28 October 2009

Don't fecklessly lemming off the cliff of a younger demographic like a certain public broadcaster. Tune into the Komodo Dragon Show for your long-haired music this Wednesday morning.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:30am

1. Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No.6 "Pastoral" (1808)
Transcribed by Franz Liszt (1837)
Liszt Piano Music Vol.19
Konstantin Scherbakov - piano
Naxos, 8.557170
39:30

2. Franz Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin (1823)
Text by Wilhelm Müller (1820)
Arranged by John W. Duarte & Konrad Ragossnig
Peter Schreier - tenor, Konrad Ragossnig - guitar
Seraphim, S-60369
64'
(Not that schöne Müllerin. A childhood story read to us by our parents. Pictures say a thousand words.)

Set #2 - 9:30am - 11:00am

3. Carl Nielsen: Aladdin (1919)
Text by Adam Oehlenschläger (1805)
Gennady Rozhdestvensky - conductor, Mette Ejsing - alto, Guido Paevatalu - baritone, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra & Chamber Choir
Chandos, CHAN 9135
79:15
(The Danish Peer Gynt.)

21 October 2009

"...piling up of the overtone spectrum...." - Alfred Schnittke

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:30am

1. Boris Tishchenko: No.12 "D. D. Shostakovich" from Twelve Portraits for Organ (1992)
Hervé Désarbre - organ, Alexei Korzoune - timpani
Le chant du monde, LDC 77781124
12:18
(A portrait of Shostakovich without the D-S-C-H motive?!)

2. Alfred Schnittke: Symphony No.3 (1981)
Eri Klas - conductor, Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
BIS, CD-477
49:22

3. Morton Feldman: Piano & Voices (1972)
Joan La Barbara - soprano, Ralph Grierson - piano & celeste
Only: Works for Voice & Instruments: Morton Feldman
New Albion Records, NA085CD
17:35
(5 pianos, 1 celeste, 5 voices.)

Set #2 - 9:30am - 11:00am

4. Lubomyr Melnyk: The Lund-St. Petri Symphony (1979)
Lubomyr Melnyk - piano
Apparition Records, A0781-2
90'

14 October 2009

Four on the floor plus one. String quartets with a little augmentation.

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

1. Lejaren Hiller: String Quartet No.5 (in Quarter-Tones) (1962)
The Concord String Quartet: Mark Sokol & Andrew Jennings - violins, John Kochanowski - viola, Norman Fischer - cello
American String Quartets 1950-1970
Vox Box, CDX 5143
26:52

2. Pavel Haas: String Quartet No.2 "From the Monkey Mountains" (1925)
Pavel Haas Quartet: Venonika Jarusková - 1st violin, Katerina Gemrotová - 2nd violin, Pavel Niki - viola, Peter Jarusek - cello, Colin Currie - percussion
Supraphon, SU 3877-2
31:46

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

3. Arnold Schönberg: String Quartet No.2 in F# minor op.10 (1908, rec. Los Angeles 31 Dec. 1936)
Text by Stefan George (1907)
Clemence Gifford - soprano, Kolisch Quartet: Rudolf Kolisch - violin, Felix Khuner - violin, Eugene Lehner - viola, Benar Heifetz - cello
In Honor of Rudolf Kolisch
Music & Arts, CD-1056
28:34

4. Alex Shapiro: Current Events (2003)
Miwako Watanabe & Connie Kupka - violins, Victoria Miskolczy & David Walther - violas, David Speltz - cello
Alex Shapiro: Notes from the Kelp
Innova Recordings, 683
15:35

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

5. Brian Cherney: String Trio (1976)
Otto Armin - violin, Rivka Golani - viola, Peter Schenkman - cello
Ovation Vol.4
CBC Records, PSCD 2029-4
20:57

6. Franz Schubert: Quintet for Strings in C major D.956 (1828)
Alban Berg Quartett: Günter Pichler - violin, Gerhard Schulz - violin, Thomas Kakuska - viola, Valentin Erben - cello; Heinrich Schiff - cello
EMI, 7243 5 66942 2 4
47:33

07 October 2009

A random walk through the vinyl in my recroom. Yes, whole albums!

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

1. Richard Wagner: "Ride of the Valkyries" from Die Walküre (1870)
3:17

2. Richard Wagner: "Siegfried's Funeral March" from Götterdämmerung (1876)
7:44

3. Richard Wagner: Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin (1850)
6:11

4. Richard Wagner: Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin (1850)
3:12

5. Richard Wagner: Prelude to Tristan und Isolde (1865)
6:55

6. Richard Wagner: "Love-Death" from Tristan und Isolde (1865)
6:18

7. Richard Wagner: "Wedding March" from Lohengrin (1850)
2:36

8. Richard Wagner: "Pilgrims' Chorus" from Tannhäuser (1845)
3:54

Tracks 1-8
Arranged by Stan Kenton (1964)
Stan Kenton Orchestra
Kenton/Wagner
Capitol Records, TAO 2217
("Modern Wagnerian themes, complemented by classically-sensitive Stan Kenton arrangements, create for you an expressive musical experience and emphasize why Wagner and Kenton belong to every age.")

9. Nacio Herb Brown: Doll Dance
2:19

10. Kerry Mills: At a Georgia Camp Meeting
2:12

11. Arthur Pryor: The Whistler & His Dog
2:18

12. Ray Bauduc & Bob Haggart: South Rampart Street Parade
2:38

13. Antonín Dvořák: Humoresque
2:30

14. King, Bivens & Kahn: Josephine
2:22

15. W. C. Handy: St. Louis Blues
2:00

16. Edward B. Claypoole: Ragging the Scale
2:08

Tracks 9-16 (rec. 1953)
Milt Herth Trio
Hi-Jinks on the Hammond
Capitol Records, H-425
(What's a recroom without a few Hammond organ LPs? Herth makes it sound so effortless on this 10-incher, the way he plucks those melodies out of the air.)

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

17. Andrew Rudin: Tragoedia (1967-68)
Nonesuch Records, H-71198
40'
(Lest you think my recroom is populated entirely by cheesy recordings, here's a classic for electronic music synthesizer.)

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

18. Jim Fassett: Strange to Your Ears: The Fabulous World of Sound (1960)
Columbia Records, ML 4938
(Jim Fassett explains how it's all done.)

19. Otto Joachim: 5.9 (1971)
5:54
(Otto Joachim turns 99 next week!)

20. Paul Pedersen: For Margaret, Motherhood & Mendelssohn (1971)
4:20

21. Micheline Coulombe-Saint-Marcoux: Zones (1972)
9:00

Tracks 19-21
"Carrefour": Musique électro-acoustique/Electroacoustic Music
Radio Canada International, RCI 373