Playlist

Recorded

1/30/2011
Violin Concerto - Roger Sessions - Orchestre Philharmonique de l'Office de la Radio diffusion-Television Francais/Gunther Schuller/Paul Zukofsky

Robustly lyrical counterpoint.

Tango - Stravinsky - Noel Lee

tight as tight can make it

Mean To Me - Dizzy Gillespie & Orchestra/Sarah Vaughan

chromatically adept - a perfect picture of transparent subtlety.

Symphony #4 - Walter Piston - Seattle SO/Gerard Scwharz

The back ends of these movements sink down into some very interesting holes.

2/1/2011
The Sun Sessions - Elvis Presley

2/3/2/11
Perfidia - The Ventures
Love Is Strange (album) - Mickey & Sylvia

It is difficult to imagine a modern engineer allowing such a completely integrated sound, where every sound bleeds into every other. This pair was complete dynamite. The songs as songs vary in quality but the chemistry makes it impossible to really dislike anything about it.

Japan - Stockhausen

Live

1/29/2011
The Barber of Seville - Rossini - Seattle Opera/Dean Williamson - at McCaw Hall, Seattle

A wee bit of disclosure: Dean and I were high-school classmates, and used to play piano duets together (I remember mostly Ravel & Brahms). Since he is a foot or more taller than I am it was quite a sight.

A light farce, amazingly enjoyable after all these years. I had forgotten how few women's voices there are in the show. It portrays a society of men, in which women must scheme like the dickens to get what they want. This subversion is shared with Le Nozze de Figaro, although that story has subversion to spare.

1/31/2011
Gradus 186 - Neal Meyer