I’d heard rumblings about this recording a few months ago. Andrew Rose makes it official — and issues it! I’m not a huge fan of Toscanini, but this recording is particularly excellent (Carlos Païta is IMNSHO Toscanini’s only competition in this work).
Category Archives: Blog
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Busy Busy Busy
… as my blogger pal Scoobie Davis would say. The light at the end of the tunnel is visible at last, and within the next couple of weeks you can expect to read my reviews of:
• a significant Sviatoslav Richter release from Budapest Music Centre (plus another coming from Musical Concepts [full disclosure: yes, I’m the reissue producer]);
• the first installment of an important reissue series focusing on the “New York School” from Wergo; and
• the best no-holds-barred portable digital audio player I’ve yet heard.
Aw, Heck — Sir Charles Mackerras, 1925-2010
I’ve just learned via Stephen Baggaley, a Facebook friend in Australia, that one of my favorite conductors, Sir Charles Mackerras, died a few days ago. I have a pile of his recordings on Vanguard, Hyperion, Telarc, RCA, and at least a dozen permutations of EMI, but the sole concert I saw him conduct was memorable — an incandescent performance of Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (the soloists included the incomparable and still sorely missed Lorraine Hunt Lieberson). Australian ABC will be broadcasting a tribute to the maestro Saturday (late Friday in North America — link to their mp3/m3u stream here).
Candy Is Dandy, But Richter Is Quicker, Budapest Edition
I’m about halfway through listening to Budapest Music Center Records’ marvelous 14-disc collection of live recordings by piano titan Sviatoslav Richter. A couple of reviewers have not been too kind to this set, and I think they need to clean out their ears. Continue reading Candy Is Dandy, But Richter Is Quicker, Budapest Edition
On the CD Player: Roy Harris, American Symphonist
In celebration of the American Independence Day weekend — and because it was toward the top of the massive “yet-to-be-played” pile — I fired up a Naxos CD release of symphonic music by Roy Harris played by the Bournemouth Symphony conducted by Marin Alsop (catalogue number 8.559609).
Continue reading On the CD Player: Roy Harris, American Symphonist
Kloset Klansmen on the Senate Judiciary Committee
Kalmen Opperman, 1919-2010
Now that’s some pretty lousy news to wake up to if you’re a clarinetist, active or recovering (as in my case). Read Charles Strum’s NY Times obituary of one of the great American musical pedagogues — including reminiscences from Richard Stoltzman.
Floating Xenakis
I refer specifically to Persephassa, lighter than the water of Central Park Lake. Tony Tommasini has the details at the NY Times.
Rahm Emanuel on the way out?
[UPDATED 6/21/10] Ha’aretz, via the Telegraph, is reporting that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will leave at the end of President Obama’s second year in office. Unconfirmed but definitely of interest — especially the detail about Emanuel finding Obama too “idealist” — although Raw Story‘s Stephen Webster has questions about the story’s sourcing and bias.
Maureen Forrester, 1930-2010
Not two minutes after Sybille Werner forwarded news of the magnificent Maureen Forrester’s passing as reported in the Globe and Mail, Tony Tommasini’s NY Times obit went live. Continue reading Maureen Forrester, 1930-2010