What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. X)

I got this tape for 50p from the charity shop. It was absolutely mint. It sounds really wonderful on the Nak. Great performance by the Gershwin Festival Orchestra  too.

1. Cuban Overture (1932)
2. Concerto in F (1925)
3. Rhapsody in Blue (1924)
4. Lullaby (original piano version, 1925)

The Beatles "Let It Be"

(iTunes download)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9wKFH6qJ10

Goldfrapp - Tales of Us. followed by ...

Hungry Lucy - Pulse of the Earth. Two beautiful voices and great music. Both recommendations from this topic. Thanks everyone.

Zuma, on vinyl. No reason that I can think of - just a vague and rather random desire to do so.

What a find, original release in mint condition for £5 at York market: Handle With Care

Track listing
A1
Steppenwolf - Snow Blind Friend 4:17
A2
Freedom - Nobody 3:51
A3
B. B. King - You`re Still My Woman 6:06
A4
James Gang - Ashes the Rain And I 4:56
A5
Bush - Got to Leave the City 3:37
A6
Three Dog Night - Rock and Roll Widow 2:56
B1
B. B. King - Ask Me No Questions 3:08
B2
Bush - Drink Your Wine 5:54
B3
Freedom - Frustrated Woman 4:58
B4
Three Dog Night - Woman 4:40
B5
Steppenwolf - Screaming Night Hog 3:17
B6
James Gang - Funk 49 3:54

Richard

Bill Callahan   "Sometimes I Wish I Were An Eagle"

(iTunes download)

UK CBS original vinyl.

I really like this 

Smetana Trio:

Jitka Čechová (piano)

Jiří Vodička (violin)

Jan Páleníček (cello)

Broken Bells   "Meyrin Fields" ep

(iTunes download)

A nice familiar sound for a new piece of kit.

G

Fionna Apple    "Tidal"

(iTunes download)

Smetana Trio:

Jitka Čechová (piano)

Jiří Vodička (violin)

Jan Páleníček (cello)

 

Trio for Piano and Strings no 1 in C minor, Op. 8 by Dmitri Shostakovich 

Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello in A minor by Maurice Ravel 

Trio for Piano and Strings no 2 in E minor, Op. 67 by Dmitri Shostakovich 

 

Music very close to my heart.

 

Well, I lost my post and somehow the above only survived.  Maybe it was just as well for curbing overly wordy pollution that I tend to spew.

This music is close to my heart because of its connection to my past.  For example, the Largo from the E minor piano trio.  It is a lament or black mass almost that cries out in pain.  Eight chords lay out the foundation in the piano and this is repeated over and over.  It is a passacaglia with a variation over the piano so first time the piano is alone to lay out the ground work, second time it is only piano and violin, third time piano and cello and violin but the cello is the melody and fourth time the violin and cello begin the struggle against each other in earnest as this unfolds.  The most remarkable counterpoint happens for me between the third and fourth round when the cello (the lower pitch instrument) actually succeeds in rising above the violin (which is the usual high pitch instrument).  I do not hear this as well just by listening to recordings but my memory of hearing this live and experiencing this in the context of the atmosphere that this piece creates is spine chilling to me.  Shostakovich was a genius.  Very hard to produce the effect actually as the music is so sparse.

Which leads me to my second point in the thrill of this largo.  It was one of the first movements where the pianist actually had the time to freely watch the two string players.  This of course is the ultimate goal of any chamber music but if you are a pianist and have played Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn chamber music and the like it is really a thankless position to be in.  Massive piano parts with a million notes and things to consider (melody & harmony), 40 or 60 pages of music (way to many page turns always at impossible times) compared to maybe 3 or 4 for the strings and two string players with their one note of melodies, board out of the trees unless you can play this all at breakneck speed to liven it up for them.  

So, this Largo, while difficult musically, for the first time gave me the opportunity to breath and experience true togetherness with my partners and this was a very nice launching pad for my own deeper understanding of chamber music.  The whole of the E minor trio is also very well balanced in difficulty really between the three instruments which is unusual in a way.  It is not a put down but speaks of the relative skill between him and that of say a Brahms, Beethoven, Schumann, Rachmaninov etc. who were first and foremost piano emperors and thought out symphonies first on the piano.

On CD:-

Becoming my favourite R Cray this......might put 'skylarking' on after this now.

G

Arensky Piano Trios:  Leonore Piano Trio Benjamin Nabarro (violin), Gemma Rosefield (cello), Tim Horton (piano)

Piano Trio no 1 in D minor, Op. 32 by Anton Arensky 

Souvenirs d'enfance (Memories of Childhood):  Brigitte Engerer (Piano)

Album pour enfants, Op. 39 by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky 

Une larme by Modest Mussorgsky 

Mazurka, Op. 15: no 2 in D minor by Anatole Liadov 

Polka italienne for Piano 4 Hands by Sergei Rachmaninov 

A nice album of quant children's pieces.  Very nice for me anyway and nice to have exposure to a couple more Russian composers that I wasn't entirely familiar with.  Both my son and I were recently learning "A l'église" (The Church) which is the last piece (no 24) in the Tchaikovsky, "Album for the Young."

 

 

All the talk of Meddle on another thread has prompted me to slap on my Japanese vinyl copy:

Jackson Browne   "The Very Best Of ........"  disc 2

(iTunes download)

   Alan Freeman By Invitation Only vinyl double compilation.

Original CBS vinyl. For me the best Santana LP. The percussion is just out of this world. 

Good cooking music with a home measure G&T!

G

Joe Henry   "Blood From Stars"

(cd rip to iTunes)