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All in Music
The following list, in no particular order, makes a good starting point for the audiophile new vinyl wanting to build a great sounding LP collection. Not only do the LPs on this list have the very best in audiophile quality sound, but they are legendary performances, too. Please add yours in the Comments Section. Thanks.
So, how does one approach conducting and recording the greatest symphony of the 20th Century? A strong and varied attack, I think. Attack may be too strong a word for a musical task, but faced with the daunting prospects of ‘competing’ with the Mravinskys and Karajans of this world, attack may not be strong enough. Karajan thought so much of Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony he recorded it twice, analogue and digital.
Two major artists create Beethoven magic, here. Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires has long been a star on the international circuit beloved by music lovers and pianophiles who like their artists to walk softly but carry a big stick. No star aura, just deep musicianship.
Last week we published the classical version of this Audiophilia Top Ten. Like classical and popular reissue LPs, the list could (and should) be hundreds in number. A little fun with a Top Ten but a serious list, nonetheless. And each LP will bring unalloyed audiophile pleasure for their recordings and performances. Repertoire? Well, that’s up to you.
There are probably no entertainers of the 20th Century who have had as much written about them as Frank Sinatra. Countless newspaper and magazine articles from the 1940s to the present day, books by anyone and everyone over decades – right now there are over a hundred books on Sinatra being offered at Amazon.com; some good, some bad, some superficial, very few well written and introspective. But, it’s interesting to see how many people have an opinion about Frank Sinatra.
I think it’s in every Englishman’s DNA that the gene ‘Must love Elgar’ exists. I have it, but as an identical twin, it was halved and diluted at birth. Therefore, I love Elgar’s Violin Concerto, In The South, and the 1st Symphony. Froissart, the Cello Concerto and his oratorios I can do without (ever played The Music Makers?!).
Michael Bublé is a very fine vocalist. Let’s make no mistake about that. He has arrived on a scene which has lain pretty much fallow since Frank Sinatra’s vocal decline in later years and eventual death in 1998. The splash made by Harry Connick Jr. has largely abated, and Bublé is the flavour of the month, so to speak, for those who have enough appreciation to understand and appreciate good popular music and good singing.
I must have had a weak moment a few days ago, for I was wandering around a video/CD store in Bang Saen, Thailand, where I’m on staff at Burapha University’s western music department, and much to my surprise, among the Thai pop CDs, I spied Diana Krall’s new release, Quiet Nights. Checking out the tunes, largely standards and bossa novas, with arrangements by Claus Ogerman, I put aside my inherent distaste for Krall (I had reviewed her live) and bought the CD.
Without apology, the review that follows will be an unreserved rave! Essential Purcell is a sampler of selections from Hyperion Records' comprehensive survey of the works of Henry Purcell. Purcell's music, much of it hitherto unknown to me, makes an indelible impression as he casts spell after spell in the popular and religious musical forms of the 17th century. I believe the music is essential listening whether secular or devotional. With quality such as this, it is no wonder Purcell was a star of the compositional firmament during the Restoration.
