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Preoccupations, Preoccupations JAGJAGUWAR, Digital, vinyl, and CD In hindsight, naming a band Viet Cong probably wasn't the best idea, but they did it anyway and controversy ensued. Claims of cultural appropriation and insensitivity sparked outrage from student communities, online communities, and the threat of protest and boycotts forced the hand of concert promoters to cancel shows. That... Read More »

Finally, the third and last of John Marks' Christmas recommendations for us. Delmoni... a String Quartet Christmas...a real treasure to us all. Thanks to friend John! And Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! Dr. David W. Robinson, Ye Olde Editor A String Quartet Christmas Arturo Delmoni & Friends Steinway & Sons Recordings... Read More »

Herein, John Marks Christmas Music 2:  "Carols of the Nativity". Thanks to John for these musical gifts during this holiday season! Dr. David W. Robinson, Ye Olde Editor Christmas Night – Carols of the Nativity The Cambridge Singers and the City of London Sinfonia, conducted by John Rutter. Collegium CD 106 or download (Recorded January 1987 by the... Read More »

'Tis the season! John Marks leads us into Christmas time with a trio of short essays on three different artists and albums, together with samples from each. This is Christmas Music Part 1:  Nat King Cole, "Christmas Favorites". As always, friend John does a delightful job of leading us into the music, instead of just... Read More »

Ustvolskaya, Silvestrov, and Kancheli. Works for Piano and Orchestra. Elisaveta Blumina, piano. Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Sanderling. Grand Piano Records GP 678. To many music lovers, the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries belong to the composers of Eastern Europe and Russia. Notable among this group are Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2000), Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937), and... Read More »

"It's so easy to fall in love." Buddy Holly and Norman Petty might have just as easily been writing about reel-to-reel tape as finding one's soulmate (although tapes are not for fools!). Everything from the machines' "retro" look to the "coolness" factor to the feel of spooling up the tape to the look of the... Read More »

Nessun Dorma: The Puccini Album It's happened again. I'd read several years' worth of pro-and-con about Ian Bostridge before hearing the fellow, on a recital disc that I reviewed for this site a few years back. Now, after hearing numerous encomia for tenor Jonas Kaufmann, I've finally heard him sing. Given the novel repertoire for... Read More »

Who can gainsay Bach? Like Mozart or Beethoven, he is a towering figure. I don't know exactly how many recordings that I have of The Art of the Fugue over the decades now, but I do know that I have a lot of them, but not this one by The Emerson Quartet! And so, one more?... Read More »

Miles Davis - Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky, and Filles de Kilimanjaro How time flies! Twenty five years almost to the day after Miles Davis passed away and close on the heels of Mobile Fidelity's 40th anniversary, the confluence of one of the most influential and iconic jazz figures with the world's preeminent record reissue label obviously brings... Read More »

CIKADA & Oslo Sinfonietta: Maja S. K. Ratkje's And sing… (2L Recordings 2L-124-SABD, available in various formats at https://shop.klicktrack.com/2l/475351) Are you musically adventurous? That question might seem dated in a spacy, Jimi Hendrix' first album sort of way, but it's an honest question for most music lovers. We all have strange and unique recordings in... Read More »

Johnny Hartman - Once In Every Life Reissued by Analogue Productions APJ 105 originally released in 1981 by Bee Hive Records BH 7012 A very difficult record to review! So much to say and so little room to say it. In 1995 Clint Eastwood directed and starred in The Bridges Of Madison County. In September... Read More »

I've been on the road for nearly three weeks now, and that's meant an interruption to the republication of John Marks' fine contributions to the musical and audio arts. Apologies all around. In this article from The Tannhauser Gate (http://www.thetannhausergate.com), John shares an elegant and polished jazz album from the '70s, Michael Franks' Sleeping Gypsy. He's right... Read More »

Dover Quartet Plays Mozart Quartets K.589 and K.550; and Quintet K.406. Cedille CDR 90000 167. Listening to new recordings of Mozart is often difficult for reviewers because we are always looking for differences—something we can peg a review on. Something new to say. It is rare to come upon a Mozart recording and be surprised...... Read More »

Many know Talk Talk's first three albums, which had hits like "It's My Life" and "Life's What You Make It." But Talk Talk made five albums, each one better than the last, and then quit at the top of their art. Surprisingly few know the band's last two albums:  The Spirit of Eden and Laughing... Read More »

Hamilton Leithauser, I Had a Dream That You Were Mine (GlassNote GLS021001) 2 LPs, $19.98, purchased at The Sound Garden, Syracuse NY Hamilton Leithauser is a bit of a throwback. As a singer he's got one of those big voices, the type of voice that automatically pulls a guy to the front edge of the stage... Read More »

Here's a hot flash update (if such things exist in the world of classical music!) from John Marks of The Tannhauser Gate (http://www.thetannhausergate.com). This is a fine new recording from the Parker Quartet, a young and refreshing ensemble. The samples that John provided are quite moving, showing both great verve and boldness, as well as a touching... Read More »

Luis Filipe Fortunato’s Live and Pure A year or two ago I had to adopt a somewhat self-serving policy as a reviewer—physical formats only, please. I did this for a few reasons. First of all, too many publicists simply wanted to send me a link to some MP3 download of their clients—one in particular wanted... Read More »

Once again John Marks educates and enlightens us with his recommendation of a worthy recording from our audio treasures. "Some of the best recordings were done decades past" is a truth that is none the worse for being so true that is has become a truism.  Those who are newer to fine audio will want... Read More »

Michael Kiwanuka, Love & Hate Polydor B0024912-01 2 LPs – $24.99 Purchased at The Sound Garden in Syracuse, NY   Tidal strikes again. Just a few weeks since I accidentally played The Avalanches' Wildflower on the streaming music service and discovered a mind-bending, sensibility-changing masterwork, I've done it a second time. Hmmm…Michael Kiwanuka…wonder who this is,... Read More »