April 30, 2009

  • Best of April: New to the "Collection"

    Well, this month zipped by with a ton of new "special edition" releases being announced almost daily it is enough to keep one's pocketbook spinning.  But in the midst of all this here are 5 discs selected from those picked up "new" this month or received for review.

    First up is Randy Newman's quite odd song disc from late last year, Harps and Angels.  I cannot imagine that this sold well.  How do you market a disc that appears on the surface a crazy mix of political rants, subtle--and not so subtle--cultural commentary and musical styles from ragtime to country to avant-garde atonal orchestrations.  The one breakout "normal" song of the bunch is "Feels Like Home."  But if you buy this album looking for a pop song set you will miss the point.  Newman's music here, as odd and bizarrely eclectic as it can get is reminiscent of song cycles from the likes of Stravinsky or Walton's Facade.  It's not a Schubertian concept of song cycle as these are seemingly disparate textual commentaries.  And yet, the more you listen the more you begin to hear that there is more going on in the music and texts than you first might have heard.  Newman's pop efforts still remain CDs you can't listen to with your windows open though!

    Varese Sarabande released a set of "limited edition club" CDs this month.  I think the ones offered may be all but gone and I had to swallow hard to grab the ones I wanted.  It's Waxman's score though for Lure of the Wilderness which continues to hold my imagination and memory the most.  This is a different sort of Americana style that has moments of Stravinskian fury a la Waxman.  The score is presented here in long edited tracks which makes for a compelling listen.  If you can still get a copy it is worth the effort.  A close second here was Alfred Newman's score for The President's Lady.  I do like this score a lot, and it just missed being a primary inclusion.  the annotator for the disc though must have been off their medication as the schizophrenic gushy notes are among the most embarassing liner notes for a special release I have ever seen.  Imagine a school girl crush writing about her nerdy boyfriend and you get a sense of how the notes for this release were written.  It was evidently a fluke because the same person provided notes for the Waxman release and they are more in line with the norm or musical commentary.

    I've lamented before about the demise of the real record/CD store.  You know, the ones that sell music beyond the top 40.  These are the stores where one could browse for hours perhaps finding a specially-discounted recording of some new composer or artist.  Or, as in my case this month, have their eye caught by the display of "new" CDs.  Such was the case with a new release from the relatively minor label Atma Classiques.  An intriguing Chagall painting adorns the cover of a disc featuring 3 selections from Schindler's List and two works by Ernst Bloch.  It turns to be a pleasant surprise.  The performance is by the Bienne Symphony Orchestra and features a fairly young conductor and violinist in performances that are richly recorded and engaging.  The Williams score selections here begin the disc and though they are slower than Gil Shaham's recording with the composer, these are musically evocative.  The Bloch pieces (Suite Hebraique and Concerto grosso No 1) are equally interesting works of Bloch's use of Hebraic melodies reworked into his own unique neo-Baroque/Classicist style.  It's worth tracking down at good music stores, or you may just have to break down and find it at your on-line retailer.

    Silva America tends to get skewered for their re-recordings a lot by purists who only like the studio recordings of scores.  Well, that and coupled with some horrid performances on the label's house orchestra, the infamous City of Prague Philharmonic, left bad tastes in the mouths of many fans.  Still the label made available music that in some cases still has not seen the light of day.  The past couple of years they have been relatively silent, slowly releasing a few repackaged effort (something they excel at).  I think it has been a US distribution problem for the most part perhaps coupled with the continued disolution of even music sections in larger retailers like Barnes & Noble or Borders.  I was intrigued by a recent compilation of Music by Thomas Newman.  It was essentially the first such disc of its kind featuring this composer's music.  While one wishes they had waited to add some music from Wall-E, this does capture the essence of Newman's style from the Golden Age sounds heard in The Good German (with 2 tracks devoted to this beautiful score) and even Little Women to the more classic sounds of American Beauty.  This is a great way to be introduced to Newman's music in performances that are beautifully performed and recorded. 

    Finally, DRG released last year a single disc featuring two classic Elmer Bernstein jazz albums from 1959/1960.  The first is similar to other albums from the period (like M Squad or Peter Gunn) and features music from the short-lived TV series (Johnny) Staccato.  This is essentially West Coast jazz at its finest and features a host of great jazz artists from the period (Candoli, Manne, Nash, Pell, and a young and upcoming guy by the name of John(ny) Williams on the piano).  Great stuff all around.  And it is complemented by a jazz concept album called Paris Swings which features some appropriately themed standards.  Andre Previn is the pianist in this set of equally fine and engaging music.  A great bargain for fans of West Coast Jazz at any rate.

    So there are five fine "new" discs to explore.  Though I want to also add here a disc that arrived last month and which has been a traveling companion in the car a lot lately.  It's the Frank Collett Trio's All God's Children Got Rhythm from Fresh Sound Records.  The disc is a jazz trio recording featuring music by Hollwywood great Bronislau Kaper.  I've played the disc a lot and so far am struck especially by the group's cover of the love theme from Mutiny On the Bounty.  Every time I hear it I have to double check to see just what this piece is.  This disc is a beauty too for film or jazz fans.

    Enjoy!