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

Having a vinyl only evening, so thought that I'd start with these as I'm going to see him at the Sage, Gateshead in a couple of weeks time.

followed by

Volume 3, States of Being from this excellent box set.  This volume is a bit different from the others. On some songs there's some funky lead guitar work.

M 

I have this set in the original 1984 CD release, the 1997 remaster and this 2012 set, which is possibly the best remaster so far (although it probably won't be the last) of this great work. Listening to Die Walkure currently. This set came with one Blu-Ray disc of the entire work at high resolution, but sadly I have no way of extracting the files and getting them on the NS01 so that they can be streamed through the NDS. Still the CDs sound wonderful.

Brilliant English violinist!

Thin Lizzy, Jailbreak, happy rock music to cheer me up after watching the rather poor Northmen A Viking Saga. Flac via Audirvana/hugo

Clive, given that the '97 remaster was used as the source for the '12 remaster, is there much difference in sound?

EJ

Best of Donna Summer: 1985 release

Series of excellent Giorgio Moroder produced disco classics.

The only Supertramp album I enjoy pretty much from start to finish. Still get a kick out of 'Bloody Well Right'.

To my surprise, 6th US reissue sounding better than the UK original pressing.

Sugarcubes: The Great Crossover Potential

I love Bjork's unusual waif like voice and her fanciful singing style.

The Band-Music From Big Pink

Quite an eclectic tour of pop tonight.

Back to the regular programming.  It has been more of a Disco weather than a Schubert weather tonight.

Richter: Schubert “Wanderer-Fantasie”  1963 recording

It is very rare that I see UK EMI pressing in stereo locally but the other day I saw one at Dave's so picked it up and gave it a spin.

Astonishing difference in clarity and dynamics from my US mono pressing. Frequency extremes are much better with plenty of air around notes and bass dynamics and resonance that could be felt.  I can even hear Ricther’s pedaling and greater *in-room* presence in that the first movement intro is even more riveting. Ominous left hand trill is even more sinister in Adagio section as low level details are much improved on this pressing. Greatly reduced distortion afford a higher volume. 

This is quite angry and macho for Schubert program but no dispute in Ricther’s virtuosity where the last movement is relentless but one just sits and listens in awe. 

You gave a very good description of what I very often experience when listening to Richter, the macho aspect of his playing. He isn't particulary favorite for me while I switch every now and then to listen to his different execution of pieces.

Gary Graffman: Schubert Wanderer-Fantasie  1958 recording

Graffman's debut album.

Direct and straight with very little frills.  Comparatively he's less temperamental than Richter or his teacher Horowitz could have taken to some wacky place but Graffman is always somewhat careful in this regard avoiding daring moves. Youthful simple approach.

Bert,

I think that Richter's Schubert  has matured as he got older. 

I've listened to number his older Schubert recording from Melodiya/Monitor days and noticed that they are much more keyed up and stiff than his later efforts.

 Listen to his D960 Sonata from the Salzburg live recording in 72 ( not the Praga SACD, it's not as good ) or  this excellent D840 '79 recording from Phillips where you'll notice from the first note he has much more matured and subtle nuances and inflections than his earlier Schubert recording. His later recording of Schubert particularly the late ones have become my reference.

In later years, his choice of instrument was Yamaha, not the Steinway as he claims it gives him most control in pianissimo which was important to him.

Young pianists have a lot to prove so they have a tendency to over do everything.

But this jaw dropping Chopin Etude from early days, still gives me a chill.

Pink Floyd. Wish You Were Here (1975). On the Columbia 1997 CD remaster. Inspired by Winky's post of this album's 40th anniversary. Still working my way through the hour long Youtube video Winky linked to, and finding it very interesting.

Streaming | FLAC

Stratosfear ~ Tangerine Dream              (1976)

This is one of the good remasters of their work released in 1995, Stratosfear  (just thirty four minutes long) remains one of my favourite TD albums.

"With 'Stratosfear', the band had released a record that at times keeps to the tried and tested formulas of mellotrons and sequencers etc, but the difference between this album and others is that there is so much more to offer musically. The group play like a band and introduce acoustic and electric guitars as well as plenty of percussion. There are also so much more melodies and genuinely memorable tunes.
The title track is a swashbuckling piece with a memorable theme, and still stands the test of time as one of Tangerine Dream's most enduring and popular tunes." ~ Amazonian Comment

Good music for workout

A bit less good as the other one but still enjoyable...

superb playing..

Thanks for the tip, I will check it out. Perhaps I will still become a die hard fan...:-)