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

Rush, Moving Pictures, arguably the best Rush album, which means one of the best of all albums, and it contains the sublime Camera Eye, what other reason would I possibly need.  24 bit flac played very loudly via Audirvana/Hugo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnHTy10jWr8

• Arild Andersen - bass
• Bill Frisell - guitar
• John Taylor - piano
• Alphonse Mouzon - drums

EJ,

That Dukas piano sonata is a dandy.

Good album, Nigel. Sad to hear the tragic loss of his son. 

Doors. L.A. Woman (1971). The 2009 EU pressing. Saw this posted here several times recently. Thanks for the suggestion

Patrice Rushen: Before the Dawn 1975 recording

21 year old Rushen's 2nd Prestige Label release is a typical 70s fusion backed up with usual suspects: Lee Ritenour, Harvey Mason, Herbert Laws etc..

No doubt she's talented. 

Here's the pix of her cute face before the transformation.

On vinyl. Fine effort (2004) from a veteran songwriter/musician.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PavbAfX4rtQ

Oscar Peterson with Strings  1956 release

Mid 50s totally commercial ultra easy light mood music. I can hardly hear his piano in the super market muzak. 

I just cannot get enough of Händel and Ragna Schirmer lately.  

Now with the score in hand, I am just blown away with this music.  Ragna Schirmer is certainly brilliant here and her playing is so full of character.  What is especially interesting is that I never realized how improvisatory she is here especially after the 1st ending and on the repeat.  Quite amazing really.

When I could peel my eyes away from the score it is also worth having the cd case fully open to get the panorama view of this old library.

Robert Schumann:  Ragna Schirmer, Klavier

Right now the only thing that can get me higher is Schumann's Variations on a Theme from Beethoven (WoO 31) and played by Ragna Schirmer.  It is such a special piece of music for me.  When my number is up, this will be among the tonnes of music and recordings that has to fit in the u-haul full of stuff that I'm taking with me. ;-)

 Bach: Piano Transcriptions - 6 (Walter Rummel):  Jonathan Plowright (piano)

Of course, track 9 on CD 2 (Die Seele ruht in Jesu Händen) here will be among the music also crammed in my u-haul.

Best Of The Ventures. The 2006 St Clair CD. Virtually no liner notes and possibly not what it seems. While its a nice 10 track compilation of what I'd consider to be their best songs, none are the originals. The band went back into the studio and re-recorded their hits. It's well done, but a bit of a sham. Hopefully, the boys from Tacoma made a bit of retirement money off it.

Jessye Norma sings Strauss Lieder 

Max drama in a style of traditioanl opera singer rather than a narrative song singing. Norman finishes every sentence with a Bette Davis 'T's. She's a star and she lets me know it. 

Waif she isn’t. Her tone is bold and up front and carry through anything. It gets a tad opaque and perhaps missing a bit of translucency also on this recording her voice collapses slightly at lower register. Soaring melody in ‘Befreit’ gets a bit much compared to others who can retain a vulnerability. A tune like ‘Bad Weather’ could have used more playfulness, too. Instead she is still aloof and domineering. From the top of Malven, Norman is already so keyed up impossible to come close to the tune itself and does not quite come off as a delicate blossoms as the lyric suggests.

For a young singer, Christiane Karg

Bell like ringing tone with a great clarity in the voice however she gets slightly incissive and loses ease at upper register. She seems to be more comfortable at a lower keys rather than a dramatic segment as she starts to sound too frantic and loses too much flesh out of her already thinnish tonal range. Allerseelen is sang with tenderness but the piano feels more friendly and expressive than the voice.

But I love her narrative and frank approach. Malven has a wonderful piano intro. I like this piano player actually. 

I still love Damrau's voice and execution altho she can come off a tad stiff compared to Janowitz in prime. Orchestra is sounding too generic and adding schmultzy fiddle does not add anything. It would have been a lot better with a simple piano accompaniment. 

Now I should have a Schwarzkopf's Strauss album somewhere in the house....

Johnny Cash. 16 Biggest Hits. On HDCD from 2003. Johnny's hits from 1956-71.

Karajan/BPO: Schubert Symphony 8 1965 recording

This original tulip label press sounds a lot better than the reissue I have but still can't save its dull performance.

The entire score is played with a giant legato with no musical accents or rhythmic pulse.

It's a massive FAIL.

John Mellencamp. Cuttin' Heads. On HDCD from 2001. A noteworthy album for Mellencamp as he delves into some funk and rap and takes racism squarely into his gun sights. His folk roots are not dismissed and this is a brilliant and musically diverse album. Includes a great duet with Trisha Yearwood.

(1991)

A delicate way to start the week. Beautifully recorded in St.Andrew's church, Toddington, Gloucestershire.

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. Music From The Motion Picture. On CD from 1996. I'm pulling little used CDs off the shelf as I need to make some room. While I don't regret hearing this after a 18 year or so listening in absentia, it's going in the discard pile.

Streaming | Bandcamp

(2012)

2145 is a dark ambient album, creating huge sci-fi great soundscapes of a post apocalyptic fallen planet. Very well played and put together.

"The album 2145 will take you to the desolate landscapes of a fallen future, where a man's voyage after being released from deep freeze hibernation turns into a realization of his own shattered mentality." ~ Bandcamp

Streaming | Bandcamp

(2012)

In the mood for more of this excellent dark ambient story.

"The follow up to the album 2145 takes us to the second year after our protagonist awakens from deep hibernation sleep to a world in ruins. Seeking signs of life he encounters the illuminated cities still powered by 
automated energy and its robotic inhabitants moving with pointless tasks void of meaning. Simon Heath takes us to a cold place of nuclear winters and lost hope in this genre bending release." ~ Bandcamp

Great band and debut album, Ewe. Haven't listened to it for a while.  I wonder if they'll  be releasing any new material.