Classical sacd round up part eleven - two by Stravinsky

Seeing we are into the new year, we resume the ongoing series around classical music on super audio cd staying very much with one letter-S.
Igor Stravinsky was a Russian composer that really pushed the boundaries of what had been accepted in European classical music, never more so than in his ballet scores of which Le Sacre du Printemps that actually caused a riot in Paris on its début.
The Firebird (L 'Oiseau de fue) was written for the 1910 Paris ballet season and is based around the Russian folk tales of the Firebird and the blessings and curses it brings to its owner.
It was first performed at Opéra de Paris June 25 1910  where it was an instance with public and critics a like.

 For orchestral concerts, a reduced version, the Firebird Suite was devised in 1919 and recordings of both abound.
For a long time the 1959 Mercury recording issued on cd in 1992 and briefly on super audio cd in the early 2000's have been the 'to go' version for recording quality and interpration.
More recently Sweden's BIS label issued this modern stereo and multi-channel  version which comes extremely close to matching that making for a modern replacement in Super Audio (as well as regular cd) with the improvements high resolution digital recording can bring.
It is coupled with orchestrations by Stravinsky of works originally by Chopin,Sibelius and Tchaikovsky.
While during the nineteen-sixties increasingly stereo recordings and matching equipment superseded monaural high fidelity, in the recording studios and research centres people were looking toward  not just sounds from left and right but also how to transmit the ambience of a concert hall into a living room for greater realism.
This lead to "Quadraphonic sound" with two speakers left and right behind you as well as the by now standard front left and right to send that additional sonic signature (and in popular music, effects too).
As was the requirements of that era the results were recorded for lp record and tape and an artist and composer who featured was  Pierre Boulez with the New York Philharmonic conducting the works of Stravinsky.

 From those sessions the British company Dutton Vocalian have re-issued in stereo and quadraphonic two lps in that series Petrushka with David Jacobs on piano originally issued in 1972 and the Pulcinella suite from 1978 on a single Super Audio cd that plays for just under 80 minutes.
These interpretations have stood the test of time and in this disc that also plays on regular cd too, Michael Dutton's mastering from the original analogue tapes affords the best sound these recordings have ever had .
I personally found both of these discs hugely enjoyable for the playing as well as sound.

Changestwobowie redux

On Wednesday I went out armed with a remaining HMV store voucher and some cash from Christmas at least in part because of that store groups current crisis is in 'administration' with the intention of getting the odd thing I'd not got around to.
In June of 2016 I wrote about the vinyl re-issue of the iconic ChangesOneBowie compilation lp - a kind of greatest hits - originally issued in 1976 but on April 13th last year the follow up issued some five years later was also reissued but I hadn't gotten around to getting a copy.

Originally issued in November of 1981on RCA records, it followed the format of the first volume with a seamless selection of  songs split for lp across two sides with a fairly plain photo free blue rear with a large capitalized tracklisting.
I remember seeing this at a record store I frequented around late 1981/2 looking almost lost around the other major releases of the era and a part of this stems from David having no input into the track selection which has it odd points as it features 1984 from the Diamond Dogs album but not his more recent hit, 1979's Boys Keep Swinging and as this compilation goes back to 1971 for its selection it failed to sum up what mattered in that year so much effected by the "Berlin trilogy" albums (Low,Heroes and The Lodger) and Scary Monsters.

 That was an influence on not buying it until the cd era - have the super rare RCA cd from 1984 - and I wasn't alone as the sales figures were much lower for this than it the first installment.
This is in spite of having the disco remake that is John I'm Only Dancing (Again) that was never on a studio album.
The record was re-issued in both standard black vinyl 180 grams and blue which like with the re-issued ChangesOneBowie with it being pot luck as to which version you got as there's no indication on the lp jacket.
Mine is the rarer blue vinyl one shown above where you'll see  they have stylized "Bowie" to pass at first sight for the 1980's RCA records logo on the left and the reminder of the typesetting mimics the RCA label of that era.

 The record itself is housed in a smooth-sided card sleeve that is a close replica of the original that removes any reference to RCA Records and his narration on the record of Peter and the Wolf that RCA issued and was advertised originally.
Looking at it in 2018/9, the pair of albums to sum up as well as one might expect his main era and for some of us the soundtracks of our lives nay childhoods even and so sound better than the original editions did.
Whereas on cd the 1993 deleted The Singles Collection sums his career up better to 1987, I think for a vinyl based part nostalgic look these two albums do work well.

Previous entry:
ChangesOneBowie

January round up

It's been something of a mixed week with being a bit busy with the build up to February tidying up the desktop of the old Windows laptop and things .
Apart from about six days of low temperature it has been a fairly mild winter here to the point that I noticed while out some of spring flowers had started to burst out of the school gardens I pass most days here and in fact going toward a patch of woodland, you can actually see the pussy willows and catkin out which was something always loved as a kid.

There has been some strong stormy days out mixed in this so apart from running my Tumblr account and visiting the odd site, I have been doing some colouring.

 No that's not a miracle, I do actually have fingers not that they work so well, trying hold that page down as I took a picture of it with an old camera lens mount in its box holding done a sheet of spare paper.
Yes, they are small fingers too so I have to wear girls gloves as groan up ones are too big!!!
The lambs were out this weekend as I walked past their field and their was quite a bit of activity on the bird front.
I did also redo some minidiscs one using an early edition of a title that sounded better and had another bunch of six brand new blank ones arrive here to keep me busy.

Tidied up sleep

It's a new year so naturally here we're talking down the decorations, the tree, the nativity scene ready for next plus the cards now are being sorted into those that can be recycled and those that cannot.
That just leaves the community tree that we carolled by still  up which I'm sure will be disconnected and picked up by our local authority soon enough.
It might interest people to know we spend a good portion of our time sleeping and for me also napping during the day so it was with that I had a new duvet as mine was showing signs of much appreciation.
I grow up (allegedly) with sheets and blankets on the bed but for a while now have had modern duvets which once you got the hang of putting the in their covers, aligning the corners are quicker and super warm.

 Pillows get a pounding with me and having a bad neck usually require frequent changing to ensure they get good support so I had a new soft one to replace the eider filled one I had that had started to go a bit flat.

This should help in getting a good nights sleep in that apart from feeling a bit less grouchy from discomfort also said aid relaxing more.