Vinyl Records and Turntables Are Gaining Sales. - Page 21

Love his 9th. An amazing performance. Not with you on the 7th. His LSO version is so much better played. As for interpretation, it almost plays itself. lol Although, check out the live CSO/Boulez on the CSO website. Seriously awful. Tilson Thomas is a conundrum for me. I have never played for him but I know many who have, and some of them (who's opinions I really rate) love him. From what I've seen and heard, I don't think he's up to much. One of my best friends is a principal in a major and he was certain they were going to hire MTT as their next MD. I said not a chance in hell. He owes me a bottle of Caymus Select. That said, Fruhbeck de Burgos (who I have worked with) is awesome. Enjoy the concert. Let me know what you think. Cheers, a

As good as the Sondek is, it is quite dated in sound quality. Have you heard something more modern? You might be impressed. The Avid tables are a whole other level. A very good friend has a Linn so I am really familiar with its sound.

P.S. I love MTT's work. The Mahler SACD cycle was superb.

Boulez and Mahler don't mix well in my book. Too much modern, not enough Romantic. That's what I really liked about Salonen --- he has a modernist composer's POV, but isn't afraid to really wallow in the music when it calls for it. The Tristan&Isolde he conducted as a concert performance a few years ago was pretty fantastic because of this.

--Andre

They are amazing, but just don't match them with SME arms. IMO, not a marriage made in heaven.

I have a Technics SL-1500 that is still running strong, but it's time for a new needle. Anyway, without going into specifics, should I just ditch the whole apparatus and get a different turntable? I don't want to break the bank, but if there are any new, relatively quality turntables for someone who is only an audiophile in the sense of wanting to listen to an extensive record collection, not someone who wants to shoot the moon in terms of endless upgrades? This thing was ebayed and overhauled by me, but i can't get over the creeping sense of cooties that it has. Want something factory fresh I'm not emotionally ready to begin the audio gear treadmill when I am already on the clothing treadmill.

Really? My friend has one with an SME and it sounds wonderful.

If you can do $350 then the new Rega RP1 is a terrific sounding table. I think that includes a cartridge as well.

FYI, he's recording your favorite, John Adams's Harmonielehre, this week with the SFSO for release on their private label, hopefully in multichannel SACD. The review sounds great:

http://www.mercurynews.com/music/ci_...nclick_check=1

And John Adams says that this should be the definitive recording of the piece:

http://www.earbox.com/posts/101

--Andre

He's some got serious chops in certain rep. I think the greatest orchestral piece of the past thrity years will be right up his alley. Sadly, he's already been trumped by a better provincial orch and a MUCH better conductor, SLSO and David Robertson

Can't wait to hear it.

Me too. I really like the SLSO/Robertson, though I only have it in MP3 (direct sale from their website).

--Andre

Speaking of classical the LAOC Audio Society had a deal on the new Mozart piano performances of Robert Silverman. 7 SACDs for $107. I ordered a set Wednesday. I will let you know how they sound.

They're on their way for review.

Great, I'm interested in your impressions. I heard them at RMAF and was impressed. In any event, I already purchased.

I attended the LA Phil concert last night with Hilary Hahn playing the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, and Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos conducting. Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique was also on the 2nd half the program. This was at Disney Hall.

The Tchaikovsky is similar to her latest recording of it, and it's interesting to see her progression from when her Bach partita recording made when she was 16 to now 15 years later. The technique is there, and perhaps even more refined, but her expressive range is even bigger now. The Tchaikovsky was slower, faster, louder, softer, and everything than before. In parts, it was like a classical chamber piece, and in other parts a big Romantic warhorse. The problem is that I think it didn't really cohere into a whole --- lots of interesting ideas and viewpoints, but the forest was perhaps missed for the trees. Her cadenza in the 1st movement however was pretty freakin' unbelievable, but as a whole it was a very different conception of a familiar warhorse, and that's always welcome. Her encore piece (Bach BWV 1002 Allemanda?) was also deeply personal, which is a great evolution of her playing.

Same deal with the Berlioz, but the last time I heard this played here was a few years ago with Salonen collaborating with Complicite so there was all sorts of extra-musical hijinks going on, which was surprisingly enjoyable, and colored how I view this piece. The music itself is kind of episodic, and that's kind of its problem, too. I wanted more epic sweep. The orchestra played well, especially its woodwinds, which always do well.

I also spotted Yasuhisa Toyota, the acoustician responsible for Disney Hall (as well as Suntory and others) in the audience, but since he lives in LA, it's not that surprising, like occasionally seeing Frank Gehry in the audience. I chickened out and had Hilary only sign my CD instead of iPad.

--Andre

Hilary interviews Maestro Fruhbeck:



They're both quite adorable. From the looks of it, this is during the intermission of the Sunday matinee.

--Andre

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