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

 Did you see this one? ...Miles selling Honda.

Ha ha, no. Had this on a couple of times now since I saw the above.

I'll play it and tell you what it is later...

With the first coffee of the day.

Doug,

Kuma asked me what I thought of it and I have not responded to her yet. Last night I played it again followed by Arrau on a Philips vinyl. I had a hard time doing a fair comparison because Arrau's piano sounded so much richer and warmer that just overwhelmed me. Both played the Preludes superbly and today will be the turn of Tharaud and Pogorelich to be heard. 

Streaming | Deezer Elite

(2013)

Another from Anneke promising nine energetic rock songs and a ballad. 

Hyperdub's finest, some Kurosawa, and a great line borrowed from an old interview...

A stone will be thrown at the state, and a stone will be thrown at the churches. (Lee Scratch Perry)

Haim,

Well, I should clarify that I didn't mean to imply it is the "best."  Simply, that I was surprised after not listening to this for maybe a decade, that it might be better than I would have given Pollini credit for (I've been a journey of distancing myself from Pollini as of late).  I had to admit to myself this morning that he does some things very nicely but in the end, Pollini is still Pollini, and so yes, it tends to the leaner, mechanical, colder side.  Out of 24 Preludes though there are many diamonds to be found here, taste depending, and so I'll give credit where credit is due.

Arrau is magnificent as well.  A different personality from a different generation altogether compared to Pollini.  Where Pollini seems to focus on the details, I believe Arrau is concerned with the big picture, musical meaning, and beauty.  If you want technical clarity go to Pollini.  If you want a softer approach, perhaps even grand view, where the music breaths and has a larger shape, then go with Arrau.

Impossible though to have "the one" Preludes that has it all.  

This is one heck of a beautiful album. Could even be one of his best...  

+ fantastic SQ.

Vinyl

A couple from Tidal:

JJ Cale - Number 10, so far it's the only JJC album that has slightly disappointed, first few tracks sounded a bit like 2 tracks were playing together it got better.

Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever, one of his best.

Litton and 'his' Bergen Philharmonic play Rachmaninov's great symphony with a great deal of feeling for its sentimentality and nostalgia, and manage to avoid its corniness (almost, in IV.). Great recording of a still underappreciated work. Liadov's Enchanted Lake is a very nice bonus.

EJ

After a physical day cutting back and tidying the garden this great album is a welcome relief.

Ludwig van Beethoven:  Zuill Bailey (cello), Simone Dinnerstein (piano)

Complete Works for Piano and Cello:

Sonatas Nos. 1 - 5, Variations in G, F, and E-flat major

Today begins another wonderful musical journey for me.  In eight hours or so, I'll have my first rehearsal with music that I have dreamed in my minds eye to someday be lucky enough to have the chance to play.  I first really started to get familiar with the Cello Sonatas about 25 years ago.  My first complete recording was Emanuel Ax / Yo-Yo Ma and then followed Martha Argerich / Mischa Maisky.  Today, I have at least 25 complete recordings and a host of incomplete recordings.  Every time I start a new project, of course, the many missing recordings eventually find their way into my library.

So, it is finally time to conquer Beethoven's music for Piano & Cello.  We are starting with Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69.  As they all do, each work is brimming with life and death but of the set I believe the A major sonata is the most accessible.  Certainly, it is the most widely recognizable as a result.

One of the most astounding examples (for me) of the interplay between two souls (the pianist & cellist) occurs in the development of the first movement.   Check out the Pires / Meneses in the link below.  From about minute 7 until about 8'-30".  It doesn't last long (the best things never do).  Listen to the voices speaking to each other and intermingling, playing off each other.  Then the tension - the struggle going downward - the resolution finally with echoes of the past, rising upwards.  One cannot understand beauty until you have face the ugliness of despair.

I picked this example, as I find it interesting how different musicians show body language.  I see Pires here just barely moving and I wonder what she is feeling / thinking?  Does a listener understand the emotion the same if someone plays the music straight or injects more warmth / meaning into the music?

All I know is that if that one minute section is done correctly it is sublime.  So emotional and wonderful its effect can be.  I don't think two people could share a more intimate moment.  Yet, I recall Alfred Brendel once saying that a musician must not show emotion and be in control of it entirely.  Never show it.  Not sure how this should work?  Videos / recordings of others typically leave me cold.   How can these people remain calm and collected when the music is so bloody remarkable?  I personally cannot make it through that section (when playing) without being truly affected.  Alone is bad enough.  When you have two people experiencing that it gets quite uncomfortable (trying to contain yourself).  However, I am looking forward to this experience, as it is these rare moments of beauty that sustain you for a lifetime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb13Bi50Wso

https://youtu.be/wuwdp01u1zw

Music Matters 33rpm series 

(2014) CD

(2014)  CD

For anyone bewitched by twigs' LP1...

In the mood for Charlie Mingus! 

The Opium Cartel  "Ardor"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UAzAGRQotU

The Lone Bellow - Then Came the Morning

(2015)   CD

On vinyl

+1 K only with this...

Vinyl

Vinyl.  

Michael Stanley "And Then"

2015 release from a musician I have listened to for 43 years.  This music, from the North Coast, is in my DNA.

I think you chose the better album G.

Another in a vast haul of LPs I picked up 20 years ago for not very much money, and to which I have never listened.

This is an EMI Studio 2 LP from 1979, designed to show off new-fangled digital recording technology. Again, half the pleasure of listening to stuff like this is negotiating the bizarre track selections. One one side you have Manuel's mega-lush, mega-bland intepretations of pop and MOR tunes. On the other, Franck Pourcel and the National Philharmonic Orchestra having a more serious go at Bizet, de Falla, Mascagni, etc.