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LISZT: Mephisto Waltz No. 1 (with two concert endings). MUSSORGSKY: Night on Bald Mountain. LIADOV: Baba Yaga. FRANCK: The Accursed Huntsman. DUKAS: The Sorcerer's Apprentice. SAINT-SAËNS: Danse macabre. ARNOLD: Tam O'Shanter.  J.STRAUSS II: Lucifer Polka. Minnesota Orchestra/Eiji Oue. Reference Recordings RR-82CD.  TT: 71.56 DOWNLOADS: Amazon.com (mp3); emp3s.co (mp3); itunes.apple.com; qobuz.com ("16-bit" mp3);  referencerecordings.com (Apple lossless, FLAC,... Read More »

Dear friend and fellow sojourner John Marks once again shares a musical morsel with us, originally published on his blog site, The Tannhauser Gate (http://www.thetannhausergate.com). This is a fine video of the guitar master, John McLaughlin, swingin' with Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show band. As John observes below, what can one say? As the ancient Romans would... Read More »

Jorge Federico Osorio, Final Thoughts. Last Piano Works of Schubert and Brahms. Çedille CDR 90000171. I grew up on the music of the late nineteenth century—Brahms was the center of my initial musical universe, the symphonies in particular. As is often the case if you 'grow up' on a particular style and composer  (unless you... Read More »

Well, lawdy Miss Clawdy! John Marks' latest republication from The Tannhauser Gate is compact, but delicious. A shout from the past, really, right after World War II, but before Bing Crosby's Ampex Corporation with its pilfered Nazi technology that we today call "tape recorders" hit the scene. 78s everywhere, of course; no LPs to be seen. A... Read More »

This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations. "Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair"... 31. The Beatles. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Parlophone PCS 7027 (1967), MoFi ‎– MFSL 1-100 (JVC) (1983), 33 1/3 rpm). Genre: rock, psychedelic, art rock, baroque pop, raga, avant-garde It was fifty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught... Read More »

New West Records BO6XPTH66X, LP $20.98, Amazon.com When it comes to harmonizing singers, who's your favorite group? The Beach Boys? Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young? The Fleet Foxes, who finally put out a somewhat troublesome yet utterly charming third album this week? My personal pick—John Doe and Exene from X—may be off the beaten path,... Read More »

Good friend John Marks once again shares with PF readers the rich trove of musical discoveries that he shelters at his blog site, The Tannhauser Gate.  In this case, we have the delight of hearing the fusion of Elizabethan modalities with...mirabile dictu!...none other than a particular favorite of mine, Nick Drake. As unlikely as it seems, the... Read More »

Ecstatic Peace!/Caroline Records CAROL015LP, $19.99 2-LPs Amazon.com For me there are two Sonic Youths. I really like one of them. They're edgy and noisy but still know how to create simple and concise indie-pop songs that really kick ass, songs like "Kool Thing" and "Bull in the Heather." They can even branch out and deliver... Read More »

As I write this review, Chicano Batman takes the stage in the blaring sun of the Coachella Valley for the second time—two years ago, some had commented on how absurd it seemed that this Los Angeles-based tropical soul band hadn't played the iconic festival. Now, on the heels of hearing their third full length album, Freedom... Read More »

Einsam Keit. Schumann Lieder. Mathias Goerne, baritone, Markus Hinterhäuser, piano. Harmonia Mundi HMM 902243.  Coming to Matthias Goerne without expectations, which I'll concede is almost impossible, we are struck by the unique combination of weight and lyricism in his voice. Paralleled by the same quality in the piano. The perfect baritone can do this but... Read More »

Same Room Records SSR030, double LP $25, double CD $20, download $15—robertsarazinblake.bandcamp.com Recitative is one of those albums you release after you've had your big breakthrough, after you've hit it big and now sales are guaranteed because everyone's watching to see what you'll do next. This is the album where you get the big budget,... Read More »

Bushmen of the Kalahari When We Were Free: Bushman Music of the Kalahari Rhythm is the prominent element of the music on these CDs: claps, rattles, single-stringed instruments with mouth or can as a resonator, thumb pianos. This is sad, passionate music. Some of it sounds like a collective expression of misery set to hypnotic, repetitive... Read More »

PIPKOV: Bulgarian Suite for Piano, Op. 2. HADJIEV: Melodic Etudes. VLADIGEROV: Bulgarian Songs and Dances, Op. 25. Victoria Terekiev, piano. Gega New GR 31.  TT: 48.14 Downloads: amazon.com (mp3); getlinksoundcloud.com (mp3, 128 kbps) The album's title, Wind from the East, momentarily misled me: I was expecting music from rather further east, perhaps on the order of the... Read More »

This time Brahms. Our musical guide John Marks, of The Tannhauser Gate (http://www.thetannhausergate.com), leads us into a recent recording of four symphonies by Brahms. Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in four of Brahms' compositions. John's reviews of worthy music is once again republished from TGG with pleasure here at Positive Feedback! The performances are brilliant, done... Read More »

In which our esteemed friend, John Marks of The Tannhauser Gate (www.thetannhausergate.com) introduces us to yet another worthy singer, she of a truly lovely voice, Camilla Tilling. I was not familiar with Ms. Tilling, but was very much taken by her fine performances on this recording by BIS.  As always, John is a sure guide to worthy... Read More »

Michael Rabinowitz, Uncharted Waters. Cats Paw Records, CPD-9855, CD $20 at https://www.jazzbassoonist.com/shop As a high-end audio importer and distributor, part of my job is to sit down and evaluate new products so that I can answer questions from dealers, retail customers, and the press. Yesterday I was doing exactly that, comparing a new entry-level digital... Read More »

In this column, republished from his blog site, John Marks of The Tannhauser Gate (http://www.thetannhausergate.com) shares his six pack of choices for a seven-league-boots traversal of 1000 years of Western Music. The full selections would take about an hour. List-making is inherent to all passionate pursuits of excellence. Music, films, cars, cigars, wine, books, sporting events...just about... Read More »

Lotus: Complete Edition, Santana (Photo: Sony Music Japan) Sony Music Japan will be celebrating Santana's upcoming concerts in Japan from April 22 to April 27, 2017 in a big way with the release of a new Complete Edition of the band's legendary Lotus album in DSD 11.2 MHz stereo (also known as DSD 256 or Quad DSD),... Read More »

Soundtrack:  The great patron of classical music over the past century, nearly...or since the "talkies" arrived, anyway...has been the voracious maw of the film industry. Better than any capricious emperor, king, duke, or philanthropist, Hollywood et al. has been a grand footer-of-bills for many decades now. Some of the results have been schlock, but some of... Read More »