This is the last of tonight’s flurry of activity – a surprisingly pleasant bit of Chamber Orchestra Mozart. I have no idea what a Divertimeno is, but it’s actually been a pleasant listen and this will be a keeper. OK, a quick consult of Wikipedia tells me a Divertimento is a light-hearted piece of music intended to be played at a social occasion. That explains the up-beat nature of it. To my untrained ear, the Continue Reading
Sarah Brightman – The Trees They Grow So High, Britten Folksong Arrangements (1988, EMI EL7495101)
Ah, and so we get to the point where we find something we really don’t like. And it’s not just because it’s Sarah Brightman. Twee shrill sopranos accompanied by just a piano don’t do it for me, even if they are singing Benjamin Britten – albeit only traditional folk songs arranged by him. This one lasted about 30 seconds, sampling a couple of tracks, before it was whipped off. Astonishingly it appears to have sold Continue Reading
Lindsay String Quartet – Haydn Op.64, No.5 (The Lark), Op.42 and and Op.76, No.5 (1988, ASV DCA 637)
Ah, string quartets. Unfortunately not my favourite form of classical – being a know-nothing beginner with a rock background, I tend to prefer the orchestral pieces, which is probably because they’re louder. There is family background to The Lindsays though – my parents were ardent fans and were such regulars at their concerts (in Leicester I think) that they got to know them, to the extent that they played at my dad’s birthday one year! Continue Reading
Richard Strauss – Der Rosenkavalier (highlights) (1971, Decca SET487)
I don’t quite get the “highlights” thing – why not buy the whole opera? It seems a bit strange to only get the singing bits (arias?) – I mean, I don’t decide to buy a Pink Floyd album and buy a version without the long intro to Wish You Were Here, do I? So why aren’t the musical bits a key part of an opera? As for the album, it’s OK – we only listened to Continue Reading
The Art of Paul Tortelier (1984, EMI SLS2700013 3LP set)
This is one we listened to over the Easter weekend, and while even a classical numpty like myself knows Paul Tortelier is a highly regarded cellist, this really didn’t do it for us. All a bit bland I’m afraid – even the Elgar concerto (isn’t that quite a renowned piece?) didn’t do it for us. We listened to the first LP and gave up. On the bright side, it might be worth over a tenner Continue Reading
Mozart – Serenade for Thirteen Wind Instruments, wind soloists of The Chamber Orchestra of Europe (1985, ASV COE804)
As SWMBO and I have managed to make a bit of a dent in our usual backlog of Nordic Noir (the Virgin box is less than 70% full!), we thought we’d dip into my dad’s classical vinyl – which is, after all, the whole point of this badly neglected blog. This LP was picked completely at random, and we’ve decided to keep it. SWMBO set a timer when she put it on, to see how Continue Reading