by Peter Cates Gershwin Music Zubin Mehta, New York Philharmonic with soloists. Teldec cassette. Zubin Mehta, now in his 82nd year, has achieved fame via his directorships of the Los Angeles, New York and Israel Philharmonics, Bavarian State Opera, etc., and a truckload of recordings. The above is a decently performed program of the great […]
by Peter Cates Scandinavia Laserlight, 79 675, cassette, released 1991. The Laserlight label began releasing very inexpensive cassettes and CDs during the late ‘80s and focusing mainly on classical music. Scandinavia, a musical grab bag centered on Norway, Sweden and Finland, contains the 2nd Peer Gynt Suite and two Elegiac Melodies of Norway’s Edvard Grieg and […]
by Peter Cates Alex by Conrad Wilson; Mainstream Publishing, 1993, 159 pages. This biography has a special fascination because Alex and I were good friends during the early ‘80s – Alex being the late Scottish conductor, Sir Alexander Gibson (1926-1995), whose recordings, guest appearances and 25 years as music director of both the Scottish National […]
by Peter Cates Bruckner Symphony No. 8 Anton Nanut conducting the Ljublana Symphony Orchestra; Stradivari Classics, SCD-6059, CD, recorded 1980s. If I had to pick only one conductor whose recordings I could take to a desert island, it would be Anton Nanut (1932-2017) . He conducted almost every piece of music as if it were […]
by Peter Cates Bjarne Brustad Violin Concerto No. 4 William Walton Violin Concerto Camilla Wicks, violin, with Herbert Blomstedt and Yuri Somonov conducting the Oslo Philharmonic, Simax PSC 1185, CD, live broadcasts. The 4th Violin Concerto of Bjarne Brustad (1895-1978), one of Norway’s leading 20th century composers, is a meandering exercise full of dramatic, pounding […]
by Peter Cates Beethoven Pastoral Symphony and Leonore Overture No. 3 Wilhelm Furtwangler conducting the Turin Radio Orchestra of Italy; Urania URN 22.227, CD, from a 1952 broadcast and issued 2002. Wilhelm Furtwangler (1886-1954) was one conductor now considered by more collectors and listeners to classical recordings to be very close to the greatest who […]
by Peter Cates Stan Kenton Stan Kenton Presents Capitol T248, mono lp, 1955 re-issue of original 78 singles and a ten-inch LP from 1950. The great Stan Kenton (1911-1979) recorded a batch of singles in 1950 that highlighted the arranging and compositional skills of such SK loyalists as Shorty Rogers, Bill Russo, Frank Marks and […]
by Peter Cates Morton Gould South of the Border Columbia, m-593, 4 ten-inch 78s, recorded mid-’40s. A very gifted pianist, composer, arranger and conductor, Morton Gould (1913-1996) straddled the worlds of classical and popular music very comfortably in a manner similar to Andre Kostelanetz, conductor and film composer John Williams and the latter’s Boston Pops […]
by Peter Cates Giuseppe Tartini D minor Violin Concerto; Pietro Nardini: E minor Violin Concerto; and Giovanni Battista Viotti Violin Concerto No. 22; Peter Rybar, violinist, with Clemens Dahinden conducting the Winterhur Symphony Orchestra; Westminster XWN 18192, mono LP, recorded 1952. This very antiquated LP contains very lovely examples of 18th century Italian composers, who […]
by Peter Cates Jermaine Jackson Frontiers Motown M7-898R1, LP, recorded 1978. Older brother of Janet, the late Michael and six other siblings and former member of the Jackson 5, Jermaine Jackson has reached a pinnacle of success as singer, songwriter, reality TV star and Jackson family spokesman at the nice young age of 63. The […]