What better music is there.....

[brewerpaul]

Another interesting take on Bach from an unexpected source:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vEtqlfMTL80

If you like it, get his album "Perpetual Motion".

[oleorezinator]

brian wilson's good vibrations

[chrisoff]

....than Bach's Goldberg Variations?

Mastodon Blood and Thunder

Well, it's all subjective.

[rh]

....than Bach's Goldberg Variations?

Mastodon Blood and Thunder

Well, it's all subjective.

chris, why are you so ang?

[CHasR]

....than Bach's Goldberg Variations?

the Fitzwilliam Virginal book
the Ordres of Couperin
the Toccatas of Frescobaldi

[Nanohedron]

....than Bach's Goldberg Variations?

the Fitzwilliam Virginal book
the Ordres of Couperin
the Toccatas of Frescobaldi

Róisín Dubh's next and still yet-to-be-published album, Your Craic is Showing.

[djm]

The Finkelstien Variables
The Goldblat Ponderables
Thomas the Tank Engine and His Friends

djm

[CHasR]

The Finkelstien Variables
The Goldblat Ponderables
Thomas the Tank Engine and His Friends

djm

uh, sorry...those would be the guidelines for the US federal reserve bank...
try again....

[cowtime]

Thomas the Tank Engine and His Friends

He's weighted down by all that lead you know....

[SteveShaw]

The Goldberg Variations are wonderful. What I want to hear though, is the version by the pianist who happens to be in front of me. I am not very keen on Glenn Gould's two studio versions. I find him to be somewhat self-regarding and getting in the way of the music. My CD version is by Andras Schiff, a man I admire greatly, though I have to admit that there is a coolness about his version. I should like to recommend to anyone who likes the Goldbergs that they should listen also to Beethoven's Diabelli Variations. In many ways they are comparable, not least because of the length of the works and number of variations, but also because Beethoven clearly took inspiration from the Goldbergs, especially in the slower and more contemplative variations. In some ways Beethoven's set transcends the work of the earlier master, though I feel sure he would have been complimented had any one told him he was, at least to some small degree, standing on the shoulders of a giant. There is a wonderful and scholarly CD/book set about the Diabelli Variations by William Kinderman. If you want a single version on CD you can't do better than the version by Stephen Bishop-Kovacevich, recorded in the 60s. Beethoven's late string quartets were composed at roughly the same time as the Diabelli Variations and the last three piano sonatas, all of which are towering masterpieces and which have unmistakeable musical links to the Diabelli Variations. When Alfred Brendel plays the Diabelli Variations he will never play an encore afterwards on the grounds that nothing is worthy enough to follow the Diabellis. He has described the set as the alpha and omega of piano music. I agree!

[falkbeer]

Paul Thomas: no problem. I think Switched On Bach was one of the great albums of whatever decade it was that it was on. I don't normally go for syntethised music, but i thought it was brilliant. I think in the old days of patch cables, ADSR, Moog, Arp, etc, syntesis was cool<...>

I like the fact you distinguish between the analog & digital eras of elec. music. The analog stuff was inherently more interesting to me, as there was more "dirt" in the sound, and the sounds varied w/time, temp, humid, and the moods of F.E.E. (Fickle Electronic Equipment). For me the vast majority of elec. music falls into the category of "cool because it represents a technical accomplishment or novel idea" - your comment about revisiting the CDs today is apt. I think this is a good personal standard for judging music, or a performance of a particular piece: is its contribution/interest limited to the time in which it was produced?

More recently i fell in love with Bart Kujken (and family) doing the Musical Offering, and later with Rostropovich doing the cello concertos. Now, that's something i can play over and over again.

I've been interested in electronic music for a long, long time. There really is a special appeal from the analog days. The idea of Walter/Wendy Carlos layering and synchronizing all of that music with those early synthesizers that could only manage a note at a time. Amazing. The other guy who I admire from that era is Larry Fast. Recorded under the name Synergy. Still does occasionally. Toured with Peter Gabriel.

I must say, though, the most fun I ever had playing around with an instrument was in the late 70s when a friend with a key to a recording studio let me play for hours with a Mellotron. An absolutely bizarre clunker of an instrument. Worked by running sections of analog tape over tape heads. But just an unforgettable set of sounds.

Dale

Check out this great site (Top 20 synths of all time): http://www.sonicstate.com/top20/
Entertaining, fun and educational. And just the sound of a DX7 takes you back to the 80´s! The mellotron came in 13th place even though it isn´t really a synth.

[CHasR]

The Goldberg Variations are wonderful. What I want to hear though, is the version by the pianist who happens to be in front of me. I am not very keen on Glenn Gould's two studio versions. I find him to be somewhat self-regarding and getting in the way of the music. My CD version is by Andras Schiff, a man I admire greatly, though I have to admit that there is a coolness about his version. I should like to recommend to anyone who likes the Goldbergs that they should listen also to Beethoven's Diabelli Variations. In many ways they are comparable, not least because of the length of the works and number of variations, but also because Beethoven clearly took inspiration from the Goldbergs, especially in the slower and more contemplative variations. In some ways Beethoven's set transcends the work of the earlier master, though I feel sure he would have been complimented had any one told him he was, at least to some small degree, standing on the shoulders of a giant. There is a wonderful and scholarly CD/book set about the Diabelli Variations by William Kinderman. If you want a single version on CD you can't do better than the version by Stephen Bishop-Kovacevich, recorded in the 60s. Beethoven's late string quartets were composed at roughly the same time as the Diabelli Variations and the last three piano sonatas, all of which are towering masterpieces and which have unmistakeable musical links to the Diabelli Variations. When Alfred Brendel plays the Diabelli Variations he will never play an encore afterwards on the grounds that nothing is worthy enough to follow the Diabellis. He has described the set as the alpha and omega of piano music. I agree!

Well done.
Im ready to overlook your 'cross-thread' comment about commercial US wine,
And tell you about (if you havent already heard them) "Quartor Vegh's" recordings of the late LVB 4tetts. (Hungaroton, I believe). Enjoy.

[SteveShaw]

Sorry about the wine comment then! I do know the Vegh Quartet's late quartets though I didn't buy the set. They were justly famous for being the best readings available at the time, full of humanity. I have a feeling that Sandor Vegh used to teach here in Cornwall at one time! The set I have is the first one by The Lindsays, which I love. They are absolutely faithful to the scores yet still produce that bit of magic. Also wonderful are the old mono recordings from the1950s by The Hollywood Quartet, whose members might have been playing late Beethoven one day and a film score for Sinatra the next! They were led, I believe, by Felix Slatkin who I think was the father of the conductor Leonard Slatkin. If you can put up with the 1930s sound you can't do better than the Busch Quartet. Their version of the A minor quartet is one of my very favourite recordings of all.

[falkbeer]

There are three arrangement of the Aria from The Goldberg variations on my home page: http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/Klas Krantz

[The Sporting Pitchfork]

I'm a big Coltrane fan...I even like some of his late stuff (although I draw the line at "Live in Tokyo"...). I think what really makes "My Favorite Things" is McCoy Tyner's piano solo...Kills me every time.

A friend from LA once mentioned a conversation he'd had with a piano tuner. McCoy Tyner's name came up & the piano tuner said "That guy keeps me in business." Apparently, Tyner's playing can be so forceful, he can completely wreck the tuning of a baby grand piano in just a few gigs.

Other albums that come close to perfection in my book:

Bill Evans Trio, Waltz For Debbie
The Beatles, Revolver
Paula & Jacques Morelenbaum & Ryuichi Sakamoto, Casa
(Songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim w/vocals, piano, & cello...Amazing!!!)
Joy Division, Closer
James Brown, Live @ The Apollo