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

You're right Ewemon. It's not written "remastered" or something else. My fault before anything else. But i thought they were taking the chance to give it a dust while introducing a new enhanced edition of the record. A missed occasion?

Original vinyl.

Electro-prog on scratchy old 1970s vinyl. Perfect!

Pearl Jam

"Pearl Jam"   (2006)   MP3

   One of my fave VM albums.

Over the years I have noticed that generally Japanese reissue CDs or vinyl pressing are heavily tailored to the local taste. ( sort of many US pressing of UK titles I have encountered have T&A EQ curve for instance )

Plus, they'll never get the masters or if they do, it would be a far away generation masters. So they are disadvantaged to start with.

Even amongst JVC's excellent XRCD varies by titles. 

Sensations' Fix - Music Is Just Painting In The Air

Another Italian album, this time from the mid-70s, not Prog but a gentle post-psychedelia somewhat in the style of Steve Miller on Recall The Beginning... and Rock Love. Sort of. The main guy is Franco Falsini, it's mostly instrumental, and quite charming.

Bandcamp link

Coldplay

"X&Y"    (2005)  MP3

Original Vinyl [Verve Records]

   Last one for tonight.

CD

Great album Tony and one I haven't played in a very long time. Will need to dig it out.

Got this one a couple of days ago, Ewe. Must have  played it half a dozen times already, especially Nature's Way. What a track.

On CD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cztUe4La_zA

On vinyl.

 Franz Schubert:  David Fray (Klavier), Jacques Rouvier (Klavier)

Piano Sonata in G major D 894 "Fantasie"

Hungarian Melody in B minor D 817

Fantasia in F minor for Piano Four Hands D 940

Allegro in A minor for Piano Four Hands D 947 "Lebensstürme"

Unfathomable melancholy.

This is my favourite quote from the you tube video below.  And how he describes a glassy, perfectly still water (as if nothing is really happening on the surface) yet below the surface there is something profound going on.  He is very apt in his assessment of the music and his interpretations too I find to be very convincing.  

I have spent the last 3 days listening to this disc and in equal portions playing this same music at the piano.  This is music I could not live without.  The trouble with music and maybe especially with the music of Schubert is that words just do not suffice in describing it.  If you can listen to the opening of the G major sonata or the opening of the F minor fantasia and not be affected somehow then I would question whether you have even come in to the presence of the real Schubert.  It is not music you can exercise to or read the paper or a book with it in the background (at least in my experience and this is my opinion only).  It is all or nothing.  This is music where the composer is telling you his deepest darkest secrets ranging from the saddest and most painful thing imaginable to those joyful, rich moments.  This is music for times when you have the opportunity to be in the still, quiet alone.  And there is simply no better example of unfathomable melancholy than the opening section of the F minor fantasy.  

When you see in the score any pianissimos or triple pianos then this is almost certainly a time when Schubert is whispering to you some secret but in a much more profound language than any words could manage.  Fortissimo or triple forte is the opposite.  These moments are usually where the pain is so great that one screams in anguish.  

This G major sonata is really an example of stillness with the extreme contrasts written in.  I love what David Fray has done here really and the recording quality is really beyond expectations.  He accomplishes a beautiful melancholy, cantabile bell like tone which is very nice.  Maybe it is not entirely possible to do on a recording what you might do in real life but I would have liked more contrast.  I didn't find enough difference between all the levels between triple piano and triple forte.  This is not a criticism but I am simply musing about here.  I certainly don't think it suits Schubert to be loud and clangy.  I just wonder if it would be reasonable for him to show a little more anguish at the loudest spots.

So you may wonder why a guy who mostly hangs out in D minor is enthusing about a sonata written in G major.  While I love the first two movements of this sonata with their endless beauty and sublime moments one of my favourite spots in this sonata is in the last movement where Schubert takes us out of the sunshine of G major and exposes us to darkness in the key of C minor.  It is here where I find Fray has glossed over the opportunity to show the severe contrast and gravity of the situation.  Part of the problem may be that his chosen tempo is clipping along quite quickly.  

While not the only way I have always liked everything I have heard of David Fray - his Schubert, Bach, Mozart, Liszt and so on.  This album is no exception.  Part of it might be that he plays music that I find so vital and important in my own life.  The pianism and the recording quality though are both exceptional and I think this year so far this is one of my favourite albums.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...ge&v=pnDwLFYyNQ8