HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS: Forest of the Amazon (Floresta dl Amazonas) - Anna Korondi, soprano/ Male Voices of the Sauo Paulo Sym. Orch./Sao Paulo Sym. Orch./ John Neschling - BIS 27 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS: Forest of the Amazon (Floresta dl Amazonas) - Anna Korondi, soprano/ Male Voices of the Sauo Paulo Sym. Orch./Sao Paulo Sym. Orch./ John Neschling - BIS multichannel SACD 1160, 78:38 [Distr. by Qualiton] *****: Forest of the Amazon was the last large work composed by the leading South American composer, in 1958, a year before his death. MGM commissioned him to write the score for their film Green Mansions, starring Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins - set in the rain forests...

MAHLER: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; Ruckert Lieder; Des Knaben Wunderhorn (selections) – Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano/ Thomas Hampson, baritone/ San Francisco Symphony/ Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor – San Francisco Symphony 26 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

MAHLER: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; Ruckert Lieder; Des Knaben Wunderhorn (selections) – Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano/ Thomas Hampson, baritone/ San Francisco Symphony/ Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor – San Francisco Symphony multichannel SACD 821936-0036, 64:57 ***** (available on iTunes [2-chan. AAC] 8/31/2010 and in stores 9/7/2010): The San Francisco Symphony has recorded all of the Mahler symphonies, the Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony, Kindertotenlieder and Das Lied von ...

BEETHOVEN: Missa Solemnis – Susanne Bernhard, soprano/ Anke Vondung, alto/ Pavol Breslik, tenor/ Yorck Felix Speer, bass/ Orchestra and Choir KlangVerwaltung/ Enoch zu Guttenberg, conductor – Farao 26 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

BEETHOVEN: Missa Solemnis – Susanne Bernhard, soprano/ Anke Vondung, alto/ Pavol Breslik, tenor/ Yorck Felix Speer, bass/ Orchestra and Choir KlangVerwaltung/ Enoch zu Guttenberg, conductor – Farao Pure Audio Blu-ray (DTS-HD MA 5.0) 108054 (+ stereo CD), 74:55 [Distr. by Qualiton] *****: The Missa Solemnis remains one of the great enigmas in Beethoven’s output. Originally started around 1819 and intended for the enthronement of Archduke Rudolph of Hapsburg as Archbishop of Olmutz, it ended up i...

* OTTORINO RESPIGHI: Belfagor Overture; Orchestral Suite: Belkis, Queen of Sheba; Four Symphonic Impressions: Church Windows - Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Holland/ Vladimir Ashkenazy - Exton 23 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

* OTTORINO RESPIGHI: Belfagor Overture; Orchestral Suite: Belkis, Queen of Sheba; Four Symphonic Impressions: Church Windows - Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Holland/ Vladimir Ashkenazy - Exton multichannel SACD OVCL-00216, 60:37 [Distr. by Allegro] *****: Wow - what a successful presentation of these wide-screen Technicolor scores by Respighi!  I haven’t been so bowled over by a recording of the colorful Church Windows since the 1956 Mercury Living Presence mono LP with Antal Dorati and the...

Ben Webster - See You at the Fair - Impulse/Universal/Analog Productions John Coltrane - Coltrane - Impulse/Universal/Analog Productions 23 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

Ben Webster - See You at the Fair - Impulse/Universal/Analog Productions stereo-only SACD CIPJ 65 SA, 33.9 min. [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****: (Ben Webster, tenor sax; Hank Jones, piano; Roger Kellaway, piano & harpsichord; Richard Davis, bass; Osie Johnson, drums) John Coltrane - Coltrane - Impulse/Universal/Analog Productions stereo-only SACD CIPJ 21 SA, 40:00 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****: (John Coltrane, tenor sax; McCoy Tyner, piano; Steve Davis, bass; Elvin Jones, drums) Thes...

Ray Charles – The Genius Sings the Blues – Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs 20 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

Ray Charles – The Genius Sings the Blues – Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs Mono SACD UDSACD 2049, 34.3 minutes - Sound: ****  Music: **** ½:     This album was produced in 1961 by Atlantic Records. It is a collection of 12 songs he made between 1952 and 1960. The sound is mono as were the original recordings. The recording has a reputation for being a classic album, but having some noise problems. Even the remastered Rhino disc had problems. For this new reissue, Mobile Fidelity w...

Music for the Peace of Utrecht = HANDEL: Te Deum, HWV 278; Jubilate, HWV 279; WILLIAM CROFT: Ode for the Peace of Utrecht, “With Noise of Cannon” – Netherlands Bach Society/ Jos van Veldhoven, conductor – Channel Classics 20 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

Music for the Peace of Utrecht = HANDEL: Te Deum, HWV 278; Jubilate, HWV 279; WILLIAM CROFT: Ode for the Peace of Utrecht, “With Noise of Cannon” – Netherlands Bach Society/ Jos van Veldhoven, conductor – Channel Classics multichannel SACD 29610, 73:03 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****: This disc is offered as a foretaste of the celebration of 300 years since the passing of the Treaty of Utrecht, an event that can hardly be underestimated as it brought an end to almost 200 years of war in Europe....

Harmonies/Orgel Modern = KRENEK: Four-Winds Suite, Op. 223; LIGETI: 2 Etudes; CRISTOBAL HALFFTER: Ricercar; SCHNITTKE: 2 Little Pieces; ZSOLT DURKO: Andromeda; RAINER BISCHOF: Cadenza, Op. 19/2 – Martin Haselbock, organ – NCA 20 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

Harmonies/Orgel Modern = KRENEK: Four-Winds Suite, Op. 223; LIGETI: 2 Etudes; CRISTOBAL HALFFTER: Ricercar; SCHNITTKE: 2 Little Pieces; ZSOLT DURKO: Andromeda; RAINER BISCHOF: Cadenza, Op. 19/2 – Martin Haselbock, organ – NCA multichannel SACD 60160-215, 61:01 [Distr. by Naxos] ***: This to me is real creepy, “horror-show” stuff - as Alex from A Clockwork Orange might put it. Believe me, I am as fair as I can be to the avant-garde, and see more worth in much of it than most. But unless the idea...

Dennis Kolen – Northeim Goldmine – Stockfish Records 14 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

Dennis Kolen – Northeim Goldmine – Stockfish Records multichannel SACD SFR-357-4059-2, 36:21 ***½: (Dennis Kolen – vocals, guitars, blues harp, bass; Ferry Lagendijk – piano, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, Mellotron; Wietse Zeedijk – electric bass, harmony vocals; Jimmy van den Nieuwenhuizen – drums, percussion; Beata Kossowska – blues harmonica; Beo Brockhausen – saxophone, flute, percussion; Lea Morris – harmony vocals; Wojtek Bolimowski – violin, string arrangements; Zsuzsanna Bolimowski – violi...

PENDERECKI: Violin Concerto No. 1; Horn Concerto (world premiere) – Robert Kabara, violin/ Radovan Vlatkovic, horn/ Sinfonietta Cracovia/ Krzystof Penderecki, conductor – Channel Classics 13 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

PENDERECKI: Violin Concerto No. 1; Horn Concerto (world premiere) – Robert Kabara, violin/ Radovan Vlatkovic, horn/ Sinfonietta Cracovia/ Krzystof Penderecki, conductor – Channel Classics multichannel SACD CCS SA 30310, 59:23 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****: Isaac Stern’s recording of this work with the Minnesota Orchestra remains a touchstone; though the 1977 piece was a marked turning point for the composer, abandoning his block chordal cluster style, it was still not an easy work to get use...

The New World = Creole Folias – Montserrat Figueras, soprano/ Tembembe Ensamble Continuo/ La Capella Reial de Catalunya/ Hesperion XXI/ Jordi Savall, conductor – Alia Vox 13 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

The New World = Creole Folias – Montserrat Figueras, soprano/ Tembembe Ensamble Continuo/ La Capella Reial de Catalunya/ Hesperion XXI/ Jordi Savall, conductor – Alia Vox multichannel SACD 9876, 76:11 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****:It is impossible to go into detail regarding this new release as the notes in the excellent booklet will tell you everything you need to know about the “Andalusian Caribbean” and its mixed influences of Spanish colonialism, American idioms already existent, and Afric...

BACH: Concerto for Harpsichord, Strings and Continuo No. 1 in D minor; Concerto for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord and Strings in A minor; VIVALDI: Two Concertos for Violin and Strings in D - I Musici - PentaTone 11 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

BACH: Concerto for Harpsichord, Strings and Continuo No. 1 in D minor; Concerto for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord and Strings in A minor; VIVALDI: Concerto for Violin and Strings in D Op. 7/11; Concerto for Violin and Strings in D, Op. 7/12 - I Musici - PentaTone 4.0 SACD PRC 5186 149, RQR Series, 64:58 [Distr. by Naxos] *****: This is another of the many four-channel masters which Philips recorded in the first part of the 1970s for possible release on one of the then-competing quad surround forma...

MAHLER: Symphonic Poem in Two Parts “Titan” (Hamburg Version (1893) of the First Symphony) – Netherlands Symphony Orchestra/ Jan Willem de Vriend, conductor – Challenge Classics 10 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

MAHLER: Symphonic Poem in Two Parts “Titan” (Hamburg Version (1893) of the First Symphony) – Netherlands Symphony Orchestra/ Jan Willem de Vriend, conductor – Challenge Classics multichannel SACD 72355, 56:26 [Distr. by Allegro] ***1/2: I am going to direct you here for a review I did in 2008 of this same work to get background information. Mahler’s early effort was begun in the late 1880s and finally completed in 1893 in a revised form—the first performance was a disaster. The famous “Blumine”...

BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in F, Op. 135; SCHUMANN: String Quartets: No. 1 in a, Op. 41; No. 2 in F, Op. 41 (first version); + DVD Performance of Op. 135 and interview with Peter Gulke on Beethoven and Schumann (16:9 color) – Beethoven Quartet – MD&G 10 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in F, Op. 135; SCHUMANN: String Quartets: No. 1 in a, Op. 41; No. 2 in F, Op. 41 (first version); + DVD Performance of Op. 135 and interview with Peter Gulke on Beethoven and Schumann (16:9 color)  – Beethoven Quartet – MD&G multichannel (2+2+2) SACD 946 1623-6, 75:39 [Distr. by Koch] **: It seems the Beethoven Quartet is working its way through at least the late Beethoven quartets along with couplings of others as well, Opuses 131 and 132 already released wi...

MAHLER: Symphony No. 4 in G – Christiane Oelze, soprano/ Gurzenich Orchestra Cologne/ Markus Stenz, conductor – Oehms 10 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

MAHLER: Symphony No. 4 in G – Christiane Oelze, soprano/ Gurzenich Orchestra Cologne/ Markus Stenz, conductor – Oehms multichannel SACD 649, 54:50 [Distr. by Naxos] ****: This is a conductor and orchestra that I was not familiar with, but they are certainly attuned to the Mahler idiom and offer that rustic sort of sound that the New York Philharmonic is so good at, not too suave like Vienna, and not too sloppy like the BBC Symphony from the early seventies, but instead an on-the-edge rambunctio...

Amina Claudine Myers Salutes Bessie Smith – Top Music International 7 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

Amina Claudine Myers Salutes Bessie Smith – Top Music International stereo-only SACD 7012.2, c.  44 minutes - Music **** ½;  Sound  *****:
(Amina Claudine Myers, vocals, piano, organ; Cecil McBee, bass; Jimmy Lovelace, drums) Amina Claudine Myers is a jazz singer who plays piano and organ. She was born in 1942 in Blackwell, Arkansas. She graduated from Philander Smith College in Little Rock in the early 1960s, in music. She then moved to Chicago to teach music. In 1976 she ...

JOSEF SUK: Suite “Pohadka” Op. 16; ANTONIN DVORAK: Ceska Suite in D Major Op. 39 - Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Zdenek Macal - Exton 6 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

JOSEF SUK: Suite “Pohadka” Op. 16; ANTONIN DVORAK: Ceska Suite in D Major Op. 39 - Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Zdenek Macal - Exton stereo-only SACD  OVCL-00296. 53:27 [Distr. by Allegro] ****:Just recorded in Prague in 2007, it may seem a bit surprising this SACD is only stereo and not multichannel, but remember it is mainly for the Japanese market, and in the Far East there is even less interest in surround sound for music than in North America. While we’re on sonics, they’re excellent -...

“Childhood Memories” = Works of PROKOFIEV, SCHUBERT, BARTOK, BLOCH, FALLA, JANACECK & others - Mikhail Tsinman, violin / Nika Lundstrem, piano – Caro Mitis 5 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

“Childhood Memories” = ALEXANDER DOLZHEKNO: Song of the Brook; PROKOFIEV: Five Melodies, Opus 35 bis; MOZART: Sonata for Piano and Violin in C Major KV 6; SCHUBERT: Introduction and Variations on the Song “Trockne Blumen” from the cycle “Die schöne Müllerin,” Op. 160 (D. 802); BARTÓK: Romanian Folk Dances (BB 68); ERNEST BLOCH: Nigun (Improvisation) from the suite “Baal Shem: Three Pictures of Chassidic Life”; FALLA: Nana from the cycle “Siete Canciones Populares Espannolas”; JANÁČEK: Sonat...

Charles Mingus - Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus - Impulse/Universal/Analogue Productions The Gil Evans Orchestra - Out of the Cool - Impulse/Universal/Analogue Productions 4 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

Charles Mingus - Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus - Impulse/Universal/Analogue Productions stereo-only SACD CIPJ 54 SA, 40.4 min. [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] *****:(Charlie Mingus - doublebass & piano; 11-piece band includes Booker Ervin, Eric Dolphy, Jaki Byard, Charlie Mariano, Jerome Richardson & Britt Woodman) The Gil Evans Orchestra - Out of the Cool - Impulse/Universal/Analogue Productions stereo-only SACD CIPJ 4 SA, 37.6 min. [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] *****: (15-piece band...

BERLIOZ: Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14; Le Roi Lear, Op. 4 – Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/ Marek Janowski, conductor – Pentatone 4 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14; Le Roi Lear, Op. 4 – Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/ Marek Janowski, conductor – Pentatone multichannel SACD 5186-338, 66:22 [Distr. by Naxos] *****: Marek Janowski occupies the Otto Klemperer Guest Conductor Chair of the Pittsburgh Symphony (this orchestra must have more endowed chairs than any in the country), and has released several discs with the orchestra on Pentatone. I am glad to see it—Pittsburgh often gets lost in the shadows of LA/Dudamel and SF...

SMETANA: String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor “From My Life”; String Quartet No. 2 in D Minor – Bennewitz Quartet – Coviello Classics 3 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

SMETANA: String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor “From My Life”; String Quartet No. 2 in D Minor – Bennewitz Quartet – Coviello Classics multichannel SACD, COV 51004 [Distr. by Qualiton], 46:09 ***1/2: Smetana made his great contributions to nineteenth-century nationalism in his operas and orchestral music. He reserved his more autobiographical statements for the intimate context of chamber music. Of the four chamber works he wrote in his maturity, three make deep personal statements. The Trio in G Min...

JACOB FROBERGER: Complete Ricercari; Chigi Toccatas – Bob van Asperen, organ – Aeolus 3 Aug 2010, 12:00 am

JACOB FROBERGER: [Vol. 6] Complete Ricercari; Chigi Toccatas – Bob van Asperen, organ – Aeolus multichannel SACD AE-10601, 63:48 [Distr. by Albany] ****: This is my first encounter with this series by Bob van Asperen of the music of Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-67), a composer who early on converted to Catholicism and studied with the organist of St. Peters in Rome, was beloved during his lifetime and enjoyed no little success. He was known as “a friendly person of a Christian way of life known...

The Band - Northern Lights-Southern Cross (1975) - Stereo-only SACD Capitol/ Mobile Fidelity 31 Jul 2010, 12:00 am

The Band - Northern Lights-Southern Cross (1975) -  Stereo-only SACD Capitol/ Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab UDSACD 2047 - Limited Edition Original Master Recording, 40:41 ****½: (Robbie Robertson - guitar, keyboards, piano, clavinet, melodica; Levon Helm - guitar, drums, vocals; Garth Hudson - organ, synthesizer, bass, accordion, piccolo, saxophones; Rick Danko - bass, harmonica, violin, guitar, vocals; Richard Manuel - piano, congas, drums, keyboards, organ, clavinet, vocals) Viewed as a com...

CARL FRIEDRICH ABEL: Cello Concerto in C Major; CHRISTIAN ERNST GRAF: Sinfonia I; Concerto for Cello No. 2 in D Major; Sinfonia III; Cello Concerto No. 1 in D Major – Klaus-Dieter Brandt, cello / L’arpa festante – Ars Produktion 30 Jul 2010, 12:00 am

CARL FRIEDRICH ABEL: Cello Concerto in C Major; CHRISTIAN ERNST GRAF: Sinfonia I; Concerto for Cello No. 2 in D Major; Sinfonia III; Cello Concerto No. 1 in D Major – Klaus-Dieter Brandt, cello / L’arpa festante – Ars Produktion multichannel SACD ARS 38 068, 74:40 [Distr. by Qualiton] ****1/2:While you can readily sample Carl F. Abel’s symphonies and chamber music via recordings, it’s unlikely you’ll hear his music in concert anytime soon. Mostly his name is remembered in connection with the Lon...

BOCCHERINI: Cello Concertos Nos. 10 in D; 2 in D, 3 in G; 9 in B-flat – Wen-Sinn Yang, cello/ Streicherakademie Bozen/ Georg Egger, conductor – Arts 29 Jul 2010, 12:00 am

BOCCHERINI: Cello Concertos Nos. 10 in D; 2 in D, 3 in G; 9 in B-flat – Wen-Sinn Yang, cello/ Streicherakademie Bozen/ Georg Egger, conductor – Arts multichannel SACD 47754-8, 78:01 ***** [Distr. by Albany]: Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) wandered all around Europe during his career, setting a standard that many would envy. But by the early twentieth century his reputation was shot; no longer the cries of adulation and comparison with masters like Haydn, and no longer considered one of the gallan...