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Yeah it was Honeck.

Who was the conductor? Manfred Honeck?

This weekend the Pittsburgh Symphony played the Mahler 2. I went twice. It was great. The companion piece, by Boris Pigovat, called Yizkor, was also great both times, and a fitting prelude to the Mahler. More on that here: https://pigovat.com/wordpress/yizkor/

Chansons by Poulenc, Satie, Debussy, Ravel, Honegger, and Messiaen. Lovely.

I thought that was a clear implication that there is OP and then there is Tatum, and there is also "look at what I can do" level.

I have heard many versions of the Schumann String Quartets. However, the Vertago Quartet's recording of Quartet No. 2 & 3 is one of the very best I have heard. They play with great passion and intensity (especially on Quartet No.2) that I found thrilling.

You're playing with fire, Dan, by putting Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson at the same level of mastery... Pandora box might be reopened... Having said that, I will check him out!

Disc 2 - Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor & other selections, performed by Elisabeth Leonskaja

I'm all for enthusiastic endorsement, so thank you Allen (and welcome back!): I was sufficiently impressed to listen to most of the rest of that 2023 showcase (when he was all of 18, if I'm not mistaken). With that two-handed wizardry and those supersonic typewriter lines, Phineas Newborn jumped to my mind (he'll probably get the same "soulless technician/speed demon" critics, with some good and some bad reasons). He can be really inventive. I liked his interpretation of Bud's "Celia" and "Monk's Dream", as well as two of originals, I think ("Rose-Colored Paradise" and "Chorale"). An impressive solo "Inner Urge" as well.

Spohr - Double Quartet No.4 and String Quintet No.7

Go to www.worldradiohistory.com , click on the Search button on the left and then check the "Music Magazines" section in the line at the top of the following page that comes up. At first sight I did not see "Cadence" but I might have missed something.

So the Cadence from 7/1/69 might be there or not?

..... plus another recording of this brilliant collection of non-liturgical organ music.

Brecker & Rovatti put on a good show last night. The local rhythm section, Nick Grondin, guitar; Mark Shilansky, piano; Bronek Suchanek, bass and Austin McMahon, drums. I ended up getting moved around to 3 different tables because of a ticketing snafu but the final seat location, up on the balcony, is one of my preferred spots. They opened with a tune from Brecker's, "In the Idiom", which I had him sign after the set. He gave some humorous stories before each tune. Nathan Jorgensen, Director of Jazz Studies at UNH, sat in for the last tune and played a fiery solo on his alto that would have made Cannonball proud. The setlist: There's A Mingus A Monk Us Shanghigh O Corko Mio The Marble Sea Over The Rainbow Dirty Dogs About the only negative (for me) was that the guitarist used heavy reverb throughout the set. I'm not a fan of that sound though my buddy who went with me (who plays guitar) says that some guitarists use that to sound more bluesy. I don't know if that's true.

Seems like a ton of chops, is it OP-level or Tatum-level or look-at-me level? When chops like those are used by a guy like Gene Harris, to dig into my bluesy-jazz / Jazzy-blues sweet spot, you have me at "hello". For wider historical range ... I tend to come down on "meh".