A gentle morning of grading student papers to Bach, prompted by finally retagging some cheap classical sets. I like the sprightlier Suk version of the Brandeburg concertos better than the (maybe more period-faithful? certainly more sedate and quaint-sounding) Württemberg version in the 250 minutes set. (That's about as close to an expert opinion about classical music as you'll get out of me).
Well, Max Richter led to a quest, and an unlikely successful outcome made me happy. 20 years ago I had a cassette copy of the Four Seasons that contained a version that I played a lot and really liked, but which most importantly became what that work sounds like in my head. At some point it went the way of all my other cassettes and is no more. So listening to Richter I went off listening to versions of The Four Seasons, wondering if I should get a new one. I heard several I liked (Itzhak Perlman and Joshua Bell in particular) but none of them were quite that one that I used to like. So I set off searching for it, knowing only that it had a silver cover and was released before the mid 90s. Recordings of the Four Seasons are legion, and after half an hour of searching by various means I almost despaired...then I found it!!!!
Don't care if it's the best - it perfectly matches a groove in my mind.
@GP, glad you found what you were looking for! Quite amazing actually, considering that there must be a million recordings of The Four Seasons. I haven't heard this particular one, but Sandage and Pinnock are top notch.
@kez, I think I read somewhere that it was nominated for a grammy, so it's apparently respectable. Ordered a CD copy for a dollar or so on Amazon marketplace!
For me, a non-classical music person, the version of Four Seasons that I compare others to is that by Nigel Kennedy. I've just had to search out the CD as I haven't yet put it onto iTunes, which shows how rarely I've played it recently
I've been going through Jonah's Jazz Picks this week at emusic. Lots of quality albums - I put 7 into my SFL - it could have been more. Usually I try to pick out just a couple each week, so it is going to be tough getting it down to a manageable number. But I've already decided this will be one, so have downloaded it. Last night I was thinking it was time I went back on hold as I'm struggling to find sufficient quality recordings that do not add to my over saturation of music. I've now found enough for this months credits!
Really nice new release from trumpeter Andre Canniere. There was nothing wrong with his last recording, 2012?s Forward Space, but that pales in comparison to the fullness of his newest recording. Melodies are allowed to breathe, then expand, while the rhythmic approach is one terrifically dynamic without ever becoming distracting. A track like Gaslands goes right to the heart of what Im talking about. Joining Canniere is Ivo Neame on piano (and accordion), Jon Scott on drums, Hannes Riepler on guitar, and Ryan Trebilcock on double bass. This is what Im talking about. Recommended.
Drummer Vidal leads a sextet through a series of story-like tunes. Melodies that drift like a thick fog and rhythms that try, but cant disperse them. Moody, brooding, but plenty lively, so not what youd call an introspective album. I find myself increasingly drawn to this compelling album with each subsequent listen. Some moments of startling beauty.
Streaming this; had not really listened to this version before. My litmus test (and the way I identified the version I remembered from way back) is the violin's explosive first few solo bars in the opening section of winter and the tremor that it descends to at the end of each outburst (I think it's the "frightful wind"?) - that has to give me chills, and sounds remarkably different with different violinists. Not a big fan of Kennedy at that point. The rest is sounding nice enough.
ETA, doing some comparisons with amc2's version (for which I suffered through a Christmas ad on spotify - ugh) - I like this version too.
Your comment made me go back and listen to Winter again. For some reason I listened really loud. It's an odd thing about classical music, or any acoustic music; with a digital recording and a pair of headphones, I can listen to acoustic music way louder than it would ever actually be, even if I was right next to it. I always feel an odd slight tinge of guilt when I turn something acoustic up "too loud"; like I'm outside the laws of nature...
Those "Masters" photos crack me up. How do you decide which guy looks more like Vivaldi, Schubert, etc? Probably they are just guys who were hanging around the office that day. "Hey Mike, try on this wig, would ya?"
I had a Haydn Symphony 22 that I played several times per week for years - wore out the CD. Later found out that it was played much slower than most recordings, but it's still the one that plays in my head.
@amclark2, oh yes, that Drottingham Baroque Ensemble Bis recording is outstanding! Very, very different from other versions. Well worth getting even if you have others.
@Doofy, I always imagine them coaching the guy regarding facial expressions. "No, dammit, we want artistically aloof and pensive, not just simpering and sucking a lemon! Oh well, let's just go with what we've got, Mike has work to do."
impatiently awaiting this album to be posted by Important Records on music: ELSE MARIE PADE & JACOB KIRKEGAARD - SVÆVNINGER - "Else Marie Pade (born December 2, 1924 in Aarhus) is a Danish composer. An educated composer, Pade pioneered electronic music and concrete music in Denmark. In 1954 Pade became the first Danish composer of electronic and concrete music. She knew and worked with Pierre Schaeffer and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Pade was active in the resistance during the Second World War, and was interned at the Frøslev prison camp from 1944 till the end of the war. An archival collection of Else Marie Pade's electronic work will be released on Important in 2013.
Jakob Kierkegaard is a Danish artist who explores sound art from a scientific perspective. He has released 3 solo records and a collaborative work with Phillip Jeck for the esteemed Touch label.
Despite an age difference of 51 years, Else Marie Pade and Jacob Kirkegaard speak a similar musical language and are prominent listeners and communicators of sounds that we tend to overhear. For the first time these two pioneers are collaborating on a new work: SVÆVINGER investigates the variations that one can hear when sound waves collide. Both artists have previously worked on this phenomenon; Jacob Kirkegaard in his work Labyrinthitis (2007) and Else Marie Pade in her work "Faust Suite" (1962). For their new joint piece SVÆVINGER, they remixed some of Pade's early (and hitherto unreleased) sound experiments with some of Kirkegaard's recordings from his own ear, thus leading the audience straight into the undiscovered labyrinths of their own hearing."
Noveller- "The Fright"
Stefan Wesolowski- "HAND IM HAAR"
Steve Gunn & Mike Gangloff- "Worry past worry"
Alessandro Cortini- "Luna"
Pitreleh- "Vibration: Sine Pools (excerpt)"
Emily Jane White- "The Wolves"
Duane Pitre- "Feel Free Live at Cafe OTO (excerpt)"
Lanterns (EP) by John McGrath. What Tony McManus might sound like if he did an album of primitive guitar. Acoustic with touches of electronics. Lovely. NYOP.
Comments
A gentle morning of grading student papers to Bach, prompted by finally retagging some cheap classical sets. I like the sprightlier Suk version of the Brandeburg concertos better than the (maybe more period-faithful? certainly more sedate and quaint-sounding) Württemberg version in the 250 minutes set. (That's about as close to an expert opinion about classical music as you'll get out of me).
If you don't have this, it's free and very nice. Antonymes, Markus Mehr, Slow Dancing Society, Stray Ghost, Wes Willenbring, etc.
Laura Cortese & Jefferson Hamer - Two Amps, One Microphone
Bandcamp
Anyone have a floor I can crash on near Indio, California?
Craig
2-track EP on Bandcamp (free)
then:
New album streaming on Paste
Having a surprisingly hard time deciding if I really like this or not.
Don't care if it's the best - it perfectly matches a groove in my mind.
I've been going through Jonah's Jazz Picks this week at emusic. Lots of quality albums - I put 7 into my SFL - it could have been more. Usually I try to pick out just a couple each week, so it is going to be tough getting it down to a manageable number. But I've already decided this will be one, so have downloaded it. Last night I was thinking it was time I went back on hold as I'm struggling to find sufficient quality recordings that do not add to my over saturation of music. I've now found enough for this months credits!
As Jonah says in his Jazz Picks:
11/30/1980, Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA, audience recording, set one.
Ok, you guys got me thinking about the Four Seasons, so I'm listening to them from that ^^^, which I think is actually this:
I haven't honesty listened to it enough to have a favorite or familiar version, but I like this version a lot, and it's from BIS.
Streaming this; had not really listened to this version before. My litmus test (and the way I identified the version I remembered from way back) is the violin's explosive first few solo bars in the opening section of winter and the tremor that it descends to at the end of each outburst (I think it's the "frightful wind"?) - that has to give me chills, and sounds remarkably different with different violinists. Not a big fan of Kennedy at that point. The rest is sounding nice enough.
ETA, doing some comparisons with amc2's version (for which I suffered through a Christmas ad on spotify - ugh) - I like this version too.
Paavoharju - Yh
I had a Haydn Symphony 22 that I played several times per week for years - wore out the CD. Later found out that it was played much slower than most recordings, but it's still the one that plays in my head.
Meanwhile, another great Master:
Craig
Eta; ok I'm stuck - I can't stop rewinding and listening to "Blue Moon".
ELSE MARIE PADE & JACOB KIRKEGAARD - SVÆVNINGER
- "Else Marie Pade (born December 2, 1924 in Aarhus) is a Danish composer. An educated composer, Pade pioneered electronic music and concrete music in Denmark. In 1954 Pade became the first Danish composer of electronic and concrete music. She knew and worked with Pierre Schaeffer and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Pade was active in the resistance during the Second World War, and was interned at the Frøslev prison camp from 1944 till the end of the war. An archival collection of Else Marie Pade's electronic work will be released on Important in 2013.
Jakob Kierkegaard is a Danish artist who explores sound art from a scientific perspective. He has released 3 solo records and a collaborative work with Phillip Jeck for the esteemed Touch label.
Despite an age difference of 51 years, Else Marie Pade and Jacob Kirkegaard speak a similar musical language and are prominent listeners and communicators of sounds that we tend to overhear. For the first time these two pioneers are collaborating on a new work: SVÆVINGER investigates the variations that one can hear when sound waves collide. Both artists have previously worked on this phenomenon; Jacob Kirkegaard in his work Labyrinthitis (2007) and Else Marie Pade in her work "Faust Suite" (1962). For their new joint piece SVÆVINGER, they remixed some of Pade's early (and hitherto unreleased) sound experiments with some of Kirkegaard's recordings from his own ear, thus leading the audience straight into the undiscovered labyrinths of their own hearing."
IMPREC Podcast#5: "Autumn Releases 2013"
Noveller- "The Fright"
Stefan Wesolowski- "HAND IM HAAR"
Steve Gunn & Mike Gangloff- "Worry past worry"
Alessandro Cortini- "Luna"
Pitreleh- "Vibration: Sine Pools (excerpt)"
Emily Jane White- "The Wolves"
Duane Pitre- "Feel Free Live at Cafe OTO (excerpt)"
Craig
Lanterns (EP) by John McGrath. What Tony McManus might sound like if he did an album of primitive guitar. Acoustic with touches of electronics. Lovely. NYOP.