Music Treasures

PNWAS

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Aug 3, 2010
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Let us know about some of your most treasured music, that the rest of us might not know about.
 

Kal Rubinson

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May 4, 2010
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Biber: The Mystery Sonatas (aka Rosenkranz and Rosary Sonatas) . Some of the most gloriously intimate and passionate violin music. "In writing the sonatas Biber uses scordatura, tuning the strings to a different set of notes for each sonata. This achieves technical feats impossible with normal tuning and results in different sonorities resulting from the varying amounts of pressure from the strings and achieving the different desired mood for each sonata."

Lots of great recordings, too. I especially like the Manzi (HM) Minasi (Arts) and Holloway (Virgin) but I have not heard any I have disliked.
 

Jaguar

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2010
221
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Bellevue, WA
Here are 3 of my favorites. If you want to get together to trade some music, send me a PM.

This first selection is a jazz CD with mostly percussion and a horn on quiet backgrounds (no vocals). Probably the best quality recording I've heard on an older CD. The nuance of the instruments is second to none and the music is pretty mind-blowing.



This is a recent album from Melody Gardot, also Jazz. More of you will already know about this one, but it was new to me. She's French-Canadian and has an unbelievable voice. The album has a retro, 1950's-Paris feel. Most of the songs are about affairs with married men. There isn't a bad song on the album.



The last one is a vocalist in Seattle and one of the most remarkable voices I've ever heard live. She teamed up with another Northwest musician, who specializes in ambient synthesizer sounds, to make these two albums. I can't pick a favorite, but Omen is a little more hard driving.



 
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FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Hi

I might have made some of these recommendations but it is worth repeating ..

Elis and Tom .. Regina Elis had one of the greatest voice this planet might have known. Not only was her voice superb, she had an uncanny mastery of this voice.. Whether one is a fan of Brazilian Music or not this is must have album ...

Arvo Part, Tabula Rasa .. Arvo Part is an Estonian Classical composer. His output , mostly of sacred music is substantial and simply beautiful .. Not the kind of music one would listen on a commute, but Beautiful and soothing ...

75 Joe Zawinul ... A gathering and recording made on celebration of his 75th birthday, he died a few months later .. His duet with his Weather Report co-founder Wayne Shorter would have been worth the album price but the other compositions, some of these classic Whether Report are superb .. Jazz with a world flavor and the old master of the keyboard at his usual great ... and a slew of world artists of the greatest caliber ..

Trilok Gurtu Usfret ... Great Music and a superb recording .. Dynamic range is brutal ... Music is beautiful and recording to match .. Careful with volume settings ... A workout for your system from down low to up there ... I also have mentioned this recording on this forum or other ...
 
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Bruce B

WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Hi
Elis and Tom .. Regina Elis had one of the greatest voice this planet might have known. Not only was her voice superb, she had an uncanny mastery of this voice.. Whether one is a fan of Brazilian Music or not this is must have album ... .

I just heard this album not 15 minutes ago. A friend of Mike's wanted to audition my system and he brought along this piece. I agree... solid performance.


Regards,
 

RBFC

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Biber: The Mystery Sonatas (aka Rosenkranz and Rosary Sonatas) . Some of the most gloriously intimate and passionate violin music. "In writing the sonatas Biber uses scordatura, tuning the strings to a different set of notes for each sonata. This achieves technical feats impossible with normal tuning and results in different sonorities resulting from the varying amounts of pressure from the strings and achieving the different desired mood for each sonata."

Lots of great recordings, too. I especially like the Manzi (HM) Minasi (Arts) and Holloway (Virgin) but I have not heard any I have disliked.

I have the Holloway and enjoy it immensely. I heard the Manzi, but not through a great system. Absolutely great music... 100% agreement.

Lee
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Trilok Gurtu Usfret ... Great Music and a superb recording .. Dynamic range is brutal ... Music is beautiful and recording to match .. Careful with volume settings ... A workout for your system from down low to up there ... I also have mentioned this recording on this forum or other ...

Thanks to you Frantz I have several of his albums and you are right on in your evaluation and praise.
 

jazdoc

Member Sponsor
Aug 7, 2010
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Frantz,

You have terrific taste in music. 'Elis and Tom' is one of my favorites. She had a spectacular voice. You might want to check out 'Como & Porque' and 'Elis in London'. I'm also a big fan of her daughter, Maria Rita. www.maria-rita.com. You can definitely hear the family resemblance on her latest release "Samba Meu".

You may like the Marisa Monte project "Tribalistas". This is one of my desert island discs.

Another favorite is Chano Dominguez "Con Alma"

For straight ahead jazz, the following are in heavy rotation:

Freddie Hubbard and Oscar Peterson, "Face To Face" on Pablo
Stan Getz "What Is There To Say", Columbia
Miles Davis "Round About Midnight", Columbia (Mono)
Shelly Manne/Barney Kessel/Ray Brown "Poll Winners 3", Contemporary (Mono)

I'm going to track down the Trilok Gurtu.
 

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Hi

Thanks for the kudos guys .. doc, Usfret is currently available on Amazon as are all my recommendations .. Just click on the album name from the previous post ..

Another interesting album , a concert DVD no less but good sound and great Music ... I would say very difficult to find here in the USA .. I got it from a German friend.

Esbjoern Svensson Trio and Schleswig-Jolstein Chamber Orchestra with Pat Metheny ...

The DVD is PAL .. I have heard there is a region-free version .. however most if not all Oppo players takes good care of the conversion from PAL discs to NTSC output... A very interesting performance, Lively,frank, enthusiastic .. They were playing with abandon and you could tell that even the Chamber Orchestra had a ball .. Very difficult to find however ...

And I could add Ana Maria Jopek's Bosa album but I'll stop there ...
 

Jaguar

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2010
221
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925
Bellevue, WA
Elis and Tom

Just bought the remastered version of Elis and Tom on Amazon. Looking forward to giving it a listen. From the sound clips, the female voice sounds a lot like the Girl from Ipanema voice.
 

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Most likely that's Astrud Gilberto on the Gilberto/Getz album. The better known version of this song. The vocal styles have common points. Astrud Gilberto is a very good singer but Regina Elis is better, far better: She is a superlative singer.
Just listen ... and you will understand the words even if you don't speak Portuguese .. She is that good .. I know I am repeating myself ...Let us know.
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
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Thanks, Frantz. I've just bought Ellis and Tom off Amazon too :)

My current faves:
Joe Cocker Sheffield Steel (the LP) - fantastic blues rock. Unfortunately I've got every digital pressing ever done, but none of them do justice to the performance.

George Faber Blues - I think one of the great blues albums. It was recorded almost "live" in the studio.

Barbara Keith: folksy blues - great music and fabulous performances
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
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A number of you have asked already...... the recording I got John Tucker to play at Thursday's meeting was a JVC XRCD of Sarah Vaughan - How Long Has This Been Going On.


Unfortunately, out of print but still available here:
http://www.elusivedisc.com/prodinfo.asp?number=JVCXR-0038

Those of you (Jerry especially) who are used to me bringing in an "absolute fidelity CD" wondered why I brought in a standard pressed CD this time. Reason is that there ARE some CDs that I have not been able to better. This is one of them. Another is the original Here's to Ben by Jacintha on FIM/Groove Note - an XRCD2.


http://www.elusivedisc.com/prodinfo.asp?number=FIMXR020
 
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carolkoh

[Industry Expert] Member Sponsor
Sep 17, 2010
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A musical gem that I use to assist Gary in tuning his new projects.

Johann Sebastian Bach - Motets. By The Scholars Baroque Ensemble on the Naxos label.

http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.553823



My Choral Director directed me to it the year I was performing with the Dayton Bach Society and I had one of the solo parts.
 

Kal Rubinson

Well-Known Member
May 4, 2010
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www.stereophile.com
A musical gem that I use to assist Gary in tuning his new projects.

Johann Sebastian Bach - Motets. By The Scholars Baroque Ensemble on the Naxos label.

My Choral Director directed me to it the year I was performing with the Dayton Bach Society and I had one of the solo parts.
And for those of us without vocal talent, we can also experience being in the choir with this one:

Bach - Motets.

http://www.tacet.de/main/seite1.php?layout=katalog&language=en&filename=production.php&bestnr=01083

Kal

 

Johnny Vinyl

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 16, 2010
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A number of you have asked already...... the recording I got John Tucker to play at Thursday's meeting was a JVC XRCD of Sarah Vaughan - How Long Has This Been Going On.


You sure that's not James Brown? :p

John
 

Jaguar

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2010
221
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925
Bellevue, WA
I thought that was James Brown too.

Here's a real standout. Death and the Maiden from the Tokyo String Quartet. This is a very high quality recording of pure violin/string adrenaline. Imagine the most mind-blowingly fast, incise and intricate passages played with one violin, then add 3 other strings playing harmony.

 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
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You sure that's not James Brown? :p

John

Not unless JVC put the picture of James Brown on the album - IMHO highly unlikely. According to the liner notes, personnel are:
Sarah Vaughan - vocals
Oscar Peterson - piano
Joe Pass - guitar
Ray Brown - bass
Louie Bellson- drums

There's no photo credit in the liner notes except that the photo is by Phil Stern.

Here's another picture of a younger Sarah Vaughan that shows some resemblence to the CD cover:


James Brown is of a totally different era, and here's a picture:


I guess that there's a resemblance.

Here's how Sarah would probably rather want us to remember her:

 

Jay_S

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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I thought that was James Brown too.

Here's a real standout. Death and the Maiden from the Tokyo String Quartet. This is a very high quality recording of pure violin/string adrenaline. Imagine the most mind-blowingly fast, incise and intricate passages played with one violin, then add 3 other strings playing harmony.


[Nonaudiophile content warning]

By amazing cooincidence, I just found this on my Ipod. It turns out that I downloaded it from Amazon as a part of their 99 Schubert songs for $1.99 offer. I've seen the Tokyo String Quartet live at a chamber music festival and I'm looking forward to another listen on the way home today.
 

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