Fad or fo real?

The air to searching musicians like Furtwangler, our great Daniel Barenboim has not let himself settle for being one of the finest stage musicians, simply conducting the best or playing the greatest concert stages. 

Considered by many to be the ultimate in high fidelity, this justly famous recording of Strauss’ enigmatic score glows on the Classic Records reissue. Based on the Nietzsche’s philosophical novel of the same name, Richard Strauss pulls out all of his tricks of orchestration to provide the listener with a musical journey of superhuman proportions. 

American born, Parisian raised Madeleine Peyroux is the true heir to Billie Holiday. Not so much in style, but in vocal character. Peyroux debuted on record almost twenty years ago with Dreamland. Her recordings over the years alternated between original material and covers. Secular Hymns is an album of covers. But the hymns take a lot of twists and turns. These are very original covers. 

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 To my delight, Michael Hobson of Classic Records chose the earlier historical document as his Gaîté of choice.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. 

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.