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

The most timeless of SV's albums imho and one I am really enjoying streamed via ND5XS:XP5XS. G

Suzanne Vega "Close-up: States of Being"

A 2012 Carpe Diem Records issue of suites and toccatas of Froberger performed by the Romanian harpsichordist Alina Rotaru.  She plays on a Ruckers harpsichord built in 1623 and reconstructed in 1745 that may have once belonged to Marie Antoinette.

Highly recommended.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVkPb8OGeu8

On double vinyl, 2013 re-mix. I still don't think it is one of their best albums, but this version is so much easier to listen to, down side 4 sides so much up and downing.  :-

RUSH - Vapo(u)r Trails

Muzio Clementi:  Olivier Cavé (Piano)

Muzio Clementi was one of the early Classical period composers being born four years before Mozart and eighteen years before Beethoven but he outlived both as well by thirty-five and five years, respectively.

A new pianist for me, I quite like Olivier Cavé's style and character of playing.  Sensitive and never harsh he delivers a tone quality I very much seek after myself.  It is that illusionary trick of playing the piano, a percussive instrument by design where a hammer strikes a string but only a truly skilled player can somehow create a soft, bell like tone filled with warmth and glow.

Interestingly, the 'Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings' says, "Both voices are recorded in a big, alert acoustic...which brings out every detail in both bass and piano". To me it sounds quite vibrant.

I imagine the acoustics of a Turkish rug store to be rather dead!

Alex Parks "Honesty"

Clive,

The question is if the Penguin Guide guy has ever been to a Turkish rugs store..

I am talking from experience limited to listening to the CD, finding the bass sound thick and lacking in resolution and details. I usually like the sound that Ken Christianson  produces.

Haim

Up next on red vinyl:-

Lucinda Williams - Self titled .

I swear I can hear 'Sound City'. G

70s vinyl

Char,

Maybe they didn't use it as there was the British band 'Soft Machine' already in existence. I wonder if they asked for copyright permission. I doubt it somehow. The copyright laws weren't enforced as vigilantly in the '60s as they are now.

Steve

+1. Just about to mention the name clash with the wonderful 'Soft Machine'.

Graham

Bob Dylan "Together Through Life"

70s vinyl excellent SQ 

On CD:-

A first pressing of the first commercially available CD (ripped and streaming) and my favourite Billy Joel album. 

G

Hi dav301,

 One of my favorite Wishbone Ash albums. Don't see it posted here very often.

Larry

Bach: Goldberg Variations

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Murray Perahia (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

1st play.

Formed in 2000 to share a fascination with the improvisation and monophonic nature of Ornette Coleman's earlier works, the Bristol-based four-piece can now boast a truly international fan base and the last two years have seen them take their cellophane masks half way round the world and back (it was the rhythm of movement and travel experienced on the road that gave way to the new album and inspired the title). Throughout this time, the line-up has remained the same with Portishead rhythm masters Jim Barr and Clive Deamer on bass and drums respectively, Pete Judge on trumpet and Jake McMurchie on saxophone.

The Boxer Rebellion "The Cold Still"

During a conversation between Act owner Siggi Loch and Norwegian classical violinist Henning Kraggerud, the latter stated his admiration for Bugge Wesseltoft's christmas record "It's snowing on my piano" (ACT's best-selling title, fact fans). So naturally the next step was to bring the two countrymen together, and so it was that they met in November 2011 to record "Last Spring" in Oslo's famous Rainbow Studio, the place where "It's snowing on my piano" was recorded. The pair put together a sparkling program of 16 pieces for "Last Spring", which is founded mostly on Norwegian folk music. As the title intimates, "Last Spring" is a revisiting of spring. It is not an exulting, whirling awakening, but a sustained, minimalistic meditation, oriented strongly towards the details, the variance of the melodies, the breadth and beauty of the sound. It is based on the most perfect interaction possible: Wesseltoft's soft piano daubs melt like wax into the pizzicato melodies that Kraggerud entices out of his 1744 Guarneri violin, his Harald Lund viola and his unique six-stringed viola Concorda. This magical duo succeeds in gleaning new sound ideas and facets from spring, just as the original concept intended.

Atb

kk

"In The Court Of The King Crimson"  on c.d..