Д.Д.

Returning to this one often. Great stuff!

Yes! Very enjoyable!

Did not like this one at all - full of St. Gerold's monastery (and ECM) reverb blurring the lines and with very harsh accents.

And there is are a couple versions on viola da spalla (shoulder cello) that are worth hearing - by Badiarov ( https://open.spotify.com/album/4v2K0kbhi3G2m3UqJ90utx ) and by Kuijken (https://open.spotify.com/album/45Lh2Ah0GsBaghbXCqZCIe). On this instrument it is more of a dance-able music.

Me too. I did not like it in the beginning, but grew to like it. It is now my go-to version. I heard a couple viola versions that I liked - a very light one by Gérard Caussé (https://open.spotify.com/album/0s9lOPriCKiHLvdmrwdpD8), and one with more gravitas by Patricia McCarty (https://open.spotify.com/album/6IIrFM4G7ULXcHzWsRFMHS). I heard the Fuchs version (once) and thought it was quite staid and devoid of joy.

Yes

Some of the albums recorded 2010 - 2019 I liked: https://darktree.bandcamp.com/album/pourtant-les-cimes-des-arbres https://www.nottwo.com/mw902 https://www.nottwo.com/mw925 http://www.ayler.com/daunik-lazro-some-other-zongs.html https://f-a-t-a-k-a.bandcamp.com/album/prediction-and-warning https://boris-hegenbart.bandcamp.com/releases http://www.ftarri.com/meenna/980/index.html https://newatlantisrecords.bandcamp.com/album/burning-in-water-drowning-in-flame https://pirecordings.com/albums/mise-en-abme/ https://mikroton.bandcamp.com/album/fracture-mechanics Plus Trio X live recordings on CIMPoL and Threadgill albums on Pi. There's been a lot of good stuff recorded, I still have a lot of catching up to do.

Gilels is great.

Only the Debussy works. I am not a fan of Richter, but I love his energetic non-sentimental Debussy.

Well, they are both on Spotify, nothing to seek out. Both are in the que - thanks.

Did not know abut this one, will check it out. I like piano-drums duo format.

America First was a joke, of course. Since a lot of Americans (on Discogs, for example) don't sell overseas anymore, I thought that in addition to costs there might be other factors there - like customs forms to fill or whatever. I used to buy a lot of CDs from the US. Now with shipping rates this high (and with costs of CDs going down here in Europe), this rarely makes sense. And well, I don't buy that many CDs anymore anyway.

I am not interested in the CDs, but just curious - what's up with the US-only shipping? America First? Has it become more cumbersome to ship out of the US?

Backed up by the fact that he never did release anything like this during his own lifetime, and it was not released until 25 years after his passing. Nobody releases albums with rough mixes and demo versions during their "active" years, no surprise here. When exactly it was released after FZ's passing is irrelevant as far as the "validity" of such a release is concerned - Zappa was not in charge anymore. There were only three posthumous albums that he slated for release before his death - "Civilization Part III", "Lost Episodes" and "Trance-Fusion". 50 more were released since then. Whether he would have wanted these released now is unknowable. I suspect McCartney and Ringo would have shuddered at the thought of releasing Abbey Road demos in 1970. In 2019 they seem to be just fine with this. I am glad these sessions were released. I am not interested in a physical release, but they are worth listening to a couple of times, and hearing how the tunes we know progressed in the studio is quite fascinating. There is a lot of jamming with some good solos that did not make it to the album. And it's a nice touch to start the set with "Piano Music", one of my favorite Zappa compositions.

Hot Rats sessions on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5HtSs1Y0MsCTPHpXBvVS2t A lot of Don 'Sugarcane' Harris here.

Some excellent Beefhert-influenced music: Henry Kaiser, Paul Plimley, Lukas Ligeti, Weasel Walter "The Starbreak Splatterlight": https://open.spotify.com/album/2FFfsdcvGaNEWVaeNckvpg

I guess Ayler Records could not resist releasing one more album after the official label shut-down: http://www.ayler.com/frederick-galiay-time-elleipsis.html Hope there will be more to come.

New (well, recorded in 1998) double-bass duo by Barre Phillips and Teppo Hauta-aho: https://open.spotify.com/album/11ir5zPLKH8fU20e2Q4NMc

👍👍👍 and many more !!! Yes, that's the only Bartok quartets recording I know, and I was never inclined to investigate further - this one sounds just fine.

1984 and 1988 solos. Released after Zappa's death. Sounds better than contemporaneously recorded stuff released during FZ's lifetime - this is probably the best FZ live release (so far) to hear Thunes's bass and Wakerman's drums. Not as good as "Guitar" and SUAPYG but still. Best track, IMO: Best track: https://open.spotify.com/track/0gFHij17zQ7PJrOtjJhA9Y

On "Trance-Fusion" too.

It's good stuff. At this stage, Zappa's guitar solos are my favorite Zappa by far.

Do you like this one?

Chuck referred to his interaction with Zappa previously