What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XIII)
Posted by: Richard Dane on 01 January 2017
2017 has arrived today, so time to start this thread afresh.
Last year's thread can be found here;
This new release is just great.
Larry Young - Into something.
This is another good example of my own guideline: Blue Note plus recorded between 1955 and 1965 equals good jazz.
This is his debut recording for Blue Note as a Leader. His playing on this recording is very nice.
Larry Young - Organ
Grant Green - Guitar
Sam Rivers = Tenor Sax
Elvin Jones - Drums
Lucy Rose led me to Bombay Bicycle Club
Stephen (Bishop) Kovacevich - Beethoven Piano Concertos 1-2 (CD) and 3 (vinyl)
I got the CD for £4.49 and the vinyl for £2.49 from Oxfam on Wednesday along with Beethoven's violin concerto played by Wolfgang Schneiderhan (1962) for £0.99.
I'm a real fan of Kovacevick now and prefer his playing and interpretation of the Concertos over Baremboim's complete set on Decca from his youthful days. He has such a range from soft to loud with incredible speed and subtlety of phasing that no one else seems to have.
My two grandsons (6 &8) who started learning piano in January really enjoyed these. In fact the younger one started dancing very impressively in a ballet style despite not having had any lessons. A real moment of seeing a talent for the first time. I also though that the music calmed them down and improved their concentration.
I have to admit that since adding Powerline Lites to the 282 and the 300 DR PS rather than the basic cords then supplied (PL Lites are now standard) that the soundstage has now owned up so that all my music benefits. My wife also thought the piano was spot on with absolutely no percussiveness to the sound. I tried PLs and Isotek Optimums but the sound was very tiring, but these Lites are very impressive and will be staying. The Optimum works very well in the XPS DR driving the nDAC though and the Rega Aria.
Another run of this great new jazz trio album. Smooth, gentle and modern...
Not played this for a while, sounding really good! 
On vinyl...
LP2 from this box set...
On 45rpm vinyl...
Picked this up a musical festival years ago and thought I would revisit with Harald......
Lovely mixture of violin, cello, guitars, percussion/drums, taipan varis: double bass, jews harp, over tone flute and trumpet along with some vocals throughout the album.
An enjoyable listen.......
Sounding so good. TJW's voice can take while to acclimatise to, but it's all part of the swamp thing..
Late afternoon and moving on to the Chieftains......
..... with tears of stone.
Great album with vocals that include Bonnie Rait, Natalie Merchant, Joni Mitchell, Sinead O'Connor, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Loreena McKennitt, Akino Yano, Joan Osborn, Diane Krall, Sissel, The Coors, Brenda Fricker & Anuna, The Rankins, Eileen Ivers, Natalie MacMaster, Maire Breatnach, and Annbjorg Lein accompanying Derek Bell, Martin Fay, Sean Keane, Kevin Connell, Matt Molloy, and Paddy Mahoney.
Nice......
B.B. King made his debut as producer with Blues on the Bayou, released in October 1998. He employs the most basic of ideas for this project: record an album of B.B. King tunes, with B.B. King's regular road band, under B.B. King's supervision. Keeping it loose, relaxed, and focused, King cut this album in four days down at a secluded studio in Louisiana and came up with one of his strongest, modern-day albums in many years. No duets, no special guests, just King and his road warrior band, playing his songs with him producing the results -- no overdubs, just simple, no-nonsense blues done like he would do them on-stage. The result is a no-frills, straight-ahead session that shows that King might be have been 73 at the time of this date, but he still had plenty of gas left in the tank. Tracks like "I'll Survive," and the jumping "Shake It Up and Go," "Darlin' What Happened," the minor keyed "Blues Boy Tune," the instrumental "Blues We Like," and the closing "If That's It I Quit" show him stretching out in a way he has seldom done in a studio environment, and the result is one of his best albums in recent memory. (AllMusic)
Callas' one and only Nabucco 1949 live performance captured on to a record. It's below historical grade with uneven wobbly tape as well as extremely enthusiastic patron's cheer also are present yet I am enjoying this oddly.
I know nothing of this conductor but on the whole, this set has a nice rhythmic balance. callas here is only 26 ( pre-*cat eye* mascara ). Her high register never gets annoying keeping a holographic quality most of the time. Altho, a high C is a bit flat in solo.
She was a cute as a button.
Toscanini/NBC: Verdi Hymn of the Nations
This was originally written for the 1862 International Exhibition in London, but it resurfaced in 1943 as a US propaganda film in 1943. It contains the national anthems of England, France, and Italy, to which Toscanini added the Soviet “Internationale” ( remember in those days Russians were US allies ) and “The Star Spangled Banner” for the film.
Toscanini going all out for a heavy militaristic patriotic flavours with no subtleties whatsoever but historically fascinating.
This is the original film with Burgess Meredith narrating.
It's kind of interesting Toscanini playing piano and trying to operate a phonograph!
A + 3 | 24/96 Tidal (MQA)
(1970 | 2012 remaster)
A + 3 | WAV
Ripped from Hybrid SACD, I have to agree with these Amazonian comments relating to the 9th and this box-set as a whole.
"[Symphony no. 9] Many or most people will not agree with my rating, but: De Vriend's first movement is about as exciting as I've ever heard it. Both phrasing and overall structure are nicely sculpted, and with a nice sense of "sturm und drang." The second movement follows suit, with sharp, crisp rhythms and delightfully flowing melodicism. In the slow movement, rather than the timeless, "heavenly" stasis sought by conductors such as Furtwangler, de Vriend delivers more of his fresh, direct melodicism, bringing this down from Mt. Olympus and making it touching in a more down-to-earth way. I think it works beautifully--but it will confound the expectations of many. The recitatives of the final movement are agile and fast. Eschewing the generally grand, heavy treatment usually given them throws into higher relief the reprises of the earlier movements' themes, and the initial statement of the movement's main theme too, which again emerges with a fresh, touching lyricism. This is fresh, highly effective interpreting. Choir and singers seem up to the task, and are again well-recorded in a natural perspective against the orchestra. Reactions to de Vriend's tempo and treatment may vary, but it finds favor with me."
"[Complete Symphonies box-set] The outstanding qualities of de Vriend's readings are freshness and spontaneity; crisp, powerful rhythms; and natural, singing melody. The recordings have exceptional quality and presence--sweet-toned, atmospheric, and well-balanced, about the most exciting set I've heard from a sonic perspective, the sound has a wonderful sense of openness. The orchestra employs hard mallets for tympani, and some period brass. De Vreind seems to be using a reduced string section, which brings the woodwinds and tympani forward, and care must be used in balancing them, but this release is pretty successful in that respect. The crisp, up-front tympani add considerable excitement, while woodwinds remain clear and sweet in tone."
My two fers for this morning.