Claude Bourbon

Limited Edition 2009 three CD set from the Australian rockers containing their first three releases: The Axman's Jazz (1984), Sour Mash (1989) and Black Milk (1990). Over their lifetime, the Beasts Of Bourbon have delivered seven albums of excoriating low-life Rock 'n' Roll and have carved their name indelibly in Australian folklore cementing themselves a one Of Australia's true supergroups…

Third album from the Australian garage punk and pub rock super-group is a fine album of lurching blues-driven rock, though it pales by comparison to the two previous albums…

The first sonic blast from this Austral indie supergroup was recorded in one afternoon by members of the Scientists (Kim Salmon, Boris Sujdovic, and James Baker), Salamander Jim (Tex Perkins and Salmon), the Hoodoo Gurus (Baker), and the Johnnys (Spencer Jones). Although several hailed from remote Perth, the band was actually formed in Sydney, where all were based by the early-'80s (Perkins had migrated from Brisbane)…

In many ways, Debussy’s piano music finds its rightful home on the harp. Apart from the distinctive textural and colouristic elements in the writing itself, we have contemporary accounts of Debussy’s piano-playing that refer to his ability to make you forget a piano even had hammers. Of course, this doesn’t allow for dreamy, “impressionistic” interpretations; rather, it makes clarity and precision absolute imperatives – which qualities we find in abundance in this recital by Xavier de Maistre and friends.

Serse is a light and elegant comedy. It opens with the most famous of all Handel's arias, the notorious “Ombre mai fu“ (or Largo), quite a different piece when heard in context. Its mock solemnity sets the tone for what follows. The opera moves swiftly and charmingly, the recitatives often interspersed with brief ariosos rather than full-fledged arias. Outstanding in the cast is Hendricks, her voice flexible and distinctive, clearer and purer than it would become (after the tone began to unknit). She sings with great charm. Watkinson is a fluent Serse but doesn't leave a lasting impression. Oddly enough, I enjoyed Esswood's work more.

This Pierian CD, advertised in the May 2012 Naxos catalog as an “also available” disc, is the label’s first issue from 2000 featuring the complete recordings of Debussy as pianist. All of his records were made in two sessions, a series of four short 78-rpm sides with soprano Mary Garden (his first Mélisande) at the Paris G&T studio in 1904 and 14 Welte-Mignon piano rolls recorded on November 11, 1913. Both are famous groups of recordings, restored and reissued over the decades, but this release is the best I’ve ever heard them.

Overall, the musicianship here is wonderful. The Claude Quartet plays with precision and feeling, and in lock step. Nuances (subtle dynamics, etc.) have been captured in fuller fidelity than in the original recording, making this an interesting listen. Of course, when you've heard one recording hundreds of time, the first time listening to a new one will seem a bit jarring at times, when the differences are at their greatest - but I'll not place any value on that - it's just different.

The reissue of keyboardist Claude Bolling's recordings of the 1960s may prompt a positive reevaluation of his contributions. Bolling has been known, at least outside France, mostly for the flute-and-piano works he composed for Jean-Pierre Rampal; his recordings with Rampal hit a certain popular groove and stuck with the formula. They were undeniably appealing in a simple way, but they became fatally overexposed. Bolling's earlier recordings reveal more imagination in his treatment of the relationship between jazz and classical music. Take for example this 1965 album, recorded in Paris. It's one of the few successful jazz treatments of Mozart, who is notoriously resistant to jazz treatment. The difficulty comes as a result of Mozart's reliance on harmonic rhythm, or the speed of the rate of change of the harmonies in the music. This feature seems impossible to capture in jazz, which heavily relies on regular chord changes, but Bolling's solutions here, making use of a classic jazz sextet, are brilliantly imaginative.