Herbert von Karajan on EMI & DG

From time to time I do post short amounts around my classical music tastes and one conductor I discovered in my earlier years was the late Herbert von Karajan and a year ago a large 13 set of boxes of his recordings for EMI Records  came out covering the two period he recorded for them in the UK, France and Germany.

The first and unfortunate thing to say is he never did a complete set of the Finnish composer Sibelius' symphonies although he championed them  in the 1940's, missing the Third completely.

This box has his recordings from 1976 through 1981 with the Berlin Philharmonic taking in symphonies 1,2,4,5 and 6 and the Tone poems which have their own cd.

I owned a few of these on record at the time in SQ Quadraphonic  so it's nice to have a complete set carefully remastered using 96/24 mastering techniques being personal favourites.

This set in some ways is the catch all loose ends bit of the collection but having a  good  number of his recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra to which he was the first conductor and stem from the early days of the LP record although the sound is remarkable even if a good many were taped in mono.

This set covers his 1950's recordings of Sibelius which the composer himself  was highly impressed by, something to bear in mind given the contempt some critics show for his interpretations as well as a amazing account of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique taped in 1954 but in stereo and among a program of 'lollipop's', there's a nice rendition of Waldteufel's Skater's Waltz which I danced to in a wheelchair as a kid.

There were reasons for picking up this  portion of the complete set too, namely that it included his 1950's recording of Tchaikovsky including the 1954 Fifth symphony I had as a child and my love of the Philharmonia who play on nearly all these recordings of Russian works by the likes of Mussorgsky and Stravinsky.

 Rounding things off, this 2 cd set of his 1960's recordings in stereo of Symphonies 4-7 is a must being very well regarded during the lp era and features his only stereo recording of the Seventh symphony.

It belongs next to  my original mid 1980's cd of Finlandia and other Tone Poems  recorded  digitally for DG and the 1987 DG Galleria re-issue of Christine Ferras's 1960's account with them of his Violin Concerto.

Selections will be written in lossless to micro sd card for playing on my Fiio digital audio player.

Billy Joel and Streetlife Serenade

If you read the previous editions of teen beat and the predecessors, you may of gotten the idea I do rather like Billy Joel and over the last five years a whole batch of his albums have had so-called 'audiophile' editions promising and delivering the best possible  sound from the Master Tapes.

 In 1974 he recorded a second album in Los Angeles whose songs referenced  both Surburbia and the Inner City.

Billy has publicly expressed his feeling the album as released didn't realize his intention and like with The Piano Man and Cold Spring Harbor, he re-recorded some of the songs live for the 'Songs In The Attic' album released in 1981.

The song most remember from this is album is 'The Entertainer' a #34 single hit, where he expresses his disapproval of how 'Piano Man' had been severely edited for single release inserting the sarcastic response "If you're gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05".

Personally I like this albums wider musical range.

What's nice about this edition is the Mastering Engineer, Kevin Gray has prepared it from from the original mastertapes as mixed from the multi-track session rather than a copy of that so it's a clear sounding as possible and has the widest range between the quiet and loud passages.

The original recording to my ears was very well captured.

As well back in 1974, a four channel mix was made for the SQ quadraphonic record designed to reproduced over four speakers in the corners of your listening area and that mix is added as a extra to the Super Audio cd layer for those with players that support that format.

Feminine recovery program

 It's the second longest battle I have fought over identity issues over the one bought what my real age is and its implications when it comes to what I can be expected to do and and the degree of supervision I need in everyday life is when essentially you're still a child. 

Having the confidence to express how you feel not just in words but also in how you present such as your dress and for it to be respected is very important. 

It does not matter how much I have masculine traits, how happy I was to play rough and tough with the boys I have a sizable feminine side running through me that at the time was never able to be let out as the whole me.

Within age dysphoric life inclining playing I need to be able to play feminine games and undertake those activities as a part of being still a child amongst children.

I need full access to the whole range of children's clothes of my era and specific time devoted to being in skirts and dresses and more feminine underclothes not just to express the here and now of my gender but as a therapy for past issues.

As a little sissy gurl, it matters to me that I express this side of me, being more open about as some have tried to say I can't be a little as an age regressed adult and even bullying me over it.

I can be cute as a feminine little sissy gurl in a pure age regressed side with nothing sexual in that space and I have every right to be that person. 

That's what matters.

Things for a Summer Day

Summer always was magical but without the structures of school work it didn't take much to get bored especially if it was a rainy day which we sometimes get.

One staple was the Summer Special and this year I got the Dandy and Beano ones which I always read as a young child more or less until Mummy cut of the newsagents order and so would buy copies during works lunchbreak and the like.

I just found they keep me smiling as I recall what we did back then.

The good thing about annuals and books is if it is a rainy day you can start them and resume later on if it brightens up easily so I keep a good number around including a few past Summer Specials.

It was a lesson I learned in Juniors and as a little, I find it also helps now.

I'm not just a physically active little sissy gurl but have been known to colour so it's not all running around or playing ball games so I bought some new colour pencils to do a bit of suitably girlie colouring with.