Teldec Flac

For Modern Talking fans this release was rather historical and is probably the best among Thomas's solo discs. Nothing super-duper, no chills down [my] spine, but it has some solid quality, considering the ever-strong and charming voice and brave take on musical styles different from Euro Disco that made Thomas so famous. It is music for specific mood, rather relaxing, even though too sugar-sweet on some tracks. If you are a fan, you shouldn't regret this album, though at the time it was not adequately accepted after Modern Talking's split. Worthy collectible item.

The Teldec recordings of the legendary pianist who rarely went into the recording studio so most of his recordings are live at concerts.

The performances by the Emerson, Fitzwilliam and Brodsky are quite different while equally valid. The Fitzwilliam version is richly romantic and emotionally charged, sort of the "Leopold Stokowski" performance. The Emerson quartet version is at times fast, tense, highly energetic, sort of like an "Arturo Toscanini" version. The Brodsky version is carefully crafted, balanced, slightly understated, like a version by "Sir Adrian Boult." Why on earth would anyone want to understate things? Not because, as some people seem to feel, Sir Adrian and the British are afraid of expressing feelings, but because by understating the emotionalism in the music other aspects of the music are more clearly appreciated, and the overall musical experience is richer. Therefore one could easily find the Brodsky version to be the best version by a British quartet.

The performances by the Emerson, Fitzwilliam and Brodsky are quite different while equally valid. The Fitzwilliam version is richly romantic and emotionally charged, sort of the "Leopold Stokowski" performance. The Emerson quartet version is at times fast, tense, highly energetic, sort of like an "Arturo Toscanini" version. The Brodsky version is carefully crafted, balanced, slightly understated, like a version by "Sir Adrian Boult." Why on earth would anyone want to understate things? Not because, as some people seem to feel, Sir Adrian and the British are afraid of expressing feelings, but because by understating the emotionalism in the music other aspects of the music are more clearly appreciated, and the overall musical experience is richer. Therefore one could easily find the Brodsky version to be the best version by a British quartet.

There were two Alban Berg Quartetts: the ABQ that recorded for Teldec in the '70s and the one that recorded for EMI in the '80s, '90s, and '00s. The first ABQ and the second ABQ shared two members first violinist Günter Pichler and cellist Valentin Erben and a common approach to chamber music more intellectual than emotional, more restrained than explosive, and more deep-down satisfying than superficially thrilling.