John Hiatt [Walk On]

This disc resides in my all time top 25, and that's no mean feat with over 1600 discs in my library / collection, surprisingly this is the first time that Hiatt appears in my Blog!, and long overdue, to many people the name John Hiatt would be new to them, but with over 20 odd studio albums to his name, spanning over 35 years, he's certainly not new, and his influence on others is immense, in my mind this is his best album of all, with Perfectly Good Guitar running it a close second, full of clever musical ideas, and a wry observation on life.

John Hiatt will hit the big 60 this year, i guess still young for an old-timer, he's American, and he recorded this album in 1995, the photography is truly powerful [by Ethan Russell], i'm a great fan of shots that are symmetrical, and Hiatt at his country home inside his gates is perfect, not only that, but it's a silhouette too, even the lettering is in a box which adds to the symmetry, and it's not just the front booklet cover, but the back inlay is equally stunning, another silhouette, the long shadow is fantastic, and the track listing, white on black background really stands out, a truly great product.

Wow!, on this listen my favourites were tracks 4, 7, 10 & 12, especially track 12 hit me harder than usual, the other three are my trinity of favourites, but deep down the track that always gets me the most is track 7 'Dust Down A Country Road', with David Immergluck playing mandolin, it gives it a Bluegrass feel, very acoustic, the opening tune is just magnificent, and Hiatt just magically marries words and music perfectly, he conjures up the most intense feelings of nostalgia,

And my whole life flashed before me

Just like a story book

it's good that Hiatt starts off with a double verse, gives the whole thing strength, between the second chorus and the fourth verse is an intense mandolin instrumental from Immergluck [2:16-2:37], the whole thing is a creation of genius.

Here's John Hiatt singing 'Dust Down A Country Road' on YouTube.

Chopin - 21 Nocturnes [Leonskaja]

Here's a new set of Chopin's complete Nocturnes i acquired recently, these have now been re-issued on a double disc Ultima set, but here the 'fatbox' original Teldec issue is so much more desirable, i just love these one inch 'fatbox' sets, they feel chunky in the hand, of real substance, plus this has the excellent original photography on the front [more of that below], i enjoyed Leonskaja's interpretations, even though i feel that she takes things too slow on the whole, there's a degree of drama missing, the Noctunes are like gentle sweet dreams, but many have a turbulent central episode, if you like, a little nightmare in the middle, a degree of agitation and troubling of the spirit, but Leonskaja doesn't quite convince in these extremes.

Elisabeth Leonskaja is Georgian / Russian, she's now 66, and she recorded this work between 1991 and 1992, the front cover photo is really excellent, of Leonskaja holding a leaf, a fairly dark shot, certainly not sunlit, and maybe perfect for a set of Nocturnes at dusk, the greens are especially pleasing.

Well what can i say, certainly no single Nocturne stood out from the pack on this listening, maybe to some degree it's Leonskaja's inability to engage me, these are tremendous creations from Chopin, but i was never on the edge of my seat, it's testament to Chopin that i still enjoyed listening to these discs, Nocturne 10 is one of my favourites, i first fell in love with it listening to a double cassette of Livia Rev playing it, there's drama aplenty, yes Leonskaja plays it too slow, Barenboim is over a minute faster, she hesitates and it loses some of its potency, the intro is too drawn out, but it improves afterward, the main tune is a marvel from Chopin, but there's too many very slight hesitations, which impedes the flow, she plays the central section at more nearer the right pace [2:22-4:10], but the darker tensions elude her, and she just doesn't play loud enough at certain points, there needs to be an ebb and flow, not just of volume, but of rubato too, light and dark seems too grey, and yet regardless there's still so much to enjoy.

Here's Miroslav Kultyshev playing Nocturne 10 [Op32/2] on YouTube.

Grieg - Piano Concerto [Luisada/Tilson Thomas-London Symphony Orchestra]

One of the challenges of my Blog is to constantly think up something new to say about works i listen to fairly frequently, sometimes i think that there's nothing more that i can say, or nothing more that i can see, but i have faith that music is eternal, it will never run out of steam, and if you truly listen there will be something worthwhile to hear anew, this work appeared in my Blog about 16 months ago [13th September 2010], and it's so good to hear Luisada again, i want to get some more of his discs.

Jean-Marc Luisada is 53, a Tunisian born Pianist, i believe he started out on the DG label, and made some excellent recordings, mainly Chopin, and switched to RCA later, he made this recording in 1993, 

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.