I have to admit - the last few years of posting here have not been as frequent or productive for me - many family obligations and professional distractions have gotten in the way. Yet, I have been quite amazed by some of the positive comments from folks who have stopped by to read and share their own reflections with me. All signs point to this being a "golden age" of sorts for classical listeners - especially those who still find enjoyment from home stereo systems. Quite consistently from the first year I started this blog - concurrent with my classical listening journey - I have managed to chance upon a lot of wonderful music for very reasonable prices without even being that obsessive about it! At this point I've had to pass over more of what's out there in the bins simply due to the fact that I can't lug everything home - I'm literally running out of space! Of course, this leads to being more selective which is tough going for the omnivorous listener (me!).
Now I find myself responding to certain themes and interests when it comes down to what comes in the door. For instance, although I have more than enough Stravinsky - and way too many copies of The Firebird - I couldn't say no to this, even though the cover was suffering from a split spine. The record itself was pretty minty, amazingly enough and that kinda sealed the deal (along with the outrageous cover art and, well, it being a nice old London mono too).
It is always a trip to spin such an old record that is in great shape, especially when the performance is top notch too. Speaking of old records, I still have to drag home any Remington LP I don't have that's in halfway decent shape - such as the two below:
Still haven't spun these - need a good cleaning and possibly a wood-glue treatment, but they should clean up nice. Again, do I already have great recordings of Debussy's Preludes and Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata? Yeah, but......but......oh, nevermind. Just another way to hear a familiar favorite, like these:
Who could possibly need another Scheherazade or Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2? Well, these are QUADRAPHONIC albums and, yeah - I have the right equipment to decode these records properly. And for that process to work, very clean records are essential and these fit the bill. There was a third out of this batch I'd already played........ah, here it is:
Yep - La Mer again. This time in QUAD and it was pretty darn cool! Quadradisc was a pesky format, but it did pay off when working right.Which it did the night I played this LP.
Then, there is the modern thing.......
Berg, Webern, Koechlin, Martino and Babbitt - quite a wide variety there and it's just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, the Webern LP was still sealed when I got it - compelled to break it free after seeing an internet friend spinning their copy! Always fun to be a joiner-inner with an obscure record once in awhile.
And of course, I continue to give Elgar a chance when I can - a process that has been going much better than expected due to a couple of nice scores this year.
I picked up this Elgar Symphony No. 1 disc (along with a No.2 disc also) and in this case the Solti / London Phil combo has made a difference! Can't say I'm head over heels about these pieces, yet I am enjoying the drama and light and dark shades much more than previously.
Maybe the thing with Elgar has to do with Being Here Now. Kinda like that great book by Ram Dass. This one:
http://beherenow.dc7.us/
The whole hippie shebang is available to see / read at the link above. Actually not necessary to be burning any Nag Champa whilst reading, but then again - it might help!
Now, before I go all Rudyard Kipling on you here - consider the possibility of the influence of the East in both cases. Western thought and Western Music being so derived from the Roman / Legal / Latin habit of mind (which Elgar even as an Englishman was part of), yet as we all know the British Empire as it was in Elgar's time would be bound up in its connection to India and the surrounding region. I honestly don't know if Elgar was ever inspired directly by the mystics of Asia, but one cannot doubt his awareness of what his own British Empire was up to (as much as any average subject of the Empire could be).
This is all a roundabout way of getting to the salient point / eureka moment I had about Elgar. His music seems to evoke a sense of adventure, the unknown and mysterious along with a fair bit of "triumphant" thrown into the mix now and then. He takes you on a journey and lands you back in time for scones and tea. Jolly good!
This whole turn of events was actually inspired by the above CD from 1997 that I rescued from a thrift store a few months ago. Of course I picked it up with a snicker or two - "Ha ha! Ultimate ELGAR, eh? Heh heh." And my usual avoidance of any such "excerpts discs" was in reverse here - Yes! Yes! Just what ARE Elgar's Greatest Hits? I do want to know! Well, my own snarkiness got the better of me this time because once I popped the thing in the player - I was won over. Enjoyed the heck out of this disc. Go figure. I didn't give a hoot about what pieces were from what larger work. Just let it roll........and it was alright. Though I have to say that portrait of the Old Boy with that rather large badger of a moustache really evokes that Victorian Era to a "t". Speaking of which.............
If your brain hasn't turned to patchouli from over-exposure to Ram Dass, check out this fascinating article from Smithsonian Magazine on the topic of Dr. Livingstone's rescuer: Henry Morton Stanley. The famed men of Elgar's time may have fallen out of favor, but perhaps history might do well to re-investigate what we think we know about those stuffy Victorians. See here:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/henry-morton-stanleys-unbreakable-will-99405/
Rounding out the entry - I just wanted to pass the word along on this excellent Hovhaness CD. Two symphonies - the first of which inspired by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. Certainly, mountains are good topically for Hovhaness, mysterious or otherwise. Yet, the music itself is fun in a modern-but-not-obnoxious kind of way. When I was a wee lad and interested in things like rocks and volcanoes I once had a little plastic bottle of ash with a label and a certificate of authenticity that the contents came from Mount St. Helens eruption. I would like to think it was true and not the ash from somebody's dead dog remains, but who would know? It's important to keep that sense of wonder going at all costs. Before I leave this disc I have to also report that the City of Light Symphony has a brilliant Finale to it - very memorable and distinctive. Worth checking out for sure!
Well, dear readers / listeners - I hope to connect more with the "serious music" realm in the New Year. Aside from my considerable responsibilities, I am looking forward to some good and healthy life changes. It's never too late to do one's best to take good care - and by all means let us all fill our ears with good music as often as we can. It may help us all down the road apiece............thanks again for stopping by! Bright Moments!
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