Schumann - Cello Concerto [Harrell/ Marriner-The Cleveland Orchestra] 

As far as Cello Concerto 'compilations' go, this is a real favourite of mine, three great Cello Concertos on one disc, and if you leave behind probably the greatest two Cello Concertos [Dvorak & Elgar], then these are the three main candidates in the Romantic era, and what a great instrument the cello is, it's a shame Composers like Beethoven / Vaughan Williams / Sibelius etc didn't write Cello Concertos [i guess the same applies to Guitar Concertos], with Lynn Harrell in great form, and a superb booklet picture, this is a disc to play again and again, and a disc to treasure, starting to develop a regularity in my Blog, appearing twice before [21st November 2011 & 6th July 2010].

Lynn Harrell is American, he is now 68, he recorded this Concerto in 1981, and like i've said before, the Decca Eclipse issue is one hell of a stunning picture, i'm sure there's a warm filter to enhance those field of poppies, over half of the picture is of the field, and a small part of the picture is of the farmhouse, but it all works perfectly, one of the most stunning disc booklet pictures, and enhances the music no end.

Out of these three Concertos on this disc, it was the Schumann which got me the most excited, it's not as good as his Piano Concerto, but i believe it's very underrated, the beautiful slow movement is gorgeous, a lovely meditation, on this recording the whole Concerto is given one track on the disc, roughly the first movement is the first half of the work, and the movements are roughly split up as 12 / 4 / 8, and it's this short four, maybe five minutes that is a treasure, it starts at [11:12], the cello singing a melancholy low tune, while the strings are a slow pizzicato [11:12-12:06], i love the way the cello plays so entrancingly, bowing more than one string at once [13:02-13:54], the opening slow movement theme comes back, and then with slightly faster and louder music, it creates a bridge which leads into the third movement [15:51+], a lovely short central section of this very inventive Concerto.

Here's Mischa Maisky playing the slow movement on YouTube, Leonard Bernstein conducting.

Schubert - Piano Sonata 21 [Uchida] 

This was an enlightening experience listening to this disc again, i played it earlier this year [2nd February 2012], each Pianist is obviously different, with different ideas, the 'ideal' Pianist makes you forget about the interpretation and just concentrate on the beautiful music, this time listening to this disc, i find that Uchida doesn't do that, there's moments where i think 'Schubert wouldn't approve of that!', she can be clumsy in certain areas, too slow here maybe, too fast somewhere else, i'm not entirely convinced by her speeds, in other places she's too much staccato / jagged, where a smoother line would have benefited, Schubert's bubbly and lyrical, and even though there's dance rhythms in there, there's always this legato / linking line, Uchida can stagger at times, and other times she blurs things, where to pronounce would have been much better, don't get me wrong, there's certainly more things she does right than wrong, but as i get to know a certain work really well, i can be more critical when things go wrong, as i notice them more, and certainly on this listening my critical ear was more sharpened than ever before, this just goes to show how much i've progressed in truly listening to things, i'm still a fan of Uchida though, also i must say the recording doesn't help, a warm bass recording, that can blunt things somewhat, which adds to Uchida's idiosyncrasies, however this is still one of my favourite interpretations of this work.

Mitsuko Uchida is originally from Japan, but now she's living in England, she's now 63, and she made this recording in 1997, the front cover photo is by Walter Schels, a portrait with Uchida with her eyes closed, dark background and clothing makes the face stand out, and white lettering, the whole thing's devoid of colour, but i still believe it works well, the back inlay works even better, as the lettering works very well indeed, very nicely laid out.

As almost always, it's that first movement which gets me every time, Schubert's Piano Sonata 21 is my favourite Sonata amongst all Composers, and the first movement is head and shoulders above the other three, .

Here's Alfred Brendel playing the first movement on YouTube.

Vaughan Williams - Symphony 5 [Haitink-The London Philharmonic] 

Vaughan Williams Fifth is my favourite Symphony from him, it's actually the first one i heard [by Previn], and almost immediately i fell in love with it, there's a certain mystical pastoralness about the Symphony which i love, Haitink has been very slowly building a whole cycle of the Symphonies of RVW, and this is a lovely reading of it, with some nice couplings too, it's actually a disc i've had for a while [since 2001], and played it fairly extensively, and yet i feel i've hardly got into it, the good thing is that this Blog helps me to analyse deeper the works / interpretations i listen to, so i should be able to 'individualise' this disc more than ever.

Bernard Haitink is Dutch, he's now 83, and certainly now looks somewhat frail, he recorded this disc in 1994, the booklet front cover is a painting by Harold Speed called 'Country Scene With A Horse', very appropriate for the music within.

A truly beautiful Symphony, written in D Major, though very much couched in a degree of mystery, sounding more that it should be a Minor key Symphony, i can't help the feeling of the whole thing conjuring up a landscape scene, bathed in strange misty light, with a sense of a tinge of regret, especially the third movement Romanza [my favourite movement of the four], but on this listen it's the last movement which truly affected me, and it's good that i paid closer attention to it to notice how truly beautiful it really is, especially the closing pages, it takes your breath away, it starts so innocently, very gentle on the low cellos, but builds up with more layers, .

Here's on Andrew Manze conducting the whole of the Symphony on YouTube, the fourth movement starts at [30:40].

Paul Simon [Graceland] 

Another dose of Paul Simon from his African inspired album [25th March 2010], one of the greatest albums of all time, it's so full of lots of different ideas, and some truly great songs, and Simon perfects some of the greatest rhythms he has ever done, gone are the folky Simon & Garfunkel acoustic guitars and voices, and in comes World Music, it was a great idea, and Simon literally re-invented himself, back in 1993 when i first bought this album, i really played it a lot, and it became my 'record of the month' for February, but Paul Simon ended up having a hard time sustaining his new image, and subsequent albums were a poor shadow on this one, i don't play this as much as i used to, but when i do i still love it.

Paul Simon is American, he's now 71, he recorded this disc in 1986 in his mid-Forties, and it's his best solo album by far, the front cover is an Icon of some warrior i guess, looks like something out of the Robin Hood era, but i like the icon, it really works well.

The best tracks were 2, 5-7, 9 & 11, with the very top track of course 'Graceland' itselgfs ia charming companion.

Here's on YouTube.

Various Composers - English Orchestral Music [Tate-English Chamber Orchestra] 

I usually don't like these 'compilations', all famous bits and pieces, but this one is a peach, made up of some fantastic things, nine works representing four Composers, concentrating on the short period just before the First World War, and just after [1911-1928], each piece can be considered fairly serene, and all composed with a small Orchestra in mind, this is the way to compile a varied programme like this, i especially found the Bax pieces something of a refreshing variety.

Jeffrey Tate is English, he's now 69 years old old, he recorded this disc way back in 1987, the front cover photograph is certainly ideal for the programme inside, a picture of a willow beside a stream, heavily swamped in blue and green filters, but it creates a nice colour combination, and a full listing of the tracks on the disc.

This is the perfect disc if you want to explore things a little further afield than the usual, i especially liked tracks 1, 4 & 6-9, nothing truly stood out as the best, but the sheer exuberance of the last piece by Bax 'Dance In The Sunlight', is worthy of a mini synopsis, sounding something that Arnold would write, fairly irreverent at times, and like it says in the title, very much in the dance mode, at times you can get a whiff of British Light Music, but Bax is more inventive than that, his instrumentation, especially in the woodwind is complex enough to make you dig deeper, right away the main tune comes in, dominated by the clarinet / clarinets [0:04+], but augmented by the flutes / oboes, you can just imagine the whole thing as Film Music from the Forties or something, a lovely little tune, usually Bax gets a bit heavy and possibly lost in his compositions, but here he's just having lots of fun, the piece explodes in a nice brass forte [0:51+], it's amazing what Bax can do with such a simple tune, there's quite a long passage for the flute in the background [3:01+], adding to a certain mystery of the passage, , the whole thing lasts for less than five minutes, the main tune returns in glory [3:33+], and it's so lovely to hear it again, a piece that certainly will become a charming companion.

Here's a link to the whole album on AllMusic, which gives a 30 second sample of each track.

Beethoven - Diabelli Variations [Brendel] 

It's hard to believe that this is the first time that Brendel's Diabelli gets in my Blog, this is a major recording, and the version that i truly got to know the Diabelli with, way back in 1993, of course other Diabelli's have crept in to supplement and expand my view of these evergreen Variations, but this is a touchstone set, silly and flippant at first [the Diabelli theme is no great masterpiece], but Beethoven twists and distorts it into so many shapes, that you can't help marvel at some of the things he does with it, of course some of the Variations are barely over half a minute long [Variation 15 is 37 seconds long], but most are nearer the minute mark [21 of the 33 variations], making it unlike say Bach's Goldberg or Brahms's Handel, short pithy ideas, and yet at times full of profoundness, and at last it develops a seriousness and depth to it, what a transformation from beginning to end.

Alfred Brendel is Austrian, now 81 years old and retired from playing, he recorded this disc in 1988, the front cover shows a photograph [by Alecio De Andrade], of Brendel on a park bench, not the greatest of shots, but the lettering is nicely lined up on the wall.

The Variations that i loved the most were 7, 10, 16-17, 19, 23-25 & 27, with the very best three being 10, 17 & 23, and i would like to give my thoughts and feeling on Brendel's interpretation of these three.

Variation 10 [13:01] - One of the shortest Variations, only 41 seconds long, a jumpy and warbling Presto, full of staccato, but slightly veering toward a more legato towards the end, very much in the treble part of the keyboard, sounds like a Variation very much in a hurry, become louder and louder, a fair treble outburst at the end.
Variation 17 [7:22] - Almost the big brother of Variation 10, left hand bass beating out a march, right hand treble frantic and whining, rather like an arguing Husband and Wife!.
Variation 23 [0:41] - A lovely scampering Variation, only 47 seconds long, bass note outbursts, with the right hand trilling and all over the place, imagine a cockroach darting all over the place, and someone trying to whack it with a shoe!, you get the idea, it was my favourite of the whole lot, and the soft and gorgeous tones of the next Variation are the perfect antidote, they go so well together.

The timings after the Variations refer to the YouTube videos to which they refer.

Various Artists [Platinum Trance] 

Here's another double disc set that stretches the genre boundaries that i used to be straitjacketed with, this stuff was 'off limits' in my love of music two years ago, but i'm setting myself free from not liking certain types of music, instead of saying 'why should i listen to that type of music?', i now say 'why not!', this is a perfect double album to set as an example of why all music has great stuff within its ranks, if only you cast off the prejudice of the type of music you love, and explore outside your comfort zone, i'm excited by the new love i'm developing for new areas of music, on the whole this is bright trance, nice and electronic, and very much something to dance to, it's only my very first listen, but already i feel it's going to be a treasured set of music.

On Ebay i'm always looking out for another Trance album to advance the boundaries my recorded music library, i liked the front cover of this album, a very mechanical looking illustration, or possibly nuclear, but it goes along with the music perfectly, almost machine driven rhythms, a grey background, with a yellow wheel of some sort [a fan?], the lettering is also modern and perfectly apt for the image.

The tracks which got me really excited were 4-5, 9-10, 14-15 & 17, this makes disc one very heavy with likes, and disc two somewhat ordinary, maybe this was possibly because i listened to disc one first, and by the time i got to disc two i wasn't so wowed / taken aback by things, next time i listen to these discs i'll make sure i play disc two first, i also gave these discs a quick 'intro' on my disc player [plays the first ten seconds], and some of these intros are extremely inventive and catchy, tracks 3-6, 9-11, 16, 20-21, 25-26 & 28 sounded great this way, the very best two tracks i liked the most were 9 & 10, and i would like to give a synopsis of these two here.

9 Noire - Out Of Darkness, i can't find a music link for this, this is a shame, it's such a good track, it's a very beats driven track, nice pulsating bass at the beginning, and tap tap cymbals come in after half a minute, but it's the sharp organ sounding counterbeat that really makes the track [0:57+], and there's a knocking sound after [1:11+], reminiscent of some Tangerine Dream i've heard, it's quite hypnotic, themes come and go in waves, and it's really quite addictive, string synths come in [2:36+], and a more complex knocking rhythm starts [2:51+], it's nicely layered, there's variations and slightly quiet phases, which bring in a heightened awareness when the old louder rhythms start up again, there's a female speaker within the track, and this gives it a sort of vocal focus, and slots it in nicely with the title of the track. 
10 Ruff Driverz - Waiting For The Sun, the following track is even better, with a delicious intro of deep bubbly solo bass and drum [0:00-0:14], and cymbals come in right after, giving it very much a flavour of Drum & Bass music, and i love the way that the odd loud resonant drum hits really do make a difference [0:27+], and those same drum hits get much more excited, and the trumpet solo comer in [1:25+], this is now a very prominent instrument for the rest of the track, nice trumpet warblings at times, the music slows down, and there's a short trumpet melody [4:20+ & 5:02], the second time a guys voice comes in, and pronounces the title of the track, and infectious song.