The New York Times‘s Steve Smith profiles the groundbreaking German record label and its iconoclastic founder Manfred Eicher.
Happy Holidays and the Rest Is Nuts…
How can I not steer you to a blog post at Classical Iconoclast that touches on Christmas greetings from the late Karlheinz Stockhausen and takes a controversial swipe at Alex Ross’s much-praised The Rest Is Noise?
Vintage Holiday Cheer
Yes, I know it’s from an Easter oratorio. Yes, you’d expect me to post an historically informed version. But no! Here’s a 1938 aircheck of the “Hallelujah” Chorus from Handel’s Messiah (in what sounds to me to be Mozart’s arrangement) performed by the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Tonkunstkoor conducted by Willem Mengelberg, with a little bit of audio restoration from a so-so source by yours truly.
{enclose Handel-Mozart.Messiah.Hallalujah.1_eq.mp3}
Hear last year’s early electrical holiday cheer here.
Piano Gems from the Glorious Socialist Workers’ Paradise
A surprisingly good confluence of solo piano music from the former Soviet Union has found its way to the CD, SACD, and DVD formats in 2009. Four of these releases are of particular merit, and one of them made my Best of 2009 list.
Continue reading Piano Gems from the Glorious Socialist Workers’ Paradise
Best Recordings of 2009: More Critics Weigh In
Now that you’ve had a chance to take in my modest, understated views on this year’s best classical recordings, I feel it only fair to point to a few other top ten lists:
Continue reading Best Recordings of 2009: More Critics Weigh In
Serkin @ Zankel / Levine Conducts Boulez @ Weill
You can find two of my recent reviews at Classical Source. Click here for my review of a terrific recital by pianist Peter Serkin, and here for Levine and members of the MET Orchestra playing Boulez and Mozart.
Learn Guitar in Cyberspace
Jack DeSalvo, one of the most versatile guitarists on the eastern seaboard, is offering private guitar lessons via Skype. Details at his Web site. Full disclosure: yes, he’s a client of mine.
Ten (+2) Best Recordings of 2009
I know that this goes against my soft-spoken, diffident nature, but for some reason I’m in the mood to opine about my ten favorite releases of 2009. So here they are, in no particular order:
Inside “The Great Game,” 1968
… or, more accurately, as inside as Allen Dulles would allow the media to go in 1968. “We’re not spies. We’re intelligence gatherers.” Newstalgia has posted the audio of an amazing interview with then ex-CIA director Allan Dulles, first broadcast in 1968 on NET (now PBS). It’s a must hear for all students of “The Great Game” then — and now.
Vox from the Vaults
Some of my recent remastering projects have at last hit the retail market… some here, one in Japan.