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I purposely listened to this CD before researching the players/quartet. It made for a very pleasant surprise. The playing on this CD is superlative. The players change from individual solo work to the most corporate quartet sound with consummate ease. Fabulous! And they are English.
Young Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado gets around. He's the music director of the orchestra on this new recording of Tchaikovsky, but it's as a guest conductor where Heras-Casado is making his mark. He's omnipresent with the great orchestras of London, Vienna and Berlin. And while the Orchestra of St Luke's is a fine group, I can't help thinking that the next major opening will be his for the choosing.
A master pianist is at work, here.
For many years, Perahia was known for his wonderful Mozart recordings on CBS/Sony. His many recordings are among the finest in the catalogue. His Beethoven, too. But he's such a fantastic musician, anything he records has magic in spades. This Bach recording in a new partnership with DG will be placed among the very best.
One would think that after the initial release and subsequent success of this amazing Gaîté Parisienne, that a re-recording by the same forces would seem redundant. Yet, four years after this 1954 stereo gem, RCA released the excellent, but not quite-as-fine, remake (LSC-2267). To my delight, Michael Hobson of Classic Records chose the earlier historical document as his Gaîté of choice.
Australian singer/songwriter/guitarist Fiona Boyes is an earthy force of nature. Her gravelly vocal timbre is straight out of the red dirt of the Outback. No swishy Blues affectation, here. You'll be getting as honest a voice as you've heard in a long time. 'So bloody refreshing', as the Aussies might say.
Iranian American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani takes on the Everest for the harpsichord, J. S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. Others have tackled this masterpiece and conquered the mountain. How does this Stanford-trained, Guildhall School of Music professor rank?
LSC 2150 presents two distinctly different Russian scores. Kijé is from the mainstream Prokofiev stable: folk tunes scored with great invention and combined with sections of sarcasm and wit. The Stravinsky tone poem, Song of the Nightingale, is music taken from his opera, The Nightingale.
Much of the technology incorporated in Rega's recent RP8 turntable transitoned up to the new flagship RP10. As such, a read of our RP8 review would be a good idea before reading the RP10 review. In addition to the new technology added to the RP8, the RP10 was designed with those and some truly new extraordinary design cues that set a new bar for Rega.
What would we audiophiles do without our top ten lists? At the distant end of this series, Audiophilia will publish a ranking of our favourite Classic Records reissues. From the quality of the selections auditioned thus far, the task is proving to be a daunting, yet compelling, one.
When I was a student at Trinity College of Music in London, there were two schools of thought when discussing piano giants, the schools of Maurizio Pollini and Emil Gilels. I remember jumping on the free tickets in the student common room for any concert featuring either of the the two. Listening to these wonderful pianists, and for free, was amazing and instructive.
These recordings were sourced by DGG from 1960s German radio recordings. Some were recorded before Argerich triumphed in the Chopin Piano Competition. Some, after. Before or after the world's imprimatur, these recordings show the genius of Argerich's playing. Faultless technique, sparkling sound, youthful courage and wonderful musicianship.
After a flurry of recent Audiophilia headphone/earphone deliveries and reviews, the Puro BT-5200 Bluetooth Wireless Headphones arrival came much like coal to Newcastle. I knew they were shipped for review and a quick visit to Amazon showed real good lookers in gold metal and buttery tan leather and priced at a very (too?) reasonable $129.
Le Nozze di Figaro is a perfect opera. Certainly the perfect example of Mozart’s Italian style. There have been many great recordings. My favourite comes from what could be considered an unexpected source. Solti and London forces.
A restless night last month directed me to grab my iPhone for an email check. 4:30 a.m. A natural selection, of course. Atop my Inbox, a very pleasant review request from Meze Headphones. A perfectly timed email closest to the dawn.
There are times when the sound quality of one’s audio system exhibits significant improvement due to an upgrade of a component and no one would question why. Main examples are the upgrade of speakers, amps, or digital-to-analogue converters (DACs)—all of which I have gone through over the years.
It feels invigorating to get your long held audiophile pre conceived notions smashed to smithereens on occasion. This was such an occasion. Three weeks earlier, it felt as though I was knocking on the door of a very cool house party location. The host answered and looked at me with surprise. 'Actually, the party's just winding down'.
The HD6 is the latest powered speaker from Audioengine, the company founded by two young American audio entrepreneurial dynamos, Dave Evans and Brady Bargenquast. I've been impressed with Audioengine's digital products and speakers from its startup over ten year's ago. In the here and now, I'd call today's Audioengine a 'modern legacy' company.
The experience of sitting on your couch while holding an LP cover/insert in your hands while the LP is playing, and reading about the details provided is such a precious one. You can learn or remind yourself who played the instruments and/or sang vocals on each track, some history perhaps of the musicians, when it was recorded and where, and possibly more. CDs can offer some of the same if there is an insert.
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I sent a message to our own Harry Currie, the world’s foremost Sinatra scholar and an incredible singer in his own right, requesting an almost impossible task, at least for him. It’s only that I’ve known him literally my whole life (plus a little begging) that he concurred. For Harry, compiling a Ten Best list of Sinatra recordings is akin to asking him ‘who’s your favourite kid?’.
