REVIEW POTPOURRI, Week of June 22, 2017

REVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

Bach Suites 2 and 3

Fritz Rieger conducting the Munich Philharmonic- Mercury MG10068, vinyl lp, from 1940’s German radio broadcast tapes.

Fritz Rieger

These two Orchestral Suites of J.S. Bach constitute some of the most joyous, very melodic and quite listenable music, both for newcomers to classical music and experienced connoisseurs who already find them infinitely re-listenable. The Second is scored mainly for strings and solo flute and has been recorded by such gifted tootlers as James Galway and Jean Pierre Rampal. The Third is a festive affair evoking the spirit of a holiday in which the entire orchestra, particularly the brass and percussion, display their wares. However, a special quieter movement is the soothing and delectable Air for the G String.

Fritz Rieger (1910-1978) was conductor of the Munich Philharmonic for over 25 years, beginning in 1941, before he took a position with the down under Melbourne Symphony in the land of duck-billed platypuses and Aborigines. (For those readers who are wondering about Munich, 1941, yes he was a member of the Nazi Party. But there is documentation that he kept his own hands clean and was de-Nazified quickly.)

The performances are very graceful and grandiose, truly living breathing renditions of an exceptional quality while the mono sound is vivid for its day, as German radio had magnetic tape several years before we did !

I have collected other recordings of Rieger and enjoy them a lot – the complete Mozart Magic Flute, Brahms 1st Concerto with pianist Witold Malcuzynski and the Robert Schumann A Minor Concerto with Rudolf Serkin. YouTube has several Rieger items, some of which I have posted recently, including an early ‘70s video of the Maestro rehearsing a Bach Concerto for 4 Pianos with three other now deceased conductors, Rafael Kubelik, Rudolf Kempe and Wolfgang Savallisch.

Against All Odds

Jeff Bridges

Rachel Ward

Soundtrack- composed by Michel Colombier; Atlantic 80152-1-E, stereo LP, recorded 1984.

I have never seen this Jeff Bridges/ Rachel Ward thriller but, having read the Wiki synopsis, am now curious. The soundtrack itself is a first class mishmash of instrumentals underscoring the action and individual tracks by Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Big Country, Mike Rutherford, Kid Creole and the Coconuts and, last but not least, the sublime Phil Collins hit, Take a Look at Me Now. The instrumentals by Colombier and Larry Carlton are powerful and soaringly eloquent. Recommended listening.

Bennie Moten

Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Jazz- X- EVAA-3004, ep 45 reissue, early ‘50s from Victor shellac 78s recorded December 13 and 14, 1926, in Chicago.

Bennie Moten

Bennie Moten (1894-1935), led an outstanding Kansas dance band that was, arguably, the most popular one in that burg for much of the 1920s and early ‘30s until Moten’s tragic 1935 early death from a botched tonsillectomy. The four numbers on this 45 – Kansas City Shuffle; Yazoo Blues, Midnight Blues, and Missouri Wabble – make for compelling listening. Every note is alive, every texture well articulated and the variety of sounds coming from my speakers, ranging from the spunky banjo picking of Sam Tall to the brass shadings of cornettists Ed Lewis and Lamar Wright; trombonist Thamon Hayes; and Abe Bolar on tuba, etc., gives this record its status as a classic.