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

Would please the wife but not anywhere near as good IMHO as her first.

Alfred Brendel's second Schubert cycle for Philips remains fantastic. At one point, when I was visiting him after a performance for an autograph, he told me he wasn't happy with the sound of some of the records in this set; be that as it may, his later live recordings certainly did not improve on this aspect. (PS never found much to complain about - Philips always had the best piano recordings of the major labels).

EJ

Inspired by the recent Bluenote Cafe release I thought I'd give the original vinyl a spin. This was never a favourite NY album but I'm appreciating it more now than when I bought it in the '80s.

Streaming | 16/44.1 WAV Download | Bandcamp

World Music by Goat   (2012)

Why have just one Goat when you can have two? This is their excellent debut album.

I'm not sure if this is already set-in above - my browser doesn't open all links.

Even if you have a lot of Eva, this is simply a 'must have'. Parts of this are simply spellbinding in my view.

It appears they have done a lot of work on tidying up the tapes and this all comes across very cleanly. The original LABA was 'raw' to my ears  -  this isn't. Plus there are new tracks.

Wonderful. 

+1 . Haven't played this for years.   Forgotten how good it sounds - very soothing

1. Bill Evans 'Everybody Digs Bill Evans'

2. Cecilia Bartoli 'The Vivaldi Album'

3. Charles Mingus 'Pithecanthropus Erectus'

How about that for variety?

A bit of Ronnie James to cheer me up whilst I die from man flu.  

f/f8/Black_Sabbath_Heaven_and_Hell.jpg.

I also listened earlier, interesting use of audio clips, very PF or Porcupine Tree.

Dutilleux's cello concerto 'Tout un monde lointain' is a relatively accessible work, in avant-garde style. Played here by one of today's most entrepreneurial cellists, Emmanuelle Bertrand. She is joined by regular partner Pascal Amoyel for Debussy's cello sonata.

Cheers,

EJ

Bach Cantatas for solo voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9BbWneSWQE

On vinyl.

Happy Listener,

Thanks for highlighting this wonderful album.

Eva really is a diva!

See, this has brought the poet out in me.

Flippin brilliant stuff!!!

EJ,

Your post prompted me to pull out my only Mozart Quartet K387.

Julliard Quartet: Mozar String Quartet K.387 & 465.  '57 recording.

Yep. They are rather traditionalists.

Box Set

Next up

Nigelb - thanks.

Another of my latest favourites. If you hanker after some wonderful female vocal, this is another one to audition. Lucy is bracketed as folk but her voice and style is far more expansive.

James Brown & Friends. Soul Session Live. On CD from 1990. My wife's CD that has sat on the shelf unlistened to for at least two decades. Despite contributions from Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Robert Palmer and Joe Cocker it plays rather uninspiring. No regrets listening to it, but it's destined for the discard pile.

Alexandre Tharaud : Bach Goldberg Variations  2015 Recording

I was interested to hear the latest from this French pianist to see how he pulls off German repertoire. Plus I was hoping for a decent vinyl production from Erato/Warner which jumped on a vinyl band wagon following Sony/DG/Decca.

Coming off from the all analogue 2015 Gould reissue, this is a dirty gray pressing with a tell tale digital recessed midrange. Noisy vinyl in spite it’s been pressed at the same French MPO plant as Sony/Gould reissue. Tone of piano now sounds fake and upper register has a hollow ringing sound. Slightly off center hole makes the pitch unstable and a distant perspective makes less involving. The vinyl also is less flat than the Gould pressing.  The worst was on the ending Aria, there is a huge gouge on the surface making almost impossible to listen to with repeated loud popping noise. 

This disc went back for a replacement. ( I am giving it another shot rather than getting a CD copy )

Now for the performance. 

Surprisingly Tharaud takes measured and slow tempo altho, somewhat expected by the pianist's usual  intelligent approach. Everything is always well thought-out and well planned. Each note is precious and delivered with care. Tender and gentle genuinely contemplative approach is surely fitting of the original intent of inducing drowsing. Ethereal and cerebral, but he adds an extra harmonic layer making sure the tunes stay rich and colorful. At times, he even tries to emulate jangly harpsichord sound out of the Steinway D. Never in your face or hurried, there is a sense of playfulness and esprit. No.25 Adagio sounds like a backdrop for a French cinema. Tharaud maintains a high tension all through bottled up angst is felt through.

I love how he adds a magical touch on closing: The ending Aria evaporates like a ghost in the foggy night.

Anyways, I enjoy this performance in spite the running time is over 74 min.! ( for a comparison Gould's '55 set runs 46 min. and '81 version runs a tad over 50 min. ) and stayed awake! 

If I don't pay attention, then this is a very pleasant lovely wall paper,  but when I really *listen*, I realised he put a lot into it albeit subtley and there's a lot going on.

I normally do not like this over studied approach, but he balances well between the heart and the brain.

Be very careful with overall timings of the Goldberg Variations. If played at a reasonable [fairly swift speed] throughout, as Helmut Walcha does, then with all the marked repeats a timing of 75 minutes is normal. 

If none of the repeats are taken a timing of 38 minutes [at Walcha’s tempi] would be acheived.

Leonhardt made a repeat-free recording that times just a few minutes longer than this. It is rather static at times! Yet the timing would indicate a breakneck speed if compared without a consideration for the repeats. None, some, or all ... 

Unfortunately most commercial release liner notes fail to mention what is the player’s policy is on repeats, so without listening and noting which repeats are taken, absolutely no idea of the basic tempi taken by a player can be gleaned from timing alone, unless the overall timing is in excess of “say" 80 minutes [slow even with all repeats] or less than 40 minutes, which would tend to be fastish or even very fast with no repeats! Tatiana Nicholeava took about ninety minutes as I remember, and this was distinctly [painfully actually] slow even with all repeats!

ATB from George

PS: The famous “Black Pearl” [Landowska’s name for it] variation 25 played at a convincingly steady speed by Helmut Walcha. Far from the distended versions of this music by most pianists!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3klWO0SYJ-U