Music Reviews
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An Exploration of Past and Present
Available now for 25% OFF I was lucky. I grew up with a baby grand piano inherited from my father’s mother (see picture). I learned to play Bach, Gershwin, Kabalevsky, and others on it when I was a pre-teen. Very few people have either the space or funds for an instrument like that now. Musicians […]
LSO Live – Beethoven violin concerto(s)
Originally written for Classical Source Violin Concerti don’t come any greater or more popular than the Beethoven and the catalogue is awash with performances, so any newcomer is going to have to be exceptional to merit serious consideration. The big selling point of this new one is Jörg Widmann’s radical cadenzas, but these are arguably […]
Recent Finds No. 32 – Early Music from Medieval to Early Renaissance
View on Positive Feedback I unabashedly love listening to early music, from medieval to renaissance. And much of this music is for voices. Not all, by a long shot, but there is a lot that is a cappella. Early music will be the theme of today’s Recent Finds because this is what has consumed much […]
A Rare Musical Experience with Pianist David Fung
View Original Source David Fung, Evening Conversations. Yarlung Records 2006 2025 (Pure DSD256) Release date: 4-18-2025 I found myself talking recently on the phone with my friend Bob Attiyeh, the creative founder and visionary of Yarlung Records. I’m always intrigued by these occasional calls with Bob. One never knows whence they may wander. That day, Bob […]
Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 6 & 7, ‘The Tempest’
Now available for 25% Off I was in my mid-teens when I first became aware of the music of Jean Sibelius– Finlandia, the Second Symphony– the usual. I eventually started listening to his other symphonies, and I was hooked. The Fifth Symphony became my favorite. Many years later I came across a used LP featuring […]
A Perfect Tone Poem
You know the question– If you could only have one (whatever) on a desert island, what would it be. Desert Island Favorites can sometimes produce some interesting results. I was thinking a while back about what my desert island favorite tone poems might be. I came up with two: Rachmaninoff’s Isle Of the Dead, and Richard Strauss’ […]
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé
Originally written for Classical Source. Read original article HERE. Ravel’s great score seems to bring out the best in performers and from Charles Munch’s 1955 Boston Symphony account, through Dutoit in Montreal to Roth’s period instrument version there is something to satisfy all tastes. This LSO performance, which is their sixth recording of the work, […]
Recent Finds, No. 30 with Pure DSD256 Albums from Hunnia Records and More
View Original Review Those who have travelled with me through my notes on recent finds know that I have eclectic taste in music. I enjoy almost anything acoustic that is well performed and well recorded. Unfortunately, this also means that you have to scan through the album covers to see if there may be anything […]
Invisible Cities Part One – An Amazing Recording From ADS
This review was originally written for Audiophile Style by Chris Connaker. With his permission we have shared a few quotes but you can view the original review HERE. Here are a few short quotes from Chris’s review: (…) A couple weeks ago engineer Gustavo Candido from the new record label ADS contacted me about an […]
Josep Colom Returns and Wow!
View Original Article “There are good pianists, and then there is Josep Colom.”* A living legend. A creative genius. A brilliantly and entrancingly insightful artist. Spanish pianist Josep Colom is all of that and more. And if you’ve not listened to his recordings, you have been missing some of the greatest musicianship of the last […]
Roman Borisov Really Is That Good!
Now Available for 25% Off! Chiaroscuro (Italian for light-dark) in art is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modeling […]
‘Preludes and Dances from Brazil’ is Entrancing Music
Available Now for 25% Off! Entrancing! Ricardo Gallen is one of the most talented and respected classical guitarists in the world. Those of you who are fans will probably have already grabbed this album. It’s made up of works from the composer whose name is synonymous with Brazilian concert music, Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959); and Colloquial Preludes, by […]