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

Wow!, just loved this today, and it's good to hear Mutter's interpretation of this wonderful work, a disc that is quickly becoming a favourite of mine, it's good to have several versions to really get into the essence of what Lalo is trying to say, and i count eight discs of this work i now own.

Anne-Sophie Mutter is German, she's now 48, and she recorded this work in 1985 at the age of 22, the front booklet cover photograph is by Christian Steiner, a nice double portrait, though a bit unfocused, seems like a shot that's been through too many reprints.

Amazingly it was the first movement i liked the best, 

Here's Anne-Sophie Mutter playing the first movement Allegro Non Troppo on YouTube.

Tangerine Dream [White Eagle]

Tangerine Dream are like the Rock group Yes in a way, i love their album Going For The One, but no matter how many other albums i've tried, i've come away disappointed, the exact same thing happens with Tangerine Dream, i've tried many other albums, but i'm truly underwhelmed by their output, is this their only masterpiece?, i bought this in a second hand shop, hearing extensively of the group, but knowing nothing of their music, other than they were Jean Michel Jarre sound-alikes, at first i was a little disappointed, but i've grown to love this album, i just wish that Electronic Music was so easy to explore as other mediums / genres.

Tangerine Dream started up in 1967, and has been through many different changes, this album has the classic line-up of,

Edgar Froese

Chris Franke

Johannes Schmoelling

i guess it's a fairly short album, 38:24 long, but of course it's the quality that counts, it only contains 4 tracks, and it's the 20 minute opener i enjoy the most, it's in essence split up into 4 parts,

Part One = 0:00 - 2:41

Part Two = 2:41 - 10:29

Part Three = 10:29 - 15:06

Part Four = 15:06 - 20:10

Here's Tangerine Dream playing Mojave Plan on YouTube.

Beethoven - Piano Concerto 5 [Zacharias/ Vonk-Staatskapelle Dresden]

A great box set of the complete Piano Concertos, along with the Triple Concerto, i played the Fifth less than a week ago, which was also with the Staatskapelle Dresden [30th December 2011], and yet there's no 'not Beethoven's Fifth again' feeling, in fact the exact opposite, it's so good to hear this work yet again, and what makes things fresh is the different perspective that Zacharias brings to the work, i really can't get enough of this work, you wouldn't think negative of playing a 3 minute song a second time, even right after the first, is a longer work like this Concerto any different?, it's really only time commitments that stop me having another dose of 37 minutes.

Christian Zacharias is German, now 61 years old, as well as being a Pianist, he also started conducting in 1992, he recorded this work in 1988, it's an excellent boxed set, Zacharias isn't one to spring to mind when you consider great Pianists, rather he would be considered a serviceable performer, but considering the enjoyment levels i've had from this set, he's much more than serviceable, the front booklet cover is very nice, showing Zacharias sitting beside his piano, with a vertical bar of grey for a block to cover the lettering, good layout, nicely balanced.

The first movement of this Concerto is tremendous, on this performance it lasts 10 seconds shy of 20 minutes, a masterly intro from the piano from Beethoven, a sort of triple fanfare of blasts from the orchestra, but when the orchestra launch into full flight, it's a tremendous moment [1:06+], the work has this onward and forward momentum to it, it's irresistible, when i first heard this work, i was sure that Beethoven's inspiration was the human laugh, it's all over the place in this work, you can hear the piano cackling away in the piano bass [6:37-6:56 & 15:11-15:29 later], when the orchestra has those forte tuttis, and just over halfway through it's so good to hear those opening fanfare blasts [12:18+], and Zacharias playing those revolutionary notes anew, and the orchestra take off again on their full flight [12:57+], it's surely a work of genius, and easily my favourite Piano Concerto.

Here's Daniel Barenboim playing the first movement on YouTube.

Faure - Theme Et Variations [Perlemuter]

This is a great little disc, Denon make some excellent albums, trouble is they're hidden away in the archives, or floating around on Ebay for huge prices, every know and then one of these Denon discs pop up for sale, and you've just got to snap them up, or they're gone forever, this recital is all French [a logical idea], and even though the title and the cover suggest a live event, i'm sure it isn't, there's no clapping at all, the only two gripes about the disc are, more music could have been recorded [only 52 minutes], and that would have been able to accommodate five French Composers in five works, maybe some Poulenc and Satie, a nicer mix would have been created.

Vlado Perlemuter is Russian, but i guess he's lived the greater part of his life in France [i always thought he was French], he died nearly ten years ago at 98 years of age, he recorded this disc in 1972 in Tokyo Japan, for it's age it's an amazing sound, it says it's a digital recording, and looking up history on Wikipedia, Denon indeed did invent a digital recorder in 1972, the sound is fantastic, like it could have been made yesterday, the photograph is excellent too, showing Perlemuter in action, an excellent use of a ground level shot, showing the underside of the piano, it gives real depth, and a sense of hugeness to the piano, the white lettering is also nicely placed, a great visual product.

Of all the four works on this disc, i was most impressed with the Faure work, i just love Piano Variations, and this is a really nice discovery for me, Faure is a first class piano Composer, his work consists of a theme and 11 variations, lasting 14 minutes, the individual variations are not cued separately, so here's the timings,

Theme - 0:00

Variation 1 - 1:55

Variation 2 - 2:51

Variation 3 - 3:43

Variation 4 - 4:26

Variation 5 - 5:42

Variation 6 - 6:26

Variation 7 - 7:49

Variation 8 - 8:40

Variation 9 - 9:59

Variation 10 - 11:16

Variation 11 - 12:25

and of course they correspond to the YouTube video below, for me it was Variation 6 that was the best of the bunch, lasting 1:23, and marked Molto Adagio, it starts with the right hand extremely high in the treble, plinking away down the keyboard [6:26-6:41], such a superb start, i love the extremes of the piano, that high treble comes back to haunt [6:57+], and slightly lower chimes out a breathtaking treble tune [7:13-7:28], and shoots back up to the extreme high for some more plinking [7:29+], it's over all too soon, but Faure gives us a lot of, well, 'variety' in his Variations, well worth getting to know deeply.

Here's Vlado Perlemuter playing Faure's Theme Et Variations on YouTube.