Claude

Rachmaninov is most famous for his 4 piano concertos, of which 2 and 3 are by far the most popular. His Paganini Variations for piano and orchestra are also a good place to start. Symphonic Dances is also my favourite orchestral work. Another work I love is The bells, for orchestra, choir ans solo singers. Other important orchestral works are his 2nd symphony and Isle of the dead As far as solo piano works go, I like his Preludes op.23 and 32, as well as the two suites for two pianos. Some CDs in the midprice and budget price range I have and can recommend (excellent interpretation and sound): - Symphonic dances + Isle of the dead (Naxos) http://www.cduniverse.com/music/pid/1042369/ - Piano concertos 2 + 3 (Janis) http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1191881 (also available on SACD) - Preludes op. 23 + 32 + Sonata 2 (Ashkenazy): http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1170222

I was certain about it when Chew-chew raved about the "Gilded Hawk" album, the same rare Coleman Hawkins album that contemporaryladySF had found a couple of weeks earlier. http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=24936

I bought my first CDs in 1985 during a $15 sale (CDs were $20-25 at the time), even before I had a CD player: - Moussorgsky - Pictures at an exhibition (Chicago Symphony, Solti) - Al Di Meola, Paco DeLucia. John McLaughlin - Friday night in San Francisco - Dire Straits - Love over gold - Yes - 90295 I bought my first CD player a couple of weeks later, a very basic Philips CD100, for $400 (the introduction price in 1983 was $1000) with no time display and no remote control

Yes, according to the discographical details I found at the time. This website also states 1962: Hawkins (ts), George Arvanitas (p), Mickey Baker (g), Jimmy Woode (b), Kansas Fields (dr). Filmed 1962 in Brussels. http://www.jazzrecords.com/jazzbooks/video7.htm

More videos uploaded by the same user "alternativa" were created by me, from my VHS collection. The info (date, location) indicated on the website is from the filenames that I gave the videos. Not sure if everything is correct. Cannonball: http://www.dailymotion.com/alternativa/video/70685 It's a german TV studio recording from 1963, that was broadcasted on the german TV station 3Sat a couple of years ago. Coltrane: http://www.dailymotion.com/alternativa/video/51097 Coltrane and Dolphy 1961 in a german TV studio. The picture quality is poor, it has probably been converted from NTSC for the VHS PAL tape. Taken from an italian "VIDJAZZ" tape that has various Coltrane and Miles TV performances. Bird & Diz: http://www.dailymotion.com/alternativa/video/60094 Monk: http://www.dailymotion.com/alternativa/video/55675 Both are from a VIDJAZZ tape that collects a number of 1950's and 60's TV performances

Haha! The world is so small. That video on the website is my VHS tape from 1990's, that I digitized a couple of years ago and shared with some jazz collector friends on the internet. I have no idea who uploaded it. At the beginnung you can see the number "0:48", which is the position of the VHS tape where the Hawk recordings starts. I didn't know how to suppress it on the TV display. I had problems making a clean B/W conversion with the DivX encoder and had to try many settings first, but it turned out pretty good. I have a couple more rare jazz videos that I recorded from the "Jazz 6" show that was aired every monday night on the french station M6, in the 1990's.

You're lucky! Very few people have that album.

The second worldwide disaster to originate from Braunau

Fascinating. Concord and most of their distributors don't have an email address: http://concordmusicgroup.com/aboutus/?category=Contact%20Us http://concordmusicgroup.com/aboutus/?category=Distribution You can always try info@concordmusicgroup.com or info@concordrecords.com (the latter was their former contact email, and the domain still works)

It's difficult to be famous and anonymous at the same time The names are available on Wikipedia anyway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lordi The page had to be locked because of "vandalism". As with most other past Eurovision winners, the descent back into anonymity will not take very long ...

Admittedly, I've never heard the K2 release. I long ago stopped falling for the "remaster" hustle. In most instances, the original LP is best, and all the CD upgrades are just trying to get back to that. If your original LP is the mono version, it should be ok. In this case it is not just a question of different remastering of the same tapes. The K2 CD comes from the mono tapes, which used different microphone positions than the stereo recording. To me, the stereo version sounds odd, very distant and diffuse, whereas the mono recording sounds as immediate and dynamic as one is used to with Riverside recordings (both mono and stereo). In my view the mono recording should be the standard version, but it's the stereo recording that gets reissued all the time (OJC CD, Riverside set, SACD, now the new set). I recommend everyone to get the K2 CD while it's still around.

I agree with you that collecting can become an obsession where at the end it's only about possessing recordings and not about enjoying them. I wouldn't see any interest in having all Miles bootlegs, especially from his post-comeback period where almost everyone of his concerts was bootlegged. But Miles' studio recordings from his electric period are something special. Many of them were unreleased, and so the the complete "Bitches Brew" and "Jack Johnson" sessions box sets were a major revelation for all Miles fans, unlike a collection of previously unreleased concerts, which are more predictable (and I include the Cellar Door concerts in that).

The "Verve out of print" iTunes releases are listed here: http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/series.aspx...ob=bf&src=vault

The EU commission has just issued a proposal to codify the existing EU directives on copyright duration into one text. This codification procedure cannot be used to make changes on substance. So I guess an adaptation of the protection duration on sound recordings (from 50 to 70 years, as in the US) is not on the agenda, despite the lobbying of the record companies. But the proposal has yet to be adopted.

You're not alone. I'm generally more careful with CDs that would be difficult or expensive to replace. Not only Mosaic sets, but also some audiophile collectibles and japan imports.

Is that the movie for those who missed the real events on TV at the time? Better watch the Naudet documentary then. I don't see any value in making a fiction film about historic events that are so close, unless the author sheds some new light on them, which is not to be expected from this movie.

WTF??? What's the logic in that?? Only four tunes by the same artist per every three-hours of programming. And that's only if that artist is "featured" and still, no more than four tunes per three hours??? Seriously, what the hell is the logic in that?? No more Miles Davis retrospectives?? (You said not on Columbia.) Can they really have requirements/limitations like that?? That's crazy!! (again, WTF????) Hey, it could be much worse. Radioplay limited to 30 second previews!

Your're right, but that's possible only because computers are still an open architaecture that can run any operating system and software, including modified programs and copyprotection hacks. But future PCs will have hardware that only allows certified software to run. The primary justification is virus-protection, but the content industry expects computers to become closed boxes, that can only do what the rightholders allow.

That's the current trend in copyright. You can be sure - unless there is a dramatic turnaround in intellectual property policy - that in 15 years no music or film device with unrestricted recording capabilities will be available on the market. Even computers will have heavy DRM (digital rights management) restrictions. The objective is to make the consumer pay for every copy, even when he only wants to record a TV show to watch it later, or he wants to copy his CDs to his iPod. In Europe, most countries have private copying exeptions, that consumers now consider as an acquis (the right to copy), but in fact historically these were introduced because controlling private copying activities wasn't possible. In exchange, copyright levies are perceived on copying devices and blank media. But now the hardware industry (which has to pay the levies) and the content industry (which sees incresing copying) think it's time to push DRM, so that the consumer pays the full price for copies, and not just a 5 cent levy on blank CD-Rs or DVD-Rs. Taping music from the radio or films from TV will be possible with the old equipment (as long as analog radio and TV stays alive), but not with digital broadcasting anymore.

With a Lightscribe drive, you can write data on regular CD-Rs and DVD-R media, but if you want to label them with the drive you need Lightscribe-cabable discs.

Sorry, I can't find on the Skype website any info on such a promo.

The circumstances are even funnier than initially reported. The man wasn't a taxi driver, he came to the BBC for a job interview. That's why he willingly answered all the questions in the studio. BBC News 'wrong Guy' is revealed The true identity of a man who was mistakenly interviewed on BBC News 24 has been revealed. Guy Goma, a graduate from the Congo, appeared on the news channel in place of an IT expert after a mix-up. But Mr Goma, who was wrongly identified in the press as a taxi driver, was really at the BBC for a job interview. Mr Goma said his appearance was "very stressful" and wondered why the questions were not related to the data support cleanser job he applied for. The mix-up occurred when a producer went to collect the expert from the wrong reception in BBC Television Centre in West London. The producer asked for Guy Kewney, editor of Newswireless.net, who was due to be interviewed about the Apple vs Apple court case. After being pointed in Mr Goma's direction by a receptionist, the producer - who had seen a photo of the real expert - checked: "Are you Guy Kewney?" The economics and business studies graduate answered in the affirmative and was whisked up to the studio. Business presenter Karen Bowerman, who was to interview the expert, managed to get a message to the editor that the guest "seems not to know too much about the subject". Mr Goma was eventually asked three questions live on air, assuming this was an interview situation. It was only later that it was discovered that Mr Kewney was still waiting in reception - prompting producers to wonder who their wrong man was. 'Happy to return' Mr Goma said his interview was "very short", but he was prepared to return to the airwaves and was "happy to speak about any situation". He added that next time he would insist upon "preparing myself". A BBC spokeswoman said: "This has turned out to be a genuine misunderstanding. "We've looked carefully at our guest procedures and will take every measure to ensure this doesn't happen again." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4774429.stm

I've been buying LPs in Munich for the past 2 years. My primary source is PhonX, (mentionned by jbs-tom), which is a second hand CD and LP store with a quite large jazz section. Unfortunately the records are not sorted alphabetically, so you'll have to go through all of them (it will take at least half an hour). There are mainly german pressings from the late 1970's and 1980's. It's great for ECM, Enja or MPS albums. Most are in mint condition, the prices vary around 8-10 Euro. In the other stores I've visited, the jazz section is usually so small it isn't worth it. Some sell reissues which can be found cheaper in online stores. I've started a discussion on Munich vinyl stores on a german forum some time ago. It's in german, but you can find other addresses as well. http://www.analog-forum.de/wbboard/thread....7512c679315fc22

It is a ridiculous situation, especially with the popularity of MP3 players. But the music industry is ready to make concessions: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/10/bpi_talks_ripping/