Second Opinion

Mamma Non Piangere was a relatively unknown RIO band heading from Italy in the late 70's, and released two albums during their short-lived career. They formed in Milan around 1978 by guitarist/violinist Lorenzo Leddi, who also was the only member to be featured on both of their albums. They disbanded shortly after the release of their second album, which was recorded live shortly after the release of their debut album and had a completely different line-up other than Leddi's presence. The reason why they disbanded are temporarly unknown. Musically, they are heavily reminiscent of bands such as Henry Cow, Gruppo D'alternativa, Stormy Six and other bands notable from the RIO genre, spiced with their own unique twist which implies their sense of unique, unusal and eclectic instrumentation, songwriting and arrangements.

Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers - Lausanne 1960, 2nd Set (1996) {TCB Music 02062}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 332 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 135 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 14 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1960, 1996 TCB Music | TCB 02062
Jazz / Hard Bop

The 1960 version of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (which consisted of the drummer/leader, trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Meritt) was very well documented. One can argue that these performances of "It's Only a Paper Moon," "'Round Midnight," Wayne Shorter's "The Summit," "A Night in Tunisia" and Timmons' "This Here" do not add that much to the Messengers' vast legacy, but the music is really too good for hard bop fans to pass up.

Jerzy Antczak (as Georgius) made his career with Polish prog group Albion and kicked it up a notch with his first solo album "Ego, Georgius" released in 2014. This stellar opus was unanimously well received by the prog community, earning very high marks indeed and should have been album of the year in 2014. The critical praise was well deserved as the album was a total gem of atmospheric and modern prog, expertly created and performed by a tight crew of friends and colleagues. Jerzy's guitar mastery is never in doubt, a fluid and inspired conveyance of axe magic, but his use of synthesizers for maximum effect needs also to be admired.

This compilation covers 20 years of live recordings made by conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky and the then-named Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra for Erato. Mravinsky led that orchestra for nearly 50 years, from 1938 until his death. His last recording was that of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 12, made in 1984, found on Disc 3 here. His interpretations of Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky were highly regarded, so it's not surprising that several of their symphonies are here. There are also symphonies by Mozart and Beethoven in this set; tone poems by Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky; and orchestral excerpts from operas by Wagner, Glinka, and Glazunov. The final disc contains a rare recording of a rehearsal led by Mravinsky, something few outsiders were ever allowed to witness. Even though he was an elder statesman of Russian music at the time of these recordings, there is still precision and energy in his interpretations.

Never mind the Symphonie espagnole and Le roi d’Ys, Edouard Lalo is the last of the great unknowns in 19th-century French music. His mature instrumental works combine the wisdom drawn from his professional playing experience with the familiar flair for rhythm and colour. They are likely to transform any opinion you may hold: it isn’t often that the inspiration of Beethoven was so well digested in France. The first two trios don’t really count as mature, and although they contain fine things, especially in the scherzos, their characteristic soul, sweep and dash are often clumsily handled. With No. 3, form and feeling are as one, the first movement’s surges integral to its progress to a hushed end, while the slow movement builds a powerful span from a sustained melody. Between them comes the irresistible piece better known in Lalo’s later arrangement as a Scherzo for orchestra. These performances have the necessary robustness without stinting on delicacy.

Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Serenade is unquestionably an orchestral masterpiece, one of two that he wrote (the other being the Second Symphony), and this remains its finest recording. Järvi remade the work for DG, and very well too, with this same orchestra, but as is so often the case the second effort doesn’t quite measure up to the initial outing. In the first place, this performance includes the “Reverenza” movement that Stenhammar later deleted. It’s a charming minuet, and since it’s followed by the Canzonetta, a slow waltz, it’s easy to understand why he decided, however reluctantly, to leave it out.

Alfred Schnittke's Second Concerto Grosso is a different creature than his First. While the 1977 Concerto Grosso No. 1 for 2 Violins, Strings and Keyboards is a lithe, vicious, often comical work, the Second, finished five years later, is a weightier affair. The soloists are now violin and cello; the Baroque band is now a full orchestra with electric guitar, drum kit, and brake drum; there are four large movements rather than six smaller ones; the entire work is imbued with an air of sincere tragedy, albeit with mud on its shoes. Schnittke dedicated the work to its premiere soloists, husband-and-wife duo Oleg Kagan (violin) and Natalia Gutman (cello); famed for their flawless ensemble, the couple inspired in Schnittke a musical air of companionship – a single soul in two instruments.

There's little competition for the best recordings of Bruch's symphonies, but what competition there is is stiff, very, very stiff. On one side, there are Kurt Masur's opulent accounts with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester from the late '80s, on the other, there are James Conlon's urgent readings with the Gurzenich-Orchester Kölner Philharmoniker from the mid-'90s. And yet Michael Halász and the Staatskapelle Weimar have found a way to top them both by delivering performances of surpassing warmth and beauty that still have unstoppable drive and momentum in this 2008 recording of Bruch's First and Second symphonies. One is reminded here and there of the composer of the famous violin concertos, but for the most part, Halász turns in performances of such conviction and authority that it makes one think Bruch's reputation as a symphonist has been seriously underestimated for the past century and a half. Captured in clear, colorful digital sound, this disc deserves to be heard by all fans of 19th century German symphonic music.