Carpenters - Only Yesterday [Richard & Karen Carpenter's Greatest Hits]

Back in the early seventies, i would listen to the radio [i don't do that now], plus i would buy vinyl singles [and i certainly don't do that either], this takes me back to those formative years, before Classical music even crossed my path [and Jazz], where i was learning to love music, the pop charts was my musical kindergarten, and i still have some loves left behind from those years.

The Carpenters ended in 1983 after Karen's death, but of course they live on in the hearts of many, during their time at the top they received criticism for being too 'kitsch', and even though some of their effects are a bit dated, real talent is everlasting, i still enjoy listening to this album, it brings back pleasant memories.

On this listening i really enjoyed tracks 1, 4, 6, 10, 16 & 18-20, my favourite song is track 19 'Only Yesterday', but this time i was really touched by track 16 'For All We Know', it's the oboe intro that has a wonderful effect, and Richard Carpenter was clever at creating atmosphere [0:00-0:14, +1:18-1:32 & 2:08-2:32], Karen's voice is so pure, partly due to an excellent mix in the recording, the unobtrusive piano in the background just adds that touch of variety and colour [0:43, 1:01 & 1:51], the lyrics are no great shakes, short and sweet at under 3 minutes.

Here's Karen singing 'For All We Know', live at the BBC on YouTube, ...err the hairstyle is certainly kitsch!, ha ha.

Bruckner - Symphony 8 [Barenboim-Berliner Philharmoniker]

Last year i seriously started to listen to this Symphony, and fell in love with it, now i have a handful of recordings of this great work, it's amazing that a work can go from being relatively unknown in my collection, to suddenly one of the two or three best Symphonies Bruckner has written, within a year.

The Symphony usually lasts from 70 to 90 minutes, many recordings spill over onto a second disc, this is a one disc version, a live recording made in the mid nineties by the Argentinian Daniel Barenboim, lasting 77 minutes.

The heavenly third movement Adagio, is very spiritual, the best slow movement that Bruckner ever wrote, every time i hear it i'm amazed at Bruckner's sheer vision, and his concentration in writing a 25 minute movement that holds the listener in it's grip from first to last, it starts off with the utmost serenity, and that lovely aching tune comes in [0:16-0:40], this is almost an idee fixe, it keeps coming back again and again, i'm always straining my ear to hear that beautiful melody again [3:03, 8:46 & 15:30], a second idea slowly rises out of the mists to the summit, where a beautiful harp plays [2:26-3:00], a glorious moment, i really notice how Bruckner makes excellent use of the violas in this Symphony, giving it a darker edge, a wonderful horn call gives a tender moment meaning [6:43-7:03], it's little touches like this that makes Bruckner a genius, and then out of nowhere the strings play high and loud, with the brass joining in exultantly, with the strings throbbing away [7:31-7:52], there's some nice work that builds up and up into a mighty crescendo [10:46-11:37], the strings soar and the brass growl, a real headlong rush, the horn call comes back, but this time it's joined by a second horn [13:47-14:09], out of the original tune played at the start of the Symphony, this time played with tremendous forte on the brass, there steals this sweet pleading respite on the strings with woodwind [17:26 onwards], and then a wistful moment on the strings [18:18 onwards], that becomes more agitated, again the fortissimo builds up to one almighty blast of glory [19:53-20:28], then... comes the coda, it's the most achingly beautiful part of this symphony [21:43 to the end], it has those sorrowful touches, the fading light at the end of the day, sorrow mixed with a bittersweet nostalgia, like two people who can't bear to say goodbye and part, there's this phrase, first called out on the clarinet [22:19], but then repeated again and again on the strings, with the horns joining in [23:21-23:56], this is the moment of moments in this Symphony, is there anything so gut-wrenchingly emotional as the ending of this movement?.

Here's Karajan conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the great Adagio on YouTube.

Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto [Josefowicz/ Marriner-Academy Of Saint Martin In The Fields]

Born in Canada, but has lived virtually all her life in America, a child prodigy, even a Catwalk Queen, she was only 17 when she recorded this Concerto, she's now almost twice that age.

Don't get the idea that this is some whizz kid let loose with an ancient Strad, she really creates a mature performance, but one that's also red hot with passion too, this is a technically difficult Concerto, but she really pulls it off.

I so much enjoyed the fire of the first movement, it's full of Slavic wit and bravura, it's hard to pinpoint some truly inspired passage over other passages, and memorable bits fly at you thick and fast, in trying to write how i feel, it makes me realize what a feast this movement truly is, i find it so hard to just single out one passage, in the slow passages Josefowicz has playing of supreme pathos [3:02 to roughly 4 minutes], and tremendous virtuoso fast bowing [5:06-6:11], i like the way Tchaikovsky has some nice nationalistic almost Marche Slave forte moments [6:11-6:44 & 8:40-8:56], Josefowicz traverses the difficulties of playing almost two ideas simultaneously with ease [7:30-8:39], on a piano you've got two hands to play bass and treble at the same time, the same must be so hard for a Violinist, for me this is probably the highlight of this listening, towards the end of the movement, there's some exciting high tessitura playing [14:09-15:22], and added on the end of that, tremendously fast bowing too [15:22-15:38], it's hard to explain the last couple of minutes of this movement, except that Tchaikovsky pulls out all the stops in one last exultant showpiece, fragments [sparks?] fly left and right, it's a real showstopper Sarasate and Paganini would have been proud of, what a piece of music!.

Here's Leila Josefowicz playing the First movement on YouTube.

Dvorak - Symphonic Variations [Kosler-Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra]

Zdenek Kosler is Czechoslovakian, he's a new name to me, he actually died 15 years ago, and he made this recording in the early eighties, i bought these discs on Ebay, i really like the booklet cover, a lovely shot of the sun through the leaves on a tree, that's why i put a bid on and won.

Of course i love the music too, basically it's Dvorak's Symphonic Poems, but it also has room at the end for the lovely Symphonic Variations, the magic of this composition is that there are 27 variations in only roughly 20-25 minutes, this makes each one quite short, sometimes as short as 20 seconds, other times almost 2 minutes long, but gives a wide range of variety, and quantity too.

So most of all i enjoyed variations 9, 11, 14-15 & 18, and i especially love variation 14 [8:23-9:41], it actually starts off as if it's going to break forth into the Largo from his Ninth Symphony, it's a soft ambling gait on the strings [8:23-8:34], the flute joins in on this amble, with what sounds like a very soft echo on a horn in the background [8:34-9:16], and then the bassoon plays a short melody to finish things off, with the flute playing in the background [9:16-9:41], wonderfully serene, this is just one of the many flavours to taste in Dvorak's ever changing Symphonic Variations, a bit like a 27 course meal, where you only get a small spoonful of something, then it's off to the next variation where you get something else!, the next time i play it i'm sure to notice and fall in love with another variation.

Here's the Symphonic Variations played on YouTube.

Verdi - 'Heroines' Soprano Opera Arias [Gheorghiu/Chailly-Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano Giuseppe Verdi]

The Romanian Soprano Angela Gheorghiu must be one of the most famous Divas performing today, she has a very distinctive 'fruity' voice, no doubt from her Eastern European dialect, plus she's got the looks to go along with her talent.

This is a nice collection of Arias, entitled 'Verdi Heroines', Chailly is very much an Opera Conductor, and of course the Italian Orchestra with Verdi's name to it is ideal.

I enjoyed tracks/Arias 2, 4-5 & 9, especially track 5, the aria 'Tacea La Notte Placida' [The Calm Night Was Silent] from Il Trovatore [The Troubadour], the Aria is a discussion between Leonore and Ines, where Leonore recounts her meeting the dark stranger Manrico at a jousting contest, and eventually being serenaded by him beneath her window late at night, the best bits of the Aria are the two chorus's by Leonore [2:47-3:27 & 4:11-5:30], that both break out into a waltz/song,

dolci s'udiro e flebili [when the sweet plaintive sound]

gli accordi d'un liuto [of chords from a lute was heard]

e versi melanconici [and a troubadour]

un trovator canto [sang melancholy verses]

gioia provai che agli angeli [the joy i felt was such]

solo e provar concesso! [as only the angels are allowed!]

al core, al guardo estatico [to my heart, to my ecstatic gaze]

la terra un ciel sembro! [the earth seemed a heaven!]

Gheorghiu/Leonore works her way up into an ecsatic desire of love and passion, an Aria that goes waltzing around your brain long after it's finished, Verdi certainly had a way with marrying words and music.

Here she is singing this Aria on YouTube.

Lucinda Williams [Car Wheels On A Gravel Road]

As the picture shows, this is one of those dirt road albums, full of American roots music, the booklet cover is just right for the music, a cheaply built wooden house built down a dirt road, i've been in a self-built house like this in Maine, no electricity or running water!, what an adventure that was.

Lucinda Williams is now 57!, isn't anyone getting younger anymore? ha ha, this is really her breakthrough album, necessarily about the major things in life like love, death, friendship etc, but more about incidental things like tattoos, screen doors, taking up serpents, graffiti, barbed wire etc, it's amazing how Williams can paint these pictures of real life, with real issues, the drab really is exciting!, those singers who talk of the big things, like 'everyone hold hands' and world peace, end up being so superficially about nothing.

Well the track i enjoyed the most is track 9 'Metal Firecracker', the lead guitar of Gulf morlix really makes this track, it has a slight National Guitar resonance about it, also he sings harmony on the chorus, 'All i ask' is so powerful, and Lucinda Williams' emphasis on certain words, really makes it sound like she means what she singing about,

'Once you held me so tight

i thought i'd lose my mind

you said i rocked your world

you said it was for all time

you said that i would always be your girl'

i just sense a real emphasis on lose, like it's said with a little craziness [like she's lost her mind!], it's stuff like this which makes the album, she's not just a Singer, and a Poetess, but she's an Actress too!, plus if i might add my own take on it, 'fire' means on fire with love, and 'cracker' means crackers or going crazy, and even 'metal' is ZZ Top turned up real loud, she's on fire with love and going crazy with love.

Here's a group fronted by Lori Behrman singing Metal Firecracker on YouTube.

Blogs = An Unwelcome Return.

Paul Simon [Graceland]

What can i say about Paul Simon that hasn't already been said?, the American will be 70 next year!, how time creeps up on people, he recorded Graceland in 1986, when he was a sprightly 45!.

This is a real turning point for Simon, and his best solo album, all those African rhythms were 'collected' [stolen some might say!] by him and melded into music and words, and then credited with 'words and music by Paul Simon', how much it's 'him' and how much he's just trawling the music library of the world, and picking ideas here and there, like a person would fill their plate at a buffet, well i don't know, but one thing's for sure, the final result is a great album.

I went out for a walk late in the evening, and i played this album on random, the songs that really hit me this time were 2, 5, 9 & 11, i was especially moved by track 2 'Graceland', regarded by Simon as the best song he's ever written, the magic of the song comes from the complex overlaying of different instruments into a heady mix, the percussive side of things are tremendous [Makhaya Mahlangu], a couple of slaps on what sounds like the tambourine, and then moments later a couple of hits on resonant woodblocks, and it's this teasing percussion that has these nice silences in between, like broken-field drumming, over this is played a guitar, constantly playing tremolo, and then in the background an off stage pedal steel guitar adds to mix intermittently, it's this cloth that Simon sews his vocals/words on,

The Mississippi delta was shining

like a national guitar

i am following the river

down the highway

through the cradle of the civil war...

The three verses create a mesmerising tease, and increase in intensity the longer you listen to it, his best song?, hmmn, certainly his best song as a soloist, i love listening to this.

Here's Paul Simon singing Graceland live in Zimbabwe on YouTube.