Selected: Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World." The Georg Solti version with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has great tone and balance in the strings, and a very warm resonant brass section. The dynamic swings are more pronounced and Solti keeps a more organic tempo than Masur. This is probably the best of my recordings of this piece, but my familiarity with the Batiz version makes for a difficult choice.
Random: The debut album from The Punch Brothers sounds essentially like another Chris Thile solo effort. His incredibly sensitive voice and magical mandolin playing take center stage in an ensemble that performs lengthy compositions that sound alternately like mellow bluegrass and a classical string quartet. The group throws in a few challenging rhythms along the way along with some responsive group interplay. While some of the compositions seem to lack energy at times, they provide a rewarding listening experience overall, particularly on a sound system that can adequately reproduce the subtle acoustic resonances of the instruments.
No comments:
Post a Comment