haydn String quartet cycle for ASV Classical, recording the major String Quartets by him, this disc was recorded in 1999.

For me the first movement was fabulous, full of the rhythms that Haydn can produce at his best, marked as Allegro Con Spirito, and in the bright key of B Flat Major, but where other Composers find a darker vein [Schubert - Piano Sonata 21 & Prokofiev - Symphony 5], Haydn is full of exuberance, it starts off with a slow sombre introduction, but then explodes into life [0:43-1:07], the first violin is so exciting, and all the other instruments soon catch the bug, and after a short reprise of the opening, the exuberance returns [1:33+], and is capped by a frantic high treble outburst of joy! [1:39], and thereafter all the instruments throw around some individual staccato notes with such precision [1:50-2:05], a really lovely moment, after that it's a reprise of all that's gone on before [2:46-4:06], and a second helping of the exciting bits really fills me to the brim, Haydn's String Quartets should never be looked at as merely a forerunner of greater Composers. 

Here's the Oberon String Quartet playing the first movement on YouTube.

Debussy - Estampes
[Moravec] 

This is another worthy Debussy recital, with for me the added attraction in that it collects the very best works of Debussy onto one disc, early this year i played another Debussy recital by Noriko Ogawa [4th January 2011], and there i praised her Estampes, i mirror that here, i was really touched by these three pieces, the recording is on an obscure label, the Moss Music Group [MMG], but it's an excellent recording, i can't fault it, a nice realism, bass / treble and left / right perspective are great.

Ivan Moravec was born in Czechoslovakia in 1930, now 80 years old, he is no longer in prime condition, and i believe he has some health issues now, he recorded these Debussy works in 1982, the booklet cover photo is by Waring Abbott, an excellent shot really, showing almost the whole of a grand piano,with some deep shadows, and with a grey wall and floor, it creates quite a monotone picture, however the lettering isn't very inspired in my mind, but the logo is interesting. 

Well on this listen i keep coming back to the Pagodes, the opening piece of the triptych, after the stuttering bass opening, the lovely opening gambit in the right hand 'tune maker' is such a treasurable moment [0:10], and nice pleading by the left hand [0:28], while the right hand now evolves / transforms into the accompaniment, it's a gorgeous opening gambit by Debussy, extremely memorable, i like the tolling of the left hand bell [1:40], and the orientalism that comes after it in the left hand is superb [2:02], the bell tolls again [2:28], but quickly changes to a double bell [2:31], a really clever idea, and so musically satisfying, and there's a lovely warbling trill in the treble [2:48], the reprise of the opening is so heart wrenching [3:01], and i like the way there's a nice forte in the bass [4:12], and then the rain comes down [4:28], and like some Japanese watercolour, the whole piece just gets washed away!, a tremendous piece with real atmosphere. 

Here's James Pritchett playing Pagodes on YouTube.