The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

(Western Art Music Survey, 1750-1950: Week V -- Beethoven)

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It was one of those evenings. Patsy Cline. 2LP, 45RPM set via Analogue Productions.

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This version of "Why Can't He Be You" is every bit as good...

 
In the female vocalist category, I just finished up needledropping THE BEST OF VIKKI CARR (Liberty 1972).

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Saturday 3/27/21 Turner Classic Movies will show the short promotional video Living Stereo at 2:15 am PDT. RCA Victor introduces their stereophonic phonograph record innovation, explaining the fundamentals of one-track recording. Should be amusing. DVR set. 8 minutes.
 
Saturday 3/27/21 Turner Classic Movies will show the short promotional video Living Stereo at 2:15 am PDT. RCA Victor introduces their stereophonic phonograph record innovation, explaining the fundamentals of one-track recording. Should be amusing. DVR set. 8 minutes.
I think archive.org had that for download, or some other similar Living Stereo promo film. There's also a promo film for the ill-fated stereo tape cassette from that same era. It was a cool technology but never caught on. They're a hoot to watch, especially given the mid-century lifestyle accoutrements of the day. (I mean, how many of us today put on our dress shirt and slacks, or cocktail dress, to listen to records at home? 😁) You'll enjoy it!
 
Released this past Friday:

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This is a limited edition two-CD set (as of today it's already sold out), although available as a download.

I've heard these already, and posted a few in this thread. These were recordings Raul made during the past year, staying safely at home. The first CD is primarily the earliest Quarantunes with Raul playing on the Mellotron or with his guitar. A couple of tracks have his sons Dino and Max, Hector Tellez Jr. on a couple others, but on the second CD, we have some rehearsal performances by The Mavericks, and a track with The Band of Heathens that they performed remotely together.

Sound quality is about what you'd expect for home recordings, and the tracks with The Mavs are a bit wooly at times, but there are some good tunes among the batch. My favorite of them all remains "Ventura Highway" which had Hector Tellez on guitar and vocals, Raul on bass, and Raul's sons (Dino on drums, Max on rhythm guitar). Very nice cover version of the America hit. Raul's solo track "Sinners and Saints," performed here with the Mavs, is also a highlight, as are their two covers of George Harrison-penned tunes "Here Comes the Sun" and "My Sweet Lord."
 
I had this urge to hear Gershwin's Preludes, after not hearing Prelude #2 for probably a few decades. (I had started to learn playing that piece back when my piano teacher fell and broke his hip, and I stopped taking lessons on piano and continued with woodwinds.)

So I hopped onto my Roon player and searched, which pulls up search results from Qobuz and one of the first that came up was this recording:

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I'll admit (sorry Grandma!*) that I am not that fond of Gershwin, but the Preludes I do like. And this recording with Leon Bates does a fantastic job at them. His other Gershwin tunes are like classical improvisations around existing versions, arranged for piano, and he gives them a shot of life. He also draws a parallel between George Gershwin and Chick Corea, whose "Children's Songs" Bates covers here. Corea of course is known for jazz, but these compositions on their own could easily fall into the realm of modern classical music. These Songs are short pieces, just a couple of minutes in length each at the most. A couple sound familiar, as Corea would often use theme elsewhere--"Space Circus, Pt. 1" from Hymn of the Seventh Gallery by Corea's group Return To Forever is actually "Children's Song No. 3."

So this is quite a nice little recording, with an unexpected pairing of composers. I didn't even really notice Corea's name until I happened to glance at the CD artwork while the Preludes were playing.

And now I have a hankerin' to learn to play these Preludes, although my technique is rusty by at least 40 years...as are my sheet music reading skills, having to sharpen my skills for the bass clef especially. "Prelude No. 1" is only like a minute and a half long but covers four (!) pages due to its rapid tempo! This the first of the four pages:

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For "Prelude No. 2," the left hand has to stretch by an octave and a minor third (C# to E in the next octave). I can just reach that. (I remember it being a bit painful all those years ago; nowadays the pain is from arthritis! 😁)

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* My grandmother was a big Gershwin fan. Her favorite recording of "Rhapsody in Blue" was Gershwin's own performance, released on 78s (which she had), along with a reissue LP she purchased of the same performance. When she heard my Telarc version (Erich Kunzel/Cincinnati Orchestra, with Eugene List on piano), she immediately liked it since List's performance was so very close to Gershwin's own. So yeah...I kind of grew tired of Gershwin over the years, so I always have to toss the "Sorry, Grandma!" apology out there. 😁
 
And before I head outdoors to get some work done on the hooptie fleet, I'm finishing this one up, via Qobuz.

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For "Prelude No. 2," the left hand has to stretch by an octave and a minor third (C# to E in the next octave). I can just reach that. (I remember it being a bit painful all those years ago; nowadays the pain is from arthritis! 😁)

Oh those tenths! My fingers used to barely be able to get those simultaneously. An early piano teacher told me to get them in quick sequence and most wouldn't notice.
 
Yep, those are the ones! I just checked now, and I slightly hit the "D" next to the "E" when I reach for that span. On the keyboard I have now it would probably sound the note but with a proper hammer-action digital piano, it wouldn't. My piano teacher used to play them in quick sequence also--I guess it's the accepted way to do it.
 
Just tried it on our Yamaha console piano (regular strings). If I grab the edges of the keys, and do it slowly, I can still just about make it - but it ain't purty.
 
I don't have the Baldwin here anymore (had no room to keep it, and was tired of moving it from house to house), so my consolation prize will probably be one of the better digital pianos out there. Especially since I can plug in headphones so I don't annoy everyone with "Linus and Lucy" throughout the day. 😁
 
I have those three preludes (fast-slow-fast). The first one was always my favourite because of the left-hand rhythm. Would have loved to hear Horace do that one up.

Both Corea and Jarrett have composed fascinating music outside the realm of jazz that apparently fits the definition of Western art music...
 
I just listened to the late guitarist Ronnie Montrose solo album "Open Fire" (from 1978) on YouTube. From that album, here is the remake of "Town Without Pity" (audio only)
 
Nik Bärtsch released a new recording this past Friday, Entendre.

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Rather than record with his Ronin or Mobile groups, this is a solo piano recording. There are no "new" compositions here but, given how his "Moduls" are more like sketches than "fully-colored" tunes, the interpretations echo themes we are already familiar with, and are often played as combinations with other Moduls. For instance, "Modul 58" from the 2018 Awase album is combined with "Modul 12" which dates back to his Ritual Groove Music album, becoming "Module 58_12" on this recording. "Modul 5" is one of the earliest that appears here and has appeared on Ritual Groove Music (2001), Continuum (2015) and his early (and only other) solo piano recording from 2002 Hishiryo: Piano Solo.
 
From the Backlot Series (which for this title, seems to be a repackaging of the purple A&M Classics anthology):

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"This Flight Tonight" is a great track to kick off this set.
 
This is a solid album--it was Cheryl Lynn's debut, released on Columbia. She nailed two hits on this one--"Got To Be Real" and "Star Love." David Paich had a big hand in this album (composing, arranging, playing), and looking over the credits, it's an all-star lineup of top L.A. studio musicians, including the brass section. Ray Parker Jr. and Steve Lukather were on guitar, Bernard Purdie on drums, Marty Paich did some of the arrangements while his pal Joe Porcaro (father of the Porcaro brothers) played on percussion, along with Harvey Mason. Chuck Rainey appears on bass. The horn section also has many familiar names like Bob and Chuck Findley, Bobby Shew, Gary Grant, Ernie Watts, Gene Cipriano, Ronnie Lang, Ted Nash, Dick Nash, Lew McCreary...a who's who of west coast horn players.

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The real irony here is that Cheryl Lynn first appeared on The Gong Show! 😁
 
A Tone Poet arrived today. So far, it's sounding pretty good:

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Also, this 80th Anniversary series reissue:

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Now I'll get to hear "Filthy McNasty" in all its vinyl glory. 😁
 
"Filthy McNasty" is one of those tunes where, to quote some long-lost review I read decades ago, it "swings so hard it hurts!". 😁 That chugging rhythm gets me every time.
 
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