Hi Doug - can you elaborate a bit on the b-minor, please? I find it's easiest to characterise as homogenous vs. differentiated, with Grimaud on the left side (not dissing her, mind - just expressing my view on her recording) and Zimerman or Pogorelich on the right. Hamelin, Hough, Brendel and many others - as different as they all are, in the middle on this line. Here's the interesting thing: Sophie Pacini, another Argerich protege, recently gave us a truly excellent recording on the right hand side of the camp - which as you say lacks a bit of vision but that 'immaturity' brings a dash of spontaneity to compensate. Where does Leschenko fit in, in your opinion? 

Cheers,

EJ

On CD:-

Streamed , if this the correct term , I'm sure a necklace will correct me  :-

Now if I can get iTunes 11 to play an album from start to finish in the right order I'll be happ(y)ier.  

Original Vinyl

Graham

Press to Play is probably the least known of McCartney's solo works.If you only like the Macca of Silly Love Songs this one is not for you but if you want to hear what this guy is capable of give it a listen. One of his best solo efforts imo.

 (1986) Vinyl 

Wow, this is good very good and so far from my comfort zone.

Thank you gents for the recomendation.

the gathering - if_then_else on Red vinyl

Guapo - History Of The Visitation

http://cuneiformrecords.bandca...ry-of-the-visitation 

On CD:-

Classic!

Sorry no pic,imageshack playing up.

Heard this new album on Spotify today,best thing I've heard in ages!

To Kill A King.........Cannibals With Cutlery

Believe it is their debut album,destined for great things I think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=citC0rb_nms

Amongs the best 'Xacaras' records.

Santiago de Murcia lived in the same era as J.S.Bach; quite different music...

Excellent record.

Here you go Andrew...

I got my signed copy on Monday. They are a very good 'live' band and I'm seeing them again @ the Scala in April. Listen on soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/#tokill...ng-cannibals/s-KJL6M 

The leader of the band Ralph Pelleymounter has an enjoyable set of acoustic songs, mainly recorded on his Balcony - http://tokillaking.bandcamp.co...lcony-the-collection 

Denis

A recording of The Who Live in Texas. 

Some notes on the playing: these are, at the core, straight performances free from excessive rubato or beautification. However that's only part of the package: Kavakos comes across as a showman storyteller, with an interesting story. He plays subtly with tempi, and less subtly with tone colors. His tone is essentially large, sweet and warm with a slightly acidic quality. He can scale back to a beautiful whisper without losing body. It's not used as an effect, but as a means to emphasize a dramatic point, e.g. as clearly heard in the slow movement of the Kreuzer.Kavakos takes plenty to time to let the music dance and sing and, despite occasionally high tempi, there is no rushing through the music. But there is plenty of excitement - these are far from staid or boring performances.

Beethoven may have given the piano the main role in most of these sonatas, that is not how Kavakos and Pace play them. Enrico Pace is a good pianist, but his job is to play second fiddle and he sounds fully potty trained. In this respect, this set is more like Mutter/Orkis than any other, although Kavakos clearly has Beethoven on his mind whereas with Mutter I am not so sure.

If I sound dismissive, I'm not: I don't consider these works among Beethoven's best, and they benefit from any help they can get. For the first time in many years I've listened to all these works fully appreciating Beethoven's genius (I don't know whether this is the only recording really tuned in to my brainwave; but it is the only one from the ones I know).

The recording is not over-polished, and some minor imperfections were allowed through, maybe in the interest of the clear enthusiasm on display here. The balance favors the violinist, in keeping with the performances. Highly recommended, and already a candidate for my personal 2013's best!

Cheers,

EJ

I may have cracked the playing order thing. 

Controls - Shuffle - Turn Off Shuffle and selected By albums, seems to have fixed it. I'm not sure how it got set to Shuffle on as I never use it. 

Werry strange.

I have about 550 CDs in my iTunes, and in more than three years it has never played any album out of order.

I have never fiddled with it. It just works. 

Process:

Insert CD. 

When prompted, agree to import CD.

[Tagging comes via gracenote, and you may be asked to choose between the French, German, Japanese [etc] tags, and you may have to choose the English option. Do so].

Remove CD.

Search the title of the album, and then press play.

It really could not be much easier ...

ATB from George [using iTunes 11.02, currently].

On Silver

Franco-Flemish Renaissance drinking & eating songs.

Hi EJ,

Nice writeup.  This has gone directly into my Wish List tonight.  You have brought up some very interesting points (and also sore spots) for me.   It enrages me somewhat with how some music is marketed.  Case in point, Leonidas Kavakos and Enrico Pace.  Obviously with the size of lettering on the front cover clearly lets us know who is important and who is not.  The pianist is just the accompanist for the star, right?  Mutter/Orkis have the same division of labor with the string player on top as the star.  Just when you think it is all about the string player you get Uchida / Steinberg who somehow reverse the roles on the Mozart Sonatas for Violine and Klavier.  I guess Uchida has the star power and is the one who is really selling this disc so she gets the forefront and dominant view.  It just annoys me.  I do like to see balance as both play an equal role in this type of chamber music.  I think about Faust / Melnikov or Ibragimova / Tiberghien playing these Beethoven Sonatas and it appears to be a closer outcome.  Although relatively more balanced you can see that Ibragimova or Faust still get a slight bit more emphasis but the status of the two are closer after-all.

The truth is that my scores of these Violin Sonatas and every other edition I've ever seen states this music as the "Sonaten für Pianoforte und Violine" and not the other way around.  I am probably a little biased but these are really Piano Sonatas that include a Violin or a Cello as the case may be.  For Trios, Beethoven wrote Piano Trios.  Even so, I believe the Pianist and String player should be given equal billing.  In almost every case of playing this music, I have found that string players naturally think they are the star.  Just as a singers tend to think that the pianist is just the accompanist so to do many string players, however, I think Beethoven anyway was quite clear about this that this just isn't the case in his music. [rant over].

By the way EJ, I'm glad to hear you are starting to see the value in these Violin Sonatas.  If asked, I would have a hard time picking my favourite music from any composer.  I get a similar joy out of the Violin Sonatas as I do his other chamber works although I do have a slight bias to favour the works that include a cello.  The funny thing about Beethoven chamber works is that he wrote very few in minor keys yet I like it all....

Regards,

Doug