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LOOK WHAT I FOUND IN THE ATTIC!

Nielsen: Symphony No. 4, "Inextinguishable". Halle Orchestra. [For 20-odd years this was the only available stereo recording, and if the sonics were just a tad more vivid in the climactic timpani-duel, it would still be fully competitive. Too bad Sir John didn’t record more Nielsen.]

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5, Op. 107, "Reformation". w/ CBS Broadcast Symphony. [An entirely worthy effort by a conductor who yearned desperately for some Respect, but had to settle for making a really good living instead. Where do I sign? Anyway, the reading is brash, insistently assertive, and full of so much energy that it stays just a whisker from uncouth vulgarity. Lord, how this man wanted conducting job! Hell, I’d’ve hired him, just on the basis of this Mendelssohn; it’s rough and snotty, but it eschews the china-teacup moderation that most lazy conductors sink into, and so brings this fusty old relic briefly and irritatingly to life. Right on, Howard! I wish you’d been able to reach the Next Level…but at least everybody knew your name and CBS probably had a darn good retirement plan in those days. Here’s mud in your eye, buddy!]

Delius: Appalachia. Royal Philharmonic & Choir. [Yes, it’s schlocky – an effete English gentleman’s tonal take on the quaint mountaineers of reconstruction era Dixie, complete with spirituals and other Happy Darkie clichés, but darned if the pages of sweeping, misty lyric beauty don’t redeem the whole extravagant musical postcard – at least under Beecham’s debonair frontal assault, they do. I’m not sure I could sit through the whole thing live, but at home, on the record player, it’s captivating,]

Delius: A Mass of Life. w/ Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; London Philharmonic Choir; Soloists. [No, one doesn’t think of Delius as the composer of big-scale heaven-storming works, but he damned well had one in him and this is it; borne of his fascination with Neitzsche (of all things), and it contains longish episodes that reach for a state of transcendent ecstasy. Most of the quotations (from the Master’s writings or sub-fusc poetic doggerel inspired by it) are hard to take as seriously as the composer took them (today, he would probably be a Scientologist…), but under Beecham’s inspired leadership, all weaknesses are minimized and the strong, even chest-thumpingly virile (yes! In Delius!) climaxes rise to pinnacles of soul-stirring grandeur. Look, there’s no way a non-sympathetic audience can possibly take most of the philosophical codswallop seriously; don’t even try. Just sit back and marvel at Beecham’s commitment and brilliance. The early-LP-era sound is remarkably good and relatively uncongested in the Big Moments. My guess is that it was waxed in 1949-1950, and must have cost a fortune by the standards of the day. Beecham reportedly subsidized the recording heavily & donated his services for free – that’s how absolute his faith in Delius was. I know of only one subsequent recording, a better-than-fair version by Sir Charles Groves in excellent stereo – which greatly clarifies the sometimes lumpy-gravy instrumentation – but he just misses Beecham’s incredible élan and passion. I’ve dubbed the Mass and Appalachia on a two-CD set, by the way, so it’s $27.00 (including postage, processing, etc) for the set; considering that playable copies of the Mass are going on E-Bay for starting bids of $50.00, I think that’s a fair deal.

LISZT: Psalm 13. w/ Royal Philharmonic; Beecham Choral Society; Walter Midgley, tenor. [24:54]

Variations on Theme by Haydn. w/ London Philharmonic Orchestra [Sane, musical, post-war conducting. Mengelberg’s fierce drama is missing, but in his ‘warmly objective’ way, van Beinum was just as satisfying. Source is an ancient London LP, c. 1950, which is in VG + conditions – high fidelity for the time and label. Exemplary interpretations by a musician of the finest taste and discernment.]

BROWN, H. Arthur (?? - ??): [This Remington 12-inch, bearing a copyright date of 1951, epitomizes the mystery that was "H. Arthur Brown", a supposedly real conductor who was as big a mainstay of the early "budget" LP catalogues as the ubiquitous "Anton Nanut" is of today’s rock-bottom, wildly erratic "Laserlight" label and its many off-shoots. Was "Brown" a real, and grossly under-appreciated, musician? Was he a pseudonym for one (or more!) famous maestri who could not by-line their budget-label offerings due to standing contractual obligations with bigger labels? The documentation is more fragmentary and veiled than the Dead Sea Scrolls; many candidates’ names have been advanced – Abendroth and Celibidache among them – but to the best of my knowledge, the prolific and obviously very talented "Brown" hasn’t yet been positively identified. One problem is that his best early work, on Remington (10-inch records for $1.69 and 12-inchers for 2.19) was all pressed on shallow, cheap, stiff compounds that turned gray after twenty playings and picked up nasty scratches if you looked at them hard. You still find some of these in thrift shops, but not only are the covers ugly and unpromising, but the discs are usually in such awful condition that nobody would risk a stylus trying to play them. Here, finally, is a copy that’s actually in good condition, with sonics that are – beneath the patina of surface swish and minor glitches – every bit as good as those being offered in 1951 by RCA and Columbia. Mind you, Remington was on-the-level, and its catalogue featured excellent performances by such very real artists as Fritz Busch, Simon Barere, Albert Spaulding, Ivry Gitlis, Ernst von Dohnanyi, Georges Enesco, Jorg Demus, and conductors Kurt Woss and Thomas Sherman…very real, and very respectable artists, whose pictures often appeared in Remington’s ads. No picture of "Brown" ever appeared, however. Nor is anyone, today, entirely certain what his orchestra was – on the album jackets, it’s identified redundantly as:

Whatever the f*** that might be!!

All I can tell you is that, on this remarkably clean and listenable old pressing, Maestro Brown turns in an exciting, coherent, highly polished version of the Tchaikovsky Fourth that does NOT sound like any other conductor’s. The orchestra is obviously not French; it boasts better discipline and tonal refinement than the Italian ensembles of the time, and it performs in a reasonably "live" hall with decent ambient reverb and some appealing tonal warmth. Moreover, according the back-jacket, Maestro Brown and his oh-so-Austrian forces also recorded a Pathetique, a Brahms’ First, and a clutch of Beethoven symphonies! If they’re as good as this Tchaik. IVth, I’d love to hear them.

OK, there you have it folks. Maybe some of you can shed light on this mystery. If you can provide more information about Brown’s true identity, please share it with us by email or snail-mail.

On the left-over space of the Brown CD, I went ahead and dubbed Howard Barlow’s rendition of the Mendelssohn "Reformation" Symphony. Barlow was the jack-of-all-tasks house conductor for CBS during the Forties and Fifties and as such was a hard-working, versatile, professional. He conducted a bit of everything, and evidently had serious ambitions of attainting the directorship of at least a second-tier orchestra …somewhere. My knowledge of him is very sketchy, but in the same box where I found the H. Arthur Brown LP, I located this Mendelssohn, with Barlow conducting the CBS Broadcasting Orchestra. It’s not a performance to be ashamed of, either; I’ve heard lamer interpretations from stick-men vastly more famous than Howard Barlow! I thought, for those reasons, it would be appropriate as "filler" for the Tchaikovsky 4^th. Enjoy!]

So if you order the "H. Arthur Brown" curiosity, it comes with the Barlow Reformation as a bonus. What red-blooded record collector could pass up such a bargain??

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4, Op. 36. H. Arthur Brown; Austrian Symphony Orchestra.

Ravel: Ma Mere l’oye. w/ Radio Symphony Orch. of Milan, live, Jan. 22, 1959.

[Chelli got these third-rate Italian radio ensembles to play like good second-rate German ones, at any rate, and the carefully etched detail here, especially in the woodwinds, is gorgeous and shimmery. There must be a version of him doing this with a better orchestra, though, on some ephemeral pirate label or another…Until one turns up, though, this will do nicely.]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, "Pathetique". w/ RIA Radio Orchestra, Milan, January 22, 1960. [Yes, it’s sl-o-o-o-w-w. But he conducts it that way so he can lay out, with surgical clarity, every shuddering ganglion of the composer’s anguish, especially the "luminous gloom" of his harmonies. Listener’s who think the score is a bloody boring whine anyway will not be converted; listeners who’re on Tchaikovsky’s emotional wave-length will find it crushing in power and suffused with the darkness of the Abyss. One might wish for a better ensemble than the third-rate Italian outfit, but they play their guts out for Celli and largely transcend their usual weaknesses of ensemble and intonation. The only comparable stereo reading it Bernstein’s final, apocalyptic traversal with the NY Philharmonic, and as Don Vroon, Editor of American Record Guide said: "I cannot listen to it in company. I must retire to a darkened room so I can weep openly and let the catharsis have its cleansing effect; neither can I listen to it more than twice as year – it’s just too nihilistic and shattering." Well, except for the somewhat shaggy orchestral playing, the same can be said of this harrowing account. Playing time isn’t listed, but I clocked it at over an hour…most conductors dispatch the piece in fifty-fifty-two minutes. By now you know if this is something you want in your collection or not. I wouldn’t part with it under pain of torture.]

Beethoven: Wellington’s Victory, Op. 91. w/ London Symphony & Various Pieces of Ordnance. [Dorati made the first million-selling classical LP when he presided over the noise and concussion of Mercury Records’ fabled 1812-with-cannons-and-bells, a recording that STILL sells briskly after more than a half-century. Mercury sought to repeat that success by enlisting even heavier firepower for this recording of Beethoven’s notorious pot-boiler. What can I say? This one’s vigorously conducted, played with lots of snap, and the non-instrumental effects are, shall we say, of the finest caliber. And I don’t care what anybody says, Wellington’s Victory is a darn clever and engaging piece of music. Ludwig obviously has a high ol’ time writing it, so you shouldn’t feel guilty if you enjoy wallowing in all his sound and fury.]

FRECCIA, Massimo: [Nobody’s heard of this guy until the Readers Digest records program, started featuring him and his home podium (the Bologna Theater Orchestra) in their excellent and exhaustive box-set editions. His performances didn’t sound especially "Italianate"; his orchestras played well (the Santa Cecilia outfit of Rome, too) and his interpretations had weight and refinement. These deeply communicative Tchaikovsky performances were on an "RCA Record Club" special edition, never commercially available, and showcased the best of "Dynagroove" sonics. He whips up considerable melodrama at the climaxes of the march and the 1812 (yes, he has cannon – loud ones!); he milks the gorgeous melody of the Andante Cantabile for all it’s worth and then some, and the sound is deep, dark, and lustrous. You can find marginally superior versions of all three works, but if you want to acquire all three in ONE package, this is a good economical way to do so. If you like Freccia’s way with these warhorses, check out his other listings under "Conductors" (I have a damn good Beethoven Fifth by him, too) and then join me in wondering what ever happened to him after his brief three years in the spotlight. He just vanished. Into the same limbo where Carlos Paita ended up (except Carlos is supposedly dead – drowning? Pneumonia? Nobody seems to know for certain, but God knows there must be some wonderful live tapes floating around out there somewhere!). Maybe he’ll be reincarnated as "H. Arthur Brown…)]

Tchaikovsky: Andante Cantabile. w/ London Symphony Orchestra

" : Marche Slav. w/ London Symphony Orchestra

" : Overture 1812. w/ London Symphony Orchestra

Gliere: Concerto for Harp & Orchestra. w/ "A. Dulova", harp; USSR Radio Symphony

Rimsky-Korsakov: Symphony No. 3, Op. 32. w/ USSR Radio Symphony [See comments under "Repertoire’.]

Shostakovich: "The Fall of Berlin" soundtrack. w/ USSR Radio Symphony & Chorus

Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (complete). w/ Vienna Symphony Orchestra; Dagmar Herrmann & Ilona Steingruber, sopranos; Chorus of the Vienna State Opera. [Source is an extremely rare early Vox stereo – apparently genuine rather than electronic, although I have my doubts. Anyway, the sound is good, the performance, though heavily inflected with unfashionable rubato, is red-blooded and captivating. Krauss was much more versatile than we usually realize (most of his recordings were of Richard & Johann Strauss and few live performances have yet been issued). Source copy is exceptionally clean; not anybody’s first choice for this bewitching score, but a fascinating supplement to whatever your first choice is.]

MOZART: Symphony No.1, in E flat major, K. 16.

: Symphony No. 5, in B flat major, K. 22. Leinsdorf; London Philharmonic Orch. [Leinsdorf’s Mozart cycle has its admirers, despite its age (about 47 years); especially in the early works, where there’s little competition. And little demand, I must add. Of the first five symphonies, we know that Daddy (Leopold Mozart) not only helped, but he may secretly have written most of the scores. I mean, come ON, folks, if Mozart had written even the most recent if these five symphonies, that would make him, what? Nine years old! That’s correct, Skippy, and you win a prize – just try not to let the excess stain the carpet. I don’t care how precocious Mozart was, he still needed a lot of help to score these works at that young an age. Whoever "composed" them, though, they’re sprightly, likable little symphonies, averaging about fifteen minutes in length, and Leinsdorf, happy to say, turns in very fine readings – interpretations that don’t seem to treat the music as mere throw-away fluff (even if that’s precisely what most of it is). The LPO musicians obviously take their guest conductor t0 heart and turn in a radiant job. Yes, you can get these childhood works in "authentic" performances. But I’m not sure it would make a hell of a lot of difference, even if they were being played by an ensemble of clown-costumed midgets hammering on the keys of a giant steam calliope – there just isn’t enough musical substance here for a conductor to muck-about with, for good or ill. Leinsdorf plays the works straight, but with lively rhythmic emphasis and that’s about all I would want from any performances of these Kiddy Komposer jewels: elegance, charm and good ensemble playing, all of which are on display here.]

" : "Lohengrin", Prelude to Act One. w/ Concert Arts Symphony Orchestra.

" : "Tannhauser", Overture to. w/ Concert Arts Symphony Orchestra

" : "Gotterdammerung", Siegfried’s Funeral Music". w/ Concert Arts Symphony Orchestra.

" : "Meistersinger": " Dance" and "Procession". w/ Concert Arts Symphony Orchestra.

" : "Walkure": Ride of the Valkyries & Magic Fire Music. w/ Concert Arts Symphony Orchestra

Bach: Magnificat in D Major. w/ Soloists; Orchestra of the Ansbach Festival; and the Rudolf Lamy Choral Society.

Von MATACIC, Lovro: (A splendid conductor whose work is far too little known in North America, mainly because nobody ever invited him for a guest shot here. His conducting in Der Freischutz is enormously exciting.]

Von Weber: Der Freischutz (complete opera). w/ Orchestra & Chorus of the German Opera, Berlin; Gottlob Frick; Claire Watson; Rudolf Schock; and FRIOTZ Ollendorf.. [One of the better opera recordings of the 70s, and at the price of about $5.98 per disc, close to a steal. This production goes for all the marbles: echoing voices, wind machines, thunder crashes, loud rifle shots, you name it and the director threw it in. Add to all the stagecraft (which actually does make the recording seem more realistic) the fiery, urgent conducting of von Matacic, surpassing work by the chorus, and prime-time vocal prowess by Frick, Schott and Watson, simmer it all in clear, clean, effective stereo, and you have an ideal performance of this always-exciting opera. I will mention that there are 3-4 skips on the Source discs, which I was unable to purge; I don’t think they matter much, when the rest of the performance and recording goes so well, but I vowed to be honest in these matters and I do keep trying. In any case, it’s a supremely theatrical performance of Weber’s masterpiece, and that includes the spookiest Wolf’s Glen scene you’ll ever hear!]

Bach-Mitropoulos: Fantasia & Fugue in G Minor. w/ Minneapolis Symphony Orch. [13:01] [Dimitri trying his hand at doing the Stokowski bit with Bach; a strong, virile treatment that would wow a concert audience. Curiously enough, it’s been taken up by Leonard Slatkin and several other conductors, as a mid-weight program filler; if you can find Slatkin’s Chandos recording, grab it – the sonics are indecently lush. But do hear Dimitri’s two-fisted whack at it, which comes across with blazing intensity despite the slightly cloudy recorded sound.]

Couperin-Milhaud: Overture & Allegro from "La Sultane". w/ Minneapolis Symphony Orch. [7:41} [A tasty confection indeed, this mini-suite offers beguiling music by Couperin, dressed up in spiffy contemporary tonal clothes by the ineffably prolific Milhaud. A joy, and totally obscure today.]

Glazunov: Overture on Greek Themes. w/ Minneapolis Symphony Orch. [13:06] [One of Glazunov’s more attractive short works, here receives its definitive performance. Dimitri used this as a kind of "signature" piece for guest-conducting gigs, and as the title might lead you to expect, he conducted the pants off of it.]

MONTEUX, Pierre: [My deepest thanks to fellow-collector Mr. Dennis Smith, of Denver, who kindly loaned me his tapes of these splendid performances, so that they could be added to the Master List! This is prime Monteux: poised, elegant, yet virile and filled with tensile strength. And the man was eighty-something years old when he conducted them!! Sound is quite good in all except the Vaughan-Williams, which is sort of like an off-the-air dub from a patchy AM station – all mid-range and kind of "squeezed" sounding. Don’t let that deter you, however, for this is a fleet, athletic reading of a work that tends to sprawl and grow amorphous without a firm hand on the podium. Monteux had the London Symphony (which wasn’t really that great an ensemble at this point in its history) tensed on the edge of their chairs; he puts the spurs to the piece and it charges o’er hill and dale like a prince on a fox hunt! The combination of suave, poised attitude and tight gutsy playing is a Monteux hallmark and almost a contradiction in terms; these performances serve marvelously to remind us that he was, after all, a very great conductor who never seemed to agonize or even sweat over his readings – he moved his baton…and all these magnificent touches just blossomed from the scores. Great, great stuff, Dennis – we’re all indebted to you. The Brahms Fourth is in mono, as is the Vaughan-Williams, but it’s exceptionally clear and well-balanced mono. Monteux did not make commercial versions of anything listed below, so grab your checkbooks and order today!]`

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, "Eroica". Monteux; Boston Symphony Orchestra, live 94/8/1960; stereo. [A fine reading; soaring vibrant horns in III and IV; bracing tempi, but nowhere near as frenetic as Toscanini’s. ]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 4, Op. . Monteux; Boston Symphony Orch., live, 12/20/1963

Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C major. w/ Boston Symphony Orchestra, live @ Tanglewood, August 24, 1962.

Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor. w/ Boston Symphony Orchestra, live @ Tanglewood, August 7, 1960.

Elgar: Enigma Variations. w/ Boston Symphony orch., live, 12/20/1963

Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39. w/ London Symphony Orchestra, live, . [ Quelle surprise!! This indulgently lush and echt-romantic early work is decidedly not a piece you’d identify with the fastidious French conductor, but my God what a performance! It may not have the craggy bardic qualities of Stokowski’s or Segerstam’s, but it has all the ardor and sweep you could possibly ask for; Monteux’s careful yet spontaneous-sounding terraced dynamics in the fourth movement cause Sibelius’s ultra-ripe melody to take on more character, more…"class", if you will, than just about anyone else invests it with. I’m one of the world’s most demanding Sibelius connoisseurs, and frankly I expected Monteux to tackle this symphony with a kind of arm’s-length detachment, but that’s not the case at all. He does keep things tight, until he cunningly chooses to loosen the reins and turn up the emotional heat, and then the music just soars to Heaven! This is a uniquely personal take on this score – quite unlike any other version I know of (and I own 42 different recordings of it), and he makes the music sound fresh-minted and totally sincere. I suppose this is what it would have sounded like under Toscanini, had the Italian maestro ever chosen to conduct it, but there are places where Monteux piles on the emotion in a more passionate way than Toscanini normally did in everything except Verdi. I’ll stop raving now, because the similes are getting too clotted even for me, but I think you get the idea: if you love this symphony, you simply must hear this interpretation.]

Vaughan-Williams: Symphony No. 2, "London". w/ London Symphony Orchestra, live, [See remarks at the head of this entry.]

Von Weber: Euryanthe Overture. w/ Boston Symphony Orchestra, live, 8/24/1962 [All things considered, this may be the most exciting interpretation of this piece I’ve ever heard. Good clean mono. Probably from a Tanglewood concert, given the date.]

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 12, "1917". w/ Leningrad Philharmonic Orch. [Time: 37:06] [You know, if the composer hadn’t added "to the memory of Lenin" after the "1917", this symphony might be heard occasionally in the West; it isn’t a patch on the electrifying Eleventh, but it’s far from a tub of empty bombast. Under the baton of a sympathetic conductor, it holds your attention and even provides a few goose bumps at the climaxes. Mravinsky was perhaps the most sympathetic of all interpreters (Shostakovich entrusted him with the premiers of a half-dozen symphonies and was in awe of Mravinsky’s icily imperious mastery.) He led the first-ever recording of the 12^th (a mono Melodiya taped in 1961; I bought a copy in Leningrad three years later – I’ll be listing it here eventually). And here we have the first stereo recording, from the early Seventies. The sonics are a bit coarse – most early Melodiya stereo LPs were – but they sure are vivid and crunchy with impact. Did Mravinsky believe in the clap-trap Socialist-Realist program? Who knows? One reason he stayed at the helm of the Leningrad Phil for forty-odd years is because he was smart enough to say nothing political in public – ever. But his belief in Shostakovich was certainly real; and deep. So he lavished exceptional care and commitment on what is essentially a third-rate piece of crap, and makes you care about it as music. If you must have up-to-date digital sound, Haitink on Decca/London is probably your best bet. But the sound here isn’t bad, and the interpretation blazes with conviction, bogus or not.]

Dvorak: Symphony No. 7. w/ Philadelphia Orchestra [ ]

Schuman: Symphony No. 3, E-flat Major, Op. 9, Rhenish". w/ Detroit Symphony Orchestra. [This copy is in stereo, which means it’s pretty rare. A snappy, wide-awake performance, too; if Toscanini had ever conducted this piece…but he didn’t, so why draw comparisons? An exciting reading of a sometimes-somnolent piece.]

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 w/ Gilels, piano; Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra

Reger: Serenade in G major, Op. 95. w/ Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1958. [What can I say? It’s Max Reger, an incurably bourgeois fuddy-duddy who probably farted in dense counterpoint. Only piece I really like by him is the set of tone poems after Boklin paintings. That said, Scherchen invests this music with such vitality that for as long as ninety seconds at a time, it sounds half-way interesting. And it’s a work he never recorded commercially.]

Schoenberg: Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5. w/ Cologne Radio Symphony, live, 1958. [I usually prefer a lusher, more romanticized interpretation of this vaprous and tumescent score than Scherchen’s willing to give us here, but in its angular, Bauhaus-chrome manner, it’s a wonderful performance; superb tonal shading, surgical clarity in every strand, and perfectly decent well-balanced late-mono sound. If you’re partial to the score, you’ll enjoy – maybe not as much as the languid, dime-store-perfume of Barbirolli’s classic recording, but a worthy second choice.]

Dixtuor, Op. 14. w/ Chamber Ensemble of Radio Bucharest. [24:45]

Simfonia da Camera, for 12 Instruments, Op. 33. w/ Chamber Ensemble of Radio Bucharest. [17:00]

" : Adagio Royal

BACH, J.S.: "Aria" from Suite in D.

TELEMANN: Aria (It doesn’t say "from what". Sorry)

" : Introduction from "La Passion Selon Saint-Marc".

VIVALDI: "Largo" from The Four Seasons.

COMMENT: Okay, too much of a muchness, perhaps. I really have nothing against the "Taco Bell Cannon" (BOOM!) – it’s a lovely, modest little piece that became one of those garish "crossover" hits and was bludgeoned to death by marketing departments, who released versions for synthesizers, brass ensembles, nose-flutes, bongo drums…hell, you remember how appallingly ubiquitous the piece became for a while. Four LP sides of churchly serenity may be more than any sane listener can stand at one gulp, but there ARE days when all you want is some classy sonic wallpaper unrolling in the background. For those days, I submit this CD, burned from a long-out-of-print French Philips set that somehow wound up in the cut-out bins at Peaches # 36, where I labored in the vinyl mines for almost three years as head Classical Buyer (Department of Ever-Shrinking Budgets…as all the profits got snorted up the flaring nostrils of the L.A. high-rollers who owned, and soon bankrupted, that humongous chain of stores). The recordings are all first-rate and the performers include such catalogue stalwarts as organist Pierre Cochereau, I Musici, Rampal, and the Munich Pro Arte ensemble. In short, IF you want almost 80 minutes of pre-packaged serenity on one CD, this is an excellent way to obtain it for your collection. Each cut flows silkily into the next and before you know it…you’ve fallen asleep on your keyboard and burned up an entire new ink cartridge typing the letter "K" 354,000 times. Like, we’ve all been there, right? Oh. You haven’t? Trust me, sooner or later you will.]

Dances from the "Locse Book for the Virginal", 16^th Century. Laszlo Czidra; Camerata Hungarica.

Hungarian Dances of the 16^th Century. Czidra; Camerata Hungarica

Hungarian "Hajdu" Dances (from a book published in 1592). Laszlo Czidra; Camerata Hungarica,

Eight "chorea" from the " Sapron Book fort the Virginal" ( mid-16^th-century). Laszlo Czidra; Camerata Hungarica.

Dances from the Court of Transylvania (early 17^th Century?). Laszlo Czidra; Camerata Hungarica.

Les Adagio Celebre. Kurt Redel; Munich Pro Arte Orchestra. [See anthology "Baroque Adagios, Airs & Chorales…"] [8:26]

Adagio Serenissime. Armand Birbaum; Pierre Cocherau, aux grande orgues de Notre Dame de Paris; Orchestre a Cordes. [2:07]

Le Nouvel Adagio (Oboe Concerto, Op. 9/ No. 2) . I Musici. [5:19]

String Quartet No. 1 City of London String Quartet. [23:44].

String Quartet No. 2 ("Spring Waters"). City of London String Quartet. [21:31]

Adagio for Flute & Strings. Jean Pierre Rampal, flute; Armand Birbaum; String Ensemble. [3:40]

"Aria" from Suite in D. Rudel; Pro Arte Ensemble of Munich. [5:20]

Chorale "Wachet Auf". Kurt Rudel; Pro Arte Ensemble of Munich. [4:26]

" , Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland". Rudel; Pro Arte Ensemble of Munich. [4:48]

Fantasia & Fugue in G minor. Mitropoulos; Minneapolis Symphony Orch. [13:01] [See comments under "Conductors"}

Goldberg Variations. Glenn Gould, piano. Live CBC broadcast, 6/21/1954; approx. 29 min

Magnificat in D major. Ferdinand Leitner; Marta Schilling, sop.; Fertrude Pfitzinger, alto; Heinz Marten, tenor; Gerhard Groschel, bass; Ansbach Festival Orchestra & Rudolf Lamy Choral Society. [One of the earliest LP versions of this masterpiece, and one of the earlier imports from Deutsche Grammophon/Decca. Leitner is good, as usual, and the singers are intensely committed if not the last word in vocal finesse. You could do a lot worse…]

Partita No. 5, G Major, BWV 829. Glenn Gould, piano. Live, CBC, 1954. [13:14]

Piano Concerto D Major, BWV 988. Glenn Gould; Sir Ernest MacMillan; Toronto Symphony Orchestra, live CBC broadcast, 3/29/1955. [22:36]

Trio in B flat, Piano & Clarinet, Op. 11. Benny Goodman, clarinet; members of the Berkshire String Quartet [Ostensibly from a private collection; doesn’t seem to have been published by a major label at all. Awfully good, too.]

Symphony No. 3, "Eroica". Monteux; Boston Symphony, live, 4/8/1960 [See comments under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 4, Pierre Monteux; London Symphony, live,

Wellington’s Victory, Op. 91. Dorati; London Symphony Orchestra & various Pieces of Ordnance. [See comment under "Conductors"]

Facsimile ("A Choreographic essay"). Composer w/ "RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra" (recorded c. 1947) [Yes, you could tell he was marked/blessed/cursed for fame and glory even then – the brash confidence, the easy mastery of rhythm and orchestration, the box-office dazzle of good looks – at least from the chest up; from the waist down, Lenny was sort of bandy-legged and when he wasn’t watching himself, he tended to lope along in a half-simian slouch). This was one of his first recordings, made just three years after his "last-minute" (actually very carefully engineered) substitution for the "ailing" Bruno Walter. It still sounds very good; the snotty "Hey-Ma-I’m -a-star! "exuberance that gushes out of the speakers makes it essential listeing for any Bernstein fan – among whom I count myself, even thought I said some awfully nasty things about him in my book about Mitropoulos.]

Symphony No. 1, "Jeremiah". Composer w/ St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. [Recorded 1946. Sound is quite good, although the crack-of-doom percussion thwacks don’t some through as vividly as they need to, the St. Louis band plays with tremendous energy and commitment for the young wunderkind. True, true – the "Age of Anxiety’ (even though it’s not so much a "symphony" as a piano concerto, may be a much more mature work, but it doesn’t pack the sheer visceral oomph that the Jeremiah does. Lenny vs. Yahweh and it’s an even match right down to the double-bar!]

"On the Town" Ballet Music. Composer w/ The pit orchestra from the show’ recorded circa 1947. [Same comments apply here; terrific gusto and panache

Adagio for Strings. I Musici. [See anthology "Baroque Adagios, Airs & Chorales…] [7:07]

Adagio Religioso. Paul Bonneau; Ensemble Instrumental de Cecilia. [3:40]

Adagio Royal. " " " " " " [3:30] [See anthologies]

Symphony No. 1, Op. . Pierre Monteux; Boston Symphony Orchestra, live, August 24, 1962, @ Tanglewood [See ravings and babblings under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. Pierre Monteux; Boston Symphony Orchestra, live @ Tanglewood, August 7, 1960. [See comments under "Conductors"]

Overture & Allegro from "La Sultane". Mitropoulos; Minneapolis Symphony Orch. [7:41] [See comments under "Conductors"]

Urban Dance from Hungary. Czidra; Camerata Hungarica.

Five Impromptus. Paul Hupperts; Hilversum Radio Chamber Orchestra; Holland Festival, 1968. [4:10]

Spatial Music I. Paul Hupperts; Hilversum Radio Chamber Orchestra [24:25]

Enigma Variations. Monteux; Boston Symphony live @ Tanglewood,

ENESCO (1881-1955): [Once you dig beyond the deservedly popular Romanian Rhapsodies, you discover an incredibly disciplined, learned, almost visionary composer, many of whose chamber works are decidedly far-out and so intensely personal – i.e., not "nationalistic" but very cosmopolitan – that they seem to have been composed by another musician entirely. His one operas, too ("Oedipe", and yes, we’ll be listing that too, sooner or later) is worthy of production by any opera house in the world; his symphonies explore strange structural and harmonic territory; and on top of everything, he was a sensational conductor – elsewhere I’ve listed a Soviet recording of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth that kicks ass and causes the audience to go berserk at the end. In short, Enesco was a vastly more complex, protean, many-faceted artist than most music-lovers realize. Take advantage of OUR services to expose yourself to the "Unknown" Enseco – I’ll wager you’ll be very glad and more than a bit astonished at what you’ll discover. Such as the curious and engrossing chamber works listed this month]:

Dixtuor, D major, Op. 14. Silvestri; Radio Bucharest Chamber Ensemble [24:45]

Simfonia da Camera, for 12 Instruments, Op. 33. Silvestri; Radio Bucharest Chamber Ensemble. [17:01]

Sonata No. 3 for violin and Piano, Op. 25. w/ Diane Andersen, piano. [15:29]

Overture to "The Little Match Girl". Ole Schmidt; Odense Symphony Orchestra. [6:41]

Allemande and Brenle. Laszlo Cszidra; Camerata Hungarica.

Suite from "The Hill of the Elves". Ole Schmidt; Odense Symphony Orchestra. [16:26]

Overture on Greek Themes, Op. 3. Mitropoulos; Minneapolis Symphony Orch. [13:06] [See comments under "Conductors"]

Concerto for Harp & Orchestra. "A Dulova and A Gauk" [See comments under "Rimsky-Korsakov’s Third" below. There wasn’t another recording of this lightweight but engaging work until the mid-Seventies, and that one didn’t have half the idiomatic charm of this Stalinist relic.]

Lyric Suite. Stanley Black; London Symphony Orch.

Peer Gynt Suite. " " " " " [Sourced from one of the earlier "Phase Four" sonic blockbusters, these are hugely enjoyable, ultra-Romantic accounts of both warhorses – Maestro Black was a much more accomplished conductor than he was given credit for being. The Lyric Suite, especially, glows and throbs and pulsates here as it rarely has before. The sonics just kick ass, with silken massed string tone and deep, noble brass. The LSO’s playing is every bit as ravishing here as it was in Stokowski’s Scheherazade (recorded at about the same time), and while I wouldn’t go so far as to compare Stanley Black with Leopold Stokowski, I must say the comparison here is surprisingly apt.]

The Cosmic Way. Emanoil Cristescu; Romanian Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra

Serenade, andante cantabile. Rudel; Pro Arte Ensemble, Munich. [5:30]

Music from "It’s Absolutely True". Ole Schmidt; Odense Symphony Orchestra [10:01]

Beni Moira, Oriental Rhapsody, Op. 29/ No. 1. Composer; Members of London Symphony. Rec. 1924. [This and the following three listings comprise the total Holst discography as a conductor – except, of course, for his relentless and still-exciting traversal of Tha Planets. The acoustic process doesn’t let much air around the music; some listeners will chuckle superciliously at the "quaint" portamento the composer ladles on to such supposedly chaste works at the St. Paul Suite – but the sound is certainly adequate to convey Holst’s ideas about tempo and phrasing, and the sliding string swoops are actually very charming – "authentic performing practices", you Dim as they are, I find these 80-year-old recordings to be sweet, lovely, and illuminating; speaking to me of an era now as remote from us as the court of Henry VIIIth! If you love holst, you really should hear his interpretations of his own music; and you’ll be astonished at how quickly your ears adjust to the sound.]

St. Paul’s Suite for Strings, Op. 29/ No. 2. Composer; Members of the London Symphony.

Two Songs W/out Words, Op. 22. Composer; London Symphony Orchestra, rec. 1924.

Dances from his Book of Tablature, c. mid-17^th Century. Laszlo Czidra; Camerata Hungarica

"Gayne" – Complete Score. Tjeknavorian; National Philharmonic Orch. [Loris Tjeknavorian is an Armenian conductor and composer who was born in or near Tilfis. A darkly handsome man whose podium style recalls a bit of Leonard Bernstein – both men possessed sufficient physical charisma to cause even a hard-bitten audience to melt into their metaphorical embrace and both were dramatic, volatile conductors who could yank a repertoire warhorse (such as this ballet!) into something deeply satisfying to their audiences. Time was (and I can remember it!) when even people who didn’t care a whit about Classical Music at least had enough general culture to recognize the Saber Dance "from that ballet named "Gain." they would reply if anyone asked them where that great "tune" came from.) Nowadays, of course, even Pop music has sunk into such a pit of self-imitation and scurrility you can’t even find a good rock anthem being played. But I digress: time also was when some critics lambasted Gayne for its composer’s crudities of style, his unabashed playing-to-the-balcony deployment of long lush melodies, thundering percussion, and other old-fashioned tricks. But audiences, stubborn beasts that they are, persisted in loving this generous, flavorsome score, even going so far as to make the Saber Dance into an international best-selling single, something no other classical piece has succeeded in doingl

Soundtrack to ‘the Battle for Stalingrad" Composer; USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra, c. 1953.

Chamber Cantata on Poems of Attila Jozsef. Erika Sziklay, soprano; Janos Szandor; Hungarian Radio Symphony

Concerto Bucolico for Horn & Orchestra. Ferenc Tarjani, horn; Janos Szandor; Budapest Symphony Orchestra

Funeral Music for Orchestra. Ervin Lukacs; Hungarian Radio Symphony Orch.

Improvisation for Cembalo. Marta Fabian, cembalo

In Memoriam N.N., Cantata. Ferenc Sapazon; Chorus of the Hungarian Radio & TV.

Intermezzi for Piano. Adam Fellagi, piano.

Laudate Hominem – Tri-partite Cantata. Miklos Gabor, narrator; Chorus & Orchestra of the Hungarian Radio; Janos Sandor.

Monody for Solo Clarinet. Bela Kovacs, clarinet.

Quartet No. 4. Bartok String Quartet

Three Sentences From "Romeo & Juliet". Frigyes Sandor; Franz Liszt Chamber Orches

Psalm 13. Beecham; Royal Philharmonic; Beecham Choral Society. [34:54]

Three Chorae. Laslo Czidra; Camerata Hungarica.

Adagio from Oboe Concerto in D minor. Ensemble Baroque Italien; Bernard Schenker, oboe. [4:24]

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (complete). Clemens Krauss; Vienna Symphony & Vienna State Opera Chorus. [See comments under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 5, Op. 107, "Reformation". Howard Barlow; CBS Broadcasting Symphony.

La Boeuf sur le Toit. Composer; Orchestre du Theatre des Champs-Eylesees [15:03] [This may be my favorite Milhaud work, and the impish composer here delivers a raw, watery-horn, sawdust-on-the-floor reading guaranteed to evoke memories of…well, drinking absinthe in a rancid bar with Henry Miller, if you know what I mean.]

La Creation du Monde. Composer; Orchestre du Theatre des Champs-Elysees [16:27] Sonata No. 2 for Violin & Piano. Andre Gertler, vln; Diane Andersen, piano [15:21]

Adagio & Fugue, K. 546. I Musici. [See anthology "Baroque Adagios, Airs & Chorales.] [10:28]

"Andante" for Flute & Orchestra, K. 315. Rudel; Pro Arte Ensemble, Munich. Soloist not identified. [5:38]

Quartet in G major, K. 80. The Barchet Quartet.

Quartet in D major, K. 155. New Music Quartet.

Quartet in G major, K. 156. New Music Quartet.

Quartet in C major, K. 157. New Music Quartet

Quartet in F major, K. 158. New Music Quartet.

Symphony No. 1, k. 16. w/ Erich Leinsdorf & the London Philharmonic Orch.

Scene for Orchestra. Josif Conta; Romanian Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra

Symphony No. 4, "Inextinguishable". Sir John Barbirolli; Halle Orchestra.

Twelve Songs. Kurt Westi, tenor; Ib Hansen, baritone; Niels Brincker, tenor; Bodil Goebel, soprano; John Winther, piano. [22:46]

"The Endless Column". Josif Conta; Romanian Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra. [That’s my dim-witted attempt to translate "La Colonne sans fin" from the French program notes. I can’t even take a poke at doing so from the Russian and Romanian texts and there is no English version. Someone less linguistically challenged than I should write in with a correction. All four Romanian works listed this month come from a 1972 Electrocord LP. For Eastern Bloc Modernism, they’re not bad; more surprising, the sonics and surfaces are equal to the best Western labels of the time. Here’s yet another instance when we bring you rarities you’d not find anywhere else, even on the Web.]

Sonata in E-flat minor, op. 21 Andrzej Stefanski, piano. [A big, bold, colorful work that achieved fame during the composer’s long and fascinating life, but that seems to have disappeared since then. Stefanski plays it in the manner born and the old Polish Muza recording compliments him with clean, wide-range sonics. Worthy addition to any piano collection; and there doesn’t seem to be any newer version available at the moment.]

Variations & Fugue in E-flat minor, op. 23. Andrzej Stefanski, piano. [Not quite at the level of the sonata, but still a mature and fascinating work. Watch for my forthcoming listing of Paderewski’s symphony and his immense piano concerto…]

"Ungarischa" Dances. Laszlo Czidra; Camerata Hungarica.

Four "allemandes" in the Hungarian Style. Laszlo Czidra; Camerata Hungarica

Ballo Ungaro. Laszlo Csidra; Camerata Hungarica.

Gaspard de la Nuit. Michelangeli; live, London, 1957. [See comment under "Virtuosi…"]

Ma Mere l’Oye. Celibidache; Milan Radio Symphony, live, 1957 [See comment under "Conductors"]

Serenade in G major, Op. 95. Scherchen; Cologne Radio Symphony, live, 1958.

"Villa-Nella", Hungarian Dance. Laszlo Czidra; Camerata Hungarica

Symphony No. 3. Alexander Gauk; USSR Radio Symphony Orch. [Source is an antediluvian "Period" LP, circa 1953; for a long time it was the ONLY recording of this truncated but agreeably colorful work to be had. In those days, Soviet recordings only listed the last names of the performers (all of Period’s catalogue derived from bootlegged Melodiya and Polish "Muza" LPs, which only served the Commies right, since they’d refused to sign the copyright treaties…), and consequently this performance is accredited to "A Gauk", which conjures images of a big hairy flightless bird found only on Madagascar…) and the Gliere harp piece listed above is performed by "a gauk and a dulova" – the harpist’s name as "Alexandra" or something like that. Let your imagination run amok… Anyway, the crude "Stalin-Sound" audio quality cannot entirely hide Maestro Gauk’s rough-hewn intensity, which serves this modest piece quite well (nor can it hide the blatty, leaking-faucet tone of those cheap Russian horns, but they only add to the sense of authenticity). Yes, there are much better-sounding later recordings (Tjeknavorian’s, last seen on a furtive RCA re-issue, is the best of the lot), but this Cold War relic just oozes vodka-scented charm.]

"In Denmark Was I Born". Ole Schmidt; Odense Symphony Orchestra [7:35]

Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5. Scherchen; Cologne Radio Symphony, live, 1958

Symphony No. 3, E-flat major, Op. 97. Paul Paray; Detroit Symphony Orchestra. [Rare stereo edition1 VG + condition.]

Soundtrack to: The Fall of Berlin. Alexander Gauk; USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Symphony No. 4. Andre Previn; Chicago Symphony Orch., live, 1978. [Savage; excoriating; one of the finest things I’ve ever heard from Previn’s baton.]

Symphony No. 12, "1917 – To the Memory of Lenin". Mravinsky; Leningrad Philharmonic. [See comments under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39. Pierre Monteux; London Symphony Orchestra, live, 1963

STRAVINSKY: [Here are three essential examples of Stravinsky conducting his own work, all recorded in the early 50s. These are more relaxed, expansive, and…well, almost serene, compared to the rather cold, distanced readings he recorded in his stereo re-makes. The cool, marble-smooth surfaces of these neo-classical masterpieces has never glowed more elegantly than it does here. Some very slight surface noise on "Ap;ollo", otherwise the discs are in VG-plus condition and the sound per se if quite satisfactory. Moreover, all three works will fit handily on a single CD. Bargain city!]

Apollon Musagette. Composer; RCA Symphony Orch.

Symmetries. Mircea Cristescu; Romanian Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra [

Andante Cantabile. Freccia; London Symphony Orchestra

1812 Overture. Freccia; London Symphony Orchestra.

Marche Slav. Freccia; London Symphony Orchestra.

Symphony No. 4, F minor, Op. 39. "H. Arthur Brown"; Austrian Symphony Orchestra [See bizarre comments under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 6. Celibidache; RIA Symphony Orchestra, Milan. C. 1970. [See comments under "Conductors"]

"Aria" (It doesn’t say from what…) Rudel; Pro Arte Ensemble, Munich. [4:00]

"Introduction" from "St. Mark Passion" . Rudel; Pro Arte Ensemble, Munich. [3:03]

" " "St Matthew Passion". Rudel; Pro Arte Ensemble, Munich. [5:03]

Musica per Orkestra. Haitink; Concertgebouw Orch., Amsterdam [17:18 ]

Symphony No. 2 ("London"). Pierre Monteux; London Symphony Orchestra, 9/24/1963 [See comments under "Conductors". This off-the-air tape is mono, and the sound isn’t very good – rather like what you’d get from a distant AM station. Never mind, though, because the performance is electrifying.]

"Largo" from "The Four Seasons". Rudel; Pro Arte Ensemble, Munich. [2:05]

"Lohengrin", Prelude act III. Leinsdorf; "Concert Arts Symphony Orchestra" (L.A. Philharmonic")

"Tannhauser", Overture. Leinsdorf; "Concert Arts Symphony Orchestra (L.A. Philharmonic )

"Gotterdammerung", Siegfried’s Funeral Music. Leinsdorf; Concert Arts Orchestra {L.A. Philharmonic.)

"Die Meistersinger", "Dance of Apprentices" & "Procession of the Meistersingers" w/ Concert Arts Symphony Orchestra (L. A. Philharmonic)

"Die Walkure", "Ride of the Valkyries & "Magic Fire Music". Leinsdorf; w/ "Concert Arts Orchestra" ("L.A. Philharmonic")

von WEBER: Euryanthe Overture. Monteux; Boston Symphony Orchestra @ Tanglewood, live,

Gipsy Dance from "Kenilworth". Ole Schmidt; Odense Symphony Orchestra [4:09]

Alwyn: String Quartet No. 1. [23:44]

" : String Quartet No. 2 ("Spring Waters"). [21:31]

Albinoni: Adagio Serenissimi. w/ Great Organ of Notre Dame; String Ensemble

Enesco: Sonata No. 3, Op. 25, ("In the character of a Romanian popular Dance"). w/ Diane Andersen, piano. 15:29

Milhaud: Sonata No. 2 for Violin & Piano. w/ Diane Andersen, piano

Bach: Goldberg Variations. Live CBC broadcast, 6/21/1954

" : Partita No. 5, BWV 829. Live, CBC, 10/4/1954 [13:14]

" : Piano Concerto in D Major, BWV 1052. Live CBC broadcast; Sir Ernest MacMillan; Toronto Symphony Orchestra, 3/29/1955 [22:36]

Albinoni: Le Nuovel Adagio from Oboe Concerto, Op. 9/ No. 2. w/ I Musici. [5:19]

Albinoni: Le Nouvel Adagio. w/ Heinz Holliger, oboe. I Musici. [5:19]

Barber: Adagio for Strings. [7:07]

Mozart: Adagio & Fugue. [10:28]

Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit. Live, London, March 4, 1957 [Michelangeli hated studio recording every bit as much as Celibidache did and left relatively few "authorized" records. But, also like Celibidache, he turned a blind eye to the issuance of numerous "pirated" live concert recordings (or at least pretended he was above such tom-foolery). At any rate, if you want to know why some piano-lovers consider him one of the titans, you’ll almost HAVE to turn to the off-the-air accounts, of which this is one; in pretty good mono sound, from a London recital in 1957. His passage-work glitters with an icy, near-perfection that’s almost inhuman (pretty close to ideal for this particular work, I think), and his tone-colors are exquisitely shaded. The audience goes ape-shit at the conclusion of "Le jardin feerique"; I probably would have joined in, had I been fortunate enough to attend. Anyway, if you’ve ever been curious to hear what all the fuss was about concerning this pianist – and at the moment, there’s almost nothing commercially available except his ancient reading of the Rachmaninoff Fourth, which makes a stronger case for that neglected work than any other version I know of, including the composer’s own – this suite diabolique is a great place to start. Timing’s about 21 minutes.]

THE NEW MUSIC QUARTET [Truly a legendary group (see list of personnel!); despite their name, some of their most famous recordings were, in fact, of works that could hardly be considered "new music". The following set of middle-period Mozart works is one of the treasures of the chamber music catalogue. .NOTE: there are four SMALL skips on side one – this was not a first-hand copy, and although I did fix 2 lesser pops by hand, these were too deep. Unless you’re a perfectionist, you won’t mind – not compared to the revelatory musicianship displayed here.]

Mozart: Quartet in F major, K. 158 [Personnel: Matthew Raimondi, Braidus Earle, violins; Walter Trampler, viola; David Soyer, cello]

Anles, Padre Rafel: Adagio for Flute & Strings. w/ Armand Birbaum; String Ensemble. [3:40]

Four Songs for Soprano & Violin, Op. 36. w/ W. H. Reed, violin; composer presiding..

Der Freischuetz, complete opera. w/ Lovro von Matacic; Orchestra & Chorus of the German Opera, Berlin. Soloists: Claire Watson; Gottlob Frick; Rudolf Schock; Fritz Ollendorf; Lotte Schaedle.

Samuel BECKETT: Waiting for Godot. Bert Lahr, E. G. Marshall. [Beckett’s lean, bleak existential comedy gets a juicy, supremely nuanced premier from two great actors whose brilliance had much to do with this play’s acceptance by a broad audience. One of the great spoken word records!]

TOM LEHRER: Songs, Vol. One. Composer, piano. [Source is the original 10-inch LP with the piano-playin’ Devil on the cover. And to think, in some towns this record wass banned AS "Satanic"! Surely, almost everyone’s bought/heard this timeless classic by now, but if you’ve never heard such brilliant smart-ass numbers as ‘The Old Dope Peddler", and "The Irish Ballad", be sure to do so before you die; your life will not be complete until you do!

O. HENRY: The Gift of the Magi. W/ John Carradine, narrator [Still in original shrinkwrap.]

FAIRPORT CONVENTION: Expletive Delighted. {Reels and jigs and spirited jams. Maybe not their finest album, but at least half the cuts rank ‘way up there. Sheer delight.]

"Phantasies" [ Maybe this isn’t strictly "Celtic", but the predominant mood is wistful and generically Celtic at least. This self-produced CD comes from a musician in Ft. Worth, and it reminds me strongly of those first Windham Hill LPs by George Winston – which ain’t a bad thing, in my opinion. Moody, uncomplicated, but well-wrought and very melodic. There are times when you just want to slap something like this on the CD box and let your mind drift. How this CD got to Greensboro, and why I happened to discover it at the Goodwill store, well, call it serendipity; I’m delighted to make Mr. Wright’s acquaintance and I hope his career flourished in the 23 years since he issued this. Total time: 45:30, approx.]

New Listings for July 2005