Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 99 Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 129 Lydia Mordkovich, violin Scottish National Orchestra Neeme Järvi My first time with No. 2. It's a bit prickly, but in time I expect to warm up to it. No. 1 is great, a nice companion to Vengerov (and Oistrakh, of course).
Maybe. Tidal seems to have some, but not all, of the Channel Classics releases. And of course, only in redbook.
Now on the turntable, "Clemens Non Papa - Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis" performed by The Tallis Scholars on Gimell.
Listening to my recording right now. Maybe not the best I've ever heard a cello sound, but the other two instruments sound find. And not especially dry. I'm going to switch to Rubinstein/Fournier/Szeryng for a comparison. Much warmer performance. And a better sounding cello. The piano may not be as good.
Now on the turntable, record 2 from "A Comprehensive Selection From The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book" performed by Joseph Payne on Vox.
Listening again to the Bilson/Gardiner cycle of Mozart concertos. The previous time and this time are the first two occasions where I have found the fortepiano to have enough weight (albeit barely) to stand out against the orchestra. My guess is that my new DAC has improved the imaging, such that the fortepiano has a better defined space. It's not going to replace, or even match, the piano in my affections, but I can now consider it a viable alternative.
The Bilson/Gardiner Mozart cycle is still the only concerto cycle with fortepiano of any composer I can stand - though barely... The only solo fortepiano sets I have are Brautigam's Mozart and Beethoven boxes.
Now on the turntable, record 2 from "Gregorian Chant" performed by the Benedictine Abbey Munsterschwarzsach on Archiv. Third Mass for Christmas Epiphany
So Apple is trying to play catch-up in the streaming game. I wonder how Pandora and Spotify will fare against Apple? I may try the streaming myself but have never cared for the downloads. If I want to have the actual music, I prefer the physical media.
Ordered from Amazon jp for $80.00 delivered. Enjoying Kogan's Khachaturian Violin Concerto. Box arrived, again, in four days with unique cushioning inside. Now only problem is continued spam in Japanese from Amazon. Have tried to decipher the "unsubscribe" link without any luck. Goes into spam/trash file.
Now listening to CD 4 from this set. Still feel like something big is missing. Perhaps charm, warmth, both?
Only Amazon Japan is selling this box for under $100. I have only 2 or 3 CD's by Pierre Monteux and an unknown number of LP's since the latter are not cataloged on computer ...
The following box may be the only recordings by Walter Kraft in my collection. I was not too attracted to his performance style ...
Thanks! Maybe 10 years ago or a bit more, I took stock of the direction in which I was heading as a collector and reluctantly came to the conclusions (a) that I had neither space nor money to own every classical 78 of the acoustic/early electric eras, and (b) that the ship had already sailed regarding the lateral stuff most lacking in my collection, which is to say that I had a good representation of the "common" Victors and such, but filling in with Monarchs and G&Ts and the like had become prohibitively expensive. So I decided to "specialize" in vertical cut records instead, a class that was, maybe, a bit pricey, but in all sufficiently restricted in scope and not yet in such demand but that I might hope to assemble a really strong collection. Dunno if I've entirely succeeded, but oh, my have I had fun trying! No, can't say that I was ever aware of the store in Boonton, but it sounds like my kind of place! Closest thing I encountered was the place where I got my first cylinder player. It was a derelict hotel, as I remember it a big, multi-story brick building, rather grandly named The Imperial Hotel, in a little town in middle Tennessee called Monterey. I'm sure in its heyday it would have been the sort of place with one bath conveniently situated on each floor. The proprietor, an old gentleman named Mr. Ray King, ran an antique phonograph store in the only remaining habitable part, the voluminous former office. There, in the company of a bunch of local codgers gossiping around a big ol' iron stove in the center of the room, he had shelves and shelves and shelves of 78s, cylinders, and Edison players. A colorful guy, full of stories about the popular singers of yesteryear. Too bad we lived at enough distance that I didn't get to visit the place again. That was back in the mid-'70s; I'm sure by now it has been gone for ages. Do you know the way to Monterey? I've been away too long......... You're most welcome! I'm impressed with the outfit so far, and I hope it does well. [Addendum] Just thought to do a Google search. Ray King died in 1996 at age 87. And here's a photo of the Imperial Hotel, which since I was there seems to have been restored, reopened, and then closed again for failure to comply with modern fire codes. The photo below doesn't really tally with my recollection of the place--in my mind's eye, it was a lot more isolated and sprawling--but then, I was a 15-year-old kid fixated on getting to those records and phonos right now! I doubtless didn't pay too much attention to architecture. RIP, Mr. King. You passed along your love of the hobby to a wet-behind-the-ears teenaged kid, for whom it's been a lifelong pleasure.
