From the evidence to date, Peter Martin is an outstanding jazz pianist, but one who has recorded fairly rarely. These recordings suggest great skills, particularly as an accompanist. I would like to hear him more often.
There are many great recordings of the last three Tchaikovsky symphonies. It seems foolish and silly to try to suggest that just one could be the “best.” But I must confess that I do have a favorite. The recordings Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic made for Deutsche Grammophon in the mid-1960s.
Much attention paid to the breakthrough Miles Davis album, Bitches Brew on the 40th anniversary of its release in 1970. This recording was more than revolutionary. It changed the way recordings were made. It really launched the genre that came to be known as fusion, in particular fusing elements from rock and jazz. It introduced […]
In another blog, I described being impressed by the recording of Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony by the Toronto Symphony under the direction of Peter Oundjian. As a result, I decided to try their recording of Bruckner’s 4th Symphony. Once again, I am impressed.
Peter Oundjian leads the Toronto Symphony in a splendid recording of the 7th Symphony of Dmitri Shostakovich. When I saw this among the new recordings in emusic downloads, I hesitated. I already own more than a dozen recordings of this symphony, many of them outstanding. But as someone who just loves the 7th, I could […]
There are few musicians I respect more than Pat Metheny. He first came to my attention in the early 1980s by his album, “Offramp,” in the early 1980s. But his albums kept getting better and better.
For many years, I really didn’t “get” Mozart. In fact, I remember arguing how irrelevant his music was. How archaic. How simplistic. But a turning point, for me, came with my discovery of the recordings of the Mozart piano concertos by Murray Perahia.
The April 2010 issue of Down Beat Magazine featured a survey of nearly 200 musicians, educators, and critics. They were asked to name their favorite big big band recording. I found myself in surprising agreement with the results. I commend this article to anyone with an interest in big bands. However, there were a few […]
Marc-André Hamelin has made a speciality of exploring the perimeters of the piano repetoire. Music that is not widely known, that often is challenging. But music that deserves wider recognition. I can think of no more successful of these endeavors than his recording of the piano music of Nikolay Andreyevich Roslavets.
It turned out to be an historic night. The first time Pierre Boulez had conducted the Chicago Symphony in concert, Orchestra Hall, Chicago. It was 1968, I believe, and the highlight, to me, was Bartok’s first Piano Concerto. The soloist was Daniel Barenboim, who later served as the CSO’s music director. I knew instantly that […]