Monday 27 June 2011

Dowland To Booker T

John Renbourn, Sir John Alot of Merrie Englandes Musyk Thyng & Ye Grene Knight.

Timeless instrumental album with Renbourn's guitar augmented by flautist Ray Warleigh, fellow Pentangle member Terry Cox on percussion and an uncredited appearance by David Munrow on medieval insruments.

Hurdy Gurdy Man

Schubert, Die Winterreise.

Performers; Werner Gura tenor, Christoph Berner piano.

Is all as bleak as it seems ? Can the young man in fact "get a life" and snap out of it ? I like to think he can. Superb performance anyway.

Sunday 26 June 2011

Incisive Boulez

Pierre Boulez; Sur Incises, Messagesquisse, Anthemes 2

Performers; Soloists of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Jean-Guihen Queyras cello, Ensemble de Violoncelles de Paris, Hae-Sun Kang violin, Andrew Gerzso electronics, conducted by Pierre Boulez.

Ramble Down The Canal

Gavin Bryars Piano Concerto ( The Solway Canal )

Performers; Ralph van Raat piano, Cappella Amsterdam, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic conducted by Otto Tausk.

Other works; After Handel's Vesper, Ramble On Cortona, both solo piano.

Saturday 25 June 2011

Waspish

Vaughan Williams Piano Concerto

Performers, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by James Judd, soloist Ashley Wass.

Other works; The Wasps ( Aristophanic Suite ), English Folk Song Suite orch Gordon Jacobs, The Running Set.

Wishing You Were Far Away

The Very Best Of The Jam...very much as it says on the tin. Very much a band, what a powerhouse rhythm section Foxton and Buckler were. Despite crtical acclaim, Weller has never been as vital. Voice of a class generation.

Humaine Touch

Figure Humaine : Choral Works By Francis Poulenc.

Performers, Tenebrae directed by Nigel Short.

Other works on the disc; Mass in G, Litanies a la Vierge Noire, Salve Regina, Un Soir de Neige, Quatre Petites Prieres de Saint Francois d'Asisse.

Monday 20 June 2011

Parry At The Proms

BBC Music magazine free cover disc for the proms edition. Two recordings from proms concerts in 2008 and 2010 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.

Vaughan Williams Symphony No 9, Hubert Parry Elegy for Brahms.

Romance, Blarney, Sentiment, Tragedy

An Irish Songbook

Ailish Tynan soprano, Iain Burnside piano. Settings by Thomas Dunhill, Samuel Barber, Benjamin Britten, Frank Bridge, Herbert Howells, EJ Moeran, John Cage and Herbert Hughes, Arnold Bax, John Ireland, Herbert Hamilton Harty, C.W. Orr.

The Salley Gardens always brings a tear to the eye !

Sunday 19 June 2011

Watch The Birdie

BBC Music magazine free cover disk.

Stravinsky The Firebird : BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ilan Volkov

Balakirev Tamara ( symphonic poem ) BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Thierry Fischer

Saturday 18 June 2011

Peerless Late Miles

Aura Miles Davis.

A suite for Miles Davis, written for him by Palle Mikkelborg on the occasion of a pretigious award given in Copenhagen. John McLaughlin and a big band. Contemporary classical influences alongside the legacy of Gil Evans.

Shades Of VW From The West Coast

Alan Hovhaness. Mysterious Mountain, Prayer of St Gregory, Prelude and Quadruple Fugue, And God Created Great Whales, Alleluia and Fugue, Celestial Fantasy.

Performers Seattle Symphony conducted by Gerard Schwarz.

Shades of VW.

Keeping Up The Standard

Beethoven Violin Sonatas - 2, "Spring" Op 24, Op 12 No 2, Op 96

Performers, Alina Ibragimova violin, Cedric Tiberghien piano.

Live from Wigmore Hall, second volume in a definitive cycle.

Deep In The Heart Of The Hippie Dream

The Incredible String Band, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. Ever deeper into the hippie dream, before it all went pear shaped.

Classic Classical Concertos

Mozart Piano Concerto No 22, Mozart Piano Concerto No 18

Performers, Imogen Cooper piano / director. Northern Sinfonia, Bradley Creswick Leader / Co-Director

Polish Pride

Andrzej Panufnik Symphonic Works Volume 1. Tragic Overture, Nocturne, Heroic Overture, Katyn Epitaph, A Procession For Peace, Harmony.

Performers, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Likasz Borowicz.

Country Zep

Led Zeppelin III, cottage in the country Zep, as laid back as they ever got.

Comfortable Crumb

George Crumb Quest, Federico's Little Songs For Children, Night Music 1.

Performers, Speculum Musicae, David Starobin guitar, Susan Narucki soprano, Donald Sinta saxophone.