Album of the Evening

[christopher3393]

Excellent suggestion for tonight. Thanks guys!

 

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Sorry to backtrack to last night. Just wanted to mention a recording of Scheherazade that I really like:

 

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade / Gergiev, Kirov Orchestra | ArkivMusic

 

I'd be interested in any responses

[christopher3393]

My current favorite Don Giovanni:

 

Yannick Nezet Seguin / Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with DiDonato, Damrau, and Villazon.

 

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+1

 

My other favorite audio version: Mozart: Don Giovanni / Jacobs, Weisser, Et Al | ArkivMusic

[christopher3393]

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Wow. The Munch on the cover looks like a warning sign.

[christopher3393]

Forgive my levity. I had forgotten what a serious and powerful composition this is. I'm listening to this recording of it right now. Strikes me as a fine performance.

[christopher3393]

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Ry Cooder "Bop 'Till You Drop"

 

A Computer Audiophile shout-out for the first digitally-recorded "pop" music album on a major record label (1979). A great record from a musician's musician, and one of my all-time guitar heroes.

He's gotten bizarrely political as of late, but Ryland has explored a multitude of musical genres through the years, while always maintaining his immediately-recognizable personal style. His 1970's WB records were, and still are, one of the cornerstones of my music library.

 

+1 beautiful album, played it many times in the 80's. "I Can't Win" is very poignant for me. To this day it can bring tears. I still like listening to a number of his recordings on occasion. Was just enjoying his version of the classic "It's All Over Now" on Paradise and Lunch the other day. Some of his film soundtrack work is wonderful too (I'm thinking of "Southern Comfort"in particular).

[christopher3393]

Gyuto Monks: Tibetan Tantric Choir

 

 

Scriptural recitation and protector ritual. Use of harmonics isn't nearly as pronounced as David Hykes or Jim Cole.

 

Thanks. I have a well-worn copy. I would like to recommend this as well:

[christopher3393]

Today it is Neil Young's "On the Beach" on DVD Audio, which only plays on my iMac.

 

Thanks for this contribution from the man from the land of Giant Sand and Calexico among others.

[christopher3393]

Dark room, darker music:

 

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CD==> flac

 

Thanks.

[christopher3393]

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"Old & In The Way" (1973)

The Complete Shows: 55 Tracks, inc. 14 previously unreleased

Download here: LIVEDOWNLOADS | Download Old & In The Way , The Complete Boarding House Shows: 10/1/73 & 10/8/73 MP3 and FLAC

 

Speaking of "The Dead", this is one of Jerry Garcia's more interesting side projects. Along with David Grisman, Vassar Clements, John Kahn, and the great Peter Rowan, this "pickup band" concert recording turned a lot of rock fans onto bluegrass music. Recorded over two nights, October 1st and 8th, 1973, Owsley Stanley's original 2-track analog soundboard recordings have been remastered by David Grisman in 24-bit/96kHz, and made available in their entirety to commemorate the projects' 40th anniversary.

 

BTW, for all you "Dead Heads", there are 60 Dead concerts also available for download on this site, if you are not already aware--pul out those wallets, and go nuts!

 

++++++++1

[christopher3393]

yeah, L. Subramaniam is the real deal, especially when it comes to traditional Carnatic music, but he's also played with some very good Western musicians: The Official Website of Dr. L. Subramaniam: Bio

 

Another contemporary master in this south Indian tradition is U. Srinivas. He plays some pretty amazing mandolin music. my favorite is this one: Amazon.com: Rama Sreerama: U. Srinivas: Music

 

[christopher3393]

50-piece orchestra combined with a just few elements of ambient electronica.. think Arvo Part meets Brian Eno

 

 

 

"The second installment in Jóhann Jóhannsson's trilogy of albums about technology and iconic American brand names, Fordlandia expands on IBM 1401, A User's Manual by chronicling, among other things, the failure of Henry Ford's Brazilian rubber plant with the power of a 50-piece string orchestra. IBM, which included recordings of its titular computer, could have been gimmicky or overly conceptual, but the results were remarkably moving and personal. While Fordlandia is slightly more straightforward musically, its concepts and emotional impact are much more involved and ambitious. Fittingly, ambition is one of the album's major themes, along with failure, mortality, immortality, and technology's potential for creation and destruction. Jóhannsson depicts these dualities with portraits of great heights and, mostly, deep losses. Ford's doomed project -- which he envisioned as a utopia but ended in disaster, with rioting workers and the development of synthetic rubber, ultimately costing him millions of dollars -- provides the thematic backbone for the album's major pieces. "Fordlandia"'s strings and subtle electric guitars are never less than majestic, but move gradually and naturally from hope to bittersweet doubt over the course of 13 minutes, keeping the intimacy that Jóhannsson's work has shown since Englaborn. That bittersweetness wells into sorrow on "Fordlandia -- Aerial View"; recorded in a Reykjavik church with no edits, its aching strings and low-rumbling percussion sound equally devastated and beautiful."

 

 

This is great. Thanks!

[christopher3393]

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The Byrds, "Farther Along" (1971)

 

While not regarded as one of their better albums, this was the last album they released before Clarence White was struck and killed by a drunk driver while loading equipment into his car after a late-night gig. However, I absolutely love it. White's vocals and amazing "B-Bender" Telecaster work on two tracks alone, "Farther Along", and "Bugler", are worth the price of admission, and always bring a tear to my eye.

It's hard to believe 42 years have passed since this great album was released. i don't know about Parsons and Battin, but McGuinn is still touring.

The 2000 reissue also features three additional tracks.

 

One of my favorite jams from this time period was the live version of Eight Miles High on "Untitled"

 

[christopher3393]

AtomTM - HD

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously?

[christopher3393]

Speaking of which:

 

Vivaldi: Concerti per mandolini, Concerti con molti strumenti

Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante

 

 

Lots of multi-instrument concertos, and also includes the famous mandolin concerto in C major RV425. Fabio Biondi and his ensemble are very good and can hold together at great speed, and his stuff often feels rushed and overdone. Not in this case though. The energy that shines through is amazing. The overview at AllMusic (click album picture above) compares this against Paul O'Dette's version on Hyperion and finds Biondi better at integrating the sonority of the mandolin and the ensemble. I happen to have the latter as well. While it is true that the solo and the orchestra integrates better, there is more to it than that. Comparing RV425 back to back, the Biondi version, even though faster, has the proper pulse behind it. The O'Dette version doesn't quite have the energy to move forward. Also, on the Biondi version, the solo mandolin has more ornaments to tie over the longer notes. This gives the piece much better flow. Overall, the pieces here demonstrate great control of rhythm and flow. Awesome.

 

+1, really enjoy this.

[christopher3393]

[christopher3393]

This is a very good album.

 

+1, and thanks again, Blake for pointing it out awhile back.

[christopher3393]

Not my usual, but I like this quite a bit.

 

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Album Blake was referring to.

[christopher3393]

Mozart: Don Giovanni - Nézet Seguin (DG redbook rip)

 

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The other day I was complaining about the lack of new great opera recordings. Apparently, these days, these huge productions are just too expensive.

 

This one is a nice exception, piggy-backing on a live production of this opera in Baden-Baden. Nézet-Seguin is one of the hottest (musically) young conductors of the moment, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra plays well, and most soloists, especially Damrau and DiDonato, are doing a great job.

 

Not only very well performed, but sounds well recorded also.

[christopher3393]

The Image of Melancholy

 

 

eClassical - The Image of Melancholy

 

"Conceived by the baroque violinist Bjarte Eike for his period band Barokksolistene, this programme is his very personal ‘image of melancholy’. As he writes in his liner notes, ‘for me, melancholy is not only synonymous with sadness and despair, it is a state also harbouring reflection, meditation and relief.’ The connection between music and melancholy is far from new – at least since the time of the ancient Greeks, and probably long before them, there has been a belief that music has the power to influence our mood, to alleviate sadness or melancholy – or to induce it. Melancholy has at various times been the height of fashion – think of John Dowland, whose motto was: ‘Semper Dowland, semper dolens’ (‘always Dowland, always mourning’). Dowland is of course included here, as is his near-contemporary Anthony Holborne – but there are also a number of later pieces, as well as folk music from Eike’s native Norway and elsewhere. This music, writes Eike, ‘does not belong to any particular style, nationality or period in time; it’s rather a string of tunes that have all had a personal significance to me, and that together form a musical matrimony between a Nordic melancholy, the rich sounds of the Elizabethan consort and a modern approach to music-making.’ Joined by the soprano Berit Norbakken Solset and by the jazz pianist Jon Balke, Eike and his ensemble have created an intensely atmospheric and highly suggestive disc, which richly lives up to its motto – a quote by Victor Hugo: ‘Melancholy is the pleasure of being sad.’

[christopher3393]

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I remember playing this to death when it first came out.

[christopher3393]

 

Johann Sebastian Bach : Sonatas & Partitas | Johann Sebastian Bach par Hopkinson Smith – Télécharger et écouter l'album

[christopher3393]

Wow... Any thoughts on this one you could share?

 

Qobuz download costs a lot less than the corresponding CD, but like many of the older recordings on the site, booklet is not included. Quick listen to the track samples seem to indicate that implied harmonies are now filled in so the sound is much fuller than the original. But a lot of the violinistic speed and articulation and also gone. So it's an altogether different beast now. Would be nice to have the booklet to read about the transcription work involved...

 

Hi Andy. Your take is insightful and understandable. Here's an excerpt from the cd booklet: Hopkinson Smith - Sonatas & Partitas

 

Here's an excerpt from David Hurwitz' review: "Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin work rather well on the guitar or lute, as Paul Galbraith’s recent guitar versions for Delos have demonstrated. The advantages include easy chord playing, with a consequent clarification of some of Bach’s implied harmonies (especially if you fill them out a little here and there), greater contrapuntal (or linear) clarity in the fugues, and a sharper rhythmic attack. On the other hand, the violin has two huge advantages over the lute or guitar: sustaining power and dynamic range. These six works contain a lot of slow music, as well as some very florid melodies that no plucked instrument sustains with any degree of comfort, and that includes the amazing D minor Chaconne, a movement that cries out for the sustained intensity and dynamic gradations that only the violin offers. But if you want to hear this music played this way, then Hopkinson Smith’s gotta be your guy."

 

Finally, a review that I'm more partial toward:Hopkinson Smith's Sonatas & Partitas (BWV 1001-1006)

 

Sorry for the OT, so I'll add this:

 

 

Johann Sebastian Bach : Suites n° 1, 2 & 3 (Volume I) | Johann Sebastian Bach par Hopkinson Smith*– Télécharger et écouter l'album

 

review: Classical Perspectives – Hopkinson Smith | Deep Roots Magazine

[christopher3393]

 

Thanks Musicophile and Krzysztof Maj. I really like Holloway's playing. And I will store the image of harpsichords as "copulating skeletons", haha!

[christopher3393]

 

Music and Poetry in St Gallen: Sequences and Tropes (9th Century), Ensemble Gilles Binchois

 

"... the first music of Western culture which can be ascribed to individual creators."

 

Plainchant

 

Music and Poetry in St Gallen: Sequences and Tropes (9th Century) | Compositeurs Divers par Ensemble Gilles Binchois – Télécharger et écouter l'album

[christopher3393]

Guillaume Dufay: O gemma lux

Huelgas Ensemble, Paul van Nevel

 

 

Very complex polyphony. Funky rhythm and use of dissonance. Interesting.

 

Yeah, I love this! One of the recordings that turned me on to polyphony. Would love for you to unpack your statement a bit. I think I could learn from it.