Rooster_Ties

Whew!!! Glad you checked with Chuck first before you posted this. (Others haven't, and have lived to regret it. )

If you drop the one "Gil" track from Sorcerer (which really doesn't fit with the rest of the album, IMHO -- with a completely different vibe and instrumentation -- heck, it's a vocal track), then Sorcerer and Nefertiti with both fit very nicely on one CDR. That, plus Sorcerer and Nefertiti go together like a matched set of gloves. Edit: A big welcome to GDTRFB!!! If you would, please take a moment tell us a bit more about yourself. (What the heck does "GDTRFB" stand for?? ) Glad you joined the party.

And despite my comments up above, believe it or not, I'm mostly impressed by Pat Metheny...I mostly think he has a great deal quite a bit of musical integrity. (And believe it or not, I do think) he's managed to walk that fine line between artistry and commerce, has pretty much never really sold out, and has championed music for its own sake (especially with his project with Ornette, and brilliant covers of Ornette tunes here and there). I think he's a good guy, and I do have musical respect for him. It's just that despite all that, much of his music still doesn't speak to me -- or more specifically, bugs the heck out of me.

I file this one alternately with my Tolliver and Moncur CD's, depending on my mood. (I think it's filed with the Moncur currently, mainly cuz I've been listening to more of his music of late - since the new Moncur disc came out. But when I get on a Tolliver kick, it might just get moved over there.)

Just got home from seeing Sideways, and I really enjoyed it. Definitely one of the better movies I've seen this year. My wife liked it, and said it was good, but didn't understand why everyone loved it so much. For me, I just connected with the movie, and especially the characters, nearly the whole way through. Everything made sense (meaning all of it "rang true" for me), and I loved the unexpected depth of the characters, which you wouldn't have necessarily expected from them. Also, the "Miles" character reminded me a lot of a former college roommate of mine (who -- oddly enough -- was also an English major, and an aspiring author, hmmm..... ). Two thumbs up from me.

Absolutely!!!

I e-mailed Naxos about two years ago, asking if they were going to do a Carl Ruggles disc in their American Composers series, and hopefully a "complete works" release (since his entire output will all fit on a 79-minute disc --- the man didn't write much, but oh what he wrote!!!!) The response was that -- YES -- they were planning to release a Complete Ruggles disc at some point in the series. Still hoping this comes to pass...

Sorry, no Wellesz as yet (haven't been buying much lately, pinching pennies), but do I get half-credit for already owning nearly everything you mentioned in that same post??? Off the top of my head, I've already got... The Geirr Tveitt concertos on BIS and Naxos. The William Bolcom. The Ligeti. Scriabin. Roberto Gerhard -- both the harpsichord and piano concertos. Frank Martin. (I may have one or two of the others too, but my memory is fading.)

Not sure what to think about going to see "The Life Aquatic". I'm on the fence (mostly from the TV adverts I've seen), and my wife definitely isn't interested in seeing it. FWIW, I loved "Lost in Translation" --- and my wife simply "liked" it, but didn't get what all the fuss was about. I was rooting for Murray for the Oscar for best actor last year, though I knew he was a major long-shot at best. Tough crowd he was up against too, with Ben Kingsley in "House of Sand and Fog" and Sean Penn in "Mystic River". A quick Google, and it appears Penn won, but frankly -- Kingsley was probably the most deserving. God, "House of Sand and Fog" was an amazing performance, and an equally amazing film. Anyway, before I thread-jack this any further -- if I liked "Lost in Translation", how does that portend for liking "The Life Aquatic"??

I'm a big fan of Rathaus (what little's been recorded), but I'll have to give his piano concerto a spin again soon. (The Rathaus disc I spin the most is his Symphony #1 coupled with his ballet "Der letzte Pierrot". ) Haven't listened to his piano concerto in ages, though I remember liking it quite a bit the last time I heard it. Will make it a priority soon.

Rawsthorne has a wonderful double-piano concerto as well. Great stuff, all of it!!!

I have a real soft-spot for piano concertos written during the 20th Century, and I'm always looking to discover new ones and/or ones that are just new to me. Neo-classical, neo-romantic, modern, serial, aleatoric, conservative, progressive, you name it -- there's probably several-to-many in every category that really float my boat. In a bit I'll post some of my favorites, and some lesser-known ones I also love. But I thought I'd go ahead and get the ball rolling by starting this thread. What are your favorites?? Well known, or especially those that aren't well known.

Very sorry to hear of his passing. I loose track of what I buy from who around here (and back on the BNBB), but I know I had close to a dozen transactions with Ken over the years. I think he's probably the guy I got my Lee Morgan Mosaic from. R.I.P. Ken, and very best wishes for his family.

A few others here will likely snicker or complain, but I'd love to buy some blank greeting-cards with Reid Miles BN covers on the front. If anybody finds a U.S. source for these, speak up!!!

Look for a tune or two from this release on Moran's website in the coming days or weeks (at least if he does like all his other releases). www.jasonmoran.com

Oh man, somebody please explain this in detail. It's been ages since I've subscribed to Cadence, and I don't remember what their voting limitations were/are.

Same reaction as with Metheny, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff -- and heck, Celin Dion too, while we're at it. (And also 'pop' Country Music ballads from the last 10 or 20 years.) ...except with Kenny G. and Celin Dion, and the Country ballads -- I also want to throw up.

Yup, you're exactly right. Rachmaninoff does nothing for me, especially his piano concertos. (His symphonies are a bit better, but I'm luke-warm on them too, at best). But as far as Brahms, Beethoven, and Barber (a neo-Romantic) go -- gimme all you got!!! I really do like most Romantic-era classical music (though it took me a few years to get into it -- which I did mostly because my wife really loves Romantic era classical music.). I especially love the thornier "late-Romantic/neo-Romantic" era. But not the "hyper-Romantics", like Chopin and Rachmaninoff. They drive me up a wall. Ooooohhh.... quick.... get back on-topic.... like Metheny!!!

With Moncur, if I remember right (never heard it myself).

My reaction to Chopin has been consistent from the very beginning, since I first heard him in my Classical Music 101 class back in my college days (which was about the time I was first discovering jazz). It annoyed the shit out of me from the first listen. (His music was always the easiest for me to identify the on blind listening quizzes, cuz my reaction was always the same. ) And I'm pretty sure my first reaction to Metheny was pretty similar too, if I remember right. "Q&A" was one of the very first Metheny things I ever heard (and I really liked it), and this was within my first year of discovering jazz. But I sampled a number of his other albums from the college radio station, all of which left me cold -- or rather -- I found them annoying on some level I couldn't really explain. A roommate of mine had "Secret Story" too, which bugged me whenever he put it on. I don't think it's "being a jazz fan" that gets me in trouble. If someone had played either some Chopin or Metheny for me, prior to my exposure to jazz or much classical music (like when I was back in high school), I suspect my reaction would have probably been the same.

I didn't say it wasn't beautiful. We probably don't disagree much about its beauty, in literal terms. I was just about to type this: "It just doesn't connect with me emotionally." But THAT isn't the problem. It DOES connect with me emotionally (on a very visceral level), but I have an entirely different emotional reaction than the one intended by the composer. And in response to your "beautiful" comment, Jim, I was just about to type this: "At the very least, it certainly is 'pretty'." But THAT isn't the problem either. It's way beyond "pretty". Hell, it's probably beyond "beautiful". And maybe THAT IS the problem. Chopin - and Metheny too - are so "BEAUTIFUL" (really too "beautiful") -- on top of being technically "incredible" (no matter how you look at it), that it's really too much for me to take in. It's like I get on sensory overload -- and as a result, I become hyper-aware of the emotional aspects of the music, which I reject - for whatever reason.

I do think Metheny's heart is probably in it, but as a listener -- I constantly find my heart strings being tugged at by his music, but I am also constantly aware of those heart-strings too. And for me, the "heart-strings" are as much a part of the music, as the music itself. And this drives me up a wall!!! (OK, I'm really not "angry" about Metheny's music, but much of it really does annoy me.) Note: this criticism doesn't apply so much to the Metheny recordings that I do love (Q&A, Song X, and his other recent trio stuff, etc... -- though maybe it still applies somewhat, but only to a MUCH lesser degree.) The majority of Metheny that I've heard -- and especially the PMG stuff -- hits my ears me the same way most of the music of Chopin does (especially Chopin's solo-piano works). I know this is probably a really weird comparison, but stay with me on this... I almost always feel manipulated by Metheny's music, as I do with Chopin's music, as if I am supposed to feel lots of tension and release as a listener, almost in a very systematic way. FOR ME, the experience of listening to Chopin and/or Metheny, is akin to the experience of feeling " emotionally manipulated", musically speaking. Their music, and it's corresponding intended emotional response, seems so calculated -- that I literally "feel" offended by the fact that I perceive that the person behind the music wants me to feel all that emotion. This response on my part is, in fact, my own emotional response to the music. Yes, there probably is an intellectual (and an "intelectualized") component to this, but seriously folks --- I FEEL the music is corny -- and it literally gives me "the willies" and "makes my skin crawl". So any "intellectual" criticism I have for Metheny, is probably trumped by the way the music makes me "feel" when I listen to it - again, my physical reaction. THAT, in a nutshell, is my main problem with most of Metheny's music. The man has incredible technique, and sometimes he seems able to channel that energy into music that doesn't make my skin crawl (Q&A is the best example). But most of the time, I can't listen to more than a couple tunes before I literally NEED to put something else on (at least if I'm listening closely -- cuz as background music, it's probably fine). It really all comes down to the emotional response I have to his music. It tugs at my heart with these huge, thick chains --- and I am literally offended (emotionally speaking), by the weight of those chains, and by the size of the grappling hooks that connect those chains to my heart. That's really the only way I can explain it - in emotional terms. And nothing else makes me quite the same way -- except Chopin. Does anybody else here know what I'm talking about?? Note: I have tried to post something like this, in this very thread, about four times (and failed each time). The first time was literally moments after this thread started, when I thought I could get my criticism in as the 2nd post in the thread. But every time I've given up, because each time I tried to write an intellectual critique of Metheny's music.

More press about this release, from another thread just started...

Already discussed (and available now!!!) in the following thread... Link: Grachan Moncur III - "Exploration" (2004!!), w/ Bartz, Harper, Hagens, Cyrille, more! I'll give that thread a bump too, just for the heck of it...

I really need to get this one too.