Jazzy D's Soul Notes

I am currently listening to the Karajan 100 Anniversary Box set 2008 of the complete Beethoven Symphonies - all none of them plus a few overtures. These were recorded with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London in the late fifties before Karajan moved to drill the Berlin Phil into the powerhouse it became.

The 5 CD box set is all mono recordings but gloriously restored and sounding great. So a youngish Karajan flexing his muscles here. Slight rough edges but is even better for it than the smooth gloss he achieved in Berlin.

I also have the recordings he di in the eighties on DG.





I also have this wondeful version of them by Herbert Blomstedt with the Staatskapelle Dresden.




But do not take my word for it, check this out from an expert -

Random Reviews No. 29 (Beethoven Cycles by Karajan, Klemperer, Dorati)



I must admit the Klemperor cycle does sound very tempting.

Some from  the east comrades.

Alexander Borodin - In the Steppes of Central Asia



A musical journey to Mongolia. Dresden Staatskapelle conducted by Kurt Sanderling.

Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka - La séparation "Nocturne in F Minor"



Dmitri Shostakovich - Waltz No. 2



ENJOY

Some classical stuff - for chocolate_frapp.

Sergei Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky "The Battle of the Ice"



Yuri Temirkanov conducting the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra

Sergei Prokofiev - Dance of the Oprichniks from Ivan the Terrible Part II



Fyodor's song and the dance of the oprichniks from Ivan the Terrible Part II, directed by Sergei Eisenstein. Filming was completed in 1946, but the movie wasn't released until 1958.

ENJOY

Time for some music I think.

John Barry - The Beyondness Of Things



Claude Debussy - The Girl With The Flaxen Hair



Préludes, Livre I, CD 125, L. 117: No. 8, La fille aux cheveux de lin (Arr. for Violin and Orchestra) · Nigel Kennedy · English Chamber Orchestra



Rosalind at 20 which was taken by my bro and developed by him.

In memory of Rosalind Jane Sumner. Rest in peace.

Sergei Rachmaninov - Vocalise



Vocalise, Op. 34 · David Parry, Pieter Schoeman & London Philharmonic Orchestra

These were in the order of service. I am welling up again.

ENJOY

All are classical from Sunburst Books in Rainham -






All for a total of three pounds. 

Some Ives for you -

Charles Ives - Three Places in New England



Charles Ives - The Unanswered Question



Enjoy

From a wonderful collection on Marco Polo, I found today in Rainham is this lovely piece -

Alexander Glazunov - Saxophone Concerto in E-Flat Major, Op. 109: Allegro moderato - Andante - Allegro




ENJOY

Some for the night people.

The Pointer Sisters - Black Coffee



Paul Weller - Black is the Colour



Peggy Seeger - Jack Frost



Dante Alighieri - Vide cor Meum



Song
Vide Cor Meum
Artist
Patrick Cassidy/Dante Alighieri
Dante is the author of the Divine Comedy.

ENJOY

Peggy Seeger - The Two Sisters

This is one of those classic folk songs that Peggy Seeger recorded in London after fleeing America with Alan Lomax during the McCarthyism hysterical witch hunt of looking for so called “communists.”
Though collected in the Virginia mountains this song in one of many variations of a European song that in this case relates to how one sister murders the other, how a minstrel comes along and fashions an instrument out of her bones and hair, and of how, when played, the instrument tells the story of the murder. With a change of gender and of the instruments, it is the same story in which Gustav Mahler based his early cantata Das Klagende Lied.

Gustav Mahler - Das klagende Lied - Part 1: Waldmärchen



Das klagende Lied (Song of Lamentation) is a cantata by Gustav Mahler, composed between 1878 and 1880 and greatly revised over the next two decades. In its original form, Das klagende Lied is the earliest of his works to have survived (a fragment, the Piano Quartet movement in A minor, is believed to date from 1876).

Part I: Waldmärchen (Forest Legend)

A beautiful yet scornful queen decides to hold a contest, the winner of which will be awarded her hand in marriage. The knight who finds a red flower in the forest, she announces, will be judged the winner. Two brothers, in particular, one kind and chivalrous, the other wicked and blasphemous, venture into the thicket to find the elusive flower. The gallant brother quickly finds the flower, places it in his cap, and dozes off in the field. Coming upon this scene, the wayward brother draws his sword and kills his sibling, seizing the flower for himself.

Part II: Der Spielmann (The Minstrel)

A minstrel, wandering through the forest, stumbles across a bleached bone in the shade of a willow tree and carves it into a flute. The slain brother sings through the flute, telling the minstrel the details of his unfortunate death. The minstrel resolves to find the queen and inform her of what he has learned.




Part III: Hochzeitsstück (Wedding Piece)

On the same day, the minstrel is to arrive at the castle to divulge his discovery, a celebration in honour of the queen's marriage takes place. The murderer-knight, quiet and pale, reflects morbidly on his rash course of action. The minstrel arrives and plays the slain knight's bone-flute. The king-to-be confiscates the flute, but upon playing it himself is accused by his brother of ending his life early for an unjust reason. Pandemonium ensues: the queen faints, the partygoers flee, and the castle collapses.



So one folk tale with different interpretations.

ENJOY

Well, to me it is self-evident. The pinnacle of art music heading towards the Second Viennese School of Berg, Schoenberg and Webern.



enjoy