Introducing the Fall Line... of vintage classical vinyl

...being a list of vinyl classical LPs I bought on my first trip to this falls Friends of the Multnomah Public Library booksale, at a buck a pop.

Brahms, Piano Concerto #2 – Chicago Symphony (1975)

Brahms, Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel & Waltzes – Leon Fleisher, piano (1957)

My nomination for awesomest Brahms cover art of all time.

“The Contemporary Trumpet.” Music of Kraft, Campo, Henderson, and Hamilton, whoever they were. – Thomas Stevens, trumpet. (1972)

“The Debussy Album” …or first half of a double album – Philadelphia Orchestra (probably mid-1970s)

Gabrieli, assorted pieces – Eastman Wind Ensemble (1961) “Hi-Fi Monaural” (!)

Handel, Four Concerti Grossi – Munich Bach Orchestra (1970)

Liszt and Grieg, Concertos. RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Artur Rubinstein, piano (1954)

Litolff, Henry (!), Symphonic Concerto #4. Monte Carlo Opera Orchesta, Gerald
Robbins, piano (1973)

What, you're not familiar with the concert music of Litolff?

Lopatnikoff (!), Divertimento & Rozsa (!), Serenade for Orchestra – La Jolla Musical Arts Festival Orchestra (!) (1951)

Mandolin Music (!) by Hasse, Beethoven, and Gianneo – Heidelburg Chamber Orchestra, Jacob Thomas, mandolin (c. 1970)

Massenet, Piano Concerto, plus Saint-Saens and Gounod – Westphalian Symphony Orchestra, Marylene Dosse, piano (1973)

Music for Violin and Cello by Ravel, Haydn, and Hindemith – Oleg Kagan, violin, and Natalia Gutman, cello. “Made in USSR”! (possibly 1974)

Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto #2 – Robin Hood Dell Orchestra of Philadelphia (!), William Kapell, piano (1950)

“Rimsky-Korsakoff,” Le Coq d’Or & Stravinsky, “Firebird” – Boston Symphony (1965)

Saint-Saens, Violin Concerto – New Philharmonia Orchestra, Pierre Amoyal, violin (1977)

Scriabin, Sonata #3, 16 preludes – Vladimir Horowitz, Piano (1956)

Richard Strauss, Rosenkavalier Suite – Detroit Symphony (1985)

Vivaldi, Opus 11 Concerti – I Solisti Veneti (1976)

“The Well-Tempered Synthesizer” – Walter Carlos, early synthesizers (1969)

Zwilich, “Passages” and “String Trio” – Boston Musica Viva (1984)

The 2011 Library Book Sale CD Trove II

A "new" series of CD finds from the Friends of the Multnomah County Library Annual Booksale, of which I wrote up one back in November and then got distracted what with all the lovely art.  (And by the way, that "Random Record Review" thing that I did two of is a dead letter.  (But, yeah, yeah, the Beatles thing is still on.))  

Frank Ezra Levy: Symphony #3, Cello Concerto #2, etc.

RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Takuo Yuasa conducting.

Anyone who assumes that orchestral music written in the 1990s and 2000s must be either abstruse racket or spare minimalism would be surprised by this set of compositions by the American composer Frank Ezra Levy, of whom I had never heard before snapping up this disc.  This music makes good use of the strength and versatility of a modern orchestra, but seems to reach back to the late Romantic period, thus ignoring at least a half century of music history -- which is not necessarily a bad idea.  In fact, as I write this I notice a quote from Levy in the liner notes: I have embraced the work of some twentieth century composers... and have avoided other currents of the time, such as serial music.  He goes in big for dramatic orchestral effects, which makes many passages seem a bit like film music.  If this sounds like a nice way of saying that I thought it was competent, but wasn't particularly moved by it, well, then we are speaking the same code.  It is probably pretty stirring stuff in person; in recording, or at least in this recording, I am not sure it is done justice.

Decision: I will hang on to this disc, as it makes one feel very intellectual to have "classical music" on hand that was composed within the last ten years.

Herbie Hancock: Head Hunters

Back in 2008, I did a post on jazz that turned out to make a big change in my music-listening habits.  Before that post, jazz probably made up at most 1% of my music-listening diet.  These days it's probably over 5%.  That's a fairly serious change for an old dog.

I asked for recommendations in that post, and one of big favorites was posted by still-around-after-all-these-years reader Nichim.  She told me I was almost certain to like Herbie Hancock's Sextant, and golly! she sure was right.  It's one grooOOoooOOoooOOoovy record.  That's right.  One grooOOoooOOoooOOoovy record.  That's what I said.

It says here on the back of the 1992 reissue of 1973's Head Hunters that it is "the largest selling jazz album in history."  Well, that's as may be, but it's no Sextant.  It has a pretty good fusion-y crossover groove, which is likable enough (although to be sure a fusion-y crossover groove in itself just makes some people grit their teeth).

Decision: Sextant will stay in my Castle5000 lair, but Head Hunters will join the collection at work that is good enough and energetic enough to enhance my office productivity, but no so good as to be distracting.  If you are thinking "that's sure damning it with faint praise!" we are once again speaking the same code.



Chopin: Polonaises 1-9

Adam Harasiewicz, piano

I have never been especially interested in solo piano music that isn't by Beethoven, but Niece #2 is into Chopin and it has rubbed off on me some.  The Polonaises are extremely approachable and playful; they seem less like tuxedo classical music than sweater and khakis classical music, if you see my point.  On this no-frills budget disc, they seem pounded out a bit bluntly to my ear.  Well, maybe they are supposed to sound this way.  Also, Harasiewicz probably didn't get any favors from the production team; these recordings are from the late 1960s, and the disc likely dates to the heyday of the compact disc fifteen years ago.   At that time, I've been told, budget classical discs were what was used to keep CD factories busy between real orders because that was less expensive than turning the machines off and then turning them back on again.  This lends a real hit-and-miss quality to them: sometimes a budget recording is a real gem, and sometimes the music on the disc doesn't match what's printed on the label.  Whee!

Decision: Not having much Chopin, I'll hang on to this Chopin.

The Bins Trove of December 2011

I've made several trips to the legendary "Bins" lately -- you Citizens of Roses know what I'm talking about -- and on one of them I finally succumbed to the logic that:

1. I have a record player.
2. Vinyl records are basically free.
3. It is amusing to listen to vinyl records, and
4. The vinyl format is an excellent defense against the evils of prolonged sitting.

So of course you'll want to know what I picked up.

A perfectly cromulent recording of core piano repertoire by a Big Name Pianist of a few decades back.  Reason for grid on cover not immediately apparent.

The Brahms Violin Concerto, with notes by Deems Taylor, a minor league composer and major league musicologist of a few generations back.  You remember him (Taylor, not Brahms) for his stilted, dimwitted blathering in Walt Disney's bizarrely overrated Fantasia.

Like the Brahms, this recording of Mendelssohn's 3rd is a "Book of the Month Club Music-Appreciation Record."  Mrs.5000 and I consider this concept a bit of a hoot.  Note that the performance is by the "Music Appreciation Symphony Orchestra" under the baton (Classical Music Tip: always say "under the baton of" and, for extra points, swallow the "n" in "baton") of Thomas Scherman, whoever he was.  A pick-up band, in other words, which provides the kind of workmanlike performance you would expect from pros putting in a day's work.

Nowadays, of course, we do not refer to the Mendelssohn 3 as the "Scotch." We refer to it as the "Scottish." Especially around large, muscular, politically minded Scotsmen.

This is actually the record that made me decide to make a space in my life for vinyl again.  Brubeck Time?  Just sitting there naked and sleeveless at The Bins?!?  I couldn't let that happen.  It's a pretty sweet record.

And, because there's no reason not to gamble on long odds at Bins prices, I Remember Sweden by Nils Flacke, his accordion, and orchestra.  Which turns out to alternate between pleasant-enough accordion polka tracks (almost all of which are in the basic metrical and harmonic structure of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game") and vocal tracks which are, alas, schmaltzy without being either a remarkable display of talent or amusing in an ironic fashion.  But just to own it is worth the quarter I paid, although whoever eventually has to deal with my estate may beg to disagree.

The Christmas Trove

Did you get any awesome loot for Christmas this year?  I sure did.  For one thing, I got lots of socks and other things of a practical bent.  Which was terrific.

But then, I was also given a smashing trove of exquisitely impractial material related to the subject matter of this blog!  To the extent that this blog has subject matter!  For instance, I received no fewer than four (4) sets of boring postcards, with two siblings, the parents, and Mrs.5000 all doing their part.  IT'S LIKE THEY KNEW WHAT I WANTED.  Then, on a somewhat grander scale, sisterjen gave me:

Art... postcard... book!  It's a threefer!  I think it will serve as a coffee table book for a while, before going on to a second life as postcards.

Mrs.5000 really poured it on.  For instance, do you think I might enjoy the lavishly illustrated World Encyclopedia of Flags?

Sure, it has historical material.  Sure, it discusses every country's flag in depth.  But it also covers sub-national flags...

...and has killer vintage flag images.  Yummy.

Then we have the DK Ultimate Visual Dictionary, which I highly recommend for anyone who is interested in everything.

Did she stop there?  No, she did not.  She continued on with an Elements calendar!

It's really quite lovely, even if, with only 12 months to work with, it has to leave a few elements out.  It's funny, though, because it has the Elements of the Month all wrong.  For instance, it has Bismuth for January.

But the Element of the Month for January isn't Bismuth.  It's Iridium.

Lastly, for my collection of vintage books about classical music, it the 1891 Famous Composers and their Works, Volume II!

It was edited by John K. Paine!  The guy who could be considered the first great American composer, if Received Opinion had some different starting assumptions!

Now, apparently Mrs.5000 purchased this book (for the excellent price of $3) at the Friends of the Library Book Sale a few months back. And apparently, when she tried to give it to me, I told her that she was crazy not to keep such an awesome find back as a Christmas gift.  And now that she mentions it, I do vaguely remember something of the sort happening in the happy excitement of the book sale.  But...  I sure was surprised.  And delighted!

Did you get anything awesome for Christmas?