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

Vinyl

Mike-B posted:

Hi Higel,  RE the beta thread where we discussed album art quality,  are you sure you're happy with it ??  

Yes it’s fine. The picture I posted was done by my then unitiserve, which was rubbish at getting good quality album art. Here’s my latest download,and there’s nowt wrong with the art. 

A+3.    Dmitry Shostakovich - Violin Concertos - Sergey Khachatryan - Kurt Masur

I read that the Oistrakh - Rostropovich 1956 version is the second to none for this works. I'll try to find it.

Lovely Shirley Horn to renew the blood circulation. I forgot it was December and took a 5 km walk in shorts before sundown..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7rr_3LMH28

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FE9jPXrl8A

Hungryhalibut posted:

Mike-B posted:

Hi Higel,  RE the beta thread where we discussed album art quality,  are you sure you're happy with it ??  

Yes it’s fine. The picture I posted was done by my then unitiserve, which was rubbish at getting good quality album art. Here’s my latest download,and there’s nowt wrong with the art. 

Yup,  have to agree with that,  super quality,  I hope the next release gets the defaults right for my NAS media server software.  I'll load a comparison showing my changed default  fix on the beta thread; problem is Mrs Mike has an evening of her stuff queued up so have to wait my turn to take a screen shot.     

Just finishing.......

Jon Balke - Siwan: Hahnou Houm

After listening to a couple of Justin Adams albums I thought I would move on to a couple of Jon Balke's albums......

Streaming from NAS.....

From ECM Records Website: Their ECM debut, released in 2009, won awards including the Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the album of the year prize of the German record critics. Now Siwan, the international collective led by Norwegian keyboardist-composer-arranger Jon Balke, is back, rallying its powerful instrumental forces behind a new lead singer, Mona Boutchebak from Algeria. Perceived correspondences between Arabic music, Andalusian classical music and European baroque music fired Jon Balke’s imagination when he started this project a decade ago. To bring these sound worlds closer together he set poetry of Al Andalus, reflecting upon a period of coexistence between adherents of the three great religions. But Siwan does not set out to be an “historical” project: it’s a contemporary creation, delivered by an alliance of strongly individual players, fronted by a vocalist deeply rooted in Arab music traditions. The new album is launched as Siwan begins a European tour.
Further info: www.siwan.no

kevin J Carden posted:

Clive B posted:

OK, so it didn't fare so well when reviewed on Record Revie on BBC Radio 3 FM a few weeks back, and I haven't heard them all. but this is my favourite version of this beautiful music - Tchaikovsky's 6th, Pathétique.

Clive, out of interest, which version did R3 reckon was best?

Sorry, Kevin, I cannot remember, but it was none of the versions I have. However, you can find out by searching on BBC R3 website for Record Review. Hope that helps.

Now Playing......

Jon Balke - Siwan with Amina Alaoui

Feel in love with this after from the first listening and prompted me to pre-order the 'Siwan: Hahnou Houm' listed above, both worth the time to give a listen, wonderful music.

Clive B posted:

kevin J Carden posted:

Clive B posted:

OK, so it didn't fare so well when reviewed on Record Revie on BBC Radio 3 FM a few weeks back, and I haven't heard them all. but this is my favourite version of this beautiful music - Tchaikovsky's 6th, Pathétique.

Clive, out of interest, which version did R3 reckon was best?

Sorry, Kevin, I cannot remember, but it was none of the versions I have. However, you can find out by searching on BBC R3 website for Record Review. Hope that helps.

Thanks Clive. It does help. Not surprising that you don’t have their top recommendation. I bet I don’t either. Sooo many recordings of this piece.  I’ll check out the podcast. Cheers, Kevin

A+3.   24/96 .    Christina Pluhar - Händel Goes Wild - L'Arpeggiata

Now Playing.....

Django Bates' Beloved - The Study of Touch

A recent arrival and giving it another spin, very, very nice!

Streaming from NAS.......

Notes from ECM Records Website: British pianist Django Bates returns to ECM with one of his very finest constellations, the trio Belovèd, with Swedish bassist Petter Eldh and Danish drummer Peter Bruun, and an aptly named album, The Study of Touch. All three musicians are highly individual players, subtly challenging the conventions of the jazz piano trio. The group came together a decade ago when Bates was teaching at Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory.  The shared work has included inspired reconstructions of pieces associated with Charlie Parker – a formative influence for both Bates and bassist Eldh - and in this new album, Parker’s tune “Passport” is set amid Django originals, and played with respect, contemporary sensibility and joy. Some of Django’s own tunes here – such as “Senza Bitterness”, “Sadness All The Way Down” and “We Are Not Lost, We Are Simply Finding Our Way” have become core pieces in Belovèd’s repertoire, continually remodeled by this trio of improvisers. Bates’ composing and arranging skills are much in evidence, along with his freewheeling, free-flowing virtuosic melodic sense. The terse, percussive edge of Petter Eldh’s bass provides momentum and drummer Peter Bruun details the music with an almost painterly touch. In the crowded world of the piano trio, Belovèd has developed a sound all its own. The Study of Touch was recorded at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in June 2016, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Now Playing......

Shirley Horn - You Won't Forget Me

Prompted by the mention above by HAIM RONEN, I had to take this album out for a spin. There was an immediate reward with the very first track 'The Music That Makes Me Dance!'

Simply beautiful.......

Graffman/Szell/Cleveland: Tchaikovsky PC1 - 69 rec.

This set is my second favourite Tchaikovsky pc1. It has that same tension between the orchestra and piano and great build up with excitement galore. Almost like Horowitz/Toscanini but better stereo sound! Bold, mascline  and precise. What's missing is the expressive shading and wit of Horowitz. But I take this one any time of the day over many other middle of the road benign sets.

Meat Puppets. Too High To Die. On  CD from 1994. Not sure whether this is grunge shaped to alternative rock or the other way around. Whichever, who cares? It's a very good album with a tight sonic signature and you may find some country infusion as well.

PaulM160 posted:

Stevee_S posted:

Blaze by Dirtwire 

Released yesterday just downloaded and getting its first spin.

curious to know what you think to this Steve; you introduced me to Dirtwire (amongst many others) so appreciate your opinion on whether this sits with the best or not. Will probably try to catch some time for this tomorrow via Tidal.

Hi Paul, I liked it a lot right from the moment I heard the first track, it has all that world music and swamptronica going on which is what I like from them. Im sure you'll enjoy it, its up there with their other albums. 

Murray Perahia - Bach: partitas 1, 5 and 6.

One of my 'go to'  recordings when I want to listen to the partitas.

Allmusic.com:

Murray Perahia is one of the few genuine stars of the piano. His recordings of Bach have been widely, although not universally acclaimed, and even the doubters have to concede that sheer force of personality has helped him command the attention of audiences. The six Bach partitas seem to go together as a set, but Perahia differentiates them to a point where you feel you have all you can handle with just a single disc; the present release is the second in a set of two. None of this is to say that his Bach is of the flashy type. He keeps the tempo within moderate bounds, even in the final gigues where most pianists cut loose, and his playing overall is quiet and finely detailed, with very light extra ornamentation in the repeats. It's in the details that he shines: sample the alternating quasi-improvisatory and contrapuntal sections of the opening Toccata of the Partita No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830, where you feel as though the piece is being analyzed as you listen, with each dissonance peeled back as if the music were being dissected. Yet the music never loses its basic warmth. The inner dissonances that make themselves known to anyone who plays Bach seriously are all exposed here, taken slowly and gracefully enough that they seem to hang in the air, and further delineated by a range of articulation that brings the movements into sharp contrast even as the overall tenor stays constant. The Tempo di Minuetto of the Partita No. 5 in G major, BWV 829 (track 11), seems lighter than air. Perahia has combined a basic lyricism with the precision of a player like Alfred Brendel, and the results are stunning. The rather detached sound environment of the Rundfunkzentrum Berlin where the music was recorded is perfectly appropriate to what Perahia is trying to do here; he is drawing the listener into Bach readings that are among the most detailed available.

Tord Gustavsen Quartet - The Well

Why? Can't easily say. But I can tell you it sounds ab-so-lute-ly brilliant.

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

The Wall is on my Christmas list. Vinyl, obviously.

Jacques Loussier - Play Bach no. 1

Sunday morning coffee with blues (on vinyl) -- thanks to other Forumites (I think Debs 1st up) for flagging this one.

Very engaging, just the thing to grab one's attention.

Kenny Barron & the Brazilian knights

Allmusic.com:

Jazz pianist Kenny Barron celebrates the music of Brazil on his 2013 studio album, Kenny Barron & the Brazilian Knights. Here, Barron performs a variety of songs from the late Johnny Alf, as well as composer/harmonica player Maurício Einhorn, who also joins Barron on the album. Also joining Barron are such luminaries as trumpeter Claudio Roditi, saxophonist Idriss Boudrioua, drummer Rafael Barata, guitarist Lula Galvão, bassist Sérgio Barrozo, and keyboardist Alberto Chimelli. This is highly engaging Brazilian jazz.