LATEST ADDITIONS

Carmignola, Gabetta, Lazic, Antonini, Et Al : Beethoven Triple Concerto

C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab) | Apr 13, 2016

The Milanese Giovanni Antonini, like Frans Brüggen, came to conducting via the baroque recorder; he was also co-founder of Il Giardino Armonico. So it’s not surprising to find his Beethoven the very antithesis of Karajan’s: a dry attack with sharp dynamic differentiation. (Wonderful how the concerto steals in from nowhere!) Recorded in the modern Luxembourg Philharmonie, the players patently give their all for him. The two ‘serious’ overtures are the most satisfying tracks here, but that’s only because Sony has frequently given the soloists too much prominence in the Triple Concerto – Gabetta being one of its ‘star’ signings.

Classic Venues

Rock City, Nottingham

Steve Sutherland | Apr 01, 2016

Once a club hosting variety acts and darts championships, in the '80s it embraced the spirit of rock, bringing acts enjoying sudden fame in the London-centric music press to the ears of a music-loving Midlands crowd. Steve Sutherland has the story of Rock City

We've got to start somewhere so why not with Gaye Bykers On Acid? The Bykers were from Leicester, had a singer called Ian who called himself Mary and were members of what the music press back in the late 1980s called Grebo, which meant you came from the Midlands, had a thing for denim and leather and wore your hair in a mess of dreadlocks.

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Eliane Elias : Made In Brazil

A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab) | Mar 11, 2016

This album does just what it says on the tin – well, sort of. For while Elias did return to the country of her birth to rehearse and record this set, other elements were recorded in the USA and the UK, giving the whole thing a slightly ‘samba by the numbers’ feel. Yes, it’s desperately commercial, and focuses the attention on the obviously very talented pianist/vocalist. However, the over-lush strings, which swell and shimmer away in the background, and without which the sound would have lost very little, do give this set a bit too much of the ‘latin Diana Krall’ effect.

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Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck : Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 & Symphony No. 7

C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab) | Mar 11, 2016

In a lengthy booklet essay Manfred Honeck explains all his interpretative decisions: live recording, a large orchestra with divided violins, pizzicati continued right to the end of 7(ii) – as suggested to him by Kleiber when Honeck was an orchestral violinist – and various minutiae, with timing/bar reference details. He writes about changing styles since the very first recordings of No 5 in 1910/13. But – oh dear! – the motto theme in the first movement is slowed for every appearance: that’s a write-off for me, I’m afraid. There is also a distracting rhythmic pattern unearthed in the finale, 9m10s-9m 19s.

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Bruno Abgelini, Regis Huby, Claude Tchamitchian, Edward Perraud : Instant Sharings

A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab) | Mar 11, 2016

Taking its title from the idea that ‘Music starts and then you have to broadcast, listen, share, make quick decisions… so as to turn this four-person adventure into one’, this album could so easily have become another one of those exercises in indulgent, meandering music. Fortunately, though, pianist Angelini has here partnered with some clearly very talented musicians – Régis Huby on violins and electronics, bassist Claude Tchamitchian and Edward Perraud on drums and percussion – to come up with a constantly interesting set of originals and homages to the likes of Wayne Shorter. Full of sonic light and shade, it was recorded with excellent clarity and powerful dynamics by Gérard de Haro at Studio La Buissonne, on whose house label it’s released, and yes, it delivers a very real sense of musical exploration to keep the listener hooked. AE Sound Quality: 80% Hi-Fi News Lab Report This is an 88.

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Andreas Staier, Freuburger Barockorchester : J.s. Bach: Harpsichord Concertos

C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab) | Mar 11, 2016

96kHz/24-bit & 16-bit, FLAC, Harmonia Mundi HMC 902181. 82 (supplied by www. eclassical. com) For these 2013 Freiburg Ensemblehaus recordings of the seven keyboard concertos with strings – BWV1057 more familiar as the Fourth Brandenburg, BWV1054 and 1058 derived from violin concertos – Staier has chosen a modern copy of a 1734 Hass instrument.

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David Gilmour : Rattle That Lock

A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab) | Mar 11, 2016

Sounding much more like a Pink Floyd album than last year’s ‘Endless Album’ of cutting-room sweepings [Endless River; reviewed here], David Gilmour’s first solo outing for almost a decade has all the familiar traits and musical clues to keep the faithful more than happy. There’s the soaring guitar, and little things like the title track fading out into steam-hammer-like industrial sounds. Similarly, the track ‘Faces Of Stone’ might well have come from any Floyd album you care to mention. And Mrs Gilmour, Polly Samson, can write perfectly Floydesque lyrics! With exemplary production and sound, and a guest roster encompassing David Crosby and Graham Nash, Robert Wyatt and Jools Holland, this is just what you might expect from David Gilmour as he approaches the ripe age of 70 – although some might suggest that’s both its greatest strength and its major weakness.

Classic Venues

Shea Stadium, Queens, NY

Steve Sutherland | Mar 01, 2016

The Beatles' record-breaking appearance at a multi-purpose sports arena in one of the most densly populated boroughs of New York was to kick-start a revolution known as stadium rock. Steve Sutherland brings you the tale of Shea Stadium in Queens

Overpaid, oversexed and over here' – that's the phrase we Brits coined to describe the American servicemen who were fortunate enough to be stationed in the British Isles during World War II.

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Alexander Melnikov, Pablo Heras Casado, Et Al : Schumann: Piano Concerto Op. 54, Piano Trio No. 2 Op. 80

C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab) | Feb 12, 2016

As with their Dvorák series with the Czech PO, Faust/Melnikov/Queyras are coupling a chamber work with a concerto – this time with a period-instrument orchestra. For the Schumann Concerto, Melnikov has elected to play a robust 1837 Érard; then an 1847 Streicher in the Trio – with more body than the one heard in their Trio No 3 [HMC 902196]. Clear and open, this is an attractive recording, with some subtle detailing mostly from Faust. The Concerto is more unsettling.

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Daniel Cacija : Lifeline

A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab) | Feb 12, 2016

This début album by Croatian-born but German-resident singer ?a?ija features what could only be described as an eclectic mix of music, from hip-hop influences to standards (some of them recorded live), but with one major unifying factor: the star, here front and centre before a band of anonymous musicians, has a damn fine set of pipes on him. He can cruise through Mingus’s ‘Strollin’’ with consummate ease, slam out the self-arranged ‘No Church In The Wild’ (which credits writers from Kanye West to Phil Manzanera and James Brown), and whip up the audience at the North Sea Jazz Festival with his take on ‘Lush Life’, one of three live tracks closing the album. He’s served well by recordings (again uncredited) fully able to reveal his timbres and techniques, to make a fine showcase for what is clearly a highly impressive voice and some great musicianship. AE Sound Quality: 80% Hi-Fi News Lab Report All tracks present as 88.

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