The appearance of this double CD set means that for the first time the entire Jungle Book cycle of Charles Koechlin is available on disc – and high time too, for these are wonderfully evocative pieces. If you have a taste for music which summons up a mythic world in gorgeous colours, then this disc is for you. Kipling’s Jungle Book was a lifelong obsession for Koechlin, and between 1899 and 1936 he based five orchestral pieces on it, some including voices, which together form a vast symphonic cycle. On this disc you can trace the evolution of Koechlin’s language through the cycle, from the hazy, twilight sonorities of the Three Poems, which sound like a cross between Debussy and Ives, to the more dissonant and eclectic Bandar-log. By this time Koechlin had developed a style perfectly suited to Kipling’s world, by turns hazily evocative and awesomely grand. Koechlin was a virtuoso orchestrator, and his music needs virtuoso playing to bring it off. The violins in particular are tested in some mercilessly rapid and ultra-high figuration, which in a less than accurate performance can sound scrappy. Fortunately the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra rises to the challenge well. David Zinman’s performances may not be as fiery as Leif Segerstam’s (Marco Polo), and at times he sounds a bit cautious – as for example at the beginning of The Spring Running, which sounds more like a jog. But this gives him more room to gather pace, so ultimately it’s more impressive than the rival version, which in general suffers from some uncertain playing, and in any case only offers a selection from the cycle.

-- Ivan Hewett, BBC Music Magazine

Track Listing
1. All in Love Is Fair
2. Skip-A-Long Sam
3. Send in the Clowns
4. Least You Can Do Is the Best You Can, The
5. They Needed Each Other
6. I Loves You, Porgy
7. Until It's Time for You to Go
8. Life Is a Wheel
9. Summer Knows, The
10. Beautiful Thing, A
11. Time for Farewell, A - (bonus track)

Personnel: Cleo Laine (vocals); James Galway (flute); Tony Hymas, Don Grolnick (keyboards); Cliff Morris, Bob Rose (guitar); John Miller (bass); Roy Markowitz (drums).

Producers: Mike Berniker (tracks 1-10); Kurt Gebauer, John Dankworth (track 11).

Engineers: Mike Moran, Ed Begley (tracks 1-10); Frank Catero (track 11).

Recorded at RCA Studios B & C, New York on July 10-12, 1974 and Studio D, Sausalito, California in August 1993.

Recording information: New York, NY (07/10/1974-07/??/1993); RCA Recording Studios, Studio B&C, New York, NY (07/10/1974-07/??/1993); Studio D, Sausalito, CA (07/10/1974-07/??/1993).

Photographer: Nick Sangiamo.

Arrangers: Tony Hymas; John Dankworth.

PIERRE MONTEUX EDITION VOL 14

Falling in Love With Paul Desmond is part of RCA's mid-line Falling in Love With series, which focuses on romantic highlights from classic big-band, swing, and jazz artists. There aren't any risky choices on Desmond's volume, but that's fine, since each of the title's 11 cuts -- including "When Joanna Loved Me," "Body and Soul," "My Funny Valentine," "Embarcadero," and "Then I'll Be Tired of You" -- sustains a mellow, romantic mood. This record may not really be necessary, but for anyone looking for lovely, romantic music from Desmond, it's not a bad choice at all.

-- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic.com

Personnel includes: Paul Desmond (alto saxophone); Albert Richman (French horn); Gene Bianco, Gloria Agostini (harp); Jim Hall (guitar); Eugene Wright, Gene Cherico, Milt Hinton (bass); Robert Thomas (drums, percussion); Connie Kay (drums).

Recorded at Webster Hall and RCA Studio A in New York, New York between 1962 and 1964. 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.

Personnel: Paul Desmond (alto saxophone); Jim Hall (guitar); Gene Bianco, Gloria Agostini (harp); Al Richman (French horn); Robert Thomas (snare drum, percussion); Connie Kay (snare drum).

Liner Note Author: Joshua Sherman.

Recording information: RCA Studio A, New York, NY (1962-1964); Webster Hall, New York, NY (1962-1964).

REVIEWS:
American Record Guide (11-12/97, p.122) - "...Starker plays with marvelous control and virtuosity, leaving him free to make the most of the music....Slatkin follows him beautifully, and the orchestra is terrifyingly uncompromising in their response..."
BBC Music (4/98, p.73) - Performance: 3 (out of 5), Sound: 3 (out of 5) - "...The opening flourishes [of the Elgar] are perfectly played but alarmingly matter-of-fact....Slatkin makes the most of the colourful and often lush scoring [of the Walton]..."

This double-CD from French RCA in their Jazz Tribune series (a reissue of an earlier double-LP) gives one a good overview of cornetist Bix Beiderbecke's Victor recordings. More serious collectors will want to acquire this music as part of a more complete series (since all of his solos are significant), while beginning collectors are advised to pick up his Columbia reissue CDs (which feature Beiderbecke in smaller groups) first. The 36 performances on this two-fer mostly focus on his sideman's appearances with the large dance orchestras of Jean Goldkette and Paul Whiteman during 1926-28, although there is one 1924 track ("I Didn't Know") with Goldkette, and a few later sessions from 1930. Highlights include "Clementine," "San," "There Ain't No Sweet Man," "From Monday On," and "You Took Advantage of Me."

-- Scott Yanow, AllMusic.com

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

Wanda Landowska's reputation as a harpsichordist obscures her considerable achievements as a pianist, especially in regard to these extraordinary Mozart recordings, made at her Lakeville, Connecticut home in 1956. The sound is on the dry side, and Landowska's reposeful, intimately scaled readings rarely exceed mezzo-forte. Yet her seemingly infinite gradations of shading and touch, her immaculate control and timing, plus her well-considered and expressive embellishments (try the K. 333 sonata first movement's exposition for a few elaborate surprises) add up to a master class in style from which many of today's historic-minded interpreters can learn and benefit.

A singing impulse consistently governs Landowska's liquid trills, proportioned rubatos, and finely tuned balances between the hands that ensure no dead spots. She arpeggiates chords with the utmost specificity, abetted by a masterful and sophisticated finger legato technique. As a result, she employs the sustain pedal sparingly and tellingly. Although these performances were reissued on CD only by RCA Japan, they now gain a welcome lease on life courtesy of Arkivmusic.com's "on demand" reprint program. Notes are in Japanese only.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONIES NO 7 & 8

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

One of the glories of Ormandy’s RCA discography... This CD is a Gem.

The main work here, recorded in 1971, is one of the glories of Ormandy’s RCA discography. Based on Russian folklore, Ilya Murometz is a sprawling, magnificent, elaborate score that showcases the virtuoso orchestra in a rich, late-Romantic style. Ormandy was almost certainly introduced to this score by Leopold Stokowski, who recorded it in 1940 during a period in which he was still conducting the orchestra in recordings, even though Ormandy had taken over as the sole music director. Ormandy first recorded the work in 1956, only a year before Columbia began recording in stereo. Both he and Stokowski took fairly radical cuts; playing the symphony complete did not become fashionable until the arrival of the CD era. Here Ormandy shows no signs of age; he luxuriates in the sounds his orchestra makes, and while the celebrated Philadelphia strings are astonishing in Gliére’s intricate figurations, it is the brass section that really carries the day. Unless almost 59 minutes of Ilya Murometz are not enough for you, this performance and recording will knock your socks off.

The brief Rachmaninoff folk-song settings are late works, written in 1926 and given their world premiere performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Stokowski; this is Ormandy’s only recording of them, sung in English. They show Rachmaninoff to be, as I have claimed before in these pages, the most underrated orchestrator of the 20th Century. In the first song Rachmaninoff makes a miniature tone poem of the simple, strophic tune sung by unison male voices; the second, written for unison women’s voices, hints at the Symphonic Dances in its woodwind figurations. The whimsical third, usually given the title “Powder’d Paint” in English, was a favorite of Rachmaninoff’s; RCA’s complete edition of his recordings includes a performance of this by a Russian folk artist with the composer improvising a piano accompaniment. This CD is a gem.

-- Richard Kaplan, Fanfare

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

One of my favourite Bach keyboard works, BWV 988, the Goldberg Variations, seems to have been taken over by versions for piano in my collection. A candlelit performance by Trevor Pinnock at Dyrham Park House lives on in the memory however, and Landowska’s performance is stately to say the least. Her opening tempi are withheld, building the foundations of an interpretation which arches over the entire set of variations, which is the way it should be. The full weight of the Pleyel instrument is also brought forth in measured doses, and the simpler textures of the two-part variations are unencumbered by extraneous and unnecessary effects. Landmarks along the way stand like granite monuments in the musical landscape, and Variation 21; Canone alla settima, and the fantasia-like Variation 25 are both forward looking and somehow nostalgic. The story is a long and serious one, but the listener is encouraged at each turn by lighter moments, and with Variation 26 we are homeward bound and no mistake. The arrival of the Quodlibet, with its little song quotations is our salvation, and the final Aria our ‘Memento Mori’. It is Bach’s epic novel in musical form, and you will be hard put to find a better storyteller than Landowska.

-- Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International [reviewing RCA 67891]

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

Great news! Arkivmusic.com has gotten its "on demand" hands on the Japanese RCA Ormandy Edition, making these recordings available in North America at far saner prices. Some of these performances are outstanding, nowhere more so than here--one of the greatest Sibelius recordings ever made. Ormandy's Fourth Symphony is magnificent: gaunt, direct, and unflinching, with stunning string playing and the most intelligent approach on disc to the percussion conundrum in the finale (chimes at the "sonore" climax, glockenspiel everywhere else). Some listeners might prefer a swifter tempo in the scherzo, but this interpretation is all of a piece, taking in the work as if in one sweeping gesture, and Sibelians will understand just what that means.

The Seventh also is a perfectly paced, immaculately played performance, with none of the mannerisms in the pastoral interlude that disturb Ormandy's first recording for Sony. As for the tone poems, there is no finer performance of Oceanides available anywhere, and Pohjola's Daughter is just about as good. Ormandy could come across as a somewhat stiff and unsmiling interpreter, but not here, and particularly not in music that requires an absolutely logical, indeed mathematical approach to tempo relationships between sections. Both in terms of performance quality and programming (Sibelius at his very greatest throughout), it just doesn't get any better.

The Japanese edition apparently used original unaltered sources, meaning the tapes were not remastered in any way, and so vary widely in sound quality--from very good, as here, to virtually unlistenable (Mahler Second). So until someone goes back and redoes them from scratch--and we may have a very long wait--you will have to buy selectively. These recordings, from the late 1970s, stand among the best-sounding of the lot. A magnificent release that you won't want to miss!

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

Here's another spectacular release from RCA Japan's Ormandy/Philadelphia edition, courtesy of Arkivmusic.com's "on demand" program. These are wonderful, truly Romantic performances featuring amazing playing, string sound that's beyond gorgeous, and interpretations that have a lot more subtlety than Ormandy usually gets credit for. The Seventh is particularly impressive, one of the finest versions available, full of tension in the outer movements, capped by a blazing coda that puts many other, better-known recordings to shame. Listen to the woodwinds cut through the full orchestra in the fortissimo counterstatement of the first movement's main theme without significant orchestral retouching; or notice the exciting transition to the scherzo's main section--there are many such distinctive moments here.

The Eighth is just as fine, and even better recorded, with more presence from the timpani and a bit more air around the instruments. In the first movement it's amazing to hear string playing with such incisive rhythm, particularly at the climaxes, and it's instructive to note how much passion this generates at a basically moderate tempo. The Adagio's exchanges between winds and strings couldn't be better timed; the third-movement waltz is, as you might imagine, the last word in sophisticated phrasing; and the scherzo-variations in the finale is a riot, with bright horn trills and, in the coda, a really vulgar (and totally apt) trumpet smear to cap the festivities. Ormandy also takes the violins up an octave just before the end, between those slashing final chords, arguably a more effective option than the Czech tradition of doubling them with horns. Hearing these performances again is like getting reacquainted with a best friend that you never should have lost touch with over the years.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

"Ormandy gave the American premiere of the Fifteenth Symphony as well as a number of other Shostakovich works...The playing could hardly be surpassed. The recording sounds superb and stands up well against subsequent versions."

Penguin Guide [2003/4 Edition]

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

KODÁLY Háry Janos: Suite. PROKOFIEV Lieutenant Kijé: Suite. STRAVINSKY The Firebird: Suite (1919) • Eugene Ormandy, cond; Philadelphia O • RCA-ArkivMusic 38125 (68:45)

"The LP coupling of the Háry Janos (1975) and Lieutenant Kijé (1974) suites—one describing imaginary exploits, the other the exploits of an imaginary soldier—was a natural, and one of the best-sounding Philadelphia RCAs. Of course, both are virtuoso show-stoppers played by a virtuoso orchestra. The bass drum in “The Battle and Defeat of Napoleon” will give your woofers a workout. The 1973 Firebird Suite is not captured quite so dramatically, but this Rimsky-influenced work was right up Ormandy’s alley, and the performance stands up just fine alongside the knockout versions of Kodály’s and Prokofiev’s musical fables. This has to be awarded 'Best in Show.'”

FANFARE: Richard A. Kaplan

Dimension Vol. 18: Holst - The Planets