king ubu

Alles Gute, Thomas!

Had my entire order split up into two packages in the mail about a week ago ... all fine, no wrong items so far (three orders in total only, though). The music is mighty fine ... the Malaby suffers a bit from sound, but the music makes more than up for it, Wadada is great! The Parker/Guy/Lytton + Peter Evans might turn into a favourite, upon first listen I thought it was terrific (better than the Evans quartet disc, which is good as well). And as has been mentioned here, the Convergence Quartet disc is mighty good indeed!

Ha! "Live at the Village Vanguard" is on my list, too! Took me a long time since I just forgot about it for years ... Also "Ascension" too me a while to warm to. Nowadays, I just love it! From Miles, I guess "On the Corner", too - and that's one BAD m-f, but it took me quite a while to figure that out.

Indeed! I missed out on the Jochum ICON like that ... and twice already on the Gilels Beethoven sonatas. But I'll just keep waiting until prices drop again.

Okay, guess once I'll have dug some deeper into symphonic stuff (I'm a neophyte, too - started early last summer, but bigtime, it's been a most amazing journey so far!) I'll be looking for more of these!

Oh, I've got what's part of the recent Gould editions (#5 and one part of #6, I think - or the other way 'round). They left off the entire #6 in the new series and the old CD is OOP and was rather expensive when I last checked - too bad. But yeah, that's marvellous music! Did Liszt transcribe all nine? He also did all those Verdi etc. opera transcriptions, and Schubert (or was it Schumann?) songs, too ... but I guess I really need to get better acquainted with the originals to understand those.

Don't know Eschenbach the pianist yet ... last summer/fall he was on the radio doing Beethoven #5 with Lang Lang and it was utterly boring. Never felt like checking out more. Anyway, I'm happy with what I've got, but I would definitely like to hear more of Gieseking's recordings (but I'm not that inclined to buy the two cheapo boxes on some shady label, Andromeda, I think?).

I'll have to dig up those recordings when I feel like Liszt again ... I think I fell for the late recording, initially. Will have to compare some. But I also want to revisit the most interesting Liszt recordings by Samson François ... those sound like he doesn't really like Liszt, as if he's kind of fighting the music he's performing. Weird, but fascinating.

Oh, it was a great concert, all in all! But yeah, a wireless mic sounds like a good idea - or they should have adjusted his mic a bit, since he really wasn't that close most of the time. But I was sitting in front row and had most of the sound live, not via PA. I went to shake hands and say thanks to Mr. Fuller in the break but didn't intrude for long as there were other, much older gents around sharing photos of themselves with Fuller at the Nice Jazz Parade etc. They had a ball ... so, it was really good to see it all (much better, I dare say, than last fall's concerts by Lateef/Shepp and Konitz). And Joris Dudli really is a hell of a drummer, he drove that truck, as Mr. Sangrey would say

I may be unaware of the latest trends but I thought nerdy was the new "cool". Just look at those big ole horn rimmed glasses the pro athletes are wearing as well as the fact that "nerds" are today's success story. I thought the Black Keys drummer was a trend setter. No comment on the music. I know, but I don't buy that. Once found myself amidst the crowd exiting a hall after a Wilco concert ... and these guy (and gals) looked almost like an army in their hipster uniforms

Okay, thanks Eric - makes sense to me! Steve, I was mainly saying that no one cares nowadays how French is being used and/or abused (sorry, brownie!) ... I wasn't saying it's not being mistreated, just that it's irrelevant, as everyone speaks and writes English these days. I've got a job where it's common to write and speak English ... and sometimes I really have a hard time not splurting out laughing at what I hear day in, day out. This is not that different from the mix of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Albanian etc. that you hear on construction sites. It's not proper language, it's more like a pidgin, and it does very often hurt my ears.

Okay, that's almost what I was afraid of English is a darn difficult language if you want to do it justice ... alas it's also the most commonly mis-treated and abused language in these times. But I guess the same would have applied to French in previous decades. (edited for typo)

That is some mighty great stuff! "Black Marigolds" was the first Garrick I ever heard and is still among my UK jazz favourites!

Thanks, will keep my eyes open then!

Curtis Fuller Sextet last night ... a band made up of Americans (Fuller, Josh Bruneau on trumpet and Rob Bargad on piano) and Europeans (Ralph Reichert on tenor, Milan Nikolic on bass and Joris Dudli on drums). Probably the closest I ever got to witness Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in concert ... mighty fine band playing staples from Fuller's and Blakey's repertoire (Arabia, Up Jumped Spring, Caravan as closer) and other bebop staples such as "Star Eyes". Bruneau and Reichter did a beautiful ballad medley (Blame It on My Youth and It's Easy to Remember), the trio got featured in both sets, first set was, I think, "Everything Happens to Me", then in the second set they did "I'm Old Fashioned" (which, according to Fuller, Coltrane never played again after the famous recording, and hence he wouldn't play on it either) ... Bargad was very good, the rhythm section totally in the pocket, they pulled some Jamal-like tricks (of Crosby/Fournier vintage) and Bargad went into some block chords/locked hands stuff à la Red Garland a few times ... truly fine and honest music played by a powerful band. Fuller himself, well ... he seems to be doing pretty well but he doesn't have that much strength left (no wonder, at that age) and his tone, while still round and beautiful, wasn't projecting too well in the room (he seemed to often play next to rather than into the mic, too), and while soms solos came off pretty well, there were spots where you could kind of hear what he had in mind but it wouldn't come out quite that way ... but it was still great to see him, and the concert as a whole was very good.

just posted over in the sonatas thread before remembering this one, which I've perused before ... Really? I found them very good! But my favorites are Schnabel, the few I have by Gieseking (488, 491), Edwin Fischer, Rubinstein doing 491 with Krips (the others with Wallenstein are good but nowhere near Krips) and what I've heard so far of Casadesus was mighty fine, too (got to dig deeper there, the cheapo Sony 5 CD set is waiting to be explored), then Gould's 491, and some of Clara Haskil's, too. ... I'm very much of this same opinion ... love the Perahias. Mom's, can you try and explain your contempt for his recordings a bit more exactly? (Are you still around anyway?) I love K 491 with Krips but somehow find the orchestra much less engaging on the Wallenstein recordings. Not Rubinstein's fault at all, but the Krips stands out for me.

Really? I found them very good! But my favorites are Schnabel, the few I have by Gieseking (488, 491), Edwin Fischer, Rubinstein doing 491 with Krips (the others with Wallenstein are good but nowhere near Krips) and what I've heard so far of Casadesus was mighty fine, too (got to dig deeper there, the cheapo Sony 5 CD set is waiting to be explored), then Gould's 491, and some of Clara Haskil's, too. As for the sonatas ... Schnabel Gould Pires Gulda also some by Gieseking, Solomon, Edwin Fischer, Ciccolini ... would love to get that Gieseking EMI box, but it costs an arm and a leg these days ... got a few by Staier but haven't really warmed to them ... Bezuidenhout might suit me better, I've seen him performing two piano concertos with the Freiburger Barockorchester on TV (playing Hammerklavier) and that was mighty good, I found.

I'm having somewhat of a hard time getting into Debussy's piano music ... the only recordings that really did it for me so far are Marcelle Meyer's (which I think haven't been mentioned her). Not sure what the problem is, but it's most likely on my end ... anyway, Meyer is wonderful, I find. Gieseking, François and Ciccolini are others I've listened to, but none of them really grabs me so far.

It's been a while, but I'd be all for Arrau's "Nocturnes" and "Préludes", though they are a bit earlier (1978 and 1973 respectively). Both are wonderful recordings in my opinion. Other than that, I've got plenty of older Chopin that I love just as much - but that's not the question here.

But I still wonder if "how" is flat out wrong and if there's an explanation why it is wrong?

Threadgill & Air - the first two discs with the three Air albums right now

Some favorites, after half a year or so of intense listening to classical music (which Bach ain't, I know) - listed in no particular order: Violin Sonatas & Partitas: - Szigeti - Szeryng (1967, don't know the earlier recording yet, it's a bit too expensive) - Grumiaux - Zehetmair Cello Suites: - Casals (EMI, late 30s) - Schiefen - Gaillard (I guess Fournier will make that list, too, but not that familiar yet.) Sonatas for violin and harpsichord: - Grumiaux/Jaccottet - Laredo/Gould Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord: - Rose/Gould (hellyeah!) Goldberg Variations: - Gould (both Columbias) - Tureck (EMI 1957) (now don't yell at me, the Rousset, Hantaï and Rannou are here, found the latter a bit weird, haven't played the other two yet) The Well-Tempered Clavier: - Gulda - Edwin Fischer (I've got Hanaï's first book around ... and enjoyed what I've heard from Gould, too, but not familiar enough to decide yet .. got to get more harpsichord here ... and maybe Tureck, too) Brandenburg Concertos & Orchestral Suites: - Menuhin (Bath, EMI) (clearly room for more here!) Piano Concertos: - Gould - Edwin Fischer Violin Concertos: - Menuhin - Ferras (I guess I prefer the Bath Menuhins over the Enescu ones ... and for BWV 1043 I might prefer Ferras/Schwalbé over Menuhin/Ferras, not quite sure) Cantatas: (Don't quite know yet ... but whatever I've heard sung by Janet Baker and Elly Ameling has been wonderful, partcularly "Ich habe genug" BWV 82 by Baker! Also have some fine ones - or rather just arias - by Anne Sofie von Otter ... while Kozená doesn't convince me too much.) Other than that, I've got plenty more harpsichord/piano stuff around, more recordings of the Cello Suites to explore, and the Mass in B Minor (Gardiner) as well as the St. John and St. Matthew Passions (both by Gönnenwein, the later also by Karl Richter and Paul McCreesh).

Got the Ligeti for a bit more (18 or 19€) from amazon.it, which has it for 50€ now ... don't quite understand the rationale behind these price changes on amazon ... and of course haven't yet started digging into the box ... buying fast, but moving ahead slowly, trying to really listen before I move on.

disc two - "Jubilee Shout!!!" - what a hell of a fine band!