I went out yesterday with the express intention of looking for ASDs and SAX.

(Ooh, doesn't sound too wholesome when you put it like that, does it?)

...I refer to the Columbia and HMV Cat# prefixes of course.

Unfortunately, although I did find a few, there were none of the white/gold - pale blue/silver rimmed variety (and I have to be choosy)... the well has run a little dry on those it seems.

So I decided to try a couple of different flavours of label, to see if they were up to much.

And I spotted a couple of these Vox labels and decided to grab them. I was immediately impressed by the fact they had to the naked eye in the shop, that "rainbow" effect when rolled around in the light... something I've only seen shared so far by the aforementioned Columbias, and HMV discs. So a good omen I thought.

And I'm happy to report that this divining method has proven a trustworthy method of determining the quality of the discs (And by virtue of that, the sound they will produce)...

...as these are good... these are very, very good!

Although the music on this one is a solo piano recital, it's extravagant stuff - Can't go wrong with Chopin for that kind of thing! - and there's a lot going on, and this has extraordinary detail, and great breadth. The lower notes are delivered with a nice weight too.

I'd say this (And the other Bach Violin Concerti disc I got), are every bit the equal of the HMV discs, and only just a shade off the Columbia discs.

As in both cases, the Vox discs have a good start, in having acquired some great recordings to work with, and are then pressed perfectly... and when you consider that these (For the most part) are cheap as chips still.

(On average, these are about 1000% cheaper even on ebay for the single discs)

So if they were a top trump, they would score highly across the board, and in terms of cost, and therefore value-for-money, kick the Columbias and HMVs into touch with ease.

Worth grabbing if you see them.

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Ah, now this is the stuff!

Another solo piano recital, and by virtue of that, I'm not sure too much is lost in being mono, rather than stereo.

However, it sounds a little like an old recording, and the original recording equipment wasn't as sophisticated as some later examples, but that's no fault of the disc itself... rather, the ever reliable Columbia disc brings as much out of it as can be done... perfectly clear, no ambient noise, and an incredible acoustic weight you get with these vinyls, and it's even evident on this solo piano in the lower notes.

The Chopin Waltzes, I'm sure Classi-fans will already know, are highly intricate, yet delicate and sprightly affairs that happily bubble away, and are great escapist pieces, that you can just lay back, close your eyes, and fall into a trance to, while they bob and weave about you.

At this rate, I'll be buying a Columbia logo T-shirt and mug!

I'm a fan.

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Well here we are folks...

...from what I can see, the first of the highly sought after White/Gold HMV classical labels on site. These can fetch the big prices depending on Orchestra/Solosist/Conductor Etc. But have to be tip top mint to hit the big numbers (Pretty much all or nothing with classical collectors I'm afraid).

My particular copy has a couple of scratches each side, which causes a pop on side 1, and two on the other, but believe what they say, these sound incredible!

This particular work by Dvorak has some sinuous to sensuous Cello and Flute interplay, which occasionally erupts with great thunder storm like sea swells of orchestral sweeps, which rise up and plummet back down with equal ease...a fantastic example of what these discs are all about: POWER (extreme - organic - HEAVY POWER), and pin drop detail and clarity.

Sounds like it was recorded yesterday, with modern equipment too, in terms of no ambient noise at all in the background, or in the room they recorded making it to the disc.

The Matrices are easy to understand on classical discs too, mine have:

2YEA 103 - 8
2YEA 104 - 9

(So just plate number after matrix).

Get digging... there's tons of classical stuff just lying around in the charity shops which may have a few of these in there.... and you might well enjoy the sonic experience they offer (A nice change from pop n rock occasionally doesn't go amiss, and means you might always have something else to dig for if the other stuff dries up).

Salutations!

(I listened to this again yesterday, and recorded it.... here is the Third Movement, which I added to clyp, so you can hear what one of these discs sounds like

(Probably needs more of a clean!))

Dvorak - Cello Concerto - Thrid Movement - ASD 358

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Blimey... Maria Callas certainly had a set of pipes to work with!

Even an untrained ear such as mine (or untuned :) can hear that the remarkable thing about her voice is that, although she is a Soprano, singing in the upper reaches of... um... things (that's a technical term folks), there's a kind extra dimension behind it, giving it a kind of depth...

(Is this where I should use the word: Paradox?... I think perhaps I oughta)

... and you certainly have to get a decent piece of vinyl to take it, and deliver it, as I can imagine some might plausibly shake to splinters on your turntable when she really pushes it.

Fortunately, that's what you have here.

This was one of two mono Columbia albums I picked up the other day, for the explicit purpose of seeing what they were like (this and the other, I 've now entered on site - see Schubert / Beethoven No. 8s with the green string (Chord)), and they are both incredibly good.

And I'm beginning to understand the mysterious alchemy of what makes a good classical record, because having listened to both, and a (admittedly small) selection of other discs, including the stereos and the monos, it doesn't simply have to be stereo.

A lot depends on the quality, and method of the original recording... certainly as a starting point. As my experience with the Toscanini - Beethoven revealed on HMV mono, the issue has almost everything going for it, except that all important recording in the first instance.... The Piece of music: Great. The performers: Brilliant. The Conductor: A Legend. Vinyl: Stunning.

... But all of this falls by the way side if the whole orchestra is recorded through a single microphone incapable of taking it all in.

On the other hand, if you have just one instrument playing a recital or solo, this might not matter as much... so the music has to suit the medium, and the method. And then we come to the vinyl, which has to be able to represent all that regardless of the fact of it's being either stereo or mono.

And this scores highly on fronts, as although it is mono... it's a full spread mono... rich and deep, broad too... but highly detailed, and tremendous clarity... not distorting when Ms Callas has cracked every window in my house... In fact, it's so good, you even forget it's not stereo!

I don't, in all honestly, like Opera (Don't even mention musicals to me! - (With only one or two exceptional exceptions!), but I can give an airing to the odd aria when the mood strikes... so this highlights disc suits my taste well, as it probably would for most who are of a similar disposition, whereas a more serious classical fan might prefer to look for the whole thing somewhere else in a box set perhaps.

Of course there's the big rousing "Anvil Chorus", which is great, and, I would suggest, might sound fantastic coming from the terraces of a football stadium (Whichever Footie player's name might fit), but the opening band on the second side is stunning.... Very delicate, but beatifully sung by Callas, and would be worth the price of this by itself.

But to conclude... I'd say a general rule of thumb for Classical music on vinyl, is that yo just can't go wrong with Columbia discs... either Stereo or Mono... they just have that little something special about them in all the right ways. Deutsche Grammophon I've found can be a little light on their feet occasionally, and HMV is a little hit and miss (either knock it out park, or struggle a little).

- Albeit, my limited experience must be taken into consideration here -

But I've not been disappointed in any Columbia discs in any way so far.... they are the dog's biscuits, certainly as far as this blathering idiot is concerned.

Collect them all!

(You should be so lucky).

-End Of Message -

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This is supposed to be about a woodland glade in spring etc. if you read the notes on the back... but to me, it feels like a perfect sea going symphony.

Although it starts quietly, and delicately, about twelve minutes in, the drama starts, with quite a strident piece, which you could imagine accompanying a movie scene aboard a galley or Tea Clipper, battling it's way through the foamy spume and rolling waves that crash upon the deck, while seamen, both able and otherwise are in the rigging and all that jazz (sorry - we're classical here aren't we!).

The vinyl is nice and as thick as the older vinyl issues from Deutsche Grammophon, although this being issued in 1968, it's not as stiff (a little flexibility is evident)... this must be due to the slightly different vinyl composition, as is evident in the fact that it doesn't have that "Rainbow Roll" * The older vinyls have.

But still a lovely vinyl that can handle the music on it, and even has quite a wallop in places... the kettle drums will make your speakers bulge satisfactorily ( first time I've attempted that word).

So hoist the, um... big (?) sail me 'arties...

(A couple of the little ones too if you would be so kind... thanks, that's just smashing!)

... and set your compass to adventurism... or if you want ot just take it as it is intended, go down to the woods today and be sure of a moderate surprise.

Arrrrrrrrr!


*(- A lovely term I've invented to describe the refractive quality that older vinyls have of splitting the reflection of a light source on the vinyl into it's constituent colours of the rainbow

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This is what I'd been looking for on a Decca Wideband press...

A full symphony to really test the capability of these highly regarded vinyls.

... and they don't come much bigger than this one... In fact, they don't come any bigger at all!

The fantastic "Ode To Joy": Full orchestra, full chorus, and individual solo vocalists.

And it delivers.

A widescreen presentation of this massive work which handles the weight of the music with ease, with a lot of punch, and power, but without any loss of detail or distortion at all... the instruments are individually picked out, and each element of the orchestra, chorus, and lead solo parts have their own space, and with great clarity.

Beethoven's 9th is a staple food of any classical diet, and ought to be in your collection in any issue, even if you don't go much on classical music.

So if you're going to choose a record to buy this year... why not this one?

I'm Magic Marmalade... and I approve this message.

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Quite a thin vinyl for this one.

And you do notice it has a real lack of depth and weight compared to the older, thicker Deutsche Grammophon vinyls, but this is lighter, airier music, and so it isn't as much of a concern as it would be with a heavier brand of music perhaps.

...But there are more dramatic moments that underpin the more strident passages that I felt could have done with some extra heft.

This is very good as far as spacing and separation are concerned, and brilliant with the higher end elements of which there is naturally a lot of in this music... the fluttering notes of violins and vigour of the cellos are picked out great detail... very precise.

But as I say, it can't reach as deep as other vinyl (Or as you'd like it to), in a way you can feel in your stomach-and to be honest, I prefer the kind of music that makes me feel like I've been run over by a truck anyway- but I suppose you could always sit on the washing machine during the spin cycle while listening to it if that floats your boat!

(Oo-er!)

The recording itself is just a tad on the quiet side too, and I just had to nudge my recording level up a smidge, and give the bass knob a bit of a tweak to give it a little extra.

I just noticed by chance too, that there's an logo stamp impression on the back cover when it caught the light, that says: "PRS Hannover" - if that means anything to anyone.

The four seasons are nicely bookended by a couple great tunes too, that you's probably be familiar with (Another couple I know!... but didn't know that I knew... if only I'd known!), and all in all, it's a bit of a light middleweight pressing... it's quick on it's feet, has quick hands, and has a snappy punch but not quite enough to knock you out.

(Good jab - Great right hook, but no leverage in the uppercut, and doesn't really go to the body).

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Just listened to this.

"Ooooh, I know that one!"

...Was my first thought. Symphony No.5 is the 'DA. Da. DA. DAAaaa'.. one (know the one?)

Of course you know it, it's Beethoven as droogs might know it.

So I won't spend too much time out of depth describing the music itself, but rather talk about the vinyl and recording...

It's something of a let down I have to say, but that may be because I've been spoiled rotten with recent Stereo classical acquisitions, and this being mono, suffers greatly by comparison. Thsi is because this is probably a 'bigger' bit of music than those others I've recently listened to - a full symphony - but in a smaller sound-stage than those others. It needs more room to gallop, so to speak.

In fact, the problem is that it feels like the vinyl has revealed the shortcomings of the original recording (I don't know if there is a Stereo version of this), but the recording itself sounds like a very old recording on quite an unsophisticated set up... it almost sounds like there's just been a couple of mics at the front of the orchestra to pick up the whole band (he he). As such, the strings overwhelm the whole affair, and you can only faintly detect anything further back in the orchestra as it struggles to fight it's way through this dense thicket of drama and power that the vinyl delivers.

And even so, the whole thing, as I say, sounds old (don't know when this was recorded), thin for anything but the cellos, narrow, and middle distant.

A smaller and tighter unit like a rock band always sounds better in mono to my ears, benefiting from the punch and unity of that kind of recording, but an orchestra needs a wide open space to play in, and also to contain it... here it's altogether too much music for so little room.

I can now see where all the extra bucks go for the early stereo vinyls, because this is vinyl of such quality that's crying out to have it's full potential explored with a decent stereo, or even mono recording, and basically, by this point, the vinyl was more capable than the music they put on it at this time.

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Really enjoyed this one.

Very meditative music, even soothing. Ashkenazy's piano is incredibly subtle, precise, but rolls like liquid through the pieces.

No jarring changes of tempo or style, but consistent throughout.

The kind of thing you want to have on when you're contemplating your Navy.

(Or plotting world domination in your volcano base :)

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Continuing my further adventures in Classical music, I was pleased to find this one when out on the dig.

It's a real joy to listen to this one, as it's packed with popular classics, of the prom variety, which will appeal to more casual Classical listeners who perhaps like the BBC proms, but aren't into the more demanding stuff (like myself!), or are looking for an easy way into the world of classical music.

Tunes you can recognise, even if you aren't particularly aware of the names of the composers or the works themselves (tunes you can hum too!).

A very bouncy, vigorous "romp", that certainly had me bopping around the room.

A note on the vinyl:

This is another of the "big" labels of classical music... the Powder-Blue/turquoise Columbia label, which signifies the early stereo pressings for this label, and along with the Decca "wide Band" labels (SXL catalogue number prefix), and the HMV White and Gold rimmed "Nipper" labels (ASD prefix - (As with a handful of Columbias also having the ASD prefix, instead of SAX)) represent the very best, and most sought after classical pressings.

(Some of the titles on these labels fetch truly mind melting prices at auction - couple of thousand in a few cases ((this particular title is perhaps one of the cheapest, but can still get upwards of fifty quid in mint))).

...And it's easy to see (and hear!) why... the vinyl of these; Of which I now have an example of each; is incredible.

They can reach places other vinyl cannot touch... deeper, wider, and higher in frequency and range, and deliver unparalleled detail, power, breadth.

Although only an observation of my own, I can discern that this is not because of any special quality in terms of thickness of vinyl, or weight... but the fineness of the vinyl substance itself (a finer grain maybe, or a purity of the plastic). And also the absolute precision of the press or cut... the grooves are razor sharp, and incredibly finely pressed.

This is best seen when you gently roll the vinyl around under a light source, as this fineness of detail in the pressing causes a kind of "oil-slick- rainbow" effect to be visible on the disc... that is: the grooves are so precise, I suppose you'd say they split the reflection of the white light into it's constituent colours of the spectrum (A greater degree of refraction (?)).

Great stuff.

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Well worth buying. Excellent performances and quality, out-performing some of the more "popular" orchestras.

2 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Flórez sounds as handsome as he looks, and has star status in Peru. Here he sings some operatic favourites, beautifully recorded with the excellent orchestra under Paulo Vero. As an example, the popular solo from Handel's Messiah:

[YouTube Video]

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This CD plays many excellent recordings from the era of 78s, beautifully transferred by David Michell, and with a subtle hint of 'Enhanced Stereo' added. Sadly, no details are given of the original 78s from which these tracks are transcribed, dates of recording, dates of release, or for the most part, of accompanists, orchestras and conductors. It's no use asking Shazam, they come up with wildly irrelevant nonsense.

Track 1 Sir Dan Godfrey conducting the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra, Zampa Overture (parts 1 & 2) transcribed from Australian Columbia 02816
[YouTube Video]

Track 2 Luisa Tetrazzini: HMV D.B.690, 1954 reissue of a 1913 acoustic recording
[YouTube Video]

Track 3 Archie Camden, Allegro Spiritoso, orchestra conducted by Sir Hamilton Harty (knighted in 1925), 80 RPM 12” Shellac single Columbia L 1826, recorded 30 Mar 1926
[YouTube Video]
And issued in the USA on Columbia 67330D (1927) YouTube

Track 4 Heidenröslein (Hedge Roses), Alexander Kipnis with Roger Moore who is not mentioned here, unknown 78 (Recorded 1936
[YouTube Video]

Track 5 Alfredo Campoli with pianist Harold Pedlar unknown 78
[YouTube Video]

Track 6 Hallé Orchestra, Hamilton Harty Cossack Dance can be seen on Australian Columbia LOX-181
[YouTube Video]
or USA Columbia Masterworks 9076-M

Track 7 Peter Dawson, Why Do The Nations (so furiously rage together)? from Handel's Messiah
C.2694

Track 8 Greensleeves, by the Dolmetsch family Columbia DB 1062

Track 9 London Symphony Orchestra, Geoffrey Toye, On Hearing The First Cuckoo In Spring
HMV 4270

Track 10 Dance Duet From Hansel And Gretel
Columbia 9909

Track 11 "Dame" Myra Hess - Jesu, Joy Of Man`s Desiring: the notes refer to "Dame" Muyra playing a series of concerts in London, which could make this the 1940 recording on
HMV B.9035
This is a more sprightly rendition than the earlier recording, in keeping with her intention to support British morale during the War. There is no posting of this on YT, all there being the slow, lugubrious performance.

Track 12 Hans Pfitzner's performance of Joseph Lanner's Pesther Waltz
[YouTube Video]

Track 13 Siegfried Ochs - Ein Albumblatt: Typo: the arranger is Wilhemj rather than Wilhelms. Not on 78Cat or YT

Track 14 Lawrence Tibbett - Largo Al Factotum, with uncredited orchestra
D.B. 1478

Track 15 Alfred Cortot Ballade No.1
HMV D.B.1343

Track 16 Cortot, Thibaud, Casals - Haydn Trio In G Major
D.A. 895

Track 17 Richard Tauber - Roses Of Picardy: Parlphone R.O. 20316, 1936
Typo: the arranger is Wilhemj rather than Wilhelms

Track 18 Massed Bands - "Tannhauser" March, cond. John Henry IIles
HMV B.8245 (not on YT)

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Joshua Rifkin describes how, as a young music graduate, he found himself writing the complete set of parodies of the Beatles hits which were taking the USA by storm in 1965, and being rewarded by the hiring of some of the best session players in town; I would love to know a few of their names.

This starts with an attractive Baroque Ouverture:
[YouTube Video]

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This is somewhat of a 'Greatest Hits' compilation of tracks previously released on Deutsche Grammophon and Decca, as for example with this Gabrieli Consort recording of O Magnum Mysterium under Paul McCreesh.
[YouTube Video]

I expect I will find others of these tracks which I already have on the original labels.

As with all good 'Greatest Hits' records, the choice is from some wonderful performances. classical-choice.de describes the series as "an inexpensive series for classical music beginners and the curious".

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Peter Dijkstra here conducts the Bavarian Radio Choir in acapella performances of Schnittke and Pärt, two deeply religious composers. The booklet explains that both were born in states that did not tolerate religious worship, but Schnittke came from Jewish and Russian Orthodox families, and both Schnittke and Pärt eventually converted to Russian Orthodoxy.

The choice of the Pärt at first seems somewhat out of place, initially being rather jolly and secular until it settles into a more profound style. Schnittke's Stimmen Der Natur is vocalese for the women only.

The entire Concerto For Choir can be found on YouTube:

[YouTube Video]

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Tenebrae have chosen the juciest acapella choral pieces from the repertoire of these nine composers; all are compelling performances, as in this example from John Tavener:

[YouTube Video]

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"Heraclitus" was the song I bought the CD for, here presented as a solo accompanied song. The record notes by Jeremy Dibble gives an explanation of how the song came about:

Heraclitus was originally composed as the fourth of Four Partsongs Op 110, completed in 1908 and published by Stainer & Bell in 1910. Later it was published by J B Cramer & Co. as a solo song arrangement in 1918. The famous text, taken from Ionica, a volume of poems by William Johnson Cory, is a translation from the Greek of an epigram by the finest of Hellenistic poets, Callimachus of Alexandria. The poem, an elegy, tells how bitter tears were shed at the news of the death of an old friend, Heraclitus of Hallicarnassus; yet, though long dead, his memory lives on in the mind of his friend. Cory’s translation is magnificent, as is Stanford’s limpidly diatonic setting, simple in its strophic design, yet full of deft harmonic turns and modal inflections; and, with the subtle ‘interjections’ from the piano, assumes a quite different identity in its solo guise.

[YouTube Video]

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

This is a compilation of tracks from other labels, so I wonder how many of the original releases can be identified. Putting on CD1 we hear the most appallingly distorted and noisy rendition of what sounds like a very low bitrate MP3 of a dub made with a microphone from the original vinyl, quite unlistenable! Such a shame, as Karajan could not have been recording in Vienna before 1959. Can we find this on YT? Yes, here is the exact same distorted track, courtesy of Naxos America:
[YouTube Video]

The same recording, in moderately good quality, from Deutsche Grammophon:
[YouTube Video]

If you want to hear this in truly good quality you will have to look out for a vinyl copy on DG.

From the B_minor mass on, all tracks are in irreproachable quality. For example the short Choral "O Hilfe, Christe, Gottes Sohn", which YT tells us is conducted by Georg Christoph Biller:
[YouTube Video]

It is amusing to hear Kenneth Spencer sing Lowell Mason's famous hymn "Nearer My God To Thee" in impeccable German. Spencer moved to Germany in 1950 and made a number of recordings for Columbia Masterworks:
[YouTube Video]

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Contrabajissimo is the major work here, going through a typical series of Classical quintet movements, with some fine fugueing in the central section.

[YouTube Video]

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These lesser-known works of Tchaikovsky's are quite unlike the tuneful works we know and love, being true to the Orthodox Church liturgical conventions, starting with declarations by a presenter and ending with a long Amen. The Cherubic Hymn No. 1 is a beautiful example of this style, and is more like what we have come to expect from Rachmaninov's Vespers, or contemporary composers in Eastern Baltic states.

The Liturgy Of St John Chrysostom was based on Tchaikovsky's 1875 publication “A short textbook of harmony, adapted to the reading of spiritual and musical compositions in Russia” which in 1881 was adopted as a textbook of church singing for theological seminaries and colleges.

[YouTube Video]

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When I bought this I had little idea where Ukraine even was, let alone anything about its people and culture.
Dumka-shumka by Mykola Lysenko is a typically thoughtful and gentle piece:

[YouTube Video]

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Some adventurous and 'interesting' contributions by the contemporary composers, including the fine Fauxbourdon settings by Paul Christison Edwards composed in 1979.
[YouTube Video][YouTube Video]

Purcell's settings are always a delight, but the most compelling setting for me here is by Sir John Stainer.

[YouTube Video][YouTube Video]

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Fantastic recording...

Weight, power, detail ex-set-er-aah.

It's all here, but............................

It's a very quiet disc!

That is to say, it's all on the disc, but you have to crank your levels way up to unlock all of that, and make it sound like any other disc.

Like many, I have settled on a standard volume level that I can expect most discs to be comfortable to listen to, and if I want a little extra, I can push it a little... but all within an established range.
If I were to take a meat and potatoes disc as a standard, like a Deutsche Grammophon, it goes straight on the turntable, and no further adjustment is required to sound levels. Alternatively, an HMV may need taking down a mite, as these are quite loud by this standard.... and as for the Columbias, well they threaten to remove the back wall and sonically re-model the house for you, and without any loss of detail or distortion.

This required as much as a third extra on my levels to bring it into the Deutsche Grammophon range.

It's great when you get it there, as I say, because this is a fantastic, and finely detailed press of a great recording, with all the stereo worked out very well, as you'd want... but these being full sounding symphonic pieces of music packed with exotic drama, it should be louder than it is...

And this is the real concern of this quiet disc, as to enjoy the benefit of it, you'd have to get an absolutely mint copy -

- fortunately mine is (even though my sleeve looks like it was used to mop up a full English breakfast from the floor of a greasy spoon) -

- because any clicks or pops come through at normal volume, over and above the volume of the music, and as I encountered a couple of dust particles when playing, they came through like gun shots at this volume.

So very high maintenance disc in prospect.

I'm going to try to find a couple more Telefunken discs in the series, to see if it's just this particular disc, it's recording level, or whatever, but at the moment, I'd put the VOX discs above this as a preference.

<<As a footnote, on the back of the sleeve, is a list of others in the series which shows that the cat prefix: GMA is mono, and SMA is stereo for these, and that not all of them have stereo releases:

GMA / SMA 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 available as both stereo and mono.
GMA (mono only): 5, 6, 7, 12, and 15

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This is THE album for such pieces. Couldn't be recorded better.
I heard it on Canadian radio in the 1970s, and don't know if there was an English release.
(These instruments are playing in French.)
Part of the Plaisir du Classique series.
It's Johann Sebastian Bach in English. 10 is the so-called Air On The G String. It's from his Orchestral Suite #3 in D, movement 2.
3 is Winter from the Four Seasons.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Howells dedicated his three sets of Clavichord Pieces to his musical friends, and in particular to harpsichord maker Herbert Lambert. They are written in recognition of the style of English Tudor musicians who had influenced Howells' writing, not as pastiches of the compositional styles of his composer friends. The first book was written in 1927, the second in 1941, the third in 1961.

For the first book "Lambert's Clavichord", Lambert's Fireside was written at Lambert's Fireside in Somerset, Fellowes's Delight for Edmund Fellowes, Hughes's Ballet for Herbert Hughes, Wortham's Grounde for H E Wortham, Sargent's Fantastic Sprite for Sir Malcolm Sargent, Foss's Dump for H.J. Foss, My Lord Sandwich's Dreame for George Montagu, 9th Earl of Sandwich, Samuel's Air for Harold Samuel, De La Mare's Pavane for poet Walter de la Mare, Sir Hughes's Galliard for conductor Hugh Allen, H H His Fancy for himself, and Sir Richard's Toye for Sir Richard Terry.

Sir Hughes's Galliard:
[YouTube Video]

The 2nd and 3rd sets were written after Thomas Goff had taken over from Herbert Lambert as instrument maker. Many of their dedicatees can be identified from the titles, with full details in the notes written by producer Paul Spicer.

✔︎ Helpful Review?

The choice of the brutal image for the cover illustration of this record is explained by the text of Cantos Sagrados (sacred Songs). "Identity" is about finding unidentified mutilated bodies on a river bank, and is an appropriately violent musical setting.
The text was written by contemporary Chilean poet Ariel Dorfman, being about the killings in the coup when Pinochet's forces overthrew Allende, and the subsequent disappearances.
The illustration is El Tres De Mayo by Francisco Goya, portraying the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's occupation of Madrid, May 1808.

The two composers complement each other in style and quality on this compilation, MacMillan having studied under Leighton in Edinburgh. None of the tracks is yet on YT, but you can find a recording of Identity, made by Christopher Bell and the National Youth Choir of Scotland, which makes this recording by Spicer sound very slow by comparison.

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Peter Dijkstra was inducted into choral singing as a boy treble by his father, who ran a boys' choir in Drenthe. After his conservatory studies he formed The Gents before working with other European vocal ensembles and orchestras including the BBC Singers. The Gents is an all-male choir, and here they work through several pieces from the English Renaissance repertoire. Unfortunately the singers are not individually credited except on the two "Eliza" songs, but their mastery of English Plainsong is exemplary, and the countertenor on this example is beautiful.

After the instrumental version, they sing Christe qui Lux es et Dies:

[YouTube Video]

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These piano miniatures are based on L.M. Lindeman's "Aeldre og nyere norske fjeldmelodier" (Old and New Norwegian Country Melodies).

1. "Spring Dance" is a spirited, lilting melody in 3/4 with a skip on the last beat played over changing accompaniments: (1) a rhythmic drone, (2) contrasting accents (beats 1 and 3 in the first measure, 2 in the second), (3) chromatic descents, and (4) strong, thrilling bass chords for the last verse.
2. "The Young Man Asked His Maiden" states a question in a rhythmic minor which receives a sweet major-key reply interspersed with two more short, hesitant questions.
3. This "Spring Dance" has quite a different feeling from number 1. The spinning, cycling melody proceeds from quiet, sometimes sharp harmonies toward a wilder and abandoned double-speed coda.
5. The "Dance from Jølster" contains many coloristic effects, such as crystalline staccatos, offbeat accents, high treble woodwind-like parts, fast triplets over enthusiastic string-like open fifths, as well as extended endings, surprising sudden halts in the rhythm, and switches from duple to triple meter.
6. The "Wedding Tune" is a sweet, lyrical Allegretto pastorale which begins in C major and ends in A minor mixing happy and romantic (or, perhaps slight uncertainty about the future) emotions.
8. "Oh, the Pig Had a Snout" is a brief tune, in a combined comical and "cantabile" mood in G minor in triple meter.
9. "When My Eyes" is a touching spiritual song harmonized with beautiful modal harmonies.
10. "Ole Once in Anger" is a courting song with a jerky, drinking song rhythm to its wide-ranging minor-key melody that concludes in a deep, perhaps apologetic, baritone register.
12. "Solfager and the Snake King," played in a moody Andante tempo, has a haunting minor-key melody with "snaky" chromatics that tells a tale even without words.
14. "I Sing With a Sorrowful Heart" is introduced by a distant minor third echoed three times in the high treble. The warm, middle register melody then begins with that same interval harmonized in rich but almost funeral chords played at a piano dynamic. The coda suddenly sings forth in a compelling cry that quickly calms into a resigned minor cadence.
17. In "The Gadfly Said to the Fly," the first timid, thin-voiced (even insectile) statement is met with a full-voiced loud answer harmonized chromatically. The first voice inquires again twice, and the answers are more measured and simple.
21. The melody of "The Woman from Setesdal" is built on a simple two-measure rolling gesture that is treated as a very interesting imitative canon, the imitating voice sounding like a flute or birdsong in the higher registers.
23. "Did You See Anything of My Wife?" is a curious two-part song with a dotted, questioning, backbeat rhythm at the start, followed by quiet reply in longer tones and then a loud, aggressive version of that reply.

(from allmusic.com)

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Cathleen Ferrier's Blow The Wind Southerly is sampled on the track Oppenheimer, with Aharon Habshush and Melanie Pappenheim, fading in and out with 'Requiem Aeternam'. I was reminded of this marvellous record while visiting the cinema to see the film Oppenheimer.

[YouTube Video]

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