HutchFan

Wow. My first record wasn't nearly as hip as most of these. Also, I didn't begin listening to jazz until the 1980s, right around the time that I graduated from high school. So my first purchases were CDs, not LPs. The first jazz that I recall buying was Four Corners by the Yellowjackets. My best friend and I were both Genesis fanatics. Somehow, we discovered that David Hentschel was producing the Yellowjackets. (Earlier, Hentschel had produced both Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering, and those two particular albums were our favorite Genesis records.) A couple years later while I was a college student, I joined the Columbia House CD Club. Remember how you got a bunch of "free" CDs up front? My first order included Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme, Concert by the Sea, and Ellington at Newport. Shortly thereafter, I bought and was blown away by Mingus at Antibes. That particular recording REALLY flung the door open. At that point, I was off and running. I still have that Yellowjackets CD. I bet I haven't played it in 20 years! I should pull it out and give it a spin.

I've been listening to lots of Robert Schumann's music for solo piano over the last few days. Mostly as performed by Claudio Arrau -- but also Argerich, Kissin, Alexeev, Perahia, et al. I've also ordered a Geza Anda box that includes 2 CDs of Schumann's music. Looking forward to hearing it. (The box is "The Art of Geza Anda" on Brilliant Classics, a reissue of his solo piano recordings originally on DG.)

Back to the original post: I hear you fasstrack. For me, the music after the dissolution of the classic quartet is very much a "just occasionally" thing. But the Impulse stuff with the classic quartet is more "everyday-type" music -- even though it's still HIGH-intensity music. I guess that's where I make the distinction.

Bruno Walter's version of Brahms' Second Symphony -- from this same cycle -- was one of the key recordings that drew me into classical music. I LOVE Walter's way with Brahms -- and his conducting in general! No one gets at that Gemütlichkeit feeling like Walter.

Brahms: Lieder / Margaret Price, James Lockhart (Orfeo, 1984) Lately, I've been listening to this again and again.

Absolutely.

Yes, Ya Yo Me Curé is a strong record. But I will confess that I like their later records more -- Moliendo Cafe, Earth Dance, Crossroads, Fire Dance, Pensativa. I think they're more focused on these compared to the earlier records like Ya Yo Me Curé, The River Is Deep, and Obatalá. I think they sound tighter, more "locked in" (in the positive sense) on the later records -- more like a band. (I guess this is the aspect of their music that I'm most drawn to.) Strange that I've never got round to their Monk tribute -- or their Blakey tribute. I think these are the only two that I haven't heard.

Sometimes you don't need to be a "world-class soloist" to make terrific music. The Fort Apache Band is very much a band, and much of the appeal -- for me, at least -- is their ensemble sound. So I'm probably not tuned into the individual soloists like I would be with other groups -- or other soloists -- in other contexts. For example, if I'm listening to a guy like, say, Lee Konitz, it's all about the solo. With the Fort Apache Band, that's not where my ear goes. It's more of a total ensemble, percolating thing. Not that the soloing isn't important with the Fort Apache Band. It's just not the center of it, the focal point -- like it is with some other artists and bands. My 2 cents.

Well, no one is going to confuse Gonzalez's trumpet-playing with Freddie's or Miles'. Then again, I don't think that it's a waste of time. Gonzalez's trumpet brings another element, another color to the band. I like that.

I love this band, but I'm not familiar with this record. Based on the "samplers" above and soulpope's recommendation, I obviously need to check it out!

Lovely. Earlier this AM: Schubert: Wanderer-Fantasie / Schumann: Fantasie, Op.17 / Maurizio Pollini (DG)

Rudolf Serkin Plays Beethoven (Sony) CD 6 - Piano Sonatas Nos. 21 "Waldstein," 23 "Appasionata," 24, and 26 "Les Adieux" A few years ago, I spent an entire afternoon listening to different recordings of "The Appasionata." There was Moravec, Horowitz, Ashkenazy, Kempff, and several others. It was good fun. . . .And I discovered that I liked Serkin's version best.

Such a great album, from start to finish. Just discovered this a few days ago -- a lied by Johannes Brahms, "Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht," performed by Margaret Price and James Lockhart. It's incredibly beautiful and melancholy music, like only Brahms can do it: Brahms set the music to a poem by Heinrich Heine. An English translation:

Brahms: Symphony No. 4 / London Philharmonic Orchestra What an electric performance! It may be my imagination, but it seems to me that Jochum's personality comes SHINING THROUGH in his work as a conductor -- and the two qualities that strike me most forcefully are his sense of humanism and his sense of the sacred. Better still, while hearing him conduct this music, you realize (sense? remember? hope?) that those two things are really one thing. That is great artistry.

Chopin: 24 Préludes, Op. 28 / Géza Anda (DG) Immaculate.

Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Brahms: Double Concerto / Ferenc Fricsay, RSO Berlin (DG) - Triple Cto soloists: Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Géza Anda, Pierre Fournier - Double Cto soloists: Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Janos Starker

I've been on an Art Song/Lied kick for the last few days, so I decided to order these two Elly Ameling CDs: The Early Recordings, Vols. 3 & 4 (RCA, originally released on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi) Vol. 3 features lieder by Brahms & Schumann, and Vol. 4 has lieder by Schubert & (more from) Schumann. I'm particularly looking forward to hearing the Brahms.

Grieg & Schumann: Piano Concertos / Dmitri Alexeev, Yuri Temirkanov, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (EMI)

Brahms: Lieder / Bernarda Fink, Roger Vignoles (Harmonia Mundi)

Liszt: Sonata in B Minor/ Ivo Pogorelich (DG) As usual with Pogorelich, his interpretation is "far off the beaten path." Liszt: Années de pèlerinage - Première année: Suisse / Lazar Berman from Berman's The Deutsche Grammophon Recordings box I admire Pogorelich's Liszt. But I love Berman's.

Carlo Maria Giulini - Great Conductors of the 20th Century Pulled this out so I could hear Giulini's Beethoven 7 with the Chicago SO. It's a superb rendition.

Ballades, Op. 10; Rhapsodies, Op. 79, and other short works

Yes, the ABQ is tremendous. I'm JEALOUS that you get to see/hear them in person frequently. I think their Beethoven is even better than than their Schubert!

Schubert: Lieder / Janet Baker, Gerald Moore, Geoffrey Parsons (EMI)

Brahms: String Quintets, Op. 88 & Op. 111 / Brandis Quartett, Brett Dean (Brilliant Classics, originally released on Nimbus)