Whats on your turntable tonight?

Rush, have you heard any of the Decca recordings of Wagner with Solti conducting? For many years his recording of the Ring (and the annual visitation from the Met) were in many ways a penultimate audio experience for me. It took me years to finally locate originals...

Tonight is Arvo Part's Tabula Rasa. Not ECM's best recording, but the performance is spooky.

Musique Arabo-Andalouse - harmonia mundi (France) - who else?? but the Atrium Musicae - nothing else need be said.

and for some chillage- A Strangly Isolated Place by Urlich Schnauss

Tonight we've been playing:

Shostakovich, String Quartets Nos. 4 and 12, Fitzwilliam Quartet, L'Oiseau Lyre DSLO 23 (wonderful!)

Dvorak Cello Concerto with Janos Starker (cello) and Dorati/LSO (Mercury, Speakers Corner reissue) Ann says she wants to hear some of the other performances in the collection (such as Piatagorsky, Rostropovich, Rose) so we'll be repeating sometime over the next few days. The Munch/BSO, Piatigorsky, in the 45 rpm reissue from Classic Records is excellent and a treat to anticipate playing.

Rachmaninov, Isle of the Dead, Ashkenazy/Concertgebouw, Decca 6.42947 (a digital recording, but well engineered by Dunkerley with excellent soundstaging)

Vieuxtemps, Violin Concertos 4 and 5, Barenboim/OrchParis, Perlman -vn, Angel S 37484
.

Ralph, I'm very fond of the Solti Ring Cycle recordings. I have them all on London pressings, and just a couple repeated on Decca. Marvelous performances and recordings, it's simply amazing what John Culshaw accomplished with the aid of that remarkable Decca recording team.

I will join you regarding the Arvo Part; I was listening to his "Passio" the other evening. Your comment will have me pulling out the "Tabula Rasa" before I go to bed tonight, but I suspect "Fratres" may be my favorite work on that LP.

You are SO RIGHT about Atrium Musicae de Madrid. In my opinion, Paniagua (the director of this group) can do no wrong and has created amazing recordings over the years. Musique Arabo-Andalouse is certainly one of his best. And in simply outstanding sonics from Harmonia Mundi. Do you have the others?

BTW, Ann's judgment tonight is that the amps are sounding superb, a huge step up in performance in this MkIII iteration! THANK YOU!!
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Eric Johnson's "Tones" album I bought when it came out.

Cello, agree.... those music are always legendary :)
For tonigh:
Shotakovich Symphony 5/Leonard Bernstein/NewYork/CBS
Shostakovich Quartet No. 8/Borodin Quartet/London
Prokofieff: Lieutenant Kije/Reiner/Chesky
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.4/Mravinsky/Leningrad Philharmonic/Deutsche Gramaphone

and after all these.. let's do some jazz for the night!