What are you listening to right now?

[tmazz]

OK just checking. The reissue is the Cat's meow. red vinyl to boot oh my !!

charles

Chad is now offering a 45 RPM 2 LP version. 

[Brap]

Just picked up a VG+++ Soular Energy LP.  Not too bad. Plan on bringing it to the local HI-FI shop and use their Nitty Gritty.  If you like it, take a listen to "Bassics". Gene Harris is really amazing.

[etcarroll]

Frank Sinatra ‎– Come Swing With Me!

[tmazz]

Chet Baker with the Bradley Young Trio: Chet in Chicago

Enja CD

[sleepyguy24]

J. S. Bach Goldberg Variations LP 20th Anniversary Edition

http://www.marecordings.com/main/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=14&products_id=53&osCsid=44122eb3a023981db9400f0fc5c0c65b

[rollo]

   No wonder your sleeping. Wake up !


charles

[etcarroll]

 Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

Frank's first foray into Bossa Nova, and it works. Probably because it's mostly Jobim's works. Still, Frank is very understated here, and with each playing of this it grows on me.

From Allmusic guide - Supported by a relaxed, sympathetic arrangement of muted brass, simmering percussion, soft strings, and Jobim's lilting guitar, Sinatra turns in an especially noteworthy performance; he has never sounded so subtle, underplaying every line he delivers and showcasing vocal techniques that he never had displayed before.

[richidoo]

J. S. Bach Goldberg Variations LP 20th Anniversary Edition

http://www.marecordings.com/main/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=14&products_id=53&osCsid=44122eb3a023981db9400f0fc5c0c65b

Glenn Gouldberg Variations...  

The analog recording description is seriously top notch equipment, the very best there is, used for the vinyl master. Is the pressing worthy?

How is the music? Does she sound stiff?

[sleepyguy24]

Evening Rich

You beat me to it. I was going to reach out to you about this LP and the music. First I was thinking to get comparable LPs to the JS Bach Goldberg Variations I got from MA recordings.

Here is what I found on Amazon but am unsure of which one to buy.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=Bach%3A%20Goldberg%20Variations%20lp

Any recommendations you have would be appreciated.

Initially I wanted to try to hear if I could pick up a difference between a recording done with MA Recordings equipment vs. the same music done with more normal pro audio equipment but then there are just too many variables to consider and I don't think it is possible.

Now I just want to hear the same music played by someone else to hear if Ito Ema's piano playing is stiff or not. Do I maybe buy Ito Ema's other music to hear if her Piano playing is stiff?

I do like the music. Very enjoyable and relaxing. Not sleep inducing actually. The pressing is worth the $33 + shipping I paid IMO. Very solid record and the inner sleeve is quite nice.

[richidoo]

I agree that the comparison of recording quality is moot. I'm sure you will notice the superiority of the Ma recording as you listen to any other records of any music.

I just realized your post about the hirez download from last week is this Ito Goldberg recording. I still haven't listened to it because my DAC is not on the network right now.

I think I only have the two Gould versions of Goldberg. Same guy 25 years apart, very different interpretations. PM your addy?



They are the most famous version of all, some of the biggest selling records in all of classical music. That's why the Ito version reviewer made the joke Gouldberg Variations. They are newly remastered and reissued together on these:
http://www.amazon.com/Glenn-Gould-Complete-Goldberg-Variations/dp/B00006FI7C
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085MK2M6
The 1981 version was recorded on Sony prototype digital recording equipment, 14 bit depth, before they knew about jitter. But it still sounds good so they must have had the foresight to use a good external clock?

Simone Dinnerstein has a Goldberg out. I have her playing Beethoven. Her style is very unique, so I'm sure hers would be wildly different than anyone elses. Her version proves that Beethoven invented jazz. I don't listen to her Beethoven much, but I did enjoy it the first time.

Murray Parahia seems to be the other important modern interpretation since Gould 1981.

I love Garrick Ohllson playing Chopin, that's his main gig, but the review of his Goldberg is very interesting, not a showoff techboat, but another musical interpretation like Gould's but different.

There are MANY piano giants that have recorded Goldberg over the decades. 207 CDs on ArkiveMusic.com
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Drilldown?name_id1=527&name_role1=1&genre=128&bcorder=19&comp_id=270

If I had to pick 3 more to buy besides the Goulds, I would choose:
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=238
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=134055
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=173638

72 CDs with Arkiv recommendation, meaning critical acclaim for artistic performance and or recording quality in this list:

[richidoo]

Here is video of alt version of Glenn Gould's 1981 Goldberg. Not the version that went to CD. The issued version is much more serious. This video has an ease and levity that is not the same heavy mood as the record. It is only 47 minutes, while the record is 51 minutes. He died less than a year later at age 50.  The video goes out of sync in this video.

Columbia must have really thought this would be an important recording. It is one of their first digital recordings. Gould was big on recording technology and the power of television. I'm sure the cameras were his idea.

I can't help wonder whether the recordists, feeling trepidation of using the brand new digital recording technology on a remake of one of their most successful Columbia recordings of all time, didn't have the big Studer 1/2" running along with the Sony F1?

Actually a little Googling and I learned that they were remastered in 2002 from the analog tapes, which not suprisingly sounded much better than the 14bit DDD recording first issued. The analog remaster was called A State of Wonder, pictured above, and also contains the 1955 version digitally remastered at 24/96.

1955 version sold 100,000 copies by 2000, but the 1981 redo had sold over 2 million copies by 2000.

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2YMSt3yfko

[pumpkinman]

Spencer Davis and Peter Jameson ~ It's Been So Long

[richidoo]

Solo piano works

[tmazz]

Diana Krall: Wallflower

Verve CD


I was very much looking forward to this album and really wanted to like it , but I just can't. On many of the tracks the arrangements are just awkwardly slow, to the point of being annoying and the performance seems uninspired at best. Certainly not up to the standards of her earlier albums.

[tmazz]

Stan Getz and Bill Evans

Verve CD