DOWNLOAD REVIEWS

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

Deutsche Grammophon has been making a substantial effort to expand into the digital download market. Here are reviews I wrote for Fanfare of two of DG's download-only releases.

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique” * Lorin Maazel, cond; New York P * DG CONCERTS 477 7594 (download only, from www.iTunes.com: 47:27)

Lorin Maazel has always been an effective Tchaikovsky conductor, especially in his early-digital recordings for Telarc. This live performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” is good, but not quite up to the conductor’s past standards. It’s available not on CD, but as a download in Deutsche Grammophon’s DG Concerts Series. At this writing, oddly enough, you can’t get it through DG’s Web Shop, but only via iTunes.

Maazel doesn’t dawdle anywhere in the first movement, which is good, but the urgency of this performance derives from tempo rather than attack and articulation; often, the result is more efficient than impassioned. Maazel does put his heart into certain passages, most notably the explosive portion of the first movement’s development, where he maintains not only drama but also an admirable clarity of orchestral voices. The second movement is also on the quick side, but this time with little attendant sense of tension; it’s merely a bit fast. The march is crisp, without the least hint of malice or desperation, but the brass buildup is well played and patiently managed for maximum effect. Everything finally comes together in the final movement, all the more devastating for its lack of weepiness.

The New York Philharmonic is on its best behavior here. The sonics are bright, even slightly top-heavy, but without glare. The recording actually sounds a bit better in mp3 format on my PDA, heard through good-quality earbuds, than as the .wav files I burned to a CD. There was a bit of signal degradation toward the end of the first movement, which I assume is an anomaly of my particular download.

I may be giving this production a less than whole-hearted endorsement, but it has enough attractive qualities to merit space on your iPod, especially since it’s a new major-league performance and recording sold for only $7.99. James Reel

SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2 * Esa-Pekka Salonen, cond; Los Angeles PO * DG CONCERTS 477 7447 (download only, from www2.deutschegrammophon.com/cat: 43:42)

Esa-Pekka Salonen’s concert reading of the Sibelius Second is austere, muting the triumph of the last movement and linking the earlier movements to the darkness to come in Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony. The performance is no funeral dirge, though. Without sudden gear shifts, Salonen emphasizes the contrasts in tempo; the second movement and the trio of the third are quite slow, while the outer movements are brisk, without feeling rushed. It’s one of those interpretations that lies just outside the mainstream, while somehow managing not to sound affected. The Los Angeles Philharmonic plays beautifully for Salonen, as it has for years. The recorded sound, despite a slight emphasis on the higher frequencies, is good, if close and a bit dry—there’s little sense of what Disney Hall sounds like—but it’s not so dry that the music withers. The left-to-right imaging is very precise, presumably thanks to multi-miking. You might prefer a more consensus interpretation as your primary recording of this symphony, but Salonen’s effort is a highly intelligent and valid alternative, especially as a download to carry on your mp3 player. James Reel

NPR POLITICAL COVERAGE

posted to Rappaport's Notebook by Robert Rappaport

If you have any questions about how the presidential candidates sound on the radio, you might be interested in an email I received recently from NPR.

From: Ron Elving Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 2:46 PM To: News-All Staff Subject: Editing the presidential candidates' tape on NPR

We’ve had some questions about editing McCain and Obama actualities.

Our policy for the past few presidential cycles has been to apply to the major party nominees the same no-edit rule we do to the president. The reason is also the same.

Everything these two guys say is everywhere. Other news orgs and websites and blogs etc. are using the same audio/video every day. If it sounds different when we use it, people will notice.

And no matter how much we need the time savings, and no matter how much they need the help, and no matter how even-handed we are about applying edits to both candidates, some will get the impression we are trying to help one candidate or the other (or even both) be clearer and more effective. It’s not our business to do that.

So that’s why we don’t do it.

Thanks.

MUSICAL POLITICS

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

The Democratic National Convention has a composer in residence, David Amram. No word on whether the Republicans will follow suit. Campaigns on both sides, starting in the primaries, would be vastly improved, I think, if each candidate commissioned an original theme song instead of the existing and not always relevant pop numbers they tend to appropriate—sometimes to the distress of the singers; Jackson Browne has gone so far as to sue McCain.

JENNIFER KOH AND MUSIC@MENLO REVIEWS

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

All I’ve got in the latest issue of Strings is a pair of CD reviews: one of Jennifer Koh’s latest CD, String Poetic, with music by Jennifer Higdon, John Adams, Lou Harrison and Carl Ruggles, and another of Music@Menlo’s 2007 festival concerts.

UA CLASSES RESUME MONDAY

posted to Rappaport's Notebook by Robert Rappaport

The relative peace and quiet non-academic entities on campus (like AZPM) have been experiencing this summer comes to a screeching halt Monday.

Old Main - Photo courtesy of University of Arizona

The UA says more than 37,000 students will arrive on campus next week. Sure, these students (and their parents) help fund the campus that employs thousands of people, but it is sure nice not to have to wait in line to get a bagel or a cup of coffee during the summer months.

It's also nice not having to wait for throngs of people to make their way through crosswalks while I'm trying to leave campus and it's also nice not having to see inconsiderate bicyclists thinking stop signs are merely decorations.

Despite all that...welcome back students!

If you'd like to see UA President Shelton offering his thoughts on the new school year, click here.

ARIZONA ONSTAGE UPDATE

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

My latest scribbling for the Tucson Weekly:

Kevin Johnson has been having one of those good-news/bad-news summers. The good news is that his Arizona Onstage production of Stephen Sondheim's _Sunday in the Park With George_ sold out every show in June and got great reviews. The bad news is that even with packed houses, the run left Arizona Onstage Productions more than $10,000 in the hole. Johnson briefly considered shutting down his company. Other good news is that Johnson learned that he may be more or less the inspiration for the main character in a movie being released Aug. 27. The bad news is that the movie is _Hamlet 2_, whose main character is a talentless dork who leads his high school drama students into an ill-advised production that features a song titled "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus." Johnson briefly considered legal action, but, then, he was more than $10,000 in the hole. Ultimately, he decided to forge ahead with another Arizona Onstage season, the first production of which will open next week. And he decided to relax and enjoy the 15 minutes of notoriety he'll get from _Hamlet 2_, even though he's decided not to comment on it publicly for fear of making people wonder just what goes on during his day job at the highly touted BASIS Tucson School.

The full story is here.