27 May 2009

97 Fingers Bösendorfer tinkles the ivories.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Benjamin Britten: Five Walztes (1923-25)
Stephen Hough - piano
Britten: Piano Works
Virgin Classics, VC 7 91203-2
10:54

2. Dmitri Shostakovich: Dances of the Dolls (1952-62)
Inna Heifetz - piano
Sonora Productions, S0222563CD
11'

3. Franz Schubert: Thirty-Six Original Dances op.9, D 365 (1821)
Michael Endres - piano
Schubert: Dances
Capriccio, 49 242
22:38

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

4. Phillip Schroeder: Twelve Pieces for Piano (2003)
Phillip Schroeder: Music for Piano
Jeri-Mae G. Astolfi - piano
Capstone Records, CPS-8742
25:20

5. Zoltán Kodály: Twenty-Four Little Canons on the Black Keys (1945)
Kodály: The Complete Piano Music
Ádám Fellegi - piano
Hungaroton, HCD 31540-41
11'

6. Maurice Ravel: Valses nobles & sentimentales (1911)
Angela Hewitt - piano
Ravel: The Complete Solo Piano Music
Hyperion Records, CDA67341/2
17:00

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

7. Paul Hindemith: Ludus Tonalis (1942)
Edward Aldwell - piano
Pro Piano Records, PPR224508
52'

20 May 2009

The ole licorice stick: three instruments in one.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Ludwig van Beethoven: "Là ci darem la mano" Variations from Mozart's Don Giovanni (1796-97)
Trio di Clarone: Sabine Meyer - clarinet, Wolfgang Meyer - clarinet, Reiner Wehle - basset horn
Una voce ... per clarone
Avi-music, 42 6008553 001 4
8:21
(The Lumberjack Song.)

2. Ludwig van Beethoven: Trio in B flat major op.11 (1797-98)
Amici: Joaquin Valdepeñas - clarinet, David Hetherington - cello, Patricia Parr - piano
Summit Records, DCD 151
21'

3. Johannes Brahms: Sonata for Clarinet & Piano in E flat major op.120 no.2 (1894)
Gervase de Peyer - clarinet, Gwenneth Pryor - piano
Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas
Chandos Records, CHAN 8563
20:48
(Brahms' last chamber composition, an Austro-Hungarian sunset.)

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

4. Aram Khachaturian: Trio (1932)
Riverdale Ensemble: Stephen Fox - clarinet, Daniel Kushner - violin, Ellen Meyer - piano
Riverdale Ensemble: Foliage
Furiant Records, FMDC 4619-2
15:45

5. S.C. Eckhardt-Gramatté: Ruck-Ruck Sonata (1947)
James Mark - clarinet, Penelope Mark - piano
Canadian Music for Clarinet
CMFC99
17:14

6. Joseph Scriven & Charles C. Converse: What a Friend We Have in Jesus (rec. NYC 1990s?)
Eddy Davis - musical director, Woody Allen - clarinet, The New York Jazz Ensemble
The Bunk Project
MusicMasters, 01612-65098-2
6:01

7. Tale Ognenovski: Jazz Composition No.1
4:04

8. Tale Ognenovski: Jazz Composition No.5
6:07

9. Tale Ognenovski: Jazz Composition No.8
2:35

Tracks 7-9
Tale Ognenovski - clarinet, reed pipe, small bagpipe & zurla, Stevan Ognenovski - drum & reed pipe, Kliment Ognenovski - reed pipe, Nikola Ognenovski - reed pipe
Jazz, Macedonian Folk Dances & Classical Music
Independent Records, n.n.
(Zurla = an ill wind no-one blows good, i.e. a pungent double-reed.)

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

10. Allen Lowe: Dream Sequence (rec. NYC 19 Apr. 1992)
Doc Cheatham - trumpet, David Murray - bass clarinet, Loren Schoenberg - tenor sax, Allen Lowe - alto sax, Paul Austerlitz - bass clarinet, Jeff Fuller - bass, Ray Kaczynski - drums
Mental Strain at Dawn: A Modern Portrait of Louis Armstrong
Stash Records, ST-CD-563
6:01

11. Ralph Burns: Summer Sequence (Parts 1-3) (rec. LA 19 Sep. 1946)
Woody Herman & His Orchestra: Blowin' Up a Storm
Columbia/Legacy, C2K 65646
9'

12. Gerald Finzi: Concerto in C for Clarinet & Strings (1948-49)
James Campbell - clarinet, Simon Streatfeild - conductor, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
Gerald Finzi: Meditation
CBC Records, SMCD 5204
27:24

13. Albert Franz Doppler & Karl Doppler: Rigoletto-Fantasy
Arranged by Rainer Schottstädt
Trio di Clarone: Sabine Meyer - clarinet, Wolfgang Meyer - basset horn, Reiner Wehle - clarinet; Kalle Randalu - piano
Una voce ... per clarone
Avi-music, 42 6008553 001 4
8:52
(Basset horn is almost as sad as a basset hound.)

13 May 2009

Following on the tail of last week's Dionysian frog frenzy, today we become a chaperone in the Tunnel of Love. Somewhere is an amusement park where couples ride swan-shaped flume boats through dark passages. The terminal station is named return to the confines of propriety. While we have nothing so inviting at the University of Manitoba, there is the underground tunnel to the science complex, where speakers boom out UMFM programming 24x7.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

1. Vladimir Ussachevsky: Line of Apogee (1967)
Vladimir Ussachevsky: Film Music
New World Records, 80389-2
43:37

2. Sam Crain: Synthmusic No. 1 (1984)
4:07

3. Sam Crain: Synthmusic No. 2 (1984)
3:36

4. Sam Crain: Synthmusic No. 3 (2004)
4:34

Tracks 2-4
Music of Sam Crain
James Samuel Crain, n.n.
(Buy Sam's CD here.)

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

5. Michael Matthews: On the Outer Edge (2001)
Presence III: A Compilation of Electroacoustic Works
Canadian Electroacoustic Community, PeP 005
5:04

6. Andrea Holtslander: Steam, Billow (2000)
Cache 2001
Canadian Electroacoustic Community, PeP 004
7:45

7. David Tudor: Sliding Pitches in the Rainforest in the Field: Rainforest Version IV (1973)
Mode Records, 64
51:58

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

8. Ann Southam: Reprieve (1976)
25:52

9. Ann Southam: Seastill (1979)
15:18

Tracks 8-9
Ovation Vol.4
CBC Records, PSCD 2029-4

06 May 2009

Loll in a limpid pool, like a contented catfish. It's Mississippi Paddlewheel Riverboat Days! We follow one Samuel Clemens down Elderly Man River, taking a third-hour detour among the snags, cypress knees and whisky-colored water of the Great Dismal Swamp.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 8:45am

1. Clarence "Frogman" Henry: Ain't Got No Home (rec. 1998)
Yockamo All-Stars
Rampart Street Rumba: Hannibal in New Orleans
Hannibal Records, HNCD 1464
6:19

2. Ferde Grofé: Mississippi Suite (1926)
William Stromberg - conductor, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Grofé: Orchestral Works
Naxos, 8.559007
13:35

3. José White: La bella cubana (1910)
5:50

4. Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Ojos criollos (1859)
2:38

5. Arthur Duroseau: Bonne humeur
3:12

6. Frank French: Centennial Cakewalk
3:56

Tracks 3-6
Sophie Rivard - violin, Frank French - piano
Folies Jolies
Sophie Rivard & Frank French, CR 1001

Set #2 - 8:45am - 10:00am

7. Max Steiner: The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)
Score restoration by John Morgan
William Stromberg - conductor, Moscow Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Naxos, 8.557470
71'

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

8. Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Souvenir de Porto Rico (1857)
Frank French - piano
La Bamboula: Early New Orleans & Ragtime Music
Affinity, 1012
6:55

9. Geordie Haley: Top Water Lure (rec. 2008)
Geordie Haley - prepared guitar, Jean Martin - prepared banjo
Sculptures
Geordie Haley, geo_ha 06
12:09

10. Francis Dhomont: Signé Dionysos (1986-91)
Mouvances - Métaphores 2: Les dérives du signe
Empreintes digitales, IMED-9108
28:22
(A real frog opera, based on the nocturnal calls of amorous amphibians. The composer writes: "Unheard-of, surreal, dilated songs. Naturally, after love, the drama will conclude with death..." and, concerning the transformation of the sound object: "All of these delusions confound the ear and, as with wine, alter the senses." At right, results of the Dionysian frenzy. There's a "sound projection" score here. Follow along.)