PIERRE MONTEUX EDITION VOL 6 -

This disc includes six brief spoken introductions: at the start of the program, and before "Bonjour, ma belle, "Mamma mia, ce vo' sapè," "'A vucchella," "Seven Hills of Rome," and "La donna è mobile."

FOSS, ENGLUND, MCKINLEY: CLARI

TOSCANINI COLLECTION VOL 39 -

AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' & OTHER FATS

TCHAIKOVSKY: GRAND SONATA, SEA

TOSCANINI COLLECTION VOL 49 -

"Light in darkness (the title both of the first disc and of Evelyn Glennie's own composition included in the programme) is certain to be in the offing for even an experienced listener who has learned, perhaps the hard way, to be afraid of per cussion solos. For here the percussion is primarily of the tuned variety: in particular the marimba. The marimba can make a seductive sound, with the right music, and in the hands of the right players. In the recording actually bearing the Light in darkness title the music is very right, and so are its players: especially so is the principal soloist, Glennie herself, who was clearly born to play the marimba. In incomparable style, and with incomparable skill, she explores a repertoire influenced by the indigenous music of South America, of Japan, of Sicily, of Madagascar; and of our own island where Glennie herself (born in Scotland) is concerned. The enchanting music must be heard: it will be found outside the normal listening experience of many very experienced listeners indeed..."Light in darkness" stands a very good chance of enchanting many of today's classical listeners. And I think, too, it presents quite simply the best, and most sensitive, marimbaplaying ever accomplished by human hand."

-- Gramophone [1/1992]

Bernstein gives a performance of such persuasiveness that in every sense it sounds like a composer's performance.

It was Leonard Bernstein who in the early 1940s in New York gave the first performance of Copland's tough and ambitious Piano Sonata. With a characteristic display of versatility he took over the premiere at forty-eight hours' notice and played from memory. Here on one of the first records he ever made, later in that decade, he gives a performance of such persuasuiveness that in every sense it sounds like a composer's performance. The toccata-like figuration of the first two movements has nothing mechanical about it as Bernstein presents it, urgent and electric but with light and shade, while the slow concluding movement, tough and bald, draws a performance of such concentration from Bernstein that the many pauses are as expressive as the notes.

In Bernstein's own pieces dating from 1943, a set of seven intended to characterise different friends, the element one misses, knowing the later Bernstein, is a sense of fun. Brief as they are, these tend to be rather solemn character sketches, but the opening portrait of Copland (with a hint of pastiche) is certainly memorable and so is the piece in memory of Nathalia Koussevitzky with its echoes of Russian Orthodox chanting.

-- Gramophone [6/1976, reviewing an LP release of the piano works]

Personnel includes: Louis Armstrong (vocals, trumpet); Jack Teagarden (vocals, trombone); Ernie Caceres (baritone saxophone, clarinet); Bobby Hackett (trumpet); Vic Dickenson, Barney Bigard, Peanuts Hucko (clarinet); Johnny Guarnieri (piano, celeste); Charlie Beal, Dick Cary (piano); Allan Reuss, Bud Scott (guitar); Red Callender, Bob Haggart, Al Hall (bass); Sid Catlett, Cozy Cole, Minor Hall, Zutty Singleton, George Wettling (drums).

Recorded in New York, New York in 1946 & 1947. Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler.

Digitally remastered by John Snyder (September 1991, BMG Recording Studios, New York, New York).

The '40s were the dawning of a new and fast-progressing movement in jazz. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, and Coleman Hawkins had all cut important records in the technically challenging language of bebop at the time these Armstrong recordings were made, 1947. These small-group sessions, split between the studio and stage, frame Louis' timeless musicality wonderfully. Though improvised music was getting headier and faster, Armstrong's slipping out of fashion did not affect his ability to swing hot and hard--not to mention attract admirers.

Highpoints include two live takes from New York City's Town Hall: an up-tempo, rollicking "Ain't Misbehavin'" and a low-down, slow "Back O' Town Blues." Throughout, Louis is in fine form and accompanied by the likes of Kid Ory, Peanuts Hucko, Barney Bigard, Bobby Hackett, and Jack Teagarden. When the mid-'50s rolled around, Armstrong was back in vogue and back on the charts, but this collection shows that Satchmo never lost his touch or appeal.

In mid-1941 Toscanini temporarily fell out with the NBC Symphony Orchestra management, and during the following season directed the Philadelphia Orchestra in a number of concerts. Some of the items he conducted were also recorded by RCA over several sessions, but various technical disasters left the metal masters with heavy surface noise and a barrage of clicks and pops. Nothing could be done to salvage the situation at the time, but later technology opened up possibilities and in 1963 the Schubert Ninth Symphony was published. In 1977 the whole Philadelphia series finally saw the light of day on five LPs (nla), but some allowance had then to be made for the recording quality. Further technological miracles have taken place and as a result all the performances have emerged on CD with remarkably improved sound. In fact, the recordings now seem very good indeed for their date, and RCA are therefore in a sense justified in leaving the troubled history of the enterprise out of their accompanying notes.

...Toscanini re-recorded all the Philadelphia items with the NBC orchestra, but later versions do not all show gain. Neither the 1947 nor the 1953 recordings of Schubert's Ninth Symphony can hold a candle to his Philadelphia version, where there is infinitely more subtlety of phrase and rubato and generally a more sympathetic response. This is not a Viennese-style performance, but it shows remarkable sensibility.

...The Philadelphia Orchestra of 1941 was very much a Stokowski-trained instrument, and possessed more tonal colour and warmth than the New York, NBC and BBC orchestras with which Toscanini made most of his recordings. These performances tend to show a different aspect of the great conductor, one where he sometimes responds in a slightly more yielding fashion to the character of the orchestra and to the acoustic of Philadelphia's Academy of Music, which was softer than Toscanini's usual New York venues.

-- Gramophone [6/1991]

EVGENY KISSIN- A MUSICAL PORTR

Track Listing
1. Moonlight Serenade
2. King Porter Stomp
3. Little Brown Jug
4. In the Mood
5. Tuxedo Junction
6. Pennsylvania 6-5000
7. String of Pearls, A
8. Elmer's Tune
9. Chattanooga Choo-Choo
10. Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me)
11. American Patrol

Personnel includes: Glenn Miller (leader); Ray Eberle, Marion Hutton, Tex Beneke, The Modernaires (vocals).

Recorded in New York and Hollywood, California between September 27, 1938 and April 2, 1942. Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler.

Tracklist:
1. Guinevere (Main Title) - Christophe Beck
2. Jungle Blues - Jelly Roll Morton
3. Endless - James Leary
4. Joy Spring - Clifford Brown [
5. Tristeza (Goodbye Sadness) - Norman Gimbel
6. Ruby, My Dear - Thelonious Monk
7. No Te Olvidaré - Roberto Torres
8. Coquette - Johnny Green
9. In Walked Bud - Thelonious Monk
10. Djangology - Stephane Grappelli
11. Pannonica - Thelonious Monk
12. Queen Guinevere - Christophe Beck
13. Arithmetic - Christophe Beck
14. Tunnel Vision - Christophe Beck
15. End Titles - Christophe Beck

Track Listing
1. In a Sentimental Mood
2. I Didn't Know About You
3. Every Hour on the Hour
4. Lotus Blossom
5. Ghost of a Chance (With You), (I Don't Stand A)
6. Pretty Woman
7. Lover Man
8. Solitude
9. Wonder of You, The
10. Mood Indigo
11. My Heart Sings, (All of a Sudden)
12. I've Got It Bad and That Ain't Good
13. Tell Ya What I'm Gonna Do
14. Creole Love Call
15. I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart
16. You Don't Love Me No More

Personnel includes: Duke Ellington (arranger, piano); Joya Sherrill, Al Hibbler, Ida Cox (vocals); Johnny Hodges (alto saxophone); Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra.

Tracks recorded in New York, New York and Hollywood, California between 1944 and 1967. Includes liner notes by Joshua Sherman.

Digitally remastered by James Nichols (BMG Studios, New York, New York).

This is part of RCA Victor's Falling In Love With series.

The smoothly seductive, low-key, sophisticated sounds of the multi-faceted Duke Ellington at his most romantic provide an intimate listening experience on this entry in RCA's FALLING IN LOVE series. In a well-chosen set, Ellington favorites like "Mood Indigo" accompany less well-known tunes like "My Heart Sings (All of a Sudden)" and gorgeous melodies like "Solitude" and "Creole Love Call." The mood couldn't be more relaxed, and the music is provided by one of the 20th century's most celebrated jazz composers: the rest is up to you.