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T.D.

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Everything posted by T.D.

  1. Yeah, I want to hear the opinions. I reckon I can deal with any possible "pretentiousness", so long as the people involved have actually listened to the recordings in question. [Aside: I once lurked on a classical music forum where it gradually became clear that one of the most prolific commentors on /recommenders of "contemporary" recordings (he's all over the Amazon reviews, btw) had the disconcerting habit of pontificating on recordings he'd never heard... ]
  2. Thanks for the feedback on the Katchen/Brahms! I'll soon be ordering (have gone on a bit of a binge lately, need some time to listen to recent acquisitions...). Here's a nice-looking box I just found, 6 CDs for $22.99 from Newbury Comics via Amazon: I have a lot of Grumiaux's Mozart and Bach recordings, and am very fond of his playing. Looks like there isn't too much overlap with this set, and I already own only the Bach works with Jaccottet on harpsichord.
  3. You might as well get the complete Shostakovich quartets performed by the Borodin Quartet for just a bit more: €26 at amazon.de For sure, if you're in Europe! That particular set (as well as the Beethoven Quartet's cycle, which doesn't seem cheap anywhere) is hard to find and considerably more expensive in the USA than the Fitzwilliams'...I was just watching a set that went for $125 on eBay, although a touch of "eBay madness" was likely involved.
  4. Big for the Fitzwilliams' Shostakovich quartets. I'm seriously considering this (6 CDs for $25.70 shipped): Not at all familiar with Brahms's solo piano works aside from the Ballades and Paganini Variations (Michelangeli recordings), but very much like those pieces and am looking to explore more.
  5. I just ordered this: 10 CDs for USD 12.47 shipped (German seller on US Amazon Marketplace). Seems to be RAI radio broadcasts, perhaps airchecks. Significant overlap (in terms of repertoire, not performances) with the 8-CD DG box I already own (which was a great deal in its own right @ $34 shipped), but hard to argue with at the price...
  6. I'm a big fan of Mravinsky, and own several of his recordings (the awesome DG Chaikovskiy* 4-5-6 box and several single CDs on Russian Disc), but can't comment on that specific set. If sound quality is an issue, that's the area to research: the DG has some sonic flaws and the Russian Discs are quite sketchy. The Tennstedt is also very tempting, based solely on his reputation (especially in Mahler - I only have a couple of excellent non-Mahler single discs), but there's so much competition, even at the lower price ranges, that I also can't comment (Gary Bertini's set on EMI has also been recommended to me, for one). FWIW, I'm putting both sets on my Amazon wish list... [*Spelling is a small joke - I recall V. Nabokov writing about "Chaikovskiy's vile libretti"]
  7. PM sent on: 5 Shelly Manne The Gambit Contemporary 3 Sonny Stitt Stitt Plays Bird Atlantic 15 Cliff Jordan Cliff Craft (TOCJ 6563) – no obi
  8. Bought some classical in the past 10 days or so:
  9. I'm starting to amass a set of recordings of the Mozart sonatas. Heard a Brendel disc and liked it very much, and also dug Klien/Voxbox samples. So I'm going with Klien Vol. I and a couple of Brendel CDs for starters, though that approach will likely lead to a bit of duplication and incompleteness. (We seem to be spoiled for choice here, as there are loads of recordings by excellent/great pianists at super-budget price. I don't have the time/budget/inclination to get involved in ranking the many sets.)
  10. The s**t's really hitting the fan now... Tyler Hamilton to appear on 60 Minutes: http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/news/tyler-hamilton-tells-60-minutes-he-saw-armstrong-inject-epo_174594 http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/news/tyler-hamiltons-confession-letter_174652
  11. Tom, not surprising a local shop has a good selection...I assume you know that Reservoir was based in Kingston, owned by a Dr. Mark Feldman iirc. Jack's Rhythms (Main St. in New Paltz) carries a lot of Reservoir CDs. I'll chime in on Hod O'Brien (own all three Blues Alley discs). Reservoir re-issued the J.R. Monterose / Tommy Flanagan A Little Pleasure. I've heard Pete Malinverni live and think he deserves attention, but I only have one disc (The Tempest) out of his several Reservoir releases, so can't specifically recommend anything. [Added] Good grief, forgot to mention John Hicks Beyond Expectations. Have been considering the Bertha Hope disc for a long time; if the label's going out of business, I'll have to pick it (and some others) up soon.
  12. Some "modern" works: Ligeti's solo piano music (Musica Ricercata was quoted in Kubrick's film Eyes Wide Shut) - I own the Aimard recording (Sony), but Ullen on BIS has been recommended by very respectable sources. Morton Feldman Triadic Memories (I can vouch for Louis Goldstein's recording on Offseason Productions) and For Bunita Marcus (ditto for Hildegard Kleeb on Hat Art). Jean Barraqué Piano Sonata (I can recommend Pi-Hsien Chen's recording on Telos, but Stefan Litwin's performance on cpo's otherwise excellent Complete Barraqué box is really sub-par).
  13. (Charlie Parker complete live performances on Savoy.) Lobbed an eBay bid in last night, not expecting to win, but wound up with a real bargain...
  14. Sayonara, Ovie! (too lazy to look for a broom graphic...) Couple of other 3-0 series, potential sweeps. Surprised by Detroit, not by Philly (incomprehensible but typical goalie shuffles there).
  15. Bought used in brick/mortar shop: Charles Earland, Black Talk! Ordered via Internet last week, eagerly awaiting: Herbie Nichols, Love Gloom Cash Love Denny Zeitlin, Mosaic Select #34
  16. I strongly second the recommendation of Bylsma (the earlier of his two recordings, reissued on Sony Essential Classics) for the cello suites. Didn't mention it earlier b/c the OP said he was "in OK shape there". Re. the reviews at earlier cited link: I'd use that source as a data point but not gospel. I recall one of the more frequent reviewers there as somewhat of a nut-job poster on rec.music.classical.recordings. [Disclaimer: I gave up reading Usenet newsgroups several years ago, the proximate cause being the Joyce Hatto furore on r.m.c.r., which has been discussed at length in old threads (which I can't figure out how to recall) on this forum.]
  17. Re. the Matthäuspassion, I was dumbfounded when an excerpt figured prominently in the soundtrack of Martin Scorsese's film Casino (though it was a pleasant surprise in some sense). Apparently the recording used is on London with Solti conducting; it's got an all-star cast, but I've never heard it (aside from the soundtrack excerpt).
  18. I really like the Partitas for keyboard. Favorite recording so far is Schepkin (piano) on Ongaku (probably oop). With Easter coming up, have to mention the Saint Matthew Passion. I have only the Gardner (DG) recording, which is good, but can't make any comparison with others. The B Minor Mass is also an excellent piece, but I haven't heard enough recordings to recommend one - I only have it as part of a Brilliant Classics set. For sure the Goldberg Variations: I've heard several on piano and can't really give a favorite (Gould is an obvious starter), and have only heard Hantai (who's very good) on harpsichord. Can second the above rec. of • Arthur Grumiaux: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001-1006 – 2CD, Philips
  19. "...narrowing the capabilities of the piano." Huh? Bebop/bop requires the ability to improvise on the fly as well as provide accompaniment for those who are doing so. By its very nature this sort of playing demands full and complete control of the keyboard. Mentally, but not physically. Even in comparison with playing Cherokee at breakneck speed in B major, an average Beethoven sonata places far more demands on both hands (especially the left). Are we really going to try and claim that comping behind yourself with the left hand maximizes the capability of the instrument as much as a Bach 3-part invention? Uh uh. It takes a lot of physical stamina---on any instrument---to keep up those tempos, execute, etc. It's a discipline and this is why there are relatively few dedicated bebop pianists. There are hardly any chances to play that music in the purest sense. The term 'bebop' itself is bastardized and now means just 'mainstream' to a lot of people---or nothing at all. But it---the true, undiluted thing---is as technically exacting---physically---as music gets. I'm not even touching the mental part. We'll be out of here next Thursday.... Agree 100%!! How many true bebop piano players are playing these days? REAL bebop not guys who everyone call bebop pianists when they come out of more of a McCoy influence than anything else. BTW I LOVE McCoy (early) and he could really play the stuff his way like on those early Freddie records like Goin Up and Open Sesame. Aside from Barry Harris I can only think of a few (in NY): Tardo Hammer. If anyone gets the chance to hear him, run. He's a badass. Also Sascha Perry is very fine and Rodney Kendrick when he does that is also very good (meaning he has other influences but leans a lot to Barry--a teacher and mentor---and Bud). Fair disclosure: these guys are all my friends so maybe my objectivity is somewhat compromised. Listen and judge for yourselves.(I hope I'm wrong, BTW, and there are many more). What about Hod O'Brien?
  20. PM sent on Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Elllington. Sealed. K2 20 bit.
  21. GM Svetozar Gligoric (88) presents first music album He was a world class chess player for decades, but at 88 he returned to his first love. Last Tuesday, the legendary Serbian grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric presented in Belgrade his first music album. Serbian and Spanish media report that the album consists of twelve compositions in different genres, like blues, jazz, ballads and rap.
  22. I once worked summers in an auto parts plant, and "journeyman" was a positive term, used for people who had completed apprenticeship training in a "skilled trade". The related dictionary meaning is "One who has fully served an apprenticeship in a trade or craft and is a qualified worker in another's employ". I've always considered the term far less pejorative than the almost universally implied "mediocrity".
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