Paging Paganini

Here's one man's version of the grandiose Violin Caprices of Niccolò Paganini.

01. Capriccio #1 In E (1:47)

02. Capriccio #2 In B Minor (2:45)

03. Capriccio #3 In E Minor (2:45)

04. Capriccio #4 In C (6:32)

05. Capriccio #5 In A Minor (2:43)

06. Capriccio #6 In G Minor (4:48)

07. Capriccio #7 In A Minor (3:56)

08. Capriccio #8 In E Flat (2:51)

09. Capriccio #9 In E (3:00)

10. Capriccio #10 In G Minor (2:06)

11. Capriccio #11 In C (3:55)

12. Capriccio #12 In A Flat (2:22)

13. Capriccio #13 In B Flat (2:37)

14. Capriccio 14 In E Flat (1:56)

15. Capriccio #15 In E Minor (2:42)

16. Capriccio #16 In G Minor (1:32)

17. Capriccio #17 In E Flat (3:42)

18. Capriccio #18 In C (2:32)

19. Capriccio #19 In E Flat (3:01)

20. Capriccio #20 In D (4:04)

21. Capriccio #21 In A (3:03)

22. Capriccio #22 In F (3:12)

23. Capriccio #23 In E Flat (5:06)

24. Capriccio #24 In A Minor (4:24)

These fun and devilish, quite competent!  Not quite as demented as Ruggerio Ricci’s 1973 release, but still lotsa fun!

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You wouldn't think such a cute face could handle such deviltry, but Ehnes gives it the ole devil's college try.

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Great Country, So-So Album

That's my capsule review.   Details:

01. The Pledge of Allegiance (0:31)

02. Star Spangled Banner (2:06)

03. Liberty Fanfare (4:17)

04. America (3:17)

05. This Is My Country (4:08)

06. City of New Orleans (4:34)

07. Doodletown Fifers (4:21)

08. God Bless America (4:06)

09. Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy (2:39)

10. This Land Is Your Land (2:33)

11. The Gettysburg Address (5:38)

12. America, We're Proud to Serve (4:26)

13. America the Beautiful (5:06)

14. 1812 Overture (15:38)

15. The Stars and Stripes Forever (3:35)

Track One is ruined by some moron adding reverb to the kids’ recitation of our pledge. The other tracks live up to the broad intent of “pops.” For example, there’s probably no way to perform “This Is My Country” without it sounding campy.

“America the Beautiful” starts out schmaltzy, but wins you over by the end. The grand old “1812” would be better served without the cannon sounds, whether live or dubbed. They’re mushy sounding. And I wish they had taken the training wheels off of “The Stars and Stripes Forever”! Instead of pepping up for the big repeat at the end, the thing slows down like the orchestra ran out of steam.

Overall, this is not the best advertising for a post-Williams version of the Pops.

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This wraps up 2025's JULY SPOCKEBRATION.  See you on Monday for a month of music comps!

  

Snapshots of America

Welcome to this year's July SPOCKebtration!

Our first feature is a 1991 release from Intersound.

01. Summit Brass - Fanfare for the Common Man (3:10)

02. Sergiu Comissiona: Houston Symphony Orchestra - God Bless America (2:09)

03. Sergiu Comissiona: Houston Symphony Orchestra - America the Beautiful (3:28)

04. Sergiu Comissiona: Houston Symphony Orchestra - National Emblem March (3:59)

05. Lalo Schifrin & The San Diego Symphony - The Great Escape March (2:15)

06. Lalo Schifrin & The San Diego Symphony - Patton (2:43)

07. Sergiu Comissiona: Houston Symphony Orchestra - George M. Cohan Medley (6:38)

08. Sergiu Comissiona: Houston Symphony Orchestra - American Salute (4:16)

09. Sergiu Comissiona: Houston Symphony Orchestra - Victory at Sea Suite (13:30)

10. Sergiu Comissiona: Houston Symphony Orchestra - Seventy-Six Trombones (1:52)

11. Lalo Schifrin & The San Diego Symphony - Armed Forces Medley (3:30)

12. Lalo Schifrin & The San Diego Symphony - Washington Post March (2:38)

13. Lalo Schifrin & The San Diego Symphony - Stars and Stripes Forever (3:41)

14. Kate Smith - God Bless America (2:42)

It's only coincidental that I'm sharing this CD so soon after the passing of the lamented Schifrin.  He did some socko, boffo stuff!

But regarding this release, this is sadly uninspiring.  Somehow it’s competent without being electrifying.  This stuff should give you chills, not a “so what?”.

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What do YOU think?  We'll have something a bit peppier on Monday.  See you then!

  

Can You Take a Hit?

I was introduced to this 1971 album circa 1975 by my musical-genius friend from high school, Roger Price.

01 - Russian Sailor's Dance, from The Red Poppy - Glière 

02 - Procession of the Sardar, from Two Caucasian Sketches, Op. 10 - Ippolitov-Ivanov 

03 - Polovtsian Dances, from Prince Igor - Borodin 

04 - The Moldau, from My Fatherland - Smetana 

05 - Trepak, from The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a - Tchaikovsky 

06 - Can-Can, from Orpheus in the Underworld Overture - Offenbach 

07 - The Miller's Dance, from The Three Cornered Hat, Suite No. 2 - Falla 

08 - The Ride of the Valkyries, from Die Walküre - Wagner 

09 - Danse Macabre, Op. 40 - Saint-Saëns 

10 - Somewhere, from West Side Story - Bernstein 

11 - William Tell Overture - Finale - Rossini 

This is a fine little anthology of familiar classical tunes.  Of special emotive power is the final cut.  If you're familiar with the entire overture, you can *almost* tell where the Columbia techs did a quick fade-in from the quiet pastoral sounds of flute and oboe, before the blaring trumpet takes over and leads us to Lone Ranger land.

Yes, this final, frenetic clash of musical forces led my friend Roger and his roommate Tony Hutchinson to mime a wild, Keystone Kops-like duke-it-out (only pretending) brawl across several dorm rooms, bouncing off beds and rebounding effortlessly from walls.  At the end, both looked at each other in victory ... only to collapse, in unison.

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See you on Monday, music lovers!

  

Welcome to the MUSICAL MONTH OF MAY 2025

Yup, a new music comp every Monday and Thursday, mi compadres.

We'll commence with a celebration of Walpurgisnacht.

Many of these selections feature Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain," but not all.

01 - St John's Night on a Bare Mountain (Original Version) - Mussorgsky - Ukraine NSO - 1867  (12:48)

02 - Night on Bald Mountain (Full Metal Cover) - Mussorgsky - arr John Parrish - 2016  (10:35)

03 - Walpurgis Night Allegretto - Gounod - 1859  (1:26)

04 - Night on Bald Mountain - Mussorgsky - Mint Julep Jazz Band - 2015  (4:08)

05 - Dorothy's Rescue (Extended Version) - Mussorgsky - arr Herbert Stothart - 1939  (3:10)

06 - Die erste Walpurgisnacht - Overture (edit) - Mendelssohn - 1831  (6:34)

07 - Walpurgis Night - The Coffinshakers - 2007  (3:27)

08 - Night on Bald Mountain (Piano Solo) - Mussorgsky - arr Andrew Ray - 2012  (8:11)

09 - Walpurgis - François Rabbath - 1963  (3:19)

10 - La nuit de Walpurgis - Overture - Charles-Marie Widor - 1887  (10:13)

11 - From the Bohemian Forest - Walpurgis Night - Dvořák - 1883  (3:58)

12 - A Night on Bare Mountain - Mussorgsky - arr Leibowitz - 1962  (10:36)

You should find and listen to the entirety of Mendelssohn's cantata, Die erste Walpurgisnacht.  Among other things, it's a poke at rabid so-called Christians who see the devil everywhere.

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See you on Monday, fellow revelers!

   

At the Top of My Liszt

While I have heard a complete recording of Liszt's piano music (something like 100 CDs I think), I have a soft spot for this album.

I bought it in the OCU bookstore.  The contents:

  

1  On Lake Wallenstadt no.2    1:50

2  Les jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Este    5:47

3  Hongaarse rhapsodie no.2    8:07

4  Hongaarse rhapsodie no.10    6:20

5  La campanella    4:13

6  Harmonies du soir    7:34

7  Légende no.1: St. François d'Assise: la prédication aux oiseaux    8:52

8  Légende no.2: St. François de Paule marchant sur les flots    7:12

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Here is the text from the right side of the LP rear:

Almost every important pianist and composer from the beginning of the last century recorded piano rolls. Particularly when developments were such that dynamics, pedal operation, etc. could also be recorded on the roll, recording rolls became more interesting than recording 78t. records for a mechanical horn: the sound quality of a real piano was of course nicer than the tinny sound of the early piano recordings. There is a wonderful site on the history of the reproducing piano. And in Amsterdam is the Pianola Museum, which I can heartily recommend to everyone.

The 3 most important reproducing piano systems were Welte Mignon, Duo-Art and Ampico. Less important were Hupfeld DEA and Philipps Duca.

In 1904, the German company Welte-Mignon developed the first system in which not only the notes but also the pedal operation, dynamics, etc. could be recorded on the roll. Eugene d'Albert, Wilhelm Backhaus, Ferrucio Busoni, Claude Debussy, Edwin Fischer, Walter Gieseking, Arthur de Greef, Edvard Grieg, Paul Hindemith, Wanda Landowska, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Gustav Mahler, Arthur Nikisch, Egon Petri, Raoul Pugno, Camille Saint-Saëns, Richard Strauss, Max Reger, Artur Schnabel and Alexander Scriabin have recorded roles for Welte-Mignon.

In 1913, the Aeolian Company developed the Duo-Art system. They recruited Harold Bauer, Ferrucio Busoni, Teresa Carreño, Edwin Fischer, Arthur Friedheim, Ignaz Friedman, Rudolph Ganz, George Gershwin, Leopold Godowski, Percy Grainger, Josef Hofmann, Ignace Jan Paderewski, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky.

Also in 1913, Ampico (American Piano Company) came on the market with a reproducing system. Josef Lhévinne, Moriz Rosenthal and Sergei Rachmaninoff are the most famous performers on Ampico.

In the 1970s Everest released a series of LPs: Everest Archive of Piano Music, with reproducing Duo-Art piano rolls, played by famous pianists. The piano used for this Duo-Art series by Everest is a Steinway, built in 1929 from the collection of Harold L. Powell, North Hollywood, California. All rolls used in the Everest Duo-Art series were played between 1916 and 1925.

Arthur Friedheim (St. Petersburg, 26.10.1859 - New York City, 19.10.1932): Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Studied one year with Anton Rubinstein, was dissatisfied with it and went to Franz Liszt. The latter accepted him after some hesitation in 1880. During the last eight years of Liszt's life Friedheim remained his pupil, also acted as secretary and lived with Liszt in Rome and Weimar.

Then from 1891-1895: United States, then England (teaching until 1904 at the Royal Manchester College of Music).

From 1908-1911: conductor in Munich; 1915 United States; 1921 Canada (professor at Canadian Academy of Music).

He made only 3 78t. records around 1912 for Columbia. One of them is an oddity: in Chopin's funeral march he simply stops at 2/3, due to lack of space on the record side. 

Arthur Friedheim recorded roles for Welte-Mignon, Philipps Duca and Triphonola in addition to Duo-Art.

See you on Thursday, May 1, for this year's MUSICAL MONTH OF MAY, with new music comps all month long --- starting with a special Walpurgisnacht concoction!  See ya then!

 

Spring to the Rite!

After enduring negative Fahrenheits in OKC last week, this week we will have seventies.  If that don't make you think of Springtime, then you're too chill for me!

1. First Part: Adoration Of The Earth: Intro  

2. First Part: Adoration Of The Earth: The Augurs Of Spring/Dances Of The Young Girls  

3. First Part: Adoration Of The Earth: Ritual Of Abduction  

4. First Part: Adoration Of The Earth: Spring Rounds  

5. First Part: Adoration Of The Earth: Ritual Of The River Tribes  

6. First Part: Adoration Of The Earth: Procession Of The Saga  

7. First Part: Adoration Of The Earth: The Sage  

8. First Part: Adoration Of The Earth: Dances Of The Earth  

9. Second Part: The Sacrifice: Intro  

10. Second Part: The Sacrifice: Mystic Circles Of The Young Girls  

11. Second Part: The Sacrifice: Glorification Of The Chosen One  

12. Second Part: The Sacrifice: Evocation Of The Ancestors  

13. Second Part: The Sacrifice: Ritual Actions Of The Ancestors  

14. Second Part: The Sacrifice: Sacrificial Dance (The Chosen One)  

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This is a magnificent performance of magnificent music.  You'll love it too!  See you Thursday for the final installment of this year's "Thing I Love" on the Record Round-Up!

New Ears for Old Seasons?

It's a 1993 release.

I don't know about the advantage of this recording over non-digital ones, but it DO sound pretty good.

The Four Seasons

 Concerto in E Major, Op. 8 No. 1, "Spring"

  1. I. Allegro 

   2. II. Largo 

   3. III. Allegro: Danza pastorale 

 Concerto in G minor, Op. 8 No. 2, "Summer"

   4. I. Allegro non molto 

   5. II. Adagio 

   6. III. Presto 

 Concerto in F Major, Op. 8 No. 3, "Autumn"

   7. I. Allegro 

   8. II. Adagio molto 

   9. III. Allegro 

Concerto in F minor, Op. 8 No. 4, "Winter"

   10. I. Allegro non molto 

   11. II. Largo 

   12. III. Allegro 

 Concerto in A minor for 2 Violins and Orchestra, Op. 3 No. 8

   13. I. Allegro 

   14. II. Larghetto e spiritoso   

   15. III. Allegro

Concerto in D minor for 2 Violins, Cello and Orchestra, Op. 3, No. 11 

   16. I. Allegro II. Adagio e Spiccato - Allegro 

   17. III. Largo e spiccato 

   18. VI. Allegro 

 Concerto in G Major for 2 Violins and Orchestra, Op. 21, No. 1

   19. I. Allegro molto 

   20. II. Andante 

   21. III. Allegro

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Hope the seasons of this New Year treat you good!  See you Monday.

  

Go State!

This is a fine 1980 cassette from Musical Heritage Society.

01 - Fantasia - Adriano Banchieri  (1:07)

02 - Magnificat - Dietrich Buxtehude  (9:58)

03 - Meine Seele erhebet den Herrn - JS Bach  (3:22)

04 - Make We Joy Now in This Fest - William Walton  (2:29)

05 - Dance of the Ishmaelites - Hector Berlioz  (4:13)

06 - When Christ Was Born – Reginald Jacques  (1:21)

07 - Noël de Saintonge - Jean-François Dandrieu  (2:06)

08 - Joy to the World - GF Handel  (0:57

09 - Coventry Carol - Traditional  (2:52)

10 - In Dulce Jubilo - JS Bach  (1:33)

11 - Ideo Gloria – Gerhard M Cartford  (3:04)

12 - Magnificat - Jean-François Dandrieu  (7:18)

13 - How unto Bethlehem – Traditional  (1:24)

14 - Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming -M Praetorius  (1:12)

15 - Once in Royal David’s City – JH Gauntlett  (3:21)

16 - Carol – Prelude on Greensleeves – Searle Wright  (2:07)

I ain't come across the (I presume) earlier two volumes, but I hope they're this varied and well done.

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Merry Christmas, one and all!  See you on Monday for the wrap-up of this year's SPOCKY CHRISTMAS!

  

Umm-hmm. What Are Your Other Fantasies?

This is a 1977 cassette.

01 - Prelude in C Minor - Bach

02 - Bourée from Suite in E Minor - Bach

03 - Sarabande from Suite in E Minor - Bach

04 - Preludio from the Suite in E Major - Weiss

05 - Courante from the Suite in E Major - Weiss

06 - Menuet from the Suite in E Major - Weiss

07 - Bourée from the Suite in E Major - Weiss

08 - Giga from the Suite in E Major - Weiss

09 - Fantasy in E Minor - Weiss

10 - Sonata in E Minor - Scarlatti

11 - Españoletas from the Suite Española - Sanz

12 - Danza de las Hachas from the Suite Española - Sanz

13 - Canarios from the Suite Española - Sanz

14 - Allegro Spiritoso from Sonata in C Major - Giuliani

15 - Variations on the Theme "Malborough" - Sor

It's lilting, sometimes stirring, a wunnerful time.

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See you on Monday, fellow fantasists!

  

I Remember, I Remember!

That's a sly aspersion to Track #2 of this 2006 release.

01 - In Dulce Jubilo - Traditional

02 - Remember O Thou Man - Traditional

03 - Gently the Fragrance - Traditional

04 - Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day - Traditional

05 - Veni Salvator Hominum - Böddecker

06 - Quatrième Symphonie en Quatuor - Corrette

07 - Jauchzet dem Herren, alla Welt - Bruhns

08 - Musettes - Les Fêtes d’Hébé - Rameau

09 - Vous qui Désirez sans Fin - Traditional

10 - Rigaudons - Les Fêtes d’Hébé - Rameau

11 - Chrétiens qui Suivez l’Église - Traditional

12 - Musette - Troiséme Concert Royal - Couperin

13 - Gráce soit Renduë - Traditional

14 - Bereitet die Wege, Bereitet die Bahn - Bach

15 - Mit Zarten und Vergnügten Trieben - Bach

16 - Noël Provençal - Corrette

... As in, "Remember, O man, that thou art dust."  I take that to mean you shouldn't get too puffed up about your achievements.

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As far as I'm concerned, these performances are not all that impressive.  What do you think?

PERMANENT LINK.

  

See you on Thursday.