A Lark Ascending

My first Towner too - opened my ears to so much more. Eberhard Weber is great here; and Jan Garbarek plays with a fire I rarely found elsewhere.

Hi PristineAudio, Looks fascinating to me - I have the Prestige version. I'd certainly welcome your information on the work you're doing.

Taking advantage of the extensive Lyritas up on e-music: Definately no cowpats here. Much knottier than the more lyrical stuff I go for, but on an initial listen, some very intriguing textures. Will need much more listening. The 'Excursions' for piano, four hands sound like Bartok at his folksiest.

Happy St. David's Day! I never knew Lionel Hampton was Welsh.

A rare abberation of taste (to good, that is). Up to a point. The piece they performed was called 'Timedance' - a three part suite-type thing that went from the mystic Celtic to 18th C drawing room to folk rock. On keyboards...and involved in the arrangement, I suspect - was a Bill Whelan who'd been providing 'extra' instruments for a while. A few years down the line Whelan had broadened the concept into a full stage show. Thus, 'Riverdance'! He became very rich.

I would hope Mosaic has a bit more integrity than that. They're going to sell all they have on their shelves anyway, whether it's this week or next month. Remember how the Ellington Reprise set went from Running Low to Last Chance to gone in about a week. I still kick myself for missing that one. So I'm glad I ordered the Hodges in time, and I'm glad for the warnings. I also wonder whether the Hodges is an end-of-lease sale or a sell-out of 7,500 copies. Probably the former. Of course - I was but jesting! Sometimes my dislike of smilies comes back to bite me!!!!!

Bowed to peer pressure and ordered this last weekend. I bet they do this on purpose - see a set not moving very quickly and announce it's imminent extinction in order to cause a rush!!!!!!!

Very true - and a good thing, in my view. I love visiting other people's houses and seeing how their record collections look, each reflecting very different experiences. The idea of 'the key works' has some meaning for academic trying to trace significance or influence and might have some use for people wanting to make a start and wanting a few sure-fire recommendations. But the real fun comes from following your own instincts off the text-book path. I find most of the mid to late 19thC (string quartets or classical music in general) has little interest for me, yet I get great pleasure in exploring supposedly 'minor' composers in the early 20th. It would be a sad old world if we all built our collections from what someone else has told us 'everyone should have'.

The four string quartets of Frank Bridge are fascinating - they chart a journey from Romanticism to 1920s abstraction. The two Janacek quartets are hardly a cycle - but are wonderfully distinctive examples of 20thC chamber music. I'm not sure if the Bridge fall into the 'everyone should have in their collection' concept (a foreign idea to me)...but they'll reward the curious listener who enjoys discovering music with its own voice.

I remember that when it was running low, Ogun/Cadillac were running out of covers - so some were sold cut-rate without artwork. Yes, I got one of those (thanks to a board member, too) - would anyone be able to offer scans of the missing cover? I asked for that before, I think, with no reaction at all. All I have is a b/w xerox copy of bad quality, you can hardly read it - of course all the info is on the EFI page, but it would still be nice to have a cover for it! It's disc 1 I'd need a scan for, would be very happy if anyone could help! I'd be happy to do that, King Ubu, if you can wait another three weeks. Work is bedlam at the moment - when we get to Easter I'll have the time. Yes, time is not a matter at all, I'll be very glad, whenever you get to it, thanks a lot! Just send me a reminder in three weeks time and I'll get onto it.

I recall a lovely Roy Haynes comment from some years back. He was saying how he loved both - but that rock was like jumping on the spot where as jazz was like running. I like that - I don't see any need for a versus.

I remember that when it was running low, Ogun/Cadillac were running out of covers - so some were sold cut-rate without artwork. Yes, I got one of those (thanks to a board member, too) - would anyone be able to offer scans of the missing cover? I asked for that before, I think, with no reaction at all. All I have is a b/w xerox copy of bad quality, you can hardly read it - of course all the info is on the EFI page, but it would still be nice to have a cover for it! It's disc 1 I'd need a scan for, would be very happy if anyone could help! I'd be happy to do that, King Ubu, if you can wait another three weeks. Work is bedlam at the moment - when we get to Easter I'll have the time.

Woken at 1.00 a.m. to find the bed vibrating like billy-o (no rude comments, please!). 15 seconds or so. Assumed someone was trying to get in by hammering the downstairs door. Turned out to be the biggest UK earthquake for 25 years. Please send aid immediately - unwanted Mosaics etc. I don't know. Floods last year, earthquakes this. Fully expecting the Vikings to sack Lindisfarne (or, more likely, the Metro Centre) in the near future.

I had these two records (which I've not heard) written off as 'wispy minimalism', something that doesn't do it for me - but your Hatfield and Sinclair references have me curious. Are their girl singers with perfect diction (the Roninettes?)?

I'd assumed she was a very popular singer with hit records in the 70s/80s - which is all I meant by prime. Certainly, the artistic control is producing some magical recordings.

I'll have to track that earlier version down. I just know odd tracks on compilations. Texturally similar, though not as dark and mysterious, is this great record: I've not warmed to what I've heard of Bethania in her prime - but there are a sequence of recent releases that are beautiful. Largely acoustic, 'traditional' instruments, subtle percussion and a nicely weathered voice. Good songs too. I don't understand the poems that turn up on the discs but they are short. Beautifully packaged too - also available from e-music if you can skip the wrapping.

Not the quartet? I hear Motion won't go to Europe anymore - he's an old man feeling more comfortable staying at home, and he has plenty of work round NY. No, these are duo performances.

Yes...I also have a ticket for a Nottingham performance in April. Could end up seeing them twice within a month!

Seeline's Joyce recommendations are spot on! She tipped me the wink a couple of years back and I've become quite the obsessive! Quite a few of her more recent records are available at e-music. Incidentally, buy this: Possibly the best record I bought last year! It's a re-recording of songs he'd put down earlier. I've not heard that earlier record - but this one is heart-stopping. Oh, and get Seeline to tell you about Monica Salmaso!

I bought three from this series available from DG last year: ...as a way of finding my bearings. A mixture of the very well known and rare tracks, the cheesy and the sublime. The three I have are 2CDs - I think there are 5 volumes in all, one of football songs! I think they're German issues. This one has been played a lot too: ...though it seems to be out of stock. Related to the Ruy Castro book, one of my most enjoyable reads of 2007. Best to check what you have for overlaps.

My two ponds are the scene of a veritable orgy during March each year. Woken up ever morning by very noisy splashing! Gone all grey and miserable over the last week.

Dervish are a marvellous traditional band. I'm not quite sure what they cooked up for 2007 Eurovision to suffer such ignominy! It's a long time since the early 80s when Planxty did the interval spot at Eurovision! And I don't suppose it helps Martin Carthy's chances of representing England. Maybe Basil Brush!

I've had a laptop with Vista since September - haven't had any problems apart from a printer being incompatible. I have no technical knowledge so probably don't need it to do what the more computer minded require. It does all I need.

I like the fact that they offer the consumer a choice. Very nice web site. Chandos do the same: Chandos They've had their entire OOP catalogue available for a few years. Imagine Blue Note doing that!!!!!!

Another aspect of the 'golden age' is price. When I first started earning an LP took up a fair whack of my pay packet (OK, I had a smaller pay packet, but...). When CDs came in there was a jump in price. But now you can dig around on the net and find things very cheap. Runs the risk of making music so easy to get hold of it loses its mystery. But I can live with that - I like the idea of reading about an actual recording and not finding it too hard to get a copy. The future is already here on some of the classical labels: Gimmell They have the advantage of owning all their own copyrights, I suspect. A model of how to do it, to my mind.