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

Enjoying my 4th play of this wonderful album since yesterday,

can't seem to get my fill of it,

...may need to play it again just to be sure : )

Debs

  Time for sitting back and thinking of.............

Sarah McLachlan

"Laws Of Illusion"   (2010)   MP#

During my workout, super album..., recommended...

Another one during my workout. Thought it was a bit laid back, but it has multiple interesting layers...

I played this quite a bit last year but not in recent months so I was interested to see if it was still as good as I remember. Oh, yes.  The music is as haunting as ever and the sound-staging 3-dimensional. I think I'll be playing it some more during 2015  

And now for something completely different.....

2nd one of him I have, looks to be a little less intriguing

Remastered DSD/SACD from Praga Digitals. 

Sonata No.16 ( rec. 1957 ) is a redo of Monitor LP I have and it is significantly better than the vinyl with greater clarity and dynamics. I can hear Ricther's laser sharp attacks and even greater dynamic contrasts than my vinyl.

Sonata No.17 ( rec.1956) however still shows too much tape wobbles particularly in the last movement  too distracting in quieter passages. 

Listening to cd 1, recorded January 1986 , all live in studio, the final version of the title track was nailed in a second take. Truly wonderful stuff.

SJB 

Cheers,

EJ

Reflections on the music of Tommy Flanagan who was a good friend of Hanna. Both pianists grew up in Detroit, both of them deceased now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0KvwcaJLLk

Wand is known for his Bruckner cycle but his Beethoven Cycle with NDR-Sinfonie Orchestra remains one of my reference.

Heroic and gargantuan yet they have a Mozart like aetherial air about it. What’s astonishing about Wand’s handling here is that the music never gets heavy in spite thinkly laid out dense score. It remains transparent and rhythmically agile. 

Added bonus is that the RCA has done an excellent remastering job from the original digital recording ( I have this on vinyl ) and this CD release from 2001 is a fine example of skillful mastering job with an engineer with ears. (Andreas Torkler)

Roger Waters. The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking. On CD from 1984 (with the censured American cover ). The vinyl was posted earlier today by the Good Doc.  I'm a big fan of EC and enjoy his contribution on this, but it makes me appreciate Gilmour's leads all the more.

Compared to Wand's Beethoven, this 2006 Haitink/LSO set feels so benign and ineffective. He seems to be resorting back to overly even keeled approach of his Phillips days. There is no sense of suspense or anticipation. Nor despair in the 1st movement on the 5th which sets up the rest.

I certainly expected more based on my recent experience with his live performance. 

And the 2ch fold down of multi channel DSD SACD sounds uneven and much less dynamic. 

Streaming | CD FLAC rip

Tangerine Dream ~ Rubycon (1975)

A Gentle start to the morning with this 1995 remaster.

Streaming | Spotify Premium

Tangerine Dream ~ Electronic Meditation (1970) 

" `Electronic Meditation' is often disowned by it's participants as `not being intended for release' and other such nonsense (although as Edgar Froese freely admits, he was more than happy to take the money!). This recording came at the end of two or more years of Tangerine Dream Mk I, although as Andy King's meticulously researched sleeve notes will tell you there had been a fair number of passing members of the band even by this point. The line-up who recorded Electronic Meditation would itself be a one off, featuring the mighty trio of Edgar Froese, a young Klaus Schulze and the more senior Conrad Schnitzler.

The album title is slightly misleading, and is somewhat at odds with the music, which is very characteristic of the `freak out' scene of the psychedelic clubs of the time. Schulze is the hyperactive drummer walloping his toms for all they are worth while Froese's wild guitar takes off on wings of fuzz and distortion. Elsewhere there are very obvious `Saucerful Of Secrets' Floydian organ chords creating a churchy atmosphere. The wild card is Schnitzler, who utilises all manner of frightful objects to interject with creaks, groans and unearthly shudders...

Somehow the album works better than it should. It is very cleanly recorded, and with very good separation on the instruments. The album works incredibly well as a snapshot of all of those legendary nights at the Zodiak and tales of 24 hour concerts in small rooms at deafening volume. It is by no means the Tangerine Dream the world knows as purveyors of sophisticated electronica, but a raw reminder of how the German scene developed in the late 60's and early '70's." - Simon Dinsdale

Originally Posted by Florestan:

Johann Sebastian Bach:  Isang Enders (Cello)  - 180g Vinyl

 

Suite for Cello solo no 1 in G major, BWV 1007

Suite for Cello solo no 2 in D minor, BWV 1008

Suite for Cello solo no 3 in C major, BWV 1009

Suite for Cello solo no 4 in E flat major, BWV 1010

Suite for Cello solo no 5 in C minor, BWV 1011

Suite for Cello solo no 6 in D major, BWV 1012

 

Doug,

Are they worth it?

Frank Zappa   - SHEIK YERBOUTI - 

Ozric Tentacles  "WATERFALL CITIES"  on cd.

She is a revelation for me, one of the best new Chopin albums I have heard in a long to,e

I don't know the Enders recording, but I'm listening to this....

 The