Schubert Piano Trio in B Flat

This recording of the Schubert Piano Trio in B Flat was made in 1965, according to the label. The performance, by the Suk Trio, was recorded in Europe (likely in Czechoslovakia) by the Supraphon label and was given release on the LP I have in 1974 by the Vanguard company. Vanguard had a much more popular reputation for issuing folk, jazz and blues records in the US, but they did have an impressive Classical catalog as well. Supraphon was a Czech company and outsourced a good deal of their recordings to US labels over the years (I have some Supraphon recordings issued by Atlantic Records in the US as well). As such, the recording quality is very good and the pressing was done, as with all Vanguard records of this era, by Columbia/CBS in the US.

I like Piano Trio music. I think the combination of Violin, Cello and Piano really lends itself to some interesting textures and interplay. Was this considered "Chamber Music"? Maybe - whatever its called  it works for me. Schubert is more known for his "songs" - lieder. I have some of that - still working on a proper appreciation of that genre, but this music is instantly enjoyable. I first read the name of Schubert on the back of the UK edition of the Beatles Yellow Submarine album. There was a lengthy article printed there which compared the songwriting team of Lennon and McCartney to Schubert in terms of output. I was about 7 years old and I had no idea who this Schubert guy was.

While still in grade school, I chose Schubert as a subject to do a small book report on (they had one of those kid-designed Schubert biographies in the library). Somehow, the bio failed to inspire much interest in seeking out Schubert's music at that age (a signal that I was at least halfway "normal" I suppose). But I do remember being surprised to learn of Schubert's short life considering his output - that made an impression. These days, I still don't have much Schubert in my collection, but this record is a good step in the direction of changing that. The overall mood of this music is almost excessively optimistic - almost. Not saccharine, thankfully, but certainly cheerful. Which, at the right times, is most certainly welcome.

So, anyway -the trio is led here by Czech violinist Josef Suk who, as the liner notes relate, is the great-grandson of Dvorak. And, from what I can hear, grandpa would be proud. Good stuff if you like cheerful Piano Trio music - and why not? There's no shortage to downer musical vibes out in the so-called "real world" - has uplifting music become a quaintly outmoded concept? Don't get me wrong - I'm still trying to dig deeper into the Schubert catalog myself, but I will recommend this disc. Especially if you can get it for what I paid for it - that's right - $1!

Tokyo String Quartet

String Quartets from Debussy (G Minor) and Ravel (F Major). This Columbia Masterworks release from 1979 is in pretty nice shape. The sound is excellent and the performance is striking - the quartet sounds more like one instrument than four separate instruments. I reckon that last observation reveals just how little exposure to string quartet music I can claim to have had over the years. As it happens, it's been a bit of a struggle for me to find greater appreciation for string quartet music so far. I honestly thought I would enjoy it more than I do, but this record is an exception. The pieces are very reflective of the tonalities associated with the more popular works from these composers so it feels like familiar territory which, at least for me, is a plus.
As I pointed out in my initial post, I consider myself highly unqualified to evaluate this music on any serious level, but this record proves to me that once in a while it can be rewarding to listen beyond the comfort zone to explore new sounds. I have no idea how many other records the Tokyo String Quartet put out, but I would buy them - especially at the deep discount price I paid for this ----- $1! Happy listening!

La Mer - Debussy

The record pictured above shows typically garish sleeve art from RCA’s Victrola reissue series of the early 1970s. Maybe the execs at RCA thought the new art looked psychedelic or something. The music on the disc was recorded in 1956 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch. I recently picked this LP up to solve a minor mystery I’ve had going for a few years now, but the composition the LP was titled after has been a longstanding favorite, at least since my high school music appreciation class turned me onto it:  La Mer by Claude Debussy.

In high school I took an AP Music History course that exposed me to all sorts of music following the chronological development of Western Music from at least Gregorian Chant to the 20th Century. It was great to hear how music became more complex over time, but the big change for me was getting to the so-called “Impressionist” composers – particularly Debussy. It was like – widescreen technicolor in sound (pretty psychedelic, actually)!

So, I ran out and grabbed a CD copy of La Mer conducted by Pierre Boulez (from the brown-sleeve Great Performances series – you know those things!). I was happy to see La Mer being conducted by Boulez – a name I recognized as having connections to Frank Zappa. There was another connection to Zappa on that CD, but I’ll bypass that story for now. Anyway, aside from some Edgard Varese and Conlon Nancarrow (also Zappa-recommended stuff) – this was the only classical music disc in my collection for years. I listened to it enough times to know the piece well enough and it is in fact a great performance (excuse the pun).

Mucho years later – I got roped into the SACD craze. Super Audio CDs had the advantage of offering higher resolution sound plus occasional multi-channel possibilities (surround sound when available). I had been dreaming about hearing music in discrete surround for years – so I got into it, bought some rock and jazz titles – then, slowly…..the industry stopped making the damn things. Except for – classical. Hmmm.

A whole series of RCA Living Stereo sacds had been produced – quite a few of which featured three-channel mixes (three track tape being the standard when recording for stereo discs in those days). Folks were raving about them on online forums – and, best of all – they were cheap (relatively) and still in print. Among the first of my purchases of this series – a disc including La Mer conducted by Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony in 1956. Cool!

Except when I played the disc – something about the sound of that performance alone (there were others on the disc) really put me off. It sounded like something had gone awry during the tape transfer/mastering process – on that piece alone it was like someone shoved pillows in front of my speakers – BLAST! I complained about it on an online forum – nobody paid much mind to my observation, but I was certain something was not right.

Listening to the LP of the same performance – although there are some laid-back characteristics about the recording in general, the $2 LP wipes the floor with the sacd in terms of dynamic sound quality. And I can finally hear another quality performance of this great piece of music in its intended fidelity. La Mer is “The Ocean” in French. Debussy was French. It’s colorful, dramatic music, but not sentimental. Mysterious, but not syrupy. Still one of my favorite pieces of music period and I can HIGHLY recommend this LP, even with the nasty 70s reissue cover. My vinyl copy is not perfect, but the sound is surprisingly dynamic for a RCA dynaflex – maybe the original shaded dog label from the 50s beats it? Who knows? But my $2 vinyl LP kicks the sacd’s butt up and down the Parisian Thoroughfare indeed.

The Final Word:  La Mer by Munch on RCA vinyl rocks! Dig it!

Welcome Wagon

Greetings and welcome! This blog is an off-shoot of my other music blog “Catch a Groove” which is more of a catch-all for anything music-related – from any genre or perspective. I posted a few items relating to classical music there, but this space will give vent to a more specialized area of research – thrift store vinyl classical record reviews. I know – just what the world needs, right? As if my lopsided opinions about music in general were not fascinating enough – how about reviews of musty old classical records? Especially considering that the author (me) is, how shall I put this, GROSSLY ill-qualified to write with any level of legitimate authority on such a topic – at least from a “trained” musical perspective. I’m a lot closer to Joe Sixpack than (the great music critic) Harold Schonberg.

    Yet this is also a celebration of something Joe Sixpack (as the official representative of the average middle class humanoid of the 20th century) was a key participant in – namely the emergence and flowering of vinyl record culture of the modern age. Classical records had a marketing slant to them just the same as jazz or popular records did along with advertising gimmicks, heroes and villains alike. And, believe me, the classical world is just as populated with freaks and weirdos as the LA Punk scene of the 1970s.

    The name of this blog comes from a composition by 20th Century composer Edgard Varese. His music was so weird it inspired Frank Zappa to become a composer/musician. Which is one connection to the so-called “classical” or serious music world I made as a young lad back in the happy 1980s. When everyone else was listening to WHAM! I was busy scraping noises out of avant-garde 20th Century composers records. Not to say that I was at all “cool” – cluelessly geeked-out is more appropriate (as I remain, proudly, to this very day!). But enough about me – are you ready, dear reader, to begin our journey into oblivion? I thought so………………….