1812 Overtyre

osé Serebrier's distinctive conceptions and nimble conducting imbue the familiar Marche slave, Capriccio italien, and 1812 Overture with a freshness that belies their long-held "warhorse" status. By employing lighter sonorities and crystal-clear balances (all rendered with spectacular fidelity and dynamism by BIS's remarkably vivid recording) that expose Tchaikovsky's gorgeous woodwind writing and inner harmonic detail, Serebrier brings a vibrant youthful quality even to the overplayed 1812. Listen to how the bracing opening, with its cleanly phrased, rhythmically taut string playing fosters ever-increasing tension. Later, in the grand coda, the dramatic brass-and-strings interplay genuinely excites while cannons roar away in the distance (the opposite approach to Telarc's cannon-down-your-throat technique).

Slatkin's recording of Tchaikovsky's "Little Russian" Symphony (No 2 in C minor) is very good. Slatkin uses an expansive tempo in the Allegro of I, but the music never drags. In short Slatkin and the virtuoso musicians of the Saint Louis Symphony serve Tchaikovsky's early symphony very well. The impression they give is one of massiveness and confidence, and it works!

Iron Butterfly - Live At The Galaxy 1967 (2014) {Purple Pyramid Records CLP 1812}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 373 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 124 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 21 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1967, 2014 Purple Pyramid Records / Cleopatra Records | CLP 1812
Rock / Psychedelic Rock / Acid Rock / Hard Rock

This grainy live recording captures psychedelic wrecking crew Iron Butterfly in a particularly sharp club performance from early in their career. Still months away from the release of their 1968 debut Heavy, Live at the Galaxy captures the band in their earliest, roughest form, working out songs heavy on organ stabs and blues riffing. The bootleg quality of the album is on par with other obscure, audience-recorded artifacts of its era by psych bands like the Electric Prunes and others, but the band transcends the lo-fi cloudiness of the album with spirited jamming that all but wrote the acid rock rule book, especially on high points such as "Iron Butterfly Theme."