Д.Д.

John Butcher is great on soprano. I particularly like him in solo setting, for example on early record "Thirteen Friendly Numbers" or on a later one "Invisible Ear". And Urs Leimgruber. He is fantastic solo (there are a few CDs out there, I have heard only "Blue Log", which I can highly recommend), and in ldp trio with Barre Phillips and Jacques Demierre. I am not a fan of Evan Parker's soprano. I think he was interesting around Monoceros time, but then became sort of a circular breathing machine playing the same stuff ad nauseam. I like Parker's tenor playing more.

My good friend Andrej Prozorov:

I saw Gergiev a couple of times in Moscow way back when, 15 years ago. Don't remember what orchestra he was with, Mariinski, most likely. They played Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, I recall. I found the performances to be over the top, very loud and sort of crude. But that was a long time ago.

Guys, it is wrong to talk about Spotify per-stream "rate". It changes depends on the number of paying users and the number of streams (or, to be exact, the share of streams of a particular track out of total Spotify streams). When there are more paying users (and remember, this is just 12.5 million people at the moment) the payout for individual streams will be higher.

Yes, you can use Gramofon (http://gramofon.com/spotify/ ) with your cell phone as a Spotify remote control.

Sad Life is available on Spotify: http://play.spotify.com/album/2zTabbxtAaUj4VuFTrQ3MC

Now that's a great set, even if not every recording (esp. in Mozart, Bach) is tip-top... Damn near worth it for the Nielsen and American recordings alone... But there are near endless discoveries to be made in this set, Bernstein's own music included... Which only heightens the Perahia Conundrum... cf. he will likely die, 40+ years a star, not having recorded anything more recent than that one Bartok recital?! What a waste of talent, resources, opportunity. If someone wants to counter with say Artur Rubinstein they're wrong because tho' he didn't do tons of contemporary works, here's a list of LIVING COMPOSERS he did record-- * Szymanowksi * Stravinsky * Prokofiev * Poulenc * Villa-Lobos * Rachmaninov * Falla * Ravel * Faure If we add the list of composers living while Artur was also alive but not yet recording, we can add * Albeniz, Granados, Scriabin, Debussy # of living composers Murray Perahia has recorded: ZERO # of composers once alive at same time as Murray that he's recorded: ZERO Uh... Murray? This Nielsen concerto is very nice, thanks for posting it. Gotta explore more Nielsen. Regarding Perahia not playing / recording any contemporary stuff - this might be also due to respective earning opportunities. And he most likely simply does not like - and does not know - the stuff. Although who knows, perhaps deep in the night, when nobody is around, he quickly runs to his white grand piano and plays a few passages of Brian Ferneyhough, wistfully stays silently for a few moments with tears in his eyes and then goes back to bed.

Quartetto Italiano Quartetto di Venezia Quartett (w/ Peacock a.o.) Quartet B - exciting Hungarian folk-jazz thing. I think this one has Archie Shepp guesting. Quartoinfolio - nice melodic Italian quartet (reeds / tuba / guitar / drums): https://play.spotify.com/album/7HE0COTHuuJKvAl7oCorRP Alim Quasimov - fantastic mugam singer from Azerbaijan Jesse Quattro - very interesting vocalist, should check out what she is up to now Erik Qvick (excellent drums / percussion duet CD with Steve Hubback on FMR)

Whenever amazon does the shipping for vendors - as is the case for both of these - they will not ship in any other countries. They will not ship within Europe either, only within Spain. Sucks, but has been like that for quite a while. Sucks indeed, but this is not true . This one can be shipped within EU.

!! Yes, this one was a revelation.

Yes, Fataka releases are very strong. Monotype is good, although I can't keep up with them. I used to like Potlatch a lot, but have not checked there releases out for the last three years or so. KAIROS releases some interesting new classical stuff.

Agree with MomsMobley re Perahia and Marcelle Meyer. I missed the big Meyer box, but I guess Warner will reissue it, either whole or in parts. This Rameu piece sure is gorgeous.

Courtesy of Les Bons Plans Classique - a lot of mega-boxes at insanely low prices (€22 for new Glenn Gould Bach box, for example) from EU amazon market sellers: http://bons-plans-classique.blogspot.com/2014/10/urgent-coffrets-brades-sur-marketplace.html Crazy!

New solo Matthew Shipp "I've been to many places" is excellent. Very classical sounding, Scriabin or something. Spotify link: https://play.spotify.com/album/2JSkES12KzaSlTNsf3LuM5

Many great ones mentioned (many not-so-great ones too ). My all-time favorite is probably Barre Phillips. I love his solo records in particular (he has quite a few). Other favorite is Pierre Michelot, his playing is an epitome of tastefulness, as far as I am concerned. I would recommend HUM 3-CD set on Sketch, even if the pianist Rene Utreger is not always that interesting, but both Michelot and Daniel Humair (on drums) are fantastic. The sound quality on the last CD is excellent, really captures Michelot's beautiful sound. Joelle Leandre when she reigns her showmanship instincts is quite amazing. Honestly, I have not had an urge to listen to her stuff for a very long time, but I used to enjoy her solo CD "No Comment" on Red Toucan, as well as her duo with Sebi Tramontana "E'Vero" on Leo. And George Cremaschi - talk about huge sound. I like his playing on "They Were Gentle and Pretty Pigs" with Mats Gustafsson and Gregg Goodman - this one has excellent sound quality too. Ah yes, John Eckhardt's solo bass CD Xylobiont (on psi) is very impressive.

Gentle Giant's "The Power and the Glory" remixed by Steve Wilson, released on CD, 5.1 DVD and blu-ray. Any vinyl. https://www.burningshed.com/store/gentlegiant/

Courtesy of Bons-Plans-Classique blog: EMI eminence 50-CD box for €50 at JPC: https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/EMI-Eminence-The-Original-Jacket-Collection/hnum/2428825

Complete Monteverdi madrigals by Venexiana (12CDs) on Glossa: http://www.amazon.fr/Monteverdi-Complete-Madrigal-Cavina-Claudio/dp/B00L5J4QHS/ref=zg_bsnr_301174_76

Debussy / Ravel Martinon recordings, 8CDs, for €14 at amazon.fr: http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B008DK3Q96/ref=ox_sc_imb_mini_detail?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1X6FK5RDHNB96 These are excellent performances.

This is sad. Hopefully Mr Taylor receives his money, and I think he should be able to. As a side note, it is ironic that while the US are very aggressive pushing anti money laundering practices all over the world, they have such a mess with banking at home (in, I assume, NYC, of all places). When half-a-million dollars is sent to "The Cecil Taylor Foundation", but the recipient is actually "MCAI Construction", such a transaction should never go through without investigation. And most definitely such a bank account can't be allowed to be closed soon after a transaction like this.

New DG originals 50-CD box, good price at amazon.ca: http://www.amazon.ca/The-Originals-Box-Set-50/dp/B00LNRJMCQ?SubscriptionId=AKIAIVGTH525N57WM2NQ&tag=pricenoiaca-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00LNRJMCQ Erato / Warner complete Rameau operas (27 CDs): http://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B00KYMJ4H4/ref=s9_ri_bw_g15_i13?pf_rd_m=A11IL2PNWYJU7H&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-5&pf_rd_r=1E6B12T9D694079TVZ3N&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=394753867&pf_rd_i=435475031

Hantai naive 8-CD set for €15 at amazon.de: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00EO7XQ2E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Content: CD1 ARCANGELLO CORELLI | CONCERTO DE NOËL & SONATES CD2 BACH | GOLDBERG VARIATIONS CD3 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | SONATE A FLAUTO, VIOLIN E BASSO CD4 DOMENICO SCARLATTI | 22 SONATES POUR CLAVECIN CD5 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | CONCERTOS POUR CLAVECIN CD6 JOHN BULL | DOCTOR BULL’S GOOD NIGHT CD7 GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI | PARTITE & TOCCATE CD8 GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN | ESSERCIZII MUSICI Sublabel of Sony Classical founded by Wolf Erichson as series on the Philips label. "My founding of the SEON label (1970-1980) came about from my desire to begin recording emerging stars of the early music movement. After several years of experimentation and pioneering work during the infancy of Das Alte Werk, I felt the time was ripe to create a record label for period music, which, with the benefit of the most advanced recording techniques then available, would ensure that the extraordinary performances of Frans Brüggen, Anner Bylsma, the Kuijkens, Gustav Leonhardt andKonrad Ruhland would be preserved, and, beyond that, take their rightful place beside the acclaimed greats of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." —Wolf Erichson As mentioned in Wolf Erichson`s statement these recordings from the 70`s mirror the infancy of early music`s rediscovery, are sometimes quite adventurous but nevertheless (or hence ?) worthwile....do own a number of these individually.... Well, that's what concerns me - that these are older HIP recordings. I am not too familiar with Bylsma, but Lenhardt, for example, I find very stiff. I have a lot of stuff by him from the Sony Baroque Masterpieces box, and hated most of it.

SEON 85-CD set to be released soon. I am interested in this repertoire, any comments on performances? http://www.amazon.it/Seon-Collection-Musica-Registrazioni-Catalogo/dp/B00KXJD58M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406534508&sr=8-1&keywords=seon+85 Set content from JPC website: https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/seon-collection/hnum/5281618

A lot of confusion in this article, with some silly arguments ( "what are the chances that sidemen, or their heirs, get paid when things are streamed?" - as if they were ever paid in LP or CD era). One thing that people are probably forgetting when they complain about "streaming ruining the musicians' livelihood" is that the user base of streaming services is still very small. Spotify, the world's largest streaming service, has just ten million paying users. Ten million people can't provide the whole musician community with decent income! The revenue stream for musicians should improve significantly as the user base grows, since it will now grow at faster pace than the amount of music available for streaming (because most of the back catalog has already been uploaded).

€29 for 60 CDs from a major label. Crazy! I am not a Ludwig Van fan, otherwise it would be a no-brainer.