Seventies favourites

While arrangements for going away are working their way through I did have a couple more discs this month I'd like to devote a little space to.

 Argent were a British Progressive rock group formed from the ashes of the Nice and this package comprises of 1970's Ring Of Hands which was their debut, 1973's In Deep home of God Gave Rock and Roll To You and 1974's Nexus  with In Deep also presented in Quadraphonic surround sound thanks to the super audio cd player.

Missing just All Together Now with its Hold Your Head High, its nearly all the essential albums  in a nice well mastered bundle.

There's usually a corner of the collection marked for those it was uncool to like but when the mice were away and so were your friends you'd enjoy them.

The Australian singer Helen Reddy was one bursting  on to the seen when feminism and female solo artists were both on rise and I often borrowed the Grumps discs cos uncool amongst my friends she was, I liked her.
 

This two one one super audio issued early this year has two of her most important albums, 1972's I am Woman a manifesto in a song and a cover of This Masquerade popularized by the Carpenters and 1973's Long Hard Climb, home of Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) and Delta Dawn.

Interestingly these albums were mixed for Quadraphonic sound but only issued on so-so US Capitol Q8 tapes and so this super audio cd twofer holds for the first time those mixes in real hifi.

A flashback to early 70's sounding better than ever.

70's

The Planet Suite

Seeing this years Proms season ended September 10th thoughts went back to composers of the WW1 era.

 I have a good number of cds by by the mystic Gustav Holst and spotted this 2008 recording by the late Richard Hickox in a series of his Orchestral works he started and whose baton has been picked up by Sir Andrew Davis

This Chandos Super Audio cd has the popular Ballet from "The Perfect Fool" conceived as a an opera but written to ballet form in 1922 plus the much less popular but worthy The Lure ballet and Golden Goose choral ballet together with The Morning of the Year ballet the last two being composed in 1926.

I found this recording most enjoyable. 

 

English classics

After a break from this mini series of entries within the blog I return with a couple of discs that fall under the heading of British classical music although they have their differences.

Gustav Holst is a composer whose work reflected his interest in the spiritual and mystical to whom one work alone his Planet Suite was started in 1913 and premiered in September 1918 in the last days of World War One. 

This work was played in this years First Night of The Proms on Friday, July 13th together with Ralph Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending on a WW1 themed concert. 

It is a matter of some regret however the popularity of this suite has caused many to overlook his may other works such as Beni Mora and on this arresting performance by Sir Andrew Davis  and the BBC Philharmonic orchestra it is coupled by the Japanese Suite.

Classical music has a great variety of genres within it such as Orchestral, Choral, Baroque but one  that has become established in the twentieth century is the orchestral movie soundtrack.

One favourite of mine is the soundtrack of Watership Down the 1978 animated movie based upon the Douglas Adams novel that I recall seeing on vacation that year which was originally issued on record and tape by CBS/Columbia.

It has a spoken word prologue and the whole of Angela Morley's score for it with the jazz syncopation in parts well performed  

This recording was remastered for Super Audio cd (playable on regular cd too) by Vocalion records here in Great Britain to a demonstration worthy style.

Vivaldi

It took a while for me to move away from the giants of Romantic era composers to Baroque and that whole area is one where the battle in performance techniques between modern instruments and conventions  from the Victorian period clash with the so-called Historically Informed  Performance techniques in vogue for the last 35 odd years is at its fiercest.

One name associated with it in Great Britain is Brecon Baroque, a ten piece ensemble of musicians who are lead  by the multi-award winning violinist Rachel Podger who specializes in baroque works.

One of the first works in this genre I encountered was Vivaldi's Four Seasons, a sequence of Opus 8 pieces three per suite connected at one point to reading of sonnets around the Four Seasons buying at the time Perlman's recording with the Israeli Symphony Orchestra on tape and eventually on cd Anne-Sophie Mutters recording with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by the late Herbert von Karajan for EMI Angel.

Both of those were performed very much 'Modern' and in April this year this recording done in a period style with moderate tempo's (the tendency to play faster in H.I.P performances is a personal irritant) was released recorded in London's St Jude's church.

To me this recording does achieve something worthwhile, the stripping away of layers of cloying strings through the use of a smaller assemble  allowing the freshness of the composition to come through and is played well.

As well it has Il Grosso Mogul, Il Riposo and L'amorso added which adds value to this new recording where my 1984 cd has no extra material at all!

The English language title is The Trail of Inventiveness and Harmony which as you'd expect wasn't one Vivaldi himself give to this series of Opus 3 concertos but a catch all marketing thing  where Vivaldi really pushes the boundaries of what musicians can play through musical invention. 

There have been a few recordings  before but this is new to me and certain adds to ones appreciation of the 'red priests' contribution to classical music.

 This is another set of concertos he wrote, the Opus 4 that predate the famous Four Seasons and have been mainly ignored until recently that Rachel and the Brecon Baroque recorded in 2003. This was issued on regular cd and sacd, mine is the latter.

I love the flute having been bought up with schoolfriends who played woodwind and I did have I Musici's recordings from the late 1960's for Philips on cd being brought with them on tape but that was subject to some questionable sonic manipulation I found hard to listen to so I bought this 2011 release on Accent which is at least as good as playing and technically superior.

While I have a couple of other regular cd's of Vivaldi's music not least that Anne-Sophie Mutter recording of Four Season's that I enjoy hugely, this set of four Super Audio cds have added to my appreciation of Vivaldi's achievements.

Mozart

Mozart on cd for me started in 1991 with the DG Mozart Masterpieces  25 cd set that I bought an awful lot of during that era.

Those discs were mainly drawn for performances in the 1960's and 70's usually from mid 1980's cd transfers from analogue tape rather than the late 1990's and onwards remasters for "The Originals" or "Collectors Edition" box sets so I felt it was time to look at newer performances that would sound better in super audio cd to go alongside them.

 This does actual breach that rule being a 1972 recording  but it was exceptionally well recorded in quadrophonic sound being one of the finest ever performances with Alan Civil's horn playing standing out.

This was part of a series of recordings made by Linn Records, part of the Scottish Hifi manufacturer that use modern instruments but with a smaller scale orchestra than has been the case in the past to great effect, letting more light and shade in. 
Technically these best my mid 1970's accounts on DG.

This is a set of performances by the label BIS performed under Historically Informed  Performance criteria, which is HIP in some classical circles even if some traditionalists like me feel it's flawed as a concept. This account using an early 19th century piano while being a bit faster than I'm used to, do work quite well bring Concerto 27 that can sound plodding to light.

I bought this on recommendation in September as it has all of Mozart's violin concertos plus a few other works performed by that modern day gem of a violinist, Julia Fisher. 

Mozart's flute concertos always interested me as our Head Girl was a Flautist so one often heard them but the recordings I had didn't breathe as much as the best modern ones which was why I tracked down this 2005 release complete with catalogue as these are the finest available to date.

I have two groups of recordings of the main Symphonies, one set conducted by Karl Bohm  mainly in the 1960's and a mainly 1970's box set by Herbert von Karajan both of which were featured in the Mozart Masterpieces series.

These two double sacd sets while using modern instruments do use a smaller scale and some elements drawn from in vogue period performances and were very highly regarded upon issue in 2008 and 10 with the very finest of sound by Linn Records.

A double helping of Art Garfunkel

Just after Easter here and after last weeks 'golly gosh Caro actually posted about cycling!!!' post, we're back on firmer territory albeit with a bit of a twist.

The last time I posted anything around Simon and Garfunkel was way back in April 2010 when after living with reissue lps and the odd tape I finally sorted out my recordings by them but that left the period after they split off.

Fast forward on to January 2018 and the small British company Vocalion announces it is to the release the first two Art Garfunkel albums recorded for Columbia/CBS in 1973 and 1975 which of itself wasn't so unusual as both got their UK cd debut in 1992 in the short lived Collectors Choice budget choice.

What was is that they were being issued on hybrid Super Audio cds like a few others I've commented on in the recent past on this blog that play on regular players and for improved quality on Super Audio cd players like my current one.

The twist being they included the original Quadraphonic four speaker surround sound mixes too that came out on SQ Quad record and Q8 discrete Quad 8 track tape for the first time ever.

This means those mixes much acclaimed are now available while tracks such as "Mary Was a Only Child", "I Shall Sing", "I Believe (when I fall in love it will be forever)", "Disney Girls" originally recorded by the Beach Boys and featuring BB member Bruce Johnston on this recording, "My Little Town", a Paul Simon Song where they duet and the British smash "I Only Have Eyes For You" have never sounded better being carefully remastered from the original mid 1970's analogue tapes.

If you lived through this period and liked more soothing performances you won't want to miss this as they sound the best ever in any format. Recommended especially as they're just £11.99 each delivered less than U.S. speciality companies charge.

The Nordic Composers

Today on this months installment of the classical sacd round up seeing it had snowed this weekend, I look at two major Nordic composers.

Carl Nielsen was born on the Danish island of Funen on June 9th 1865, taking up music playing and attending the Royal Danish Academy of Music and is regarded as the pre-eminent composer of that country and died in 1931. His earlier works were inspired by Grieg and Brahms.

He wrote 6 symphonies all of which tended  to be around the half hour length  were written between 1892 and 1925 and have a number of common characteristics such as the prominence of the role of brass instruments  and unusual changes in tonality that have the effect of heightening the dramatic feel.

The London Symphony Orchestra recorded  between 2009 and 2011 all his symphonies on sacd and these were gathered up in this box set of three which also includes a audio only blue ray with high definition (192khz /24bit pcm) stereo and multichannel recordings for those who have blu ray home theatre systems.

Decapo records issued a most useful sacd of his violin , flute and clarinet concertos  with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra performed live at Lincoln Center, Avery Fisher Hall New York that goes well with the Symphony box set.

A long term favourite composer of mine was the Norwegian Edvard Grieg and when it came to my cd based collection that was first started in September 1987 starting with Grieg's Peer Gynt in long extracts and disc of violin sonatas.

Edvard Grieg (1843 – 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor and Peer Gynt (which includes Morning Mood and In the Hall of the Mountain King). Edvard Grieg is to Norway what George Washington is to America and William Shakespeare to England: his country's most celebrated human icon.

Apart from taking a chunk of his music recorded to this format, I also wanted to expand the scope of my collection.

Around 2005/6 the Swedish company BIS Records issued four sacds covering a wide range of his music so I started with this one of the Peer Gynt Suite.

String music is something I like and the one above plus the one by another label of his String Quartets expands on my original collection and features the lovely Holberg Suite.

I did have a disc on DG of the Norewegian and Symphonic dances that I wished to replace.

I was looking for a good modern recording of the Symphony in C and found this well regarded one fairly cheaply used.

I never had a recording of Grieg's Cello Sonata and this sacd is very highly regarded that has works by Grainger and Nielsen too.

 In 1996 I bought a recording by the Manchester pianist Ronan O Hora of Griegs Piano Concerto coupled with the Lyric pieces performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on Tring which the Penguin cd guide gave a rosette award to.
I was able to track down the 2005 Membran sacd issue of this recording .

To say the front cover is generic is an understatement but it sounds good so I switched the front cover over to the original one which is much nicer.

The relaxed LSG listening to Brahms & Beethoven

Having bought last year a Super Audio cd player that plays those discs in addition to regular cds and I have been buying a number to add to my classical cd collection that goes back to the early days of cd.

After a weekend spent out of doors exploring,  noting things  and a spot of reading too it's really time to just relax across the bed and chill

Fortunately I have a good number of dvd's and blu ray discs I can watch apart from the CBBC and CiTv channels on our television, a stash of comics stored in boxes and a fair number of books stored on shelves, some of which go back to my childhood.

One new disc I had is this three super audio cd set of Brahm's symphonies with some additional works to replace my older regular cds with recorded in 2009 and 2010 which has been compiled into mini box set.

This new set is very highly regarded for it's playing besting a recent similar set on Lso Live for the sound as well as the account of Symphony No. 2 even with both stereo and multichannel mixes being available on the sacd layer with just stereo on the regular cd player.

It's a lovely set to relax to.

I also picked up this disc of the young Swedish clarinettist Martin Frost of Brahm's Clarinet Quintet and Trio issued by the pioneering Bis label. His playing is simply beautiful.

Beethoven is a major composer and so a set on super audio cd of his symphonies was something I had been looking for.

This set is one I am familiar with as it was issued for the first time on cd in 1991 and I bought it in early 1992 during one lunch break putting it out of harms way until I got home
If you look the sticker indicates like most for Europe discs, it has a ordinary layer and the super audio cd layer on the one side so it can be played on practically any player

 There are six super audio cds in the set with two symphonies per disc on four and a bonus disc that has some thirty minutes of rehearsals for the Ninth

As you can see although this is called a box set apart from that bonus disc really all you get is a short booklet outlining the history of Herbert von Karajan's Beethoven symphonies recordings for DG is a slip case as the discs are otherwise identical to the originally released individual ones and just fit in.

There's no attempt to put them in as the 1991 mauve cd box set into space saving multi cd cases or of the use of card or paper sleeves.

The recordings date from 1961 through 1962 and were issued in early 1963 on stereo lp records and was the first stereophonic series issued by DG.

One reason I bought this is I am less taken to the combination of the use of replica original instruments  the sounds some of which I'm not keen on and of the tendency to play it faster and often less consideration than traditionally had been the case which is very much the current flavour in performed and recorded  classical music.

In general I would say these remain amongst the most consistent sets of Beethoven symphonies recorded with the Ninth being one of the finest I've ever heard for the singing of the Ode To Joy with only the Sixth, the Pastoral a little fast in playing although I feel it does hold together well even if it is different to most.

The recording quality for the period is very high and unlike a good number of modern recordings where lots of microphones are used and fed to multi-channel recorders before being mixed, this was done with simple stereo pair with just the odd 'spot mic' to aid the odd section of the orchestra which captures the scale of performance better in my opinion.

 Around the mid 1990's the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra began a project of recording a collection of central classical repertoire at low cost enabling people to build a useful self contained collection that would aid musical appreciation.

At the time they were issued in conjunction with Tring records on regular cd's a good number being well worth owning which I bought at the time but they were recorded at better than regular cd quality using the dsd technology used by super audio cd's and briefly issued on sacd in association with Membran Records.

One of the discoveries of that era was the Manchester, England born pianist Ronan O'Hora and he recorded a superb account of Beethoven's Violin Sonatas 5 "Spring" and 9 "Krutzer"  with the violinist Jonathan Carney. It sounds really smooth .

That title was one re-issued on sacd around 2005 which I recently bought  to join my increasing number of classical recordings in this format.

Tchaikovsky on sacd and some

This months entry on the collection of new Super Audio cd's abbreviated to sacd is a bit different to the first two in that they all have one thing in common.

One of the first composers I encountered was Tchaikovsky when I was a child so it wasn't so long that on record I did buy a few recordings which in time made their way to compact discs with the last major addition being the adding of the Andre Previn set of the complete ballet scores on EMI that I used to borrow on record.

One thing I had decided early on was in so far as new recordings went the priority was going to those in Super Audio cd and a good modern set of his symphonies  was the first .

 The first three symphonies are it has to be said something of a challenge to play in way that makes much sense of the score as in all honesty Tchaikovsky was very much feeling his way composition-wise but Valery Gergiev's interpretation does bring more out of these than many as much as I like my original disc on DG of Claudio Abbado's recording of the second coupled with the fourth. I also managed to get this two sacd set for £7.99 which was a absolute bargain!

 I was raised very much on Herbert von Karajan's recordings of the Fifth symphony firstly in mono with the Philharmonia Orchestra and then his 1960's stereo for DG but wanted something more modern and this just fits the bill being in similar style and highly acclaimed. 

I have a recording of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto coupled with Mendelssohn's by Nathaniel Milstein but this one by the much talked about Julia Fisher is one recent recording many feel brings more from it from a slightly different edition of the score.

 This recent recording combines one work I lacked but did like, the Souvenir de Florence with an arresting very well recorded account of the Serenade for Strings, one of the most well known string compositions.

 In 1996 I bought a most remarkable recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto by a young Manchester pianist called Ronan O'Hora which part of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's very on collection of complete works from the NOW shop in Stoke on Trent.

Like most of that series it was recorded at a higher than regular cd standard and altered to fit regular cd but in 2005 it was issued on Super Audio cd and the above sacd is that version which I bought for this upgrading of my music collection to this format.

In addition to a previous regular cd addition of such familiar tunes as the March Slav, the 1812 Overture etc on Tchaikovsky Festival on Naxos effectively replaced technically so-so recordings I had previously, this has now given me a pretty decent sounding set of recordings of his music.

A batch of Classical Super Audio cds

We are cycling towards the end of the month so I thought I'd post an update on my collection of classical music Super Audio cds which all can be played on regular cd players too.

One thing you have to recognize is because the format is so much capable of more natural sound doesn't mean you'll ditch any or all your existing recordings as there always two elements involved: the performance and the sound.

Ever since the days of the lp record that elusive balance of the two is what as collectors of recordings we've looking for and there exists from those early mono taped performances from the early nineteen-fifties to the turn of this decade many excellent performances that may not be on sacd and some where for technical reasons they may be little point in issuing them.

This said there are increasing numbers of  excellent recordings from the analogue tape era being freshly mastered and new recordings critically acclaimed so you may be able to 'upgrade' which is where we start.

For a good while I had been looking for a great fairly modern recording of Bartok's ground breaking Concerto For Orchestra which I remember well as a handed down Mercury mono lp record when I was in my early teens where I spied this.

It's reissue of the original Quadraphonic (surround sound) lps from the Deutsche Grammophon catalogue of the nineteen-seventies that only got issued in Japan but whose stereo mixes were issued in North America and Europe that were much admired.

 Arriving only toward the end of last week is a acclaimed recording of Schubert's String Quintet in C Major D 956 from 2011 by the much loved Tokyo String Quartet who have performed in North America and Europe.

Schubert's "The Trout" quintet has been a favourite of mine for a long while and recently I bought this excellent modern recording which will go with my regular cd sets of string quartets and symphonies by him.

This one can be filed under 'filling a hole' as in the years of building my classical music collection I hadn't gotten around to getting a complete set of Beethoven's String Quartets and this set of recordings from 2005 through 2008 is one of the best recorded.

I was able to get this 8 sacd set in stone mint condition used for half the regular price which made it quite bargain.

Mozart and I got back a long time, to the period I often borrowed pre-recorded tapes from the municipal library and most of my Mozart collection goes back to around 1991 on cd buying the many discs in the Mozart Masterpieces set.

Included in that was the debut recording of a then 14 year old Anne-Sophie Mutter with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with its then larger than life conductor, Herbert von Karajan of the 3rd and 5th Violin Concertos to which I had added two slightly later recordings on EMI by her of numbers 1, 2 and 4.

This set recorded in 2011 by PentaTone records is widely regarded as one of the finest coming with the very best sound available and even features a dvd where you see Julia rehearsing.
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Classical Music on sacd

Today we're starting a new series of reviews following installing the Super Audio cd player and you might think I'd just have regular cds but as it happened I already had a few with that higher quality layer present.

When it comes to older pop and rock titles actually I have a good number because they were issued by companies that specialize in making the best possible sounding editions and many of theirs are of the sort that have a layer for super audio cd players and another for regular cd players so buying them is like buying those dual dvd and blu ray editions in that they allow you to move over from the original format to a better quality one at your convenience .

Until a few months back I had only a few classical music Super Audio cds, usually buying the High Definition Naxos downloads as they don't make sacd's instead and playing them over my stereo (on a high quality portable player) but I was keen to start a basic small collection on sacd  by favourite composers not least cos there just is something in holding a disc in your hand.

I do openly admit to enjoying classical music and had music appreciation classes at my boarding school and one composer I do like is Ravel.

This double sacd recorded in 1994 is quite valuable for having a wide selection of his works such as the Mother Goose Suite and Bolero on it, exceptionally well performed by the late Pierre Boulez and the Berlin Philharmonic in both stereo and also surround sound for those who have player that can output it. The reproduction is simply outstanding.

An enterprising company has lead the way releasing classical super audio cd's is Pentatone Records which as the name suggests are interested a lot in surround sound discs too as the sacd format often allows space for both stereo and multichannel versions.

They have been doing for a period reissues of recordings from the 1970's and early 1980's  from the Philips and Deutsche Grammophon catalogues in this form and it is fair to say I loved the recordings usually on Deutsche Grammophon made by the Boston Symphony Orchestra during that era often having the record or cassette versions.

 While I make no bones about my preferred version on cd of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring being the Claudio Abbado recording conducting the London Symphony Orchestra coupled with a good version of the Firebird suite, this recording from 1972 has an opulence that is lacking in that cd with fuller sounding transfer of the analogue tapes.

The rendition of the "King of the Stars" which is the second piece (I'm used to the French titles but am using English to aid accessibility) is exquisite in its choral moments sang by the Men's chorus of  the New England Conservatory choir.  It replicates the original lp but like most of their discs can be had for around £9 to £10 is good value for money.

In 1974, Seija Ozawa recorded a four lp set of the entire Ravel orchestral output, later issued as a three and then a budget two long playing cd set which doesn't quite equal the sound on record in 1993, but Pentatone have issued a new stereo/quadrophonic transfer of just over one and half lps worth of that original set sounding much more fuller and open that takes in Le tombeau de Couperin, Menuet antique and Valse nobels et sentimentale which runs to about 76 minutes.

As a fan of the originals-they were my introduction to Ravel as a child- these sound just fantastic in their new Super Audio cd form.

I also got a disc performed by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players of three Debussy's Sonata's which was the first Quadraphonic (four channel surround sound) recording Deutsche Grammophon made which remains a first class performance.

 I was very taken with this work by Berlioz around the age of 12 and 13 which my therapist discussed with me while I was under him at the time and so finding a really good version that matches a need for 'hifi' (wide difference between loud and soft sounds, good reproduction of low and high frequencies) and the ability on the part of the performers to summon up the darkness of the Witches Sabbath with its shrieking torment of the artist in death has been a life long challenge having gotten through many a version.

This recording from 1974 was a favourite of mine but the cd versions sounded muddy until Pentatone mastered this direct from the original tapes and managed to restore the very wide dynamic range and inner clarity that easily makes this the best overall bet with its rich atmospheric feel.