Whats on your turntable tonight?

Just ran through Jim Hall's "Concierto" LP. It sounded so good this morning I just picked up the stylus and listened to the side all over again :-)

Enjoy,
Bob

Listening yesterday with friends over. After some of the usual LPs to orient folks to the sound of my system, we moved on to...

Malcom Arnold - “English, Scottish, and Cornish Dances - Lyrita SRCS. 109 - Cello and I must be on the same wavelength. We played the second English Dances and I don't think I've heard it sound better than yesterday.

Keith Jarrett - "The Celestial Hawk" - for orchestra, percussion and piano. We all sat through the entire first side without a word - intriguing music making. (ECM 1175)

Ry Cooder - "Jazz" (Reprise) - fun stuff with influences from all over the place.

Wagner - Various Orchestral Only pieces, Leinsdorf on Sheffield Labs LAB 7, direct to disc.
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The greatest enjoyment is always sharing music and conversation with friends.

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Ruston,
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I know you have listed some of your recommendations more than once on Audiogon, but I would be interested in your current top 5 or 10 knock your socks off, hate to live with out LP's (any genre).
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Thanks / Rgds,
Larry
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Hi Larry (Cello),

That sort of list is likely to change next week, but based on what I've been listening to lately here are some LPs I could offer at the moment given their outstanding sonics and performance/music content (all based on my listening priorities of course)...

Shostakovich - "Symphony No. 1" coupled with "The Age of Gold Ballet Suite," Martinon/LSO, RCA LSC 2322-45 (Classic Records 45rpm reissue, not the 33rpm)

Shostakovich - "String Quartet No. 8," Borodin Quartet, Decca SXL 6036 (Speakers Corner reissue)

Stravinsky - "Firebird Ballet" (complete), Dorati/LSO, Mercury SR 90226-45 (Classic Records 45rpm reissue) (I've mentioned this LP many times.)

Stravinsky - "Petrouchka," Danon/RPO, Chesky CR42 (180gram) (Alternatively the Ansermet performance on Decca SXL 2011 (Athena ALSS 10004 reissue) is also excellent. I haven't yet listened to the Speakers Corner reissue of this to compare to the Athena.)

Beethoven - "Septet in E, op20," Members of the Vienna Octet, Decca on King SuperAnalogue 9111 reissue.

Louis Armstrong - "St. James Infirmary" from the Classic Records 45rpm reissue of just two cuts from "Satchmo Plays King Oliver" on Audio Fidelity ST-91058 -45. (Seems like this LP always comes out for new visitors here.)

Duke Ellington - "This One's for Blanton," with Ray Brown, Pablo 2310-721 -45 (from the Analogue Productions Fantasy 45rpm reissue series.) (This is just an example as virtually any from this reissue series would be on my list. They're superb; get them while you can. Same for the new Blue Note series from both Music Matters and Analogue Productions.)

"Musique Arabo-Andalouse," Paniagua/Atrium Musicae de Madrid, Harmonia Mundi HM 389 (Music of Arabic-Spain of the 9th-13th Centuries)

"La Spagna," Paniagua/Atrium Musicae de Madrid, BIS LP 162/163 (Music of 15th, 16th and 17th century Spain.)

Mozart, Horn Concertos, McGegan/PhilBarO, Greer -hn, Harmonia Mundi/USA HMU 7012 (Superb recording by Peter McGrath, with performances by Lowell Greer on natural (valveless) horn that blow me away.)

Vivaldi, Flute Concertos, McGegan/PhilBarO, See -fl, Harmonia Mundi/USA HMC 5193 (Another superb recording by Peter McGrath.)

"Italian Violin Music 1600-1750," Banchini -vn, Darmstadt -vc, Klimo Open Window OW 002 (for baroque violin, exceptionally well played and recorded)


So, here's just a smattering of LPs that immediately come to mind as ones I'd hate to be without. There are many more that could be listed, and next week my list might be different, but these are what I've been pulling back out for listening recently.

On another front are those really outstanding reissue classical LPs that are still available new from one or another of the mail order retailers. Many have already gone out of print and others are near to doing so. I recently pulled together a list to recommend for a friend. If this is of interest, let me know.

Cheers,

BTW, for many of the LPs I've listed above, the "knock your socks off" part comes from their naturalness of timbre and low level resolution/detail, not the usual sort of in your face blast that we audiophiles are often accused of preferring.
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