I'm The Problem

The great Russian bear has disgorged another magnificent voice. To encounter Galina Gorchakova for the first time, as I did, in the intimate surroundings of Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall was a hair-raising experience nobody would be likely to forget. Her blazing soprano has conquered audiences in the opera-house and, though the recordings which followed – such as Mazeppa (DG, 1/94) and Prince Igor (Philips, 4/95) – have sometimes raised doubts, they are not enough to obscure the essential message: Gorchakova promises to be one of the vocal giants of her generation.

Haydn’s late masterpiece, The Creation/Die Schöpfung has always existed in two versions, one in English and one in German. Loosely based on Milton’s Paradise Lost version of the creation story, the libretto had actually been offered to Handel, who never got around to setting it. Johann Salomon, the impresario, passed it to Haydn in 1794. Haydn was interested but apparently did not feel confident enough in his English to set the work in its original format.

In a note accompanying this new Winterreise with Jan Van Elsacker, the fortepianist and musicologist Tom Beghin asks what yet another new recording of Schubert’s great song-cycle might offer. The answer, in the first instance, is the instrument Beghin plays, a newly restored Gottlieb Hafner from Vienna c1830, whose five pedals – and attendant effects – Beghin is unafraid to employ.

It is almost exactly a quarter of a century since Pierre Boulez recorded his complete Webern survey. This new collection, apart from being useful for anyone who doesn't want to buy three whole CDs of Webern, offers an interesting insight into how Boulez's way with a composer probably more central to him than any other has changed. For a start he gives him a little more time: most of the pieces here are slightly but significantly slower than they were in 1970. This allows lines to be more subtly moulded, phrases to acquire a touch more poise. This is not to say that Boulez has softened and now phrases Webern as though he were Chopin, but grace and even wit (the second movement of the Quartet) are now noticeable alongside his customary precision. The Ensemble InterContemporain have been playing these pieces constantly since they were first founded, and it shows in the absolute assurance of their performances.

Allan Taylor - Endless Highway [BluRay Untouched]
MPEG-4 AVC, 1080p, 1.78:1 | PCM Stereo @ 16Bit/48kHz | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Stockfisch Records # SFR 357.7063.2 | Country/Year: Europe 2009 | Size: 18,07 GB
Genre: Rock, Folk | Style: Acoustic, Singer/Songwriter, HiDef Documentary

Allan Taylor: "What we aimed to do was to make a film about a travelling troubadour, how he gets his ideas for songs, how he writes songs, how he plays the concerts and how he travels from city to city - we wanted to show the lifestyle of a singer-songwriter. It´s hard for me to be objective about the result, I guess, because I've lived it, but I hope you get some idea of what it's like." This film also delivers insight into the genesis of a song: idea, lyrics, composition, performance and recording in studio.

Andreas Scholl & Orlando - Scholl Goes Pop
Andreas Scholl / Orlando & Die Unerlösten / Nürnberger Symphoniker / Rick Stengards
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 451 MB | MP3 CBR 320: 179 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Sony Classical # 88697127902 | Country/Year: Germany 2007
Genre: Classical / Pop | Style: Crossover

Auf seiner neuen CD *Andreas Scholl Goes Pop* präsentiert der bekannte deutsche Countertenor Andreas Scholl zusammen mit seinem Fachkollegen, dem Counter ORLANDO alias Roland Kunz und dessen Pop-Band "Orlando und die Unerlösten" sowie den Nürnberger Symphonikern unter der Leitung von Rick Stengards eine fantasievolle Mischung aus Klassik und Pop, Barock und Folk, Mystik und Sinfonik. Die CD enthält Songs und Duette aus der Feder der beiden Countertenöre, Balladen in Arrangements von Craig Leon, Frank Zabel, Dieter Reith und Chris Walden - ein spannendes Klassik-Pop Crossoverprojekt, in dem Vergangenheit und Gegenwart engste Kontakte knüpfen.

Are the songs on this new double album musical letters between the genius composer siblings Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn? Through their joint musical training, the children of a pianist and a respected Jewish banker were musically kindred spirits; music was their soul language. Later they exchanged many entertaining and poetic letters about their compositions. The sister, three years older, was the closest advisor to the "child prodigy" Felix throughout his life. According to those who knew her, she was his equal as a pianist and composer.