#37: Rossini: The Barber of Seville

#37: Rossini: The Barber of Seville. Decca,  1964 (CD 1999). Total time (2 discs): 144:52.

#36: Jeff Buckley: So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley

Details: Jeff Buckley (1966-1997), So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley. Legacy, 2007. Total time: 72:37.

Jeff Buckley drowned in the Mississippi River near Memphis in 1997 at the age of 30 -- which always makes one wonder what he would've done in the nearly two decades since he died. 

That said,  what he did in his young life is remarkable still. He took a song composed by the wizened genius Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah," and at a young age recorded what still stands as the definitive version of a truly great song -- one that has been recorded by countless other people since.  Yet Buckley's haunting, heartfelt version still shines beyond any other -- including maybe even the original.

He contributed other great song performances that as my father used to say stand the test of time: the great "Last Goodbye" which I remember hearing on the radio, one of the very few singles that was released in Buckley's lifetime.  

Other notable songs on this collection include So Real, Grace, a passionate version of Lover You Should've Come Over, a truly mindblowing remake of a 1930s song by French chanteuse Edith Piaf (!) and the epic closing song, I Know It's Over, a live performance that you don't want to end.

#35: Lunasa: The Kinnitty Sessions

Details: Lunasa: The Kinnitty Sessions.  Compass, 2004. Total time: 40:30.

#34: U2: Wide Awake in America

 

Details: U2: Wide Awake in America.  Island,  1985. Total time: 20:44.  

#33: Rachmaninov: The Piano Concertos; Paganini Rhapsody

Details: Rachmaninov: The Piano Concertos; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Stephen Hough and Dallas Symphony Orchestra, conductor A. Litton. Hyperion, 2004. Total time: 145:35. 

Personal. Emotional. Romantic.  These words can be used to describe Rachmaninov's music especially these pieces. Also he is a bridge between 19th and 20th centuries: perhaps more accurately his music sounds more 1800s than 1900s.

Ultimately it is musical and melodious--so much so that Eric Carmen lifted much of the 2nd movement of the 2nd concerto for his 1970s pop hit, "All By Myself," and parts of the soundtrack to the hit movie "Home Alone" sound inspired by Rhapsody on a Theme By Paganini  (which itself was inspired by someone else).

My favorite is the 2nd concerto which is full of reflection and sounds very personal which it is. Rachmaninov reportedly struggled to compose it during a time of personal difficulty in his life and overcame creative challenges with the help of a therapist and wrote the beautiful opening chords of the 2nd concerto's first movement. This is a crowdpleasing, iconic piece of music and was featured in an iconic Marilyn Monroe movie, The Seven Year Itch.

The 3rd concerto is known as one of the most challenging accomplishments for any pianist to achieve and Stephen Hough is up to the challenge.  The Dallas Symphony does a great job throughout.  The 4 concerti were all recorded live while the Paganini variations apparently were not.  

#32: Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto -- Mutter/Vienna/Karajan

Details: Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto,  Anne-Sophie Mutter and Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, conductor. Deutsche Grammophon,  1988. Total time: 38:34.

#31: Peggy Lee: At Last: The Lost Radio Recordings

Details: Peggy Lee (1920-2002), At Last: The Lost Radio Recordings.  Real Gone Music,  2015. Total time (2 discs): 92:57.

Holy Toledo! Talk about old-time radio.  Just released on CD this week, the 45 songs here are from the legendary jazz singer-songwriter, Peggy Lee. In 1951 and 1952 during some of her peak performance years Miss Lee had a radio program, The Peggy Lee Show, and all these superb song performances are from then. 

More than 60 years later this material sounds so damn good and how exciting that these long lost intimate radio performances, many of them romantic ballads, others swinging numbers, are finally being made available.

I believe although she is no longer with us Peggy Lee is still relevant in music today.  Even here with recordings that sound just a little scratchy, it is delightful to listen to her distinctive voice singing classic songs backed by a great band and pianists. One of the words I use to describe Peggy Lee's singing voice is this: smile.  Listening to her singing you can hear her smile so clearly. 

My only complaint is while reaching inside one of the pockets of the cardboard CD holder for the liner notes I ripped the front cover a bit. Other than that this 2-disc album is perfect.

#30: Electric Light Orchestra: Out of the Blue

Details: Electric Light Orchestra, Out of the Blue.  CBS, 1977. Total time: 70:23.

#29: Radiohead: OK Computer

Details: Radiohead, OK Computer. Capitol, 1997. Total time: 53:27.

A fascinating blend of technology, automation, and the human.  Ultimately of course,  despite the album title,  and several of the overt song titles, the human wins out through the voices, melodies; instrumentals, beats (heartbeats), noise, rhythm, tone, mood, words, emotions and message of the songs. 

Music originates from human creativity.  Technology has provided us with vehicles to preserve and share music, but the source of music is not mechanical -- it comes from the human spirit. 

#28: Stan Getz: A Life In Jazz: A Musical Biography

Details: Stan Getz (1927-1991), A Life In Jazz: A Musical Biography.  Verve, 1996 (compilation).Total time: 67:33.

Stan Getz was a saxophonist whose peak was in the 1950s and 1960s although he played before then with big bands and performed up to his death.

Getz's saxophone playing had a smooth singing sound and he experimented with different styles including strings on a much respected 1961 album,  Focus, and later that decade popularized Latin jazz, particularly  bossa nova.

The first track on this compilation is a piece with strings which is quite good. From the bossa nova period there is a great performance of Quiet Nights (more recently recorded by Diana Krall) and other tracks include a nice version of Summertime (unreleased until after his death) and a collaboration with the great Ella Fitzgerald.

This album apparently was a companion to a book, a biography of Getz. Not sure what happened to the book but once again this CD comes from my dad's collection. 

#27: Bill Evans: Conversations with Myself

Details: Bill Evans (1929-1980), Conversations with Myself.  Verve, 1963. Total time: 43:59.

My father's favorite musician again.  Here he is overdubbed playing piano, dueting and even seemingly trio-ing by himself.

This is the first time I've really listened to this entire album although I've heard Evans recordings for much of my life. The opening chords are startling--sounds so much like Debussy. Once again a reminder of Evans' roots studying classical music as a youngster.

The recording technology that enabled this overdubbing in 1963 must have been remarkable to see in action.

Also this album reminds me of another virtuoso pianist and contemporary of Evans:  Glenn Gould. Both men died tragically young and at about the same age,  and both were masters at the piano who experimented with recording technologies. I wish I had gotten the chance, like my father and brother Michael, to see Evans play piano in person. 

Most of the Evans recordings in my collection were either my father's or were given to me by him. My dad had an expansive collection of LP  records.  I used to joke that he had every recording ever made by Evans including a few that Evans himself was unaware of. 

#26: Chris Tomlin: See the Morning

Details: Chris Tomlin (b. 1972). See the Morning. Sparrow, 2006. Total time: 46:19.

This album is a follow-up to the smash hit,  Arriving,  previously written about here (#25). It is noticeably different in tone and tempo, much more subdued and stripped-down.

It sounds more like an album from a worship leader than an uptempo rock style CCM album in the vein of U2 or Coldplay, although there are still a few uptempo energetic numbers here and there, e.g. Rejoice.

Unchanged is Tomlin's earnest vocal delivery and skilled songwriting. Standout tracks are  the first three (How Can I Keep From Singing, Made to Worship,  and Let God Arise) and the final one, Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone), an excellent partial remake of the classic hymn.

#25: Chris Tomlin: Arriving

Details: Chris Tomlin (b. 1972). Arriving. Sparrow, 2004. Total time: 45:59.

CCM, or contemporary Christian music,  has been around for decades (think Amy Grant) but last decade it seemed to take flight in terms of number of records, sales, tours, media (including seeping into secular airplay), and quite frankly from this listener's perspective, the quality of songwriting, performance and production. 

Gone is the often clunky sound from past decades.  If you don't listen to the words this could be U2 or Coldplay, for example. Chris Tomlin has been consistently good for years now and this is one of his earlier offerings.  The first 5 or 6 tracks are infectious and uplifting with the first three (Indescribable,  Holy is the Lord, and How Great is Our God) real standout songs in terms of his career.

As the album progresses Tomlin's earnest vocals continue but the song quality slips a bit. Still these are all in all very good songs by a talented singer-songwriter who is also a worship leader.  The production is clean and his band is made up of great supporting talent. 

#24: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli: Claude Debussy -- Preludes Vol. 2

Details: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995): Claude Debussy -- Preludes Vol. 2.  Deutsche Grammophon, 1988. Total time: 39:09.

As good as the first disc of Debussy piano works by Michelangeli that I previously wrote about (#23), this one is perhaps even better. 

What a wonderful exhibition of thoughtful virtuosic playing here. It seems a little dismissive to refer to the Debussy pieces here as mere "preludes" (vol. 2) as they are very complex, developed compositions. For example one of my favorites, "Bruyeres" (v.), sounds more like a nocturne or ballade a la Chopin. 

The piece de resistance, of course, is the final work, Feux d'artifice (Fireworks), a brilliant piece that could be called a nocturnal etude. Having seen this piece played up close and personal (in the home,  as a child) and hearing Michelangeli's recording of it gives an interesting sensation of the visual along with the aural. 

As mentioned in #23, very few people have achieved the level of artistic quality with these Debussy compositions as Michelangeli did on these recordings (this one from 1988 and the prior ones from 1971 and 1978).

#23: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli: Claude Debussy -- Preludes, Vol. 1; Images I & II

Details: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995): Claude Debussy -- Preludes Vol. 1; Images I & II. Deutsche Grammophon, 1971/1978. Total time: 72:48.

Michelangeli was a true virtuoso of the piano and his recordings of Debussy here are for the ages -- really brilliant stuff.  It's remarkable to hear him conquer this material when more often I associate him with Beethoven, for example.  

The Italian Michelangeli was legendary for his precision, even perfection. On recordings and in recitals he is known to have made perhaps two audible mistakes...In total. Which makes it all the more remarkable to hear his technical expertise at the keyboard matched by a subtle, thoughtful interpretation of the French composer's musical paintings.

Debussy creates illusions in a way, including the illusion of improvisation when in fact his composition is precise and intricate. Debussy's magical music seems to blend Oriental sounds with Western, visual with sonic art forms, melody and chords into sound effects, and seems to have predicted jazz before it was invented.

Of course once again here is a parental influence.  I heard several of these preludes played on the family piano by my mother,  most memorably the Feux d'artifice (Fireworks) from Preludes Vol. 2 (subject of the next blog entry) and I can still see my mother's hands flying up and down the keyboard playing arpeggios, scales and chords.

My mother's three favorite composers were (in order) Bach, Beethoven and Chopin. Debussy might've been #4. This music is hardly ever played in live recitals anymore, and hasn't been for a long time.   I'm not sure why that is. Maybe it's just a phase and the pendulum will come back at some point?

#22: Joan Sutherland: The Art of the Prima Donna

Details: Joan Sutherland (1926-2010): The Art of the Prima Donna. Decca, 1960 (CD: 2000). Total time (2 discs): 108:32.

Another parental influence I suppose. Joan Sutherland was far and away one of my mother's favorite singers and the near-unanimous assessment of 20th century sopranos is that she is second only to Maria Callas.

One of my mother's favorite habits was cooking and baking on Saturday afternoons while listening to the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. Undoubtedly Sutherland was a frequent performer on these broadcasts and was one of the first singing voices I think I learned to recognize.

Sutherland, an Australian, had an incredibly advanced vocal gift--superb technical skills and the ability to convey emotion and drama while hitting every note perfectly and delivering a dazzling array of trills and runs.

This album is an intentional collection of well-known arias and from what I have heard has been used by many sopranos over the years as a learning tool.

It was recorded in Aug. 1960 in London, and the second track on disc 1 (Let the bright seraphim, by Handel) was the song that made her famous in 1958, also in London. Then, after her performance of this aria, the audience gave her a sustained 10-minute standing ovation.

The album includes her brilliant renditions of Bellini's Casta diva and Verdi's Sempre libera as well as 14 other arias from Rossini, Bellini, Gounod, Mozart and Verdi among others. 

Listening to this album left me with a taste for lasagna, salad, garlic bread and cannoli.

#21: Billie Holiday: First Issue: The Great American Songbook

Details: Billie Holiday (1915-1959): First Issue: The Great American Songbook.  Verve, 1994. Total time (2 discs): 136:42.

I am pretty certain that this one was once my late father's. This two-disc set is invaluable.  One of the all-time great American singers and a generous collection of her recordings of about 40 of the best standards from the great American songbook--American classical music in a way. 

The instantaneously recognizable voice of Billie Holiday, rich with character, the emotions of her vocals as visible as a smile, as tangible as a tear. She is supported by superb musicians--pianists,  drummers,  horn players and so on. 

The instantaneously recognizable songs: Day In, Day Out. Our Love Is Here To Stay. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road). A Foggy Day. Classic songs from the best songwriters: Rodgers & Hart, Gershwin, Kern, Porter, Ellington, Mercer, Berlin, Van Heusen, Arlen.

And that Voice. So human with perfect imperfections. This is great artistry and so help me if it ever goes out of style or is forgotten....

#20: Walking Stones: A Celtic Sojourn

Details: Walking Stones: A Celtic Sojourn. Dorian, 1997. Total time: 63:49.

Traditional music like this is best heard in an Irish pub--and better yet a pub in Ireland where all pubs are Irish pubs. 

Listening to this album's reels, jigs and airs should set a toe to tapping and a face to smiling. If not then a pulse check may be in order. 

One element on this album that makes it particularly attractive is the hammered dulcimer, an instrument that when well played has such a sparkling joyous sound.  It's a well-named instrument too as dulcimer comes from the same word for sweet.

The sweet sounds on this particular album helped me get through a bittersweet  time in my life a number of years ago.  That is one of the values and benefits of music to life. 

#19: Leonard Cohen: More Best Of

Details: Leonard Cohen (b. 1934): More Best Of. Sony, 1997.

As I steadily and slowly work my way through my CD collection, I realize that several of my albums rather defy categorization. Here is another one. And here is another album made by a very unique voice -- one of those that you recognize quickly once you've heard it before.  Cohen is a brilliant Canadian songwriter whose voice isn't the purest but it fits his songs like a glove.  He's a storyteller and a troubadour and a poet, more than a pure musician.

This album contains what will make up the few of his truly memorable songs: 

* Everybody Knows, a midtempo number in which he quietly tends to a slow burn

* Anthem, which lives up to its title in every way possible

* Democracy, from the 1980s and still relevant today, which both celebrates and pleads for it to come to the USA

* Hallelujah -- which may become his singular contribution to songwriting, or maybe it has already.  His version is the original by the original, of course, and along with Jeff Buckley's legendary interpretation of it (which I think is a bit better), there are no two better versions of this remarkable song despite countless renditions of it performed and recorded over the years by others.

When I put this album on or hear anything by Cohen, I feel like I'm being spoken to, and taught, by a wise man who pushes up against conformity. You don't want it to end or stop because the wisdom is so good to hear and be present to.

#18: Frank Sinatra: In the Wee Small Hours

Details: Frank Sinatra (1915-1998): In the Wee Small Hours.  Capitol, 1955. Total time: 50:00.

The cover.  The album title.  The track list. The opening song's lyrics: "In the wee small hours of the morning, while the whole wide world is fast asleep,  you lie awake and think about the girl and never ever think of counting sheep. When your lonely heart has learned its lesson...."

Is this the original concept album?  Even if it's not the first one it surely is one of the best ever recorded.

All of these songs were recorded by Sinatra, the master, at or near his peak artistic performance in a matter of about 4 weeks, in Los Angeles with Nelson Riddle's orchestra. This was one of the early LPs. Most recording sessions were in February 1955 (60 years ago!) with a few the following month.

While this album represents a peak artistic,  musical and recording achievement in a legendary career, it was also inspired by heartbreak: Sinatra's painful breakup with Ava Gardner that left him reeling. This truly wonderful album has no weak points and is a great exhibit of great pain inspiring great art.

After six decades the songs still sound fresh and immediate. The songwriters represented on this album are the creme de la creme: Ellington.  Rodgers & Hart. Van Heusen.  Carmichael.  Porter. Arlen.   Great singing, great songs, and genuine heartbreak are things that will never go out of style.

#17: The Monks of l'Abbaye du Bec-Hellouin: Gregorian Chant and Polyphony

Details: The Monks of l'Abbaye du Bec-Hellouin: Gregorian Chant and Polyphony. EMI, 1995. Total time: 66:07.

The early to mid 1990s saw a huge revival of interest in Gregorian chant,  so much so that recordings by obscure European monks began to sell like crazy and win awards. 

This album is a hybrid of CD and book. The recordings are by monks (both male and female) from a French monastery. 

The chants include songs designated for Holy Week, Easter,  Pentecost,  and Advent. The price tag -- from the now-defunct Borders -- is still on the back which is a clue that this was a gift from my dad.

A peaceful way to spend some contemplative time indoors on a snowy windy Sunday.

#16: Tom Waits: Bad As Me

Details: Tom Waits (b. 1949): Bad As Me. ANTI-, 2011. Total time: 44:36.

I'd love to know what would've happened had Tom Waits been dropped into,  say, the 1920s to see what kind of music he would've produced back then and how or if it would've been different. 

Waits is truly a unique musician with one of the oddest collection of vocal stylings in recorded history I would think.  His trademark low, raspy, growly, groaning singing has likely made more than a few listeners over the years a bit unsettled.

Like a good strong aged and somewhat rare whiskey,  though,  one warms to it after a few sips--or in this case, songs.

Waits has been on the scene for more than four decades now and is one hell of a songwriter as evidenced by this recent album which is another offering of saloon songs, rocking and raging blues, and other stuff that defies categorization. He plays a mean guitar on all of the songs and does piano and other instruments on various songs too.

His singular voice endures and sounds like some strange blend of bits of Louis Armstrong, Wolfman Jack, Christopher Lloyd as Rev. Jim Ignatowski on the old TV show Taxi, and maybe Willie Nelson and even a little Billie Holiday. Actually it's challenging to begin to describe his voice in any way other than indirectly.  You just have to listen to it yourself.

The album opens with not one but two knock-yer-socks-off songs,  the rollicking Chicago and a barnburning Raised Right Men, in which Waits declares emphatically and so truthfully,  "Heavens to Murgatroid...there ain't enough raised-right men."  A couple years ago he performed Chicago and Raised Right Men on the Letterman and Jimmy  Kimmel shows, I believe, in two rare and spectacular late night TV performances.

He could be offering a critique of social media such as Twitter when he sings in falsetto in the eerie third song,  "everybody's talking at the same time." It sounds like a song that could serve as the soundtrack for a scene in a David Lynch movie,  or an episode of the great old TV show,  "Twin Peaks." Waits' piano playing on this song sounds like it was done on an old upright and has the same quality as the piano on Elvis' "Heartbreak Hotel."

Track 4, Get Lost, sounds a lot like The Big Bopper mixed with Buddy Holly. Track 5. Face to the Highway, is wistful and mournful.  Track 6, Pay Me -- an old fashioned waltz -- sounds like Waits recorded it sitting alone in a corner tavern at the bar reflecting,  "I gave up my life for the stage" and "all roads lead to the end of the world." 

And with that the first six songs form a truly classic first "side" of an album.  The remaining seven songs are good too but 1 to 6 are jaw-dropping good stuff.

#15: Rosalyn Tureck: Bach & Tureck at Home - A Birthday Offering

Details: Rosalyn Tureck (1913-2003): Bach & Tureck at  Home - a Birthday Offering. Classical Music, 1990. Total Time: 71:02.

All of the remarkable live performances on this album were recorded at the home of William F. Buckley in the 1970s and early 1980s. Buckley's wife first arranged for Tureck to perform a live recital for Buckley and about two dozen guests, as a surprise birthday present for her husband, at their home overlooking Long Island Sound. The annual tradition of such in-home live recitals continued for a number of years and this album (and however many others are out there) are the recordings of those performances.

Rosalyn Tureck was known as a serious Bach keyboard specialist -- even the legendary Glenn Gould cited her as his "only influence." She was known to have played Bach's keyboard music on both harpsichord and piano. Here, the present album includes her renditions on the piano of four sets of preludes and fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier, one of the English suites, the D-minor sonata, and the Italian Concerto, all of which are fascinating and compelling. Although there were apparently 25 to 30 people present when these recordings were made, you can literally hear a pin drop. There is not one distracting noise from the audience during her playing.

Having heard my mother play the piece countless times, I found Tureck's version of the Italian Concerto to be quite curious. She plays in a very different style than I am used to hearing, with what sounds to me like a few extra ornamentations here and there, and a noticeably different opening of the first movement with the first chord played as an arpeggio.

If I recall correctly my father gave me this album as a gift. I also believe this is only one of several such albums of hers in a series under this title...in other words, there are other albums "out there" recorded at the Buckley home including the Goldberg Variations. It appears that these recordings are quite rare as nothing is available even on Amazon. So I'm lucky to have even this one...thanks to my dad.

These are wonderful recordings and truly can be called priceless gifts. It's a shame there was no videorecording made. Buckley and his birthday party guests were lucky to have been there to have heard and seen these annual performances, and Buckley's wife came up with a great, creative idea for the perfect gift. Someday I hope to get my hands on the other CDs in this series.

#14: Ella Fitzgerald: The Intimate Ella

Details: Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996): The Intimate Ella. Verve, 1990 (1960). Total time: 42:38.

Titling an Ella Fitzgerald album with the word "intimate" is practically redundant as just about everything she recorded was intimate simply because it was her singing.

A master vocalist whose song interpretations and phrasing are legendary, influential and instantly recognizable she makes it all sound as effortless as exhaling or talking. Frank Sinatra credited her for his own well-developed sense of vocal phrasing.

This reissue of a 1960 album is filled with standards for which she set the, well, standard. Songs like "Black Coffee," "My Melancholy Baby," and "One More For My Baby" are truly timeless and should really never go out of style as far as I'm concerned. 

 

Her expert rendition of "Misty" makes me wonder if it wasn't too good so that it led to that old Clint Eastwood movie, Play Misty for Me, in which he plays a radio DJ who is stalked by a crazed female fan who keeps demanding to hear the song.

Technically the CD version of this 1960 album sounds perfect. The clarity of sound is superb and helps create the intimacy. Much of this is due to all of these songs consisting of simply Ella's voice and subtle, thoughtful piano accompaniment by Paul Smith.  And really, isn't that all that is needed?

#13: U2: Boy (remastered deluxe edition)

Details: U2: Boy (remastered & bonus). Island, 2008. Total time (2 discs): 94:41.

Yes, this album was reviewed earlier this week. However, this is a different, later edition -- a remaster of the original 1980 album plus a bonus disc of alternate versions, different mixes, a couple instrumentals, and live performances of songs from that timeframe, both from the 1980 album as well as a few singles released prior to the debut '80 album in 1979 and earlier in 1980.

The bonus disc may be of interest only to longtime, serious U2 fans, particularly for both studio and live versions of "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" and "Boy-Girl" (both live versions from a London gig in September 1980) along with "Another Day" and a wild-sounding (and post-punk new wavish) live version of "Cartoon World" from a concert in Dublin performed in February 1980.  

Clearly the lads were in that liminal, or in-between, space from boyhood to manhood, as well as experimenting with musical sounds and styles early in their development as a band. It's a bit amusing to see the original album artwork including the back of the "Boy" album which lists the names of the band members as:

Bono:  Singer
Adam Clayton:  Bass Player
The Edge:  Guitar Player
Larry:  Drummer

Now here they are, 35 years later, in the same band, in the same roles.

#12: Cecilia Bartoli: Mozart Arias

Details: Cecilia Bartoli (b. 1966), Mozart Arias.  Decca, 1991. Total time: 58:01. 

Mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli started on the road to superstardom in the late 1980s when she was in her early 20s. The daughter of two professional singers, and graduate of the historic Academy of Santa Cecilia in her native Rome, Bartoli began by singing roles in Mozart and Rossini operas before later moving on to a wide range of projects including Baroque research and revivals, and her current successful leadership and management of an annual music festival in Salzburg, Austria.

This album of Mozart arias shows off Bartoli early in her career in her mid-20s.  She delivers flawless and electrifying versions of arias from several of Mozart's operas including La Nozze di Figaro, Cossi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, and La Clemenza di Tito. If Mozart were alive to hear Bartoli sing these arias, I have to believe he would be pleased.

As with anything by Mozart, "it's all good" as the saying goes. Having said that, the real gems on this album are "Non so piu," "Alma grande e nobil core," "Parto, parto," and "Ch'io mi scordi di te?" In addition to all of her other talents, it helps to have an Italian native sing these songs, all of which are in Italian.

Bartoli's voice here is clear and clean, displaying amazing vocal technique while also being pleasing to listen to. In addition to her academy training, one of her longtime primary vocal teachers was her own mother. Her parents obviously made a wise choice when they named their daughter Cecilia, after the patron saint of music.

#11: Diana Krall: Wallflower

Details: Diana Krall (b. 1964), Wallflower (deluxe edition). Verve,  2015. Total time: 59:18.

This'll be the first of quite a few Diana Krall album blogs over the next year, but this one is rather unusual. Normally Krall records albums of jazz, standards, bossa nova, and the like. Then again, torch singer Julie London -- to whom Diana Krall has sometimes been compared vocally -- was known for cranking out albums every year in the 1960s containing remakes of contemporary pop songs, so this isn't without precedent. Plus, established as a jazz superstar since the mid-1990s, Krall can pretty much do whatever she wants now and people will buy her albums.

On this new album just out this year, she offers 12 remakes of mostly 1970s mellow ballads, produced by David Foster. Clearly the 1970s were an influential decade in Krall's youth and her interpretations here are not run-of-the-mill but in several instances quite thoughtful and fresh-sounding. Her rendition of California Dreamin' kicks things off and she does a great job with the song, slowing it down and putting some real aching in the vocals. 

The second track, I think, is the standout on the entire album. Her version of Desperado is brilliant -- she does an excellent job with a kind of old worn-out (in my opinion) song and brings a new, fresh perspective to it for the listener. I was really surprised by this one.

Another song she does a nice job with is I'm Not in Love, the song that made 10cc famous. In particular on the outro she does some interesting stuff with the piano (and the producer with other instruments) in place of the original 10cc outro.  The rest of the album is mostly 1970s stuff with the exception of Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House from 1986.  There are a couple duets including one with Michael Buble' and another with Bryan Adams.

While I think her wheelhouse is jazz standards, her walk down Mellow Memory Lane in this new album is good stuff with several really outstanding moments. The deluxe version of this album features a few bonus songs including a heartbreaking version of Elton John's Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. 

#10: Chants for Life

Details: Choir of the Vienna Hofsburgkappelle: Chants for Life. Director: Joseph Schabasser.  Excelsior, 1994. Total time: 63:37.

Not much to say about this one as not much detail is known beyond the above.

I've always found Gregorian chant,  an ancient church musical form, to be timeless and contemplative.  A few years ago while visiting relatives in California I somehow ended up attending Mass one Sunday morning at the cathedral in San Francisco (which is an amazing architectural piece,  incidentally) and much of the liturgical music at that Mass was Gregorian chant performed by the small choir. In such an acoustical environment it was perfect.

Chant has a healing effect and immediately causes a hush in the listener. The nearly two dozen chants on this hour-plus disc are designated for holy days including Easter and Christmas and include introits, offertories, communions and alleluias.

The sound always conjures for me images of monks in robes walking single file in an interior courtyard in a monastery, along a long corridor between and beneath columns and arches, at dusk or dawn.

Great music for early evening on Spirit Sunday.

#9: U2: Boy

Details: U2: Boy. Island,  1980. Total time: 42:15.

Four working-class high school boys answer a bulletin board notice seeking bandmates and meet after school in the kitchen of the notewriter. Sounds like a dime-a-dozen clichéd story but that's how U2 came to be.

Boy is their debut album and was recorded in 1980 and released later that year when the guys were about 19 or 20 years old. All of the material is their own.

By the time the album was recorded they had already put out a couple singles,  got some radio airplay and press attention for live shows,  and gained a fan following in their hometown of Dublin, Ireland and beyond.

Brash, self-assured and full of passion,  most of the album sounds outstanding today all these years later. It is a thematically and musically consistent album almost from start to finish, with maybe 1 or 2 clunkers while the rest is enjoyable to listen to. The album has a natural flow and has the foundation of their trademark sound which they developed throughout the rest of the 1980s.

Real standout songs are "I Will Follow," "Out of Control," "Stories for Boys" and a superb "Electric Co."  "Another Time,  Another Place" sounds really good too. The clunkers are probably "Shadows and Tall Trees" and "The Ocean."

35 years later and my favorite band is still active having put out in fall 2014 what is their best album in a long time and set to  embark on a huge concert tour later in 2015.

A bit dated in spots but still it is fun to listen again to their debut album and even with all that was to come they sound good from the outset, raring to go out into the world.  

#8: Glenn Gould: A State of Wonder - The Complete Goldberg Variations 1955 & 1981

Details: Glenn Gould (1932-1982): A State of Wonder - The Complete Goldberg Variations 1955 & 1981. Sony, 2002. Total time (3 discs): 153:07.

It is Epic Friday!  The Canadian pianist Glenn Gould announced himself to the world with his debut recording of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations which were first published in 1741 and originally played on harpsichord as the piano was not widely available at the time.  

Recorded in four days in New York City in June 1955, when Gould was just 22 years old, the album was released shortly after New Year's Day 1956 to great acclaim.  Both the musician and the formerly obscure musical composition he recorded became international sensations virtually overnight.

The piece consists of a lyrical aria theme and 30 variations thereof and finally the main aria theme again. In each part of this work -- no matter how intricate, complex, simple, fast or slow -- Gould makes the piano practically sing. Over the years I have heard stories of countless people who claim that this recording had a miraculous effect in their lives when they first heard it, even some folks saying it saved them from despair and hopelessness.

I frequently exclaim,  ARE YOU KIDDING ME,  when listening to the 1955 recording which is just stunning. Almost still a kid at age 22, Gould put this out as his first offering to the world.  Here I am! he seems to be declaring with certainty. It ain't bragging when you can do it, as the saying goes.

Disc 2, his 1981 recording of the same work, also recorded in NYC at the same studio as the original, is remarkable to listen to especially right after the 1955 debut. He is 48 here not 22 and the recording is considerably quieter, certainly nothing like the brashness of 1955. He plays the piece more slowly, intentionally and in places more contemplatively and with his staccato much more distinct. He includes repeats here unlike the shorter, faster 1955 version. The 1981 version was released in 1982, the same year of Gould's death from stroke at just age 50.

Both recordings are historic interpretations of a thoroughly complex set of Bach variations which richly explore keyboard possibilities through counterpoint, fugue and dance.

The third disc in this 2002 collection includes his final radio interview in Toronto in August 1982 just a few weeks before his death,  and outtakes from the 1955 original recording session. The radio interview with Tim Page is eerie to listen to knowing Gould had his fatal stroke a month later. Gould sounds so relaxed,  intelligent, authoritative, and energetic here.  He was known as a great conversationalist and displays an engaged interactive style with his interviewer along with a hilarious sense of humor and that trademark singing. 

The radio interview is nearly an hour long. He talks about growing older and his lifelong love for counterpoint, and discusses piano technique and favorite composers as well as comparing and critiquing his own 1955 and 1981 Goldberg recordings. Fascinating to hear this interview.

As for the music, along with the opening/closing aria theme I think my favorites are Variations 1, 5, 7, 19, 28 and 29. This album is likely in my top 5...just for the 1955 recording alone. The radio interview is a real bonus to have in addition.

"The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but rather the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity." 

- Glenn Gould

#7: Bon Iver: Bon Iver, Bon Iver

Details: Bon Iver: Bon Iver, Bon Iver. Jagjaguwar, 2011. Total time: 39:28. 

Justin Vernon (b. 1981) of Eau Claire, Wisconsin burst on the scene in the late 2000s and this is technically his band's second album (the first,  For Emma, Forever Ago,  was independently produced). No sophomore slump here as this is an outstanding offering of great symphonic sounding indie rock.

The band's and this album's name are derived of all places from the old great TV show,  "Northern Exposure;" whose characters greeted one another with the French phrase "bon hiver" (good winter). Vernon dropped the H which is silent anyway and...voila.

It's said that each song represents a place -- some are obvious from the titles such as "Perth"; "Minnesota, Wisconsin" (one of the best songs on the album); "Calgary"; and "Lisbon, Ohio." Musically the album is dense with strings,  guitars, horns, keyboards,  synths, woodwinds,  drums and so on. Lyrically,  too, this is a very dense album with poetic lyrics that are more word-sounds than anything really,  delivered in Vernon's familiar falsetto. 

While Vernon gets good assistance from other musicians he is the clear creative leader having written all the songs,  played numerous instruments and handled the vocals. 

All in all a moody, atmospheric, symphonic beauty of an album which is strange and soothing. For example, the consecutive songs "Hinnom, TX" and  "Wash." are hypnotic and brilliant. "Wash." has repeated piano chords at the beginning and midway point that sound like what gently falling snow looks like.  Perfect for a dark cold winter evening.  Bon (h)iver, bon (h)iver!

#6: John Browning: Chopin Etudes

 

Details: John Browning (1933-2003),  Chopin Etudes. RCA Victrola, 1969. Total time: 56:29.

Before I knew what they were called I heard -- and saw -- Chopin études played on the piano at home. My mother was a classically trained pianist with a conservatory master's degree who performed and taught piano.  I remember hearing and watching her play several of these études especially Op. 25 No.1 and Op. 25 No. 8 which are both so familiar.

John Browning recorded all 24 of these études in 1968 and in my book this is THE definitive version. Maurizio Pollini comes close but that's about it.  Browning delivers a superb, nearly perfect recording -- no idiosyncratic interpretations,  just straight up virtuoso in his prime,  faithful to the complicated brilliance of these pieces. Browning gives these works the kind of clarity (thin-slicing they call it these days) and majestic playing they deserve. All are fantastic but Op. 10 No. 8 really stands out along with the two openers (Op. 10 No. 1 and Op. 25 No. 1) and Op. 25 No. 7.

If I was forced to select only 12 albums I could keep,  this one probably makes the cut. Browning passed away last decade at his home in Sister Bay, Door County, Wisconsin.  He should have gotten more acclaim in his lifetime as this recording, I feel, does for the Chopin études what Glenn Gould did for Bach's Goldberg Variations. It's a shame the recording is not more widely known or available. But now you know about it.

#5: Bill Evans at Town Hall

Details: Bill Evans Trio, Bill Evans (1929-1980) at Town Hall, volume 1.  Recorded live Feb. 21, 1966 at Town Hall in New York City.  Verve, 1967. Total time: 53:00.

Here is the first of many Bill Evans albums to come provided I can keep this project going.  My dad's favorite musician by far, Evans was a wonderful,  thoughtful, incisive, precise jazz pianist whose technique and musicianship including melodious legato can almost be called classical.  In fact if I recall correctly he was classically trained.

My father had a zillion Bill Evans albums and I grew up hearing them when my dad would play them.  It's probably not true but I like to imagine my dad in the audience for this performance as he could've been in the area at that time.

Anyway this is only volume 1 of the gig which for some odd reason I never noticed till today.  Will have to look around for vol. 2.

Musically this is Evans at or near his best with wonderful songs including standards like "I Should Care" and "Who Can I Turn To," "Spring Is Here" and "Make Someone Happy," and Evans' own poignant composition in memory of his father who had recently passed away... It sounds almost like Debussy.  "My Foolish Heart" was one of my dad's favorites and that is on here as well.

Lastly will close this entry by recalling my dad taking my brother Michael to see an Evans gig at the old Bunky's nightclub, then located on Regent Street, shortly before Evans' death at just age 51.  Too bad no one recorded that gig; today it'd be all over YouTube and GrooveShark.

#4: Mavis Staples, We'll Never Turn Back

 
Details: Mavis Staples (b. 1939), "We'll Never Turn Back." ANTI-, 2007. Total time: 57:48.

One day the year this was released I picked this up in a store and I forget where and why.  But I'm glad I did because this is a really great album.

Mavis Staples was with the Staples Singers for many years (one of their many hits was "I'll Take You There"). Here she sings solo as a wise woman. The album was produced by the great Ry Cooder who also played guitar on the album.

These are songs of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.  Songs sung by people including children who were risking much while demanding rights and freedom.  They faced fire hoses, police dogs, police batons, angry whites,  the KKK, and the list goes on. They sang these songs to maintain morale and boost spirits while bodies were on the line.

Images come to mind while listening. A few are in the CD booklet.  MLK and Whitney Young.  Girls holding hands in the face of firehoses.  Liner notes by Rep. John Lewis who as a young man had his skull fractured by police batons in Selma 50 years ago this spring.

A few standout songs:

"Down In Mississippi" with the opening line,  "as far back as I can remember."

"99 1/2" -- "I'm running,  trying to make 100.  99 and a half just won't do."

"Turn Me Around" -- the song all those  children sang defiantly as they were arrested by the hundreds in Alabama. This is probably the best performance on this album.  Ry Cooder's mandolin playing helps make a special song even more so.

"I'll Be Rested" -- this one is incredibly moving with so many names of people struck down in their prime.  Medgar Evers. Emmitt Till. Michael Schwerner. James Chaney. Andrew Goodman.  The names of the 4 little girls in that church in Birmingham. Robert Kennedy.  Malcolm.  MLK.

"My Own Eyes" -- She was there in those days,  along with her family,  so it means a lot when she sings the line, "I saw it with my own eyes,  so I know it's true." It sounds like she is speaking to and teaching the listener not just singing.

#3: Kitaro, The Light of the Spirit

Details: Kitaro (b. 1953), "The Light of the Spirit." Geffen, 1987. Total time: 48:45.

Kitaro is a longtime composer,  musician and performer in the genre of new age technology music.

This is a good example of what I call 80sphere -- the atmospheric sound of the late 1980s. This is a good one for Spirit Sunday.

I was first introduced to this Japanese musician's great talents at University Hospital in Madison.  My brother Michael was given a copy of a radio program in the longrunning "Hearts of Space" weekly series that is still going today. A nurse gave it to him to help with pain management.

During one visit my brother (who was a remarkable musician on the piano, cello and voice) insisted I take his headphones to hear what he was listening to and enthralled with -- it was Kitaro, a track from a different album I think. Anyway, as the radio program title says, the music sounded like a heart of space...majestic, celestial.  

#2: Elvis Presley: Aloha From Hawaii

 
Details: Elvis Presley (1935-1977), Aloha From Hawaii. Recorded Jan. 14, 1973.  RCA,  1991 CD. Total time: 62:48.

Just after his 38th birthday the legend performed a concert in Hawaii that was broadcast via satellite to virtually every corner of the globe.  More than 1 billion TV viewers saw the performance.  Most of the songs on this album,  his last No. 1, are from that performance with a few tacked on that were recorded the same day without an audience.

Elvis is in great vocal form and displays his amazing singing versatility with everything from pop ballads to rock & roll, to country to blues and even some near operatic moments. There is not one bad song but the real standouts are:

-"See See Rider" which comes after the Strauss "Also Spake Zarathustra" opening

-an epic "American Trilogy"

-"My Way"

-very gritty "Steamroller Blues"

-fantastic "Suspicious Minds", his last No. 1 song

-"Fever" (the Peggy Lee hit) with superb vocal, upright bass, finger snaps,  and occasional buh-buh-bum drum and a few female shrieks.

-Beautiful version of Gordon Lightfoot's "In the Early Morning Rain"

He gets fantastic support throughout with great backup singers including The Sweet Inspirations and excellent musicians.  There are no wild special effects,  no smoke and mirrors, no lip-syncing, and no autotune.  Just flat out great musical performances.

The star of the show is humble, polite, relaxed, and focused.  The audience is attentive,  respectful,  and not filled with selfish screaming loudmouthed narcissists who distract or detract from the live recording--like is often seen today. Although there are a few typical Elvis fan shrieks on the recording.

This was a true megastar, professional and gifted, and the performance shows it clearly from start to finish. 

#1: The Magic Flute by Mozart

"If I were a dictator, I should make it compulsory for every member of the population between the ages of four and eighty to listen to Mozart for at least one-quarter of an hour daily for the coming five years."
-Sir Thomas Beecham, Daily Telegraph (London), 4 Sept 1937

Details: W.A. Mozart (1756-1791), "Die Zauberflote" (The Magic Flute), composed in 1791. Opera in two acts, in German. Recorded in Berlin, Germany in 1937, by Beecham and Berlin Philharmonic. Total time (2 discs): 131:40. Produced by Nimbus Records (U.K.) in 1991, with note that the two CDs are "digital transfers from 78 rpm discs."

This may be the oldest recording I own, in terms of when it was originally made. I'll find out at the end of the project if that is really the case but I think it is. It's also one of the longest at more than 2 hours.

What first struck me sonically was that this 1937 recording (that's 78 years ago this year) sounds a bit like the stereotypical sound from an old Victrola. And in some places I heard what sounded like a needle on a record. 78 years and 78 rpms...nice bookends. Also of immediate interest is the conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, an Englishman, venturing into Nazi Germany to lead this performance by the Berlin Philarmonic. Although none of the names of the cast sound familiar to me, they all appear to be German names. Makes me wonder what became of the musicians and singers on this recording a few years later during WWII...

Anyway, as with most operas, the recording begins with a lively overture previewing musical themes for the work. And there are some classic "Mozart moments" including the repeated pattern of 4 notes over several measures that creates motion and a build-up of drama.

Is this one of the only operas in which an instrument in the orchestra is a "character" in the story? The flute whistles its presence throughout the opera, occasionally echoed by the singers. There are great Mozart melodies throughout along with great humor (the "humming" scene as well as the Papageno duet). The celeste solos are a great touch too. All in all, as with so many Mozart compositions, the entire ensemble of instruments and voices work together to create a rich, seamless whole.

This is an opera to see in person as the staging, visuals, props, costumes, lighting and background -- and particularly the translation of the lyrics -- obviously enhance one's understanding of the storyline. The Magic Flute is rich with symbolism (the number three, and Masonic imagery) and themes of heroism, myth, enlightenment, and the triumph of humanity -- ironic considering the era in which this recording was made. All in all, a high-quality performance of a classic Mozart work of art.

"Germany can never pay enough tribute to this work. Before it German opera hardly existed: this was its moment of creation."
-Richard Wagner

Mid-January is still time to start a "Year of..." project, right?

I sure hope so, because after organizing books, photos, documents, files, videos, and musical recordings -- and other "stuff" -- at home during the holidays, I had a flash idea last night to start this blog.

It occurs to me that I own around 300-some recordings, mostly music, mostly on CD but also a few on vinyl and cassette tape, plus several digital versions. I don't know if I own exactly 365 recorded albums, but I'll find out after this project is complete.

I decided since I listen to music anyway, 2015 will be the year I listen to one album a day and report on it daily. The report will include a basic description of the recording (e.g. title, artist, songs/compositions, year, label, etc.) along with my random and not-so-random observations with any lessons learned, plus any context such as history and culture, and maybe a few other random comments about the technology or quality of the recording.

Not unrelated, this project also dovetails with my goal of striving to be a better listener.

With that, here goes! And as they say...stay tuned.