What Are You Listening to? July 2022

[Ojai Sam]

New Philharmonia Orchestra (Otto Klemperer, cond.) - J.S. Bach: Four Orchestral Suites (1969)

Colonel KlInk’s father delivers an old school full orchestral treatment of the Bach suites. No traditional instruments for Otto, ach nein! It works just fine for me.

Want to see how differently classical music is marketed around the world?

Here's the British album:

And in the swinging USA, this is what you would see:

Buyers back in the USSR would have found this cheerful countenance staring back at them:

And those artsy French folks would have been enticed by this winning scene:

It’s all the same to Otto.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Cosmic Psychos - Self Totalled (1995)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Billy Joel - Glass Houses (1980)

I hit my limit on British psych-folk from the late 1960s, so a bit of a diversion to carefree 80s pop

 

[axolotl]

Billy Joel - Glass Houses (1980)

I hit my limit on British psych-folk from the late 1960s, so a bit of a diversion to carefree 80s pop

You may be right.

Don't ask me why.

It's still rock 'n' roll to me.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Collegium Musicum Judaicum Amsterdam - Music Of The Bible (1993)

Lovely collection of Jewish traditional vocal music.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky & William Primrose - Beethoven: Serenade Opus 8 / Kodaly: Duo For Violin And Cello (1961)

You can never go wrong with Beethoven, but for my money Zoltan Kodaly's edgy Duo For Violin and Cello is the show stopper here. Yasha and Gregor rock out together with a startling level of raw emotion.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Gothenberg Symphony Orchestra (Neeme Jaarvi, cond.) - Aurora: Music Of The Northern Lights (2002)

Brilliant collection of appealing Scandinavian favorites, well chosen and well performed. Take a look at this track list:

 

[Nickyboy]

I keep switching back and forth between 90s Brit-pop and Karl Heinz Stockhausen this evening. Call your shrink and ask him what is going on.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Goon - Hour of Green Evening (2022)

 

[axolotl]

I keep switching back and forth between 90s Brit-pop and Karl Heinz Stockhausen this evening. Call your shrink and ask him what is going on.

My primary shrink said: "Give up the 90s Brit-pop." My secondary said the exact opposite.

I will let you know what the third one says. I use him as a tiebreaker in extreme cases.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

black midi - Hellfire (2022)



Less edgy, more cabaret-ish. Ugh.

 

[axolotl]

black midi - Hellfire (2022)



Less edgy, more cabaret-ish. Ugh.

Released today, with over 4K RYM ratings already. Averaged ratings over

How am I sitting over here thinking, "I've never heard of it"?

ETA: And, what does Rick know that the others do not?

 

[Ojai Sam]

Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields (Neville Marriner, dir.) - Stravinsky: Pulcinella, Alollon Musagete (1968)

I would associate the works of Igor Stravinsky more with the Kronos Quartet than Neville's traditional minded group. But ASMF turn in very credible, if somewhat smooth, interpretations.

 

[axolotl]

Cornelius ~ Point (2001)



Indietronica, Shibuya-kei, Art Pop, Folktronica

 

[axolotl]

Discover America ~ Psychology (2005)



Indie Rock

 

[axolotl]

Christopher Parkening ~ Parkening Plays Vivaldi (1994)



Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Iona Brown

 

[axolotl]

Allen Keller ~ Wuthering Depths (1999)



Baroque Pop, Power Pop

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

William Byrd - The Cardinall’s Music: The Masses

 

[Ojai Sam]

Oscar Caceres - Latin America's Treasures (1975)

Brilliant classical guitarist Oscar Cacares emigrated from Uruguay to Paris in 1968 and never looked back. He passed away just last year at the age of 93. His style is warm and strongly rhythmic but never flashy.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Bob Sharples - Battle Stereo (1964)

"Phase 4 Stereo" was the auditory equivalent of Cinemascope. As such, it brought forth many projects such as this one that were long on sonic pyrotechnics and short on artistic merit. For about 30 minutes, we are immersed in the sounds of battle and political speeches from six epic conflicts from the American Revolutionary War through the Battle of Britain, with snippets of period music wafting through the gunfire and bloviation. I can't imagine that there was a huge market for recordings of "Deutschland Uber Alles" and the "Horst Wessels Lied" ("Raise the Banner!") in England less than 20 years after WWII ended.



Bob Sharples was a British conductor of light classics who dabbled in TV and B-movie soundtracks, including "The Strange World of Planet X" (aka "Cosmic Monsters"). His discography skews toward novelties like this record. Oh, well. At least he knew how to twirl those knobs to produce spectacular stereo separation.