Chico Freeman [Groovin' Late] 

This was great to listen to a decent disc of Jazz, i spent some time in the library, and listened to this on my player, and i thought that i just don't listen to Jazz enough, so i made a note to regularly search for Jazz discs under £5 on Ebay, this was an early disc i bought in some second hand shop in London, then i just threw my money at almost anything cheap, and hoped that some things would stick, and this was one of those discs.

Chico Freeman is an American Saxophonist, now 62, this is a live album at Ronnie Scott's in London, recorded in 1986, you really wouldn't know this was a live album, maybe no one turned up!, you don't get to hear an audience,

Dvorak - Piano Quintet 2 [The Gaudier Ensemble] 

Dvorak's Chamber works are a delight, and he saves some of his very best tunes for these small ensembles, whereas other Composers might use them for a more grander scale of things, the opening of this work is one such moment, this is my favourite Dvorak disc [though not my favourite Dvorak work], i've played it so many times in the 15 years i've had it.

The Gaudier Ensemble were formed in 1989, and on this recording it includes the Pianist Susan Tomes, formerly of the Domus Piano Quartet, also recording for Hyperion, i really didn't know they recorded so many discs, theirs is a superb Chamber Music Ensemble, the front cover is a painting by Hans Thoma entitled The Rhine Near Sackingen, the Rhine here borders Germany and Switzerland, a picture that invokes the easy going pastoral nature of the works on the disc.

Here's Natalie Erlich and the Borromeo String Quartet playing the first movement Allegro on YouTube.

Sibelius - Violin Concerto [Zukerman/ Barenboim-London Philharmonic Orchestra] 

What a lovely work this is, the first time i listened to it, one word came to mind, 'bleak', i felt there was a cold and bitterness to it, Tapiola was a Tone Poem that went with it, now i feel the word to sum it up isn't a cold one, but a real hot one, 'fire', there's an intensity in the virtuoso violin work here, yes it's in D Minor [one of my most favourite keys], and therefore there's going to be some dark dissonance, but now i feel the work is a warm hearted and passionate friend, i actually played this twice for good measure!, and i played this last year too [10th April 2011].

Pinchas Zukerman is now 63, he's an Israeli, and probably spent most of his life in America, now he has emigrated to Canada, he made this recording some time ago in 1975, the front cover is just simply superb, a gorgeous sunset over a lake, lovely sunburst, and great cloud formations, and dancing light on the lake, the logo and box for the lettering are great, one of the best releases in the DG Resonance series.

The sheer intensity of the final movement was breathtaking, but even so i still found the slow second movement to be even more intense, there's a slow build up to a tremendous ardour from the Violinist, 

Here's Hilary Hahn playing the second movement on YouTube, with Lorin Maazel conducting.

Schubert - Symphony 8 'Unfinished' [Maazel-Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra] 

This is a live performance, recorded in 1980 during a concert tour of Japan, the audience are quiet, but surprisingly muted at the end with their applause, their much more robust with the Beethoven performance, i don't get to hear this Symphony as much as i would like, the last time i listened to it was November last year, yes six months!, it's a long time for something so beautiful, i raved about this performance roughly two years ago [7th April 2010].

Lorin Maazel is American, though born in France, he's now 82, like i said, this was recorded in 1980.

Both of these movements are so beautiful, the second is more serene and sweet, the first is dark and troublesome, i just love the overall structure and sweep of the movement, it lasts nearly 16 minutes here, Schubert uses a chugging string rhythm at the beginning, in which clarinet and oboe play the main desolate melody over [0:20-1:14], in contrast the cellos play a more brighter serenade [1:26-1:44], of which the violins take up [1:44-2:02], but the dark underpinnings are never far away, of course you can hear the Ninth Symphony throughout, i love the way Schubert returns to the start again [3:52+], repetition really hits home here, halfway through there's a shimmering variation on the violins [7:35-9:00], that intensify into great fortes, and then comes very dark anger [9:08+], that erupts into furious string bowing, while the dark brass bray deep anger, and then of course like the end of a middle trio section, the opening returns a third wondrous time [10:38+], i notice the deep pizzicato on the strings [double basses i think], the ending is full of sadness [14:30+] and regret, and again the cries of a plangent oboe [15:07-15:16], and yet it's so beautiful too.

Here's Lorin Maazel conducting the first movement on YouTube.

Various Composers - English Cathedral Music [Various Artists] 

I must admit the number one reason i bought this disc was because of the front cover, a stunning shot of a cathedral, looking up to the heavens, the stonework couched in the light of the glowing sun, and the vanishing points pointing upwards, the lettering and logo are superb, and the sky is just that right shade of cloudy blue, the power of gold and blue is incredible, i don't usually go for Choral music, so this is a bit off the beaten track for me, there are hits and misses for me, but it's good to expand my horizons in music, and this gets me moving down a different avenue.

At first i thought this was a purely Choral collection, with no instruments, that would have made more sense, instead what we get is a mixed bag of modern and ancient, some things don't quite sit together well, there's too much of a randomness to the whole thing, i think i would have accepted just Choral Tudor music.

The two pieces i really liked were Allegri's 'Miserere Mei', and Byrd's 'Bow Thine Ear, O Lord', the Allegri is justly famous for it's boy treble that rises into the stratosphere, the Byrd is less known, but i found it really compelling,  

Here's Stephen Cleobury directing the Kings College Chapel Choir singing Alegri's 'Miserere Mei' on YouTube.

Rossini - Opera Overtures [Chailly-National Philharmonic Orchestra] 

I played disc 1 walking on the way to Church, and disc 2 on the way back, a nice experience, it's finally getting warmer at last, it's the last month of Spring, and Summer is around the corner, the ice cold Pepsi was refreshing, and so too were these 14 Overtures by Rossini, in some ways i really feel that Rossini would have done better if he didn't become an Opera Composer, and instead concentrated on Orchestral and Chamber music, he's a master at creating complex rhythms, a veritable gearbox of speed changes, and different motor rhythms, Chailly goes beyond the ordinary one disc of the most famous, and creates a second disc, and therefore is forced to pick some of the periphery Overtures, Torvaldo E Dorliska is a great example, i haven't heard it anywhere else, and what an inventive Overture it is, full of unique ideas, i played this set last year also [3rd July 2011].

Riccaro Chailly is an Italian Conductor, born in 1953, he's now 59, and he recorded these two discs separately in 1981 [disc 1] and 1984 [disc 2].

Again it's disc one that i found best, especially Overtures 4-7 & 12, and it's the first of these four that was the best La Scala Di Seta [The Ladder Of Silk or The Silken Ladder], it's an Overture that lasts roughly 6 minutes, as in almost all of Rossini's Overtures, there's an introductory phase at the beginning [0:00-1:25], which uses extensive use of the oboe [0:13-0:31 & 0:52-1:25], i like the way that Rossini explodes the whole thing in a rhythmic forte [1:53+], and it's the oboes that end up chattering away in the mix [2:24-28 & 2:33-2:37], a really lovely effect, and the woodwind right after chatter back and forth [2:37-2:45], the way that Rossini adds these voices out of the melee is wonderful, of course what goes around comes around, and Rossini's oboes come back again for a second dose [3:23+], and the explosion comes back again, though in a different key [4:26+], the woodwind chatter is lovely a second time around [5:07-5:14], six minutes of pure dynamite!.

Here's Lanfranco Marcelletti conducting La Scala Di Seta on YouTube.