Picking up where I left off last night. On the turntable: Disc 14 of 35 from my haul at the used record store on Friday. Seemed like a good way to start a Sunday morning. I know there are a number of Emma Kirkby fans here. This is the first disc I've heard by her and the first I've owned. I understand why you all like her. Handel - Emma Kirkby, The Academy Of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood – Italian Cantatas L'Oiseau-Lyre – 414 473-1
I've been listening to this recently, too. I remember your remark about vibrato, but this doesn't seem excessive to me. Still enjoying it?
Gradus: Music by David Claman (2020, Albany) Spotify Edition A kind of travelogue through the South India. Not bad.
Norbert Brainin's vibrato can be a bit much at times, but so far it's listenable (listening to the clarinet trio). On later Amadeus Quartet recordings his intonation can be a problem.
I’ve had this three disc set of the quintets and sextets for a while but haven’t listened to much of it. Time to rectify that —
On the turntable: Disc 15 of 38 from the used record store on Friday at $0.66 each (I miscounted. I thought I had 35, seems I got 38--so they were even cheaper than I thought). I guess I was thinking 35 new-to-me records. Three are discs I already own, but cleaner copies. In any case, 38 for $25. Oh, except I rejected one that, despite looking in excellent condition, was hopelessly noisy, even after cleaning--so 37, I guess. Berkeley – Divertimento / Serenade / Partita / Canzonetta Lyrita Recorded Edition – SRCS. 74 A composer I know nothing about, but I'm enjoying this--the music and the recorded sound. Conducted by the composer. A 1975 release.
Back at the end of November ('Black Friday'), I ordered two mega-boxes, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields '60 Years' set (60 CD's, from Amazon.de), and the Complete Pierre Rampal at EMI/HMV, a bundled set of four smaller boxes (69 discs, from jpc.de). Both boxes have now arrived, and I'm positively swimming in a huge pool of amazing music. I'll be busy for a while! The Amazon.de box came just after Christmas, looking like they'd played rugby football with it all the way from Germany to the US West Coast. Someone had the presence of mind to put the shipping box in a plastic bag, presumably because it was at risk of falling apart. The jpc.de shipment came just a couple of days ago. JPC shipped very promptly, and the box was in New York City within 4 days. Whereupon, either the USPS or Customs proceeded to sit on it for over 5 weeks! I had to contact JPC, which was very helpful in following up; a couple of days after that, tracking finally showed the box was moving again, ad it arrived a couple of days later. The good news is that, despite the issues with the Amazon outer box, both sets were well packed internally and arrived in flawless condition! But, given the changes in how the EU now collects VAT, even if you're ordering from outside the EU, I'll give ordering from overseas a long rest!
On the turntable: Disc 16 of 38 from Friday. A 1968 release. Ginastera / João Carlos Martins, Boston Symphony, Erich Leinsdorf – Concerto For Piano And Orchestra (1961) / Variaciones Concertantes RCA Victor Red Seal – LSC-3029
I'm having worse trouble getting US located ebay items promptly delivered to me in the US than things I order from Europe via Presto at this point. It's ridiculous! I had one item sitting in a New Jersey post office 5 days before it started moving again. Presto has hiccups due to pandemic issues, but has been very reliable and quicker than I ever assume they will be.
I picked and chose only 2 volumes of the Rampal Erato boxes. I only bought from JPC once over the years so that universal VAT from continental European etailers really does not affect me much. But even after Brexit, I heard rumor UK could be slapping a VAT on all foreign buyers from British etailers in the near future. I have noticed Presto Classical now has a 'new' dropdown box listing all 50 US states at checkout. Perhaps in preparation for hitting us American with state sales tax? In the meantime, I am still waiting for a small box from a private eBay German seller who shipped it on Dec 1st ...
I am very happy with the service from both Amazon.de and JPC.de, and hopefully stressed that I didn't hold the issues to be their problem. Each shipped my orders on a timely basis, and with tracking. IMHO, the problem is and has been the United States Postal Service, which simply has not ramped up capacity to deal with the current (and growing) flow of online orders, particularly at the holiday season. I've never been a fan of governmental privatization, but this is really causing me to re-think. Honestly, if Amazon can read the trends and rapidly expand its own logistics operation (leasing an additional 70+ aircraft and buying 7 more, as well as hiring thousands of new drivers), what, then, is the issue for USPS? [edit: I know the answer to that question, but it veers perilously close to politics, which is (for good reason) verboten here. I'll leave well enough alone!]
Disc 17 of 38 from the used record store on Friday. Another pristine Nonesuch release. Circa 1967. George Frideric Handel – Concerto In B Flat Major For Harp And Orchestra Op. 4 No. 6 / Ballet Suite "Terpsichore" / Three Sonatas For Flute And Harpsichord Nonesuch – H-71164
Back in the dark ages I took vocal lessons and for some reason one of the practice pieces (the name escapes me) was by Lennox Berkeley. I also did a few Ives songs. I have a disc of piano music by L Berkeley - I need to pull that out again.
Discs 7 & 8 from this 8-LP set. Walcha plays the Silbermann organ at the Church of Saint-Pierre-le Jeune, Strasbourg, France. Recorded 5/22-28/70. Producer: Dr. Gerd Ploebsch. Engineer: Hansjoachim Reiser.
I think that is by far the best recording of the Concerto No.1. It could use remastering, though, as it's a bit light in the bass regions. An odd pairing, for sure, but he makes it work. I saw Hodges play Birtwistle's "Gigue Machine"--a ferociously difficult work--in concert a few years ago. He also played Mozart's Gigue K.574, a Klaviertucke by Stockhausen, and Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" Sonata! Anyway, this is an excellent new release. Beethoven: Fantasy op. 77 Birtwistle: Variations from the Golden Mountain (2014)* Beethoven: Bagatelles op. 126 Birtwistle: Gigue Machine (2011)* Beethoven: Allegretto, WoO 61 Birtwistle: Dance of the metro-gnome (2006)*
