A Lark Ascending

Here's some sets you can brag about down at the wine club in the full knowledge no-one else will have them: http://www.theelectricrecordingco.com/ "I say old chap, I have some exquisite Schnabel." "Schnabel? Pah! You should see my Electric Recording Co. exclusive sets - why they feature iconic 'Holy Grail' recordings by the most revered classical performers."

Highly recommended - the great Stan Sulzmann from the school of the 60s meets the young turks of the noughties. Great playing, intriguing compositions. Definitely jazz - but with a touch of prog from the keyboards in places. If you liked the ECM records Gary Burton was doing in the early 70s... Good interview with Stan in the new Jazzwise; and another good one with Evan Parker.

And an extra 15 minutes! Would like to hear a bit more post 1960!

They missed a trick here. They could have attached each separate track to the end of the main releases and reissued them in new packaging. Then, in 18 months, bundled all the albums into a special collectors edition box with even more packaging.

Just back from Neon Quartet.- veteran Brit Stan Sulzmann with three of the best from the younger generation - Kit Downes, Jim Hart and Tim Giles. Marvellous evening - good compositions plus a standard and two Monks. Really exciting music.

I wish they'd just release them singly - in my case mp3s will do. Where I don't have any of the records the box is fine. But where there's one I'd like to hear having to get a box set is a pain. I've plenty of cardboard at home.

I'd agree there, though it doesn't happen as often as it once did. I don't care for recordings that sound like they've been made in an aircraft hanger - Chandos used to be guilty of this in the 80s. **************** The pantomime of the classical performance. Dress, order of appearance on stage, complete lack of verbal communication. I attended a couple of classical concerts this year where members of small ensembles just said a few words about the pieces they were playing. I found it really engaging - in both cases you got a real sense that the musicians really wanted to play this music and why. I don't want a lecture but I'm there to enjoy myself, to be intrigued - too often it seems like I'm in the cathedral of great art and am required to adopt a suitably pious demeanour.

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I'd say this one is even stronger, but not easy to find (I work off an LP copy from its initial release).

Many of Keith Tippett's totally free solo sessions have long stretches of serenity (amidst maelstrom passages). This is a great one:

I don't speak musical notation in any language.

Of course. But I seem to see it every time I go to London for a concert. In Sheffield or Nottingham people usually don't give up the ghost until half time. Festivals are a bit different - the all-in-one cards tend to encourage dipping in and out.

Went along to the South Bank in London yesterday for some marvellous music: Stonephace Stabbins - a Larry Stabbins group including Zoe Rahman playing Pharaoh Sander-ish jazz. A free foyer event. The John Law Trio - excellent UK trio. A little on the sweet side with (to my mind) some unnecessary electronics - they weren't obtrusive but you wondered why they were there. Egberto Gismonti - absolutely breathtaking. He played a good 90 minutes totally solo, half guitar (which seemed to have 3445 strings!), half piano. The guitar playing was mesmerising - I've heard some some technically impressive guitarists in my time but what he did with just about every possibility (incredible use of harmonics, tremendous percussive drive [at one stage sustained with one hand on the body of the guitar whilst his other hand played the strings]) was astounding. Tremendous piano player to boot - some familiar tunes played but virtually every phrase was followed by some sort of variation with little sense of straight repeating of melodies. What is it with London audiences, though? I don't see this anywhere else - yet again lots of people leaving after two or three numbers. Too indulged? Too rich? Too many other things to do the moment your attention wanders?

You are missing the point. In classical music the conductor, the string quartet, the singer, the instrumentalist are what matters. Debating who is best is what it is all about. The music is incidental.

"The Hour" - a BBC version of Mad Men set in a seedy late-50s newsroom in London. Series 2. "The Killing III" (the proper version) starts tomorrow - looking forward to that.

Downloads of opera recordings that don't include librettos. If Chandos or Hyperion can just have a link on their website, why can't Decca? I want to get a couple of the Entartete Musik series that are OOP as discs but there s downloads. But I need to know what is being sung.

Was he playing David Crosby's Guinnevere? Sorry - that refers to Steve Gray's post with the cowboy jacket.

Dead maestro fetishism.

New look seems fine to me. A lot of white screen which seems to glare a bit - but I'll probably get used to it. Any chance of a coffee shop?

Buy this with confidence: I'd paid no attention to SW since the Traffic days but this is tremendous - sounds like an early 70s record with Santana-esque guitar and lots of blowing. I don't buy many rock records these days but this one knocked my socks off. Got scared off what came after (apart from the live disc with Clapton which is great fun but a rather different animal) by lukewarm reviews - wonder what others think?

An interesting documentary on Sir George Solti last night. I'm not one for maestro-worship but he was a pretty big figure in my early days of collecting and had an interesting life. Got a new DVD/Blu-Ray player that also links into the BBC iPlayer and other things. Much more convenient than having to sit at the computer watching the iPlayer. Should be good for the wireless too. Otherwise, now reaching the end of series 5 of Frasier. Was Malvolioism ever more wonderfully punctured! I'm still waiting for Nils to go off on one about a certain pianist....

Do they throw in a complementary ear trumpet? Delivered by Valkyrie, I'm told.

Rumour has it that if you stick this one on your head it can make you invisible...much better than a trumpet mouthpiece: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wagner-Nibelungen-Deluxe-numbered-limited/dp/B008J1QFLU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352644054&sr=8-1

Physicists don't listen to jazz. They listen to Bach.

If you find yourself with a spare 90 minutes, watch this: (tackles some of those same issues of 'authenticity' that bedevil jazz) There's also a great 30 minute radio programme from a few weeks back which focuses on Alan Lomax's field trip to Ireland in the '50s - 'The First LP in Ireland'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h666r This is the LP: I suspect the programme is only available in the UK though the internet might be your friend.