Igor Kipnis
MOZART: Le Nozze di Figaro
Alastair Miles, bass-baritone (Figaro); Nuccia Focile, soprano (Susanna); Alessandro Corbelli, baritone (Count Almaviva); Carol Vaness, soprano (Countess Almaviva); Susanne Mentzer, mezzo (Cherubino); others; Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Chorus, Sir Charles Mackerras
Telarc CD-80388 (3 CDs only). James Mallinson, prod.; Jack Renner, eng. DDD. TT: 3:28:33 When Charles Mackerras conducted a Marriage of Figaro at the Sadler's Wells in 1966 to great critical acclaim and interest because of such stylistic vocal additions as ornaments and…
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Beth Jacques
THE KINKS: Everybody's in Showbiz
Rhino R2 70935. Ray Davies, prod.; Mike Hobak, eng. (studio tracks). ADD. TT: 71:20 Whether the impetus has been alcohol, schizophrenia, or English mysticism, the Kinks' Ray Davies has always functioned as a one-man British answer to the Sierra Club, flashing on the carefully observed time and place of the (sort of) everyday. Go for this perfectly realized bookend pair and get a studio LP, which details how a working rock act prepares for one more working day, then get caught up in the act---maybe booze-soaked, maybe perfectly performed…
THE KINKS: Everybody's in Showbiz
Rhino R2 70935. Ray Davies, prod.; Mike Hobak, eng. (studio tracks). ADD. TT: 71:20 Whether the impetus has been alcohol, schizophrenia, or English mysticism, the Kinks' Ray Davies has always functioned as a one-man British answer to the Sierra Club, flashing on the carefully observed time and place of the (sort of) everyday. Go for this perfectly realized bookend pair and get a studio LP, which details how a working rock act prepares for one more working day, then get caught up in the act---maybe booze-soaked, maybe perfectly performed…
Robert Harley
STEPS AHEAD: Steps Ahead
Michael Brecker, tenor sax; Eliane Elias, piano; Eddie Gomez, bass; Mike Mainieri, vibes, synthivibe, marimba; Peter Erskine, drums
Elektra Musician 60168-1/2 (LP/CD). Steps Ahead, prods.; James Farber, eng. AAA/AAD. TT: 47:07 Since its 1983 release, Steps Ahead's eponymous first record hasn't been far from my turntable, CD transport, or car stereo. This group of extraordinarily talented players brings a modern touch to straight-ahead acoustic jazz that carries the music forward from where they found it.
STEPS AHEAD: Steps Ahead
Michael Brecker, tenor sax; Eliane Elias, piano; Eddie Gomez, bass; Mike Mainieri, vibes, synthivibe, marimba; Peter Erskine, drums
Elektra Musician 60168-1/2 (LP/CD). Steps Ahead, prods.; James Farber, eng. AAA/AAD. TT: 47:07 Since its 1983 release, Steps Ahead's eponymous first record hasn't been far from my turntable, CD transport, or car stereo. This group of extraordinarily talented players brings a modern touch to straight-ahead acoustic jazz that carries the music forward from where they found it.
Steps Ahead played live together…
Mortimer H. Frank
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony 5 ("Reformation")
Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony
RCA 60284-2 (mono CD only). John Pfeiffer, remastering prod.; Arthur Fiero, remastering eng. ADD. TT: 63:59 I have never heard anything like this 1953 broadcast performance of this symphony---not in the concert hall, on record, or even in any of Toscanini's other NBC broadcasts. In this, his last performance of the work, he took what is considered a second-rate exercise in Victorian propriety and transformed it into a major masterpiece, lending the first movement an unmatched fierceness, the…
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony 5 ("Reformation")
Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony
RCA 60284-2 (mono CD only). John Pfeiffer, remastering prod.; Arthur Fiero, remastering eng. ADD. TT: 63:59 I have never heard anything like this 1953 broadcast performance of this symphony---not in the concert hall, on record, or even in any of Toscanini's other NBC broadcasts. In this, his last performance of the work, he took what is considered a second-rate exercise in Victorian propriety and transformed it into a major masterpiece, lending the first movement an unmatched fierceness, the…
Robert Deutsch
CLARK TERRY/FRANK WESS: Big Band Basie
Clark Terry, Frank Wess, Bob Lark, DePaul University Jazz Ensemble I
Reference Recordings RR-63CD (HDCD CD). J. Tamblyn Henderson, prod.; Keith O. Johnson, eng.; Michael "Pflash" Pflaumer, HDCD eng. DDD. TT: 58:58 Although I'm not really a big-band fan, Big Band Basie has become one of the test pieces I use for hardware reviews; moreover, I often find myself playing it even when I'm not in Equipment Evaluation mode. This is a stunning recording, one that captures the timbre of brass instruments and the sheer power of a big…
CLARK TERRY/FRANK WESS: Big Band Basie
Clark Terry, Frank Wess, Bob Lark, DePaul University Jazz Ensemble I
Reference Recordings RR-63CD (HDCD CD). J. Tamblyn Henderson, prod.; Keith O. Johnson, eng.; Michael "Pflash" Pflaumer, HDCD eng. DDD. TT: 58:58 Although I'm not really a big-band fan, Big Band Basie has become one of the test pieces I use for hardware reviews; moreover, I often find myself playing it even when I'm not in Equipment Evaluation mode. This is a stunning recording, one that captures the timbre of brass instruments and the sheer power of a big…
Peter Catalano
HANDEL: Giustino
Michael Chance, countertenor; Dorothea R;doschmann, soprano; Dawn Kotoski, alto; Freiburger Barockorchester, Nicholas McGegan
Harmonia Mundi 907130.32 (3 CDs only). Robina Young, prod.; Brad Michel, eng. DDD. TT: 2:53:24 There's probably no more experienced a Handel conductor anywhere in the world than Nicholas McGegan, and Giustino may rank among McGegan's best efforts in this repertoire---it's pure pleasure. The Freiburger Barockorchester plays with the confidence of the Berlin Philharmonic: rhythmically crisp and colorfully. The singers are…
HANDEL: Giustino
Michael Chance, countertenor; Dorothea R;doschmann, soprano; Dawn Kotoski, alto; Freiburger Barockorchester, Nicholas McGegan
Harmonia Mundi 907130.32 (3 CDs only). Robina Young, prod.; Brad Michel, eng. DDD. TT: 2:53:24 There's probably no more experienced a Handel conductor anywhere in the world than Nicholas McGegan, and Giustino may rank among McGegan's best efforts in this repertoire---it's pure pleasure. The Freiburger Barockorchester plays with the confidence of the Berlin Philharmonic: rhythmically crisp and colorfully. The singers are…
Robert E. Benson
KORNGOLD: Sinfonietta, Sursum Corda
Matthias Bamert, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Chandos CHAN 9317 (CD only). Ralph Couzens, prod.; Don Hartridge, eng. DDD. TT: 62:42 Both works are products of Korngold's youth: Sinfonietta was completed in 1912 when he was 15, Sursum Corda seven years later. Sinfonietta is a full-scale, 43-minute symphony for large orchestra, majestic in themes and masterfully orchestrated, premiered in 1913 with Weingartner conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.
KORNGOLD: Sinfonietta, Sursum Corda
Matthias Bamert, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Chandos CHAN 9317 (CD only). Ralph Couzens, prod.; Don Hartridge, eng. DDD. TT: 62:42 Both works are products of Korngold's youth: Sinfonietta was completed in 1912 when he was 15, Sursum Corda seven years later. Sinfonietta is a full-scale, 43-minute symphony for large orchestra, majestic in themes and masterfully orchestrated, premiered in 1913 with Weingartner conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.
Sursum Corda's premiere was a failure; it was considered "too modern." Filled with…
Larry Archibald
MISSA LUBA: An African Mass
Muungano National Choir, Kenya; Boniface Mganga, conductor
Philips 426 836-2 (CD only). Job Maarse, prod.; Pieter Boer, Martin Dubbeldam, engs. DDD. TT: 49:54 Missa Luba, An African Mass, does in an African context what Misa Criolla did with a South American accent. My first recording of this work, also on Philips, dates from the '60s---but I can't find my copy. It's a definite buy if you see it as a used LP, in spite of not-so-great sound.
MISSA LUBA: An African Mass
Muungano National Choir, Kenya; Boniface Mganga, conductor
Philips 426 836-2 (CD only). Job Maarse, prod.; Pieter Boer, Martin Dubbeldam, engs. DDD. TT: 49:54 Missa Luba, An African Mass, does in an African context what Misa Criolla did with a South American accent. My first recording of this work, also on Philips, dates from the '60s---but I can't find my copy. It's a definite buy if you see it as a used LP, in spite of not-so-great sound.
Despite the Kenyan origin of this new version, it has an energy strongly reminiscent of the…
Two scientists are racing for the good of all mankind—both of them working side by side, so determined, locked in heated battle for the cure that is the prize. It's so dangerous, but they're driven—theirs is to win, if it kills them. They're just human, with wives and children.
No, I'm not breaking into fiction or poetry. This is the beginning of the greatest pop album since Radiohead's OK Computer, XTC's Skylarking, Elvis Costello's Imperial Bedroom—possibly even Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Is that last one premature? Maybe. But the latest CD from the Flaming Lips, The Soft…
I heard the other day from Steve Creamer of Nirvana Audio Cable. Steve had just finished reading May's "Fine Tunes," in which I'd mused further about grounding your audio system.
"Jonathan, grounding to a cold-water pipe is fine as long as that's the way the ground path does, in fact, terminate. If your building does not use a cold-water pipe for ground—that is, without a jumper at the meter—then ground floats around the building, so to speak. And that can be dangerous if you find a way, however unlikely, to touch both ground lines, as there may be a difference in potential just waiting…