I urge every fan of modern classical music to buy Samuel Jones's Roundings and Cello Sonata on Naxos. It's part of the American Classics series.
Why, you may be wondering. Well, two reasons. First, the music is actually pretty good. The cello sonata is excellent. Roundings is a modern programmatic work that is actually pretty enjoyable. There is a wonderful passage that sounds as close to a locomotive as an orchestra can get (I do believe the movement is called "Locomotive") and the movement entitled "Oil Well" has some extremely dynamic music in it.
Which leads me to the second reson to buy this disc: it is one of the best recorded CDs I have ever heard. In said "Oil Well" movement there are percussive parts so well recored that they'll make you flinch. No fooling. I even tried it out on my wife. Now the flinching is not the result of bad music, but rather because the recording is so clean that the metal-on-metal sounds near-real. And it's HDCD encoded for all you lucky CDX owners. All that for $6 US.
I took the disc to local stereo dealer to demo and the sales guy even had to note the disc so he could buy it. Here's a demo disc with the the musical goods. Come on, it's only six bucks.
Posted on: 05 January 2001 by Former member
Picked this up on your recommendation and like it a lot.
Not at the same price point but a superlative recording is "Oregon in Moscow" with the Moscow Tchaikovsky Orchestra as recommended by Fred Simon. Must be miking differences as Oregon CD played at the same volume level as the Jones recording (even at its more vigorous passages) is significantly louder and fuller. Also a HDCD offerring.
Amazing that NAXOS can run a profitable business selling music at knockdown prices and deliver state of the art recording quality into the bargain also. Long may it continue!
Have a good weekend - Dave.
Posted on: 13 January 2001 by Former member
Never know whether the site is under maintenance or simply slow --and aI have DSL service
Posted on: 13 January 2001 by Former member
No pun intended Todd.
Samuel Jones work is well recorded indeed. I purchased it yesterday on your recommendation and have now listened to it twice. I must admit to second thoughts when I saw the names of segments of the symphonic suite such as "Oil Well", "Lariat" and "Plow". At the price of Naxos one need not worry that an unfortunate recommendation might lead to financial ruin. This disc is a very pleasant surprise. I found Jones musical interpretation of his chosen metaphors to work very well and the music conjurs up images linked to the particular metaphor. The way he used the cello to link the various elements is very interesting.
I particularly enjoyed the Cello Sonata. Emmanuel Lopez on Cello and Denise Parr-Scanlin on piano have obviously performed this togther many times as they communicate almost as a single instrument. Thank you for introducing me to new music.
Any other recommendations?
As you indicated it is an excellent recording with an extraordinary natural balance
[This message was edited by MrT on SUNDAY 14 January 2001 at 18:19.]
Posted on: 24 January 2001 by Former member
Thanks Todd - arrived via import on Monday and I've been listening to it since.
Locomotive, Oil Well and Plough all excellent - especialliy Oil Well and Plough. As a closet Aaron Copland fan I found this immediately digestable.
I love the "water chute" bit on Locomotive.
Will proabaly try the Cello Sonata tonight.
Thanks
Jonathan
