Recorded in NYC in the midst of Dexter’s great come back to the USA Biting The Apple was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque Diamant of 1978 by the Montreux Jazz Festival. “Biting The Apple being recorded around the same time as his “Homecoming” (CBS) album sounds much better with strong backing by pianist Barry Harris, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Al Foster.” (Oakland Tribune) 180g Audiophile Vinyl

The success of the earlier release by this trio (SCCD 31122 “The Touch Of Your Lips”) brought the group together again this time for “live” recording at club Montmartre packed with Baker fans. Radio Free Jazz wrote, “ His present playing is extraordinary, the best of his career, and he has never found a more empathetic context than this trio with guitarist Raney and bassist Pedersen... The interplay among these three superb musicians yields a quality of collective improvisation comparable to that of Bill Evans’ greatest trio....”

(2-CD set) Deben Bhattacharya celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Jewish State with recordings made in the first years of it's etablishment. They recall a time when people with the same religion but from different cultural backgrounds were arriving from the world over. These CDs are a precious archive of the musical and cultural encounters of those early days.

This is Leonard Bernstein's later version of Shostakovich's Fifth, captured live while the New York Philharmonic was on tour in Tokyo. It's an excellent performance, similar to Bernstein's first reading, but a bit broader on the whole, and better (or at least more closely) recorded. The finale still goes very quickly, a decision that Shostakovich himself supported, and Bernstein treats it more as an unabashed triumph than a hollow victory, which is also perfectly in keeping with the musical possibilities. Elsewhere he remains a powerful and passionate exponent of the work, turning in an exceptionally intense Largo and a take-no-prisoners first-movement development section. Of course, he's also on firm ground in the Mahlerian scherzo, and the response of the Philharmonic is all that we might reasonably ask.


The coupling is no mere make-weight. Rudolf Barshai prepared all four of Shostakovich's chamber symphonies from their various string quartets, and no one conducts them better. This one, the most popular and frequently played, comes from the tragic Eighth Quartet, and while DG also has an excellent Barshai recording of the piece, this one has nothing to fear from the competition. It's an extremely solid performance that doesn't stint on the music's dark drama. The scorching second movement, with its frantic Jewish dance music alternating with the composer's DSCH monogram, is heavier than you might be used to from the quartet original, but it's entirely logical given the larger forces used. Barshai, a string player himself, really knows how the music ought to go, and the sonics are excellent. This is a fine, very welcome reissue.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

"The quartets Nos. 21, 22, and 23 were composed by Mozart with the hope of a dedication to King William of Prussia. The king was a cellist, and Mozart lovingly favors the cello in these quartets of supreme craftsmanship." - Herbert Russcol

[Quartet No. 23 in F Major, K. 590] "...makes an exciting culmination to them all, in Mozart's most mature handling of the style...The composer ends his adventures in the string quartet at the very top of his bent." - John Burk, Mozart and his Music

"Though CBS in its latter days of independence reissued the Juilliard Quartet’s recordings of the last Schubert String Quartets on a mid-price 2-CD set, re-reissued by Sony on SB2K89978, neither they nor their present owners Sony/BMG ever released these Mozart recordings on CD, to the best of my knowledge, perhaps because there is such strong competition in the Mozart, not least from the Quartetto Italiano and Amadeus Quartet in recordings of much the same vintage. With those stylish Italian recordings currently unavailable, however, either as part of their 8-CD collection of all the Mozart Quartets, singly, or on Philips Duo, except as downloads or from ArkivMusic, and the Amadeus as a box set only, it makes excellent sense to reissue the Juilliard recordings...If you are looking for a 2-CD set of the last four quartets, the ArkivMusik reissue of the Juilliards makes an obvious recommendation. There’s a detailed booklet with some useful analyses of the music and the recording has worn well." -- MusicWeb International

The Baton, a documentary by Michael Wende, puts the conducting profession under the magnifying glass. In it, an animated character called the Baton-Designer follows twelve conductors who are participating in the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition. The film’s style, with its sharp cuts, tongue-in-cheek allusions and clever graphics, delivers humor and tension in equal measure. It is an entertaining and illuminating cinematic crash course on the conducting profession, featuring Herbert Feuerstein as the voice of the Baton-Designer.

65 Minutes
Dolby Digital 2.0 16:9
NTSC
Region 0
German & English

In the summer of 1965 Dexter Gordon spent most of his evenings performing at Jazzhus Montmartre packed with his loyal fans. Five of these evenings were broadcasted by the Danish Radio and SteepleChase is making them all available for the first time. This CD captures high-spirited Dexter on the third night. This CD captures high-spirited Dexter on the third night.

After a short stay in New York, Dexter returned to his favourite city of Copenhagen in June 1965 and resumed his career’s best and most productive period. This is the first volume of magnificent live performances from Dexter’s favourite club “Jazzhus Montmartre” in 1965.

Dexter Gordon’s most creative and prolific years were spent in Europe in the 1960s and the first half of 1970s. Right until the great homecoming (to USA) of 1976 Dexter had performed frequently in Copenhagen’s famous Montmartre Jazzhus. Many of the nights were broadcasted by Danish Radio and later released by this label (The Dexter In Radioland series). This latest Gordon album recorded 1974 is special because of the fact that - except for a few tracks which were broadcasted - that night the whole concert of the evening has never been made available to the public before. And Dexter makes this concert even more special with his display of relaxed yet intense power of creativity. On Dexter’s 2004 release Loose Walk SCCD 36032 Chris Kelsey of JazzTimes wrote, “…the gritty soulfulness of his playing reminds us just how much we miss the greats of his generation. They don't make 'em like this anymore.”

After his active performing/recording period in the 80s and 90s Stanley Cowell has devoted his enormous talent in music education at the renowned Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA. Cowell’s previous release SCCD 31704 “Prayer For Peace” in 2010 was his first album in over a decade which evoked Mike Shanley of JazzTimes to comment, “… his phrasing, chordal voicings and use of space are impeccable….a hard-swinging trio never goes out of fashion…” Here on his new album Stanley formed a new trio with his two former students from Rutgers University to reveal that he remains a master of his material and instrument.

“Don Friedman is probably playing better now than at any other period of his splendid career. Maturity has brought a deepening of emotional expression, a refinement of touch and the knowledge of exactly how much he wants to say within a given performance……On this beautifully conceived and executed CD, Don is in the bright company of three musicians who share his aims and ideals, and hold true to the tenets of balancing spontaneity with organisational clarity and discipline…” (Mark Gardner – linernotes)