REVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

How I Started Collecting Records! (Beginning a series of weekly paragraphs.)

The first records I ever owned, at 2 years old, were Columbia yellow label 10-inch 78s – three in number – all featuring Burl Ives applying his warm, cuddly baritone to such titles as The Little White Duck; Lollipop Tree; Old Witch, Old Witch; The Little Engine That Could; and several others. I discovered the thrill of ownership, of music being transferred from a round circulating disc through a needle to a speaker and of the escape to be had from the mundane everydayness of one’s life that could creep in at any moment!!

Haydn

Paris and London Symphonies
Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic; DG -477 7917, six CDs, recorded 1981-82.

I have had a long listening love/hate relationship with Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989). He could do a performance that would send one into clouds of bliss, such as, for example, a mid-’60s Deutsche Grammophon LP of Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons. Then an early 1980s digital recording of the Holst Planets that would drive one crazy with its bombastic slickness and superficiality, as if he didn’t give a hoot !

Hearing the above set of 18 of the most beautiful symphonies Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) ever composed, I wanted to take back every bad response and rehear the bad records. These symphonies each have captivating opening movements; playful and heart-warming Andantes, Adagios and Allegrettos, often with a little joke thrown in; cheerful Minuets; and perky, snappy Finales. They rank among the select group of musical works that are truly life-affirming, thus making this box of CDs a genuine bargain of under 20 bucks in several venues I have checked.

Arnold Bennett

Imperial Palace
published 1930, 625 pages.

For me, Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was one of the most consistently readable and enjoyable novelists, as well as critics and essayists, of a generation of English writers that include such powerful names as Joseph Conrad, John Galsworthy, and Ford Madox Ford. Bennett’s gift was in re-creating the lives of middle- and working-class folks, but he could do memorable rich individuals too.

Imperial Palace would be Bennett’s last novel. Consisting of 625 pages, it would be his longest as well. Focusing on a luxury hotel modeled after London’s Savoy, it chronicles the type of panorama one would expect as its inner workings, but told mainly through the eye of its manager, Evelyn Orcham, and a meticulously competent one at that!

The reader encounters a most memorably depicted array of characters and situations. In fact, there is not a dull page in the book due to Bennett’s extraordinary story-telling skills at placing one in the novel as the proverbial fly on the wall. One scene that will always stick in my mind is a breakfast meeting between Orcham and a multi-billionaire in the latter’s private suite. I could feel the hearts of both men beating throughout this early morning chess game.

Totally recommended to anyone who enjoys a first class, old-fashioned reading experience!!

Four Brothers

starring Mark Wahlberg, etc. 2005.

A woman is murdered at work during a hold-up. Her four grown-up adopted sons inevitably investigate the circumstances and take joint action. This is a very entertaining revenge film, shot – no pun intended – mainly in Detroit!

REVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

Brahms

Two Piano Concertos
Dimitris Sgouros, piano, with Emil Tabakov conducting the Sofia Philharmonic; 1 plus- 51 000; 2 CDs, recorded 1999.

Sgouros plays with commendable musical feeling the two very powerful Concertos, still among my top five in this genre. Tabakov and his players provide exciting support, making this a reasonably priced and desirable album for getting to know Brahms through some of his very best music.

Mendelssohn and Beethoven Violin Concertos

Joshua Bell, violinist, and Sir Roger Norrington conducting the Camerata Salzburg; Sony-SK 89505, CD, recorded 2002.

These two Concertos are basic also to a classical CD collection because of the sweet melodic appeal of both works. Bell and Norrington give a top notch collaboration.

P.S. Norrington blew opportunities for repeated engagements with the Cleveland Orchestra because he showed up for a rehearsal dressed in shorts, sandals and a T-shirt, thus repelling most of the much more modestly dressed players.

Big Bill Broonzy

Bad Acting Woman; I’m Woke Up Now
Okeh, 6724, ten-inch 78, recorded early ‘40s.

Big Bill Broonzy (1893-1958) came out of a share croppin’ background and preaching to become one of the finest writers and performers of blues from the ‘20s through the ‘50s, living in Chicago for many of those years and recording pile discs for a sizable number of labels. The above two songs are typical of blues – the treacheries of love relationships, addictions, employment problems, etc. And there is always the lament of Woe Is Me !

Broonzy was a true artist – he knew timing, delivery, drama, and context. And the record is a treasure!

Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra

Bei Mir Bist Du Schon; Let’s Make It a Lifetime
Decca 1575, ten-inch 78, recorded December 1, 1937.

My three favorite big bands are those of Woody Herman, Harry James and Glen Gray – the last of whom made more sweet music than swing, unlike the other two. I own a number of his blue label Decca 78s (the ones that originally retailed for 35 cents a platter) and later LPs for Capitol, Hindsight, Harmony, etc.

This record contains a good rendition of the Andrews Sisters’ megahit, Bei Mir Bist du Schon and a very nice ballad that I was previously unfamiliar with, sung wonderfully by one of Gray’s lead singers at the time, Kenny Sargent. What gives this record and others of Gray is the classy intelligence and good taste in the arrangements. There are not the trite notes, the bombastic sounds and the simply bad material that so often bedevil certain other groups that will remain unnamed. I return to the Grays, the Hermans and the James’s for repeat hearings with pleasurable anticipation.

REVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

Beethoven

Emperor Concerto and Symphony No. 5
Sunwook Kim, pianist (in the Emperor), and Myung-Whun Chung conducting the Seoul Philharmonic; Deutsche Grammophon- 481 031-2, CD, recorded live January 17-18, 2013.

I have lost track of how many recordings I own of both of these Beethoven masterpieces – ones that continue to hold my interest through great, good and bad performances I have heard during the more than 50 years since I first made their acquaintance as a kid. This CD features two very gifted South Koreans applying themselves to the stringent challenge of plumbing for further meaning still – and succeeding wonderfully. The Emperor has the grandeur, elegance, biting drive and sheer beauty but most importantly, the sense of love for every note and the ability to communicate that love to listeners from every man and woman involved in the session. The Fifth has a very special muscle-driven momentum and power communicating its very core. YouTube has a video of two or three different Fifths conducted by Chung, this one among them; it also contains one giving a partial view of the recording of the Emperor Concerto.

Count Basie

Do You Wanna Jump, Children ?
Panassie Stomp. Decca- 2224, ten-inch 78, recorded 1938.

Count Basie’s band was in really peak form when they recorded this late ‘30s pair. Both are swing numbers and demonstrate the technical and musical virtuosity of every player, each of whom was of the highest calibre, and the soulful bluesy eloquence of Jimmy Rushing’s singing. In fact, I do not know of any bad record with Basie’s name. This can be heard on YouTube.

Berlioz

Harold in Italy
William Primrose, viola, with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting the Royal Philharmonic; Columbia ML 4542, LP, recorded early ‘50s.

This is a four-movement symphony with the viola accompanying the rest of the orchestra. It is a beauty with four very musically alive movements, based on Byron’s poem, Childe Harold, but only lightly. The subject is a dreamy traveler drifting around Italy. The scenes include mountain travel, the pilgrims’s procession as they sing an evening hymn, a mountaineer serenading his lady and a gathering of drunken bandits.

Beecham’s performance is a classic but one among several other good performances, many of which, including Beecham’s, can be heard on YouTube!

REVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

Rick James

Give It to Me, Baby
Don’t Give Up On Love
Gordy, G 7197F, released 1981, seven-inch 45.

Rick James (1948-2004) hooked up with a group known as the Mynah Birds during his adolescence, one of his fellow members being Neil Young. His music career would thrive but also derail often because of his own self-destructive tendencies to live on the edge – his Wiki bio was sordidly interesting. His almost inevitably early death at 56 was due to a heart ailment.

The above two songs, particularly his hit song, Give It to Me, Baby, are more rockish than Motown/Gordy soul and are captivating on a certain level.

Yarbrough and Peoples

Don’t Stop the Music
You’re My Song
Mercury, 45-76085, recorded 1980, seven- inch vinyl stereo 45 record.

Cavin Leon Yarbrough and Alisa Delois Peoples were both born and brought up in Dallas and, were friends since early in childhood, having met while taking piano lessons.

During the mid-’70s, Yarbrough is touring as a pianist, returns to Dallas where he hooks up with Peoples, returns to touring and they sign a recording contract, hitting the big time in a very big way. Don’t Stop the Music is a compelling soul and dance record, incisively arranged and recorded.

In 1987, after 10 years of success with several more 45 singles and albums, they get married and decide to leave the rat race of Los Angeles and constant touring to return to Dallas. Since then, they continue to write, produce, mentor younger talent and perform, contributing immeasurably to their hometown’s musical enrichment.

Mozart

Sinfonia Concertante

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik; Viktor Pikaizen, violin; Igor Oistrakh, viola, and conducting the Moscow State Philharmonic; Westminster Gold EGS-8343, LP, recorded June, 1971.

Two of Mozart’s most important works are coupled on this LP and feature very lively, vibrant performances from two of Russia’s finest string players, Viktor Pikaizen and Igor Oistrakh, son of the late great violinist, violist and conductor, David Oistrakh, Igor being as good in his own way as his father in all three instruments.

The two sides of both 45s and the Mozart Sinfonia that are reviewed above are available for listening on YouTube. The Eine Kleine Nachtmusik conducted by Igor Oistrakh is not available but one recorded by his father David Oistrakh is posted along with several other recordings.

REVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

Teresa Stich-Randall

Preiser 93458, CD, recorded July 31st, 1956.

Born and raised in Connecticut, Teresa Stich-Randall (1927-2007) had a major career of over 30 years, starting in the U.S. but mainly centered in Europe, as a soprano performing opera, and other forms of vocal classical music. To me, her fame is well deserved, she being one of a handful of sopranos who provide genuine pleasure through their recordings – because she avoids the cloying vibrato that turns, not only sopranos, but mezzos, altos, tenors, baritones and basses into very painful listening ordeals. She conveys the beauty in what she sings, rather than indulging in being a histrionic nimcompoop in how she sings!

The above CD is a collection of lieder, or classical songs by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Richard Strauss and Debussy, 21 in all and each one a gem. She collaborates with the exceptionally phenomenal conductor, Hans Rosbaud (1895-1962), who swaps his conducting baton for the piano, performs with once-in-a-lifetime musicianship, sensitivity and beauty and leaves me wondering why he didn’t play the keyboard much more often. I posted Brahms’s Mondnacht on my Facebook page from YouTube, which should still have it !

A couple of little tidbits – Stich-Randall was a holy terror about exact punctuality for her voice lessons while Rosbaud mastered five instruments and relaxed by reading ancient and modern classics, in the original language.

Fats Waller

1935; Classics 746, CD.

The phenomenal Fats Waller (1904-1943) was a masterful composer, orchestra leader, classical and jazz organist, pianist and one very entertaining singer. The 22 shellacs on this CD are all first class, with not a single dud among them, and remastered skillfully.

Evan Eisenberg

The Recording Angel
Penguin, 1987, 256 pages.

I had high hopes for this book when I forked over four bucks for it some months back. Superficial dipping into it led me to a story about Clarence, who collects records while living just barely on $270 a month and they consume his house with only minimal living space.

Such stories are few. Eisenberg devotes most of the book discussing how records have changed the way we listen to, and relate to, music. But he uses endless quotes from, and paraphrasing of Plato, Aristotle, Schopenhauer, etc., to discuss the endless byways of music for several centuries in an overblown manner that makes this book tiresome most of the time as a reading experience.

But it got glowing reviews from many critics.