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

Edo de Waart/Minnesota Orchestra: Strauss Alpine Symphony  1989 recording

de Waart's handling has a tendency to be a bit bland but this Alpine Symphony with Minnesota Orchestra, I am mighty impressed with his rich and colourful rendition. 

Excellent dynamic and expression coupled with great scale and weight give a feeling of a giant shadow following behind me at all time. Deep soundstage gives a sense of further distance and expansiveness of the scenery. Tempo is dropped compared to others but it does not drag on as one gets swept up in thisTechnicolor 360° cinemascope vista.

De Waart adds strong drama without making the central theme sounding like a cartoon hero by embedding subtle textural cues into the large swings of music.

 This set does the justice to Strauss's one of the biggest tone poem. 

Hats off to the capable Minnesota Orchestra. 

Streaming |WAV

Part two of this one to bring in the day.

Mine's a different cover - Chesky records vinyl. Just about the most dynamic record I've got, fantastic sound quality. If you want to hear proper dynamic range, this is for you!

Comes with 5.1 and 24/96 on the DVD's

Mellow Sunday morning with the new one from Michael Wollny and his trio. Very mellow...

Exquisite Russian piano music with a beginning of a daylight.

Hard to imagine a mellow Wollny..  Adrian, since you are Mr. ECM perhaps you could tell me whether they are going to fix their website before or after I die?

Imagine away Haim, truly mellow and rather lovely.

Yes, they certainly are taking their time with their website - all this waiting gives me very big expectations for what they will eventually deliver......

Wow,

We have a very rare posting of Adrian and Huw on the same page. Now, who is going to call Stefan, the third Musketeer, to take us back to the old good days?

Indeed, it would be good to be able to buy the albums direct rather than paying the rather high prices on Qobuz for the 96k versions. 

The new Wollny is very good, and is indeed more mellow than his other albums sitting in my nas. 

I do like the mellow sound. I had no difficulty appreciating it already in the first spin.....

Streaming | WAV

(1992)

She has a super voice and it surprises me how few solo albums she recorded. Good songs throughout this album sung with great emotion, one of her traits.

Perfect for Sunday lunchtime, as we get over the jet lag.

Jonas Kaufmann:  Nessun Dorma | The Puccini Album

Vinyl LP

A couple of trax off her up and coming album.

Franz Schubert:  Claudio Abbado | Orchestra Mozart

Symphony in C major D 944 "The Great"

Vinyl LP