June 2, 2008

  • Best/New to the "Library" for May

    Had a little vacation and down time the past week so, sorry about no posts.  A new pile of discs for review has arrived again and if anything looks really exciting I'll pass it along here.  The floodgates were open this past month for new discs here making the budget take quite a hit.  So there was a wealth of things to choose from.

    My find of the month was a Screen Trax special edition of Morricone's score for My Name is Nobody.  This late spaghetti western entry features a little bit of everything with some nods thematic and orchestrally to his earlier Leone scores.  It is probably one of the most listenable of the Leone scores overall.  I'm not even sure if this is still available but it was one of those finds in a CD bin.  Another reason why standing music stores can still surprise the casual browsers in ways no on-line store can do.

    The big catch-up disc for my this month was the Morgan/Stromberg re-recording of Mysterious Island.  This is really a great recording all around and while I wouldn't toss the reissue of the original this is about as good a recording that this score may ever get.  Plenty of great action moments and classic Herrmann sound.  I know there have been plenty of limited edition joys the past few months, but grab this one now, or when their label's upcoming releases of She and some Korngold are released. 

    On the light classics front, Naxos began a series of Leroy Anderson recordings featuring Leonard Slatkin and the

    BBC Philharmonic.  Anderson was a stalwart of Boston Pops recordings and concerts for years and these

    recordings bring together the familiar and the never heard in stellar recordings and performances from one of our

    great under-appreciated conductors.  Slatkin made a recording with his St. Louis orchestra years ago on RCA

    which showed a predilection for fine performances for these works.  Disc One includes what I think is the 2nd

    recording of Anderson's wonderful piano Concerto (the first was on Telarc with Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops). 

    It's hard to pick just one of the two volumes so it is good that they are together about the price of a single big label

    disc.  I liked Vol. 2 the most but it is a close call.

     

    For jazz fans, check out Eliane Elias' latest CD, Something For You on Blue Note.  The disc is a tribute of

    sorts to Bill Evans and features Elias' covering a host of Evans' classic tunes and standards from his repertoire

    including a new song he left unrecorded.  I've always enjoyed Elias' recordings and its nice to hear her in

    something non-Brazilian.  Highly recommended, and a great drive CD.

     

    I'm not quite sure how I feel yet about the new Williams' score for Indy 4, so in month of fewer discs I probably

    would have made this one of my top 5 picks, but instead I am going for Joel Goldsmith's private label release of

    music from Stargate, The Ark of Truth.  I know it might seem odd to choose a TV movie score over a return to

    the genre by one of the greats, but Goldsmith's score is just a lot of fun to listen to and feels a bit fresher than the

    re-used themes in the new Indy score.  (Besides, you don't need me to tell you to buy or not buy a score by John

    Williams!)

     

    Stealing very little thunder from the many of you who post movie reviews, I did manage a movie a week in May

    somehow.  And can heartily say that of the three bigger blockbusters Ironman continues to be my favorite so far. 

    Indy 4 is a close second and the Prince Caspian movie is a distant third. 

     

    I'm not sure yet just what will get my movie dollars this summer with ticket prices continuing to go up and a small

    popcorn running near $5 these days.  I might just have to save for a big screen TV and wait for the DVD--though

    there is still nothing like a movie in a theater.