Ok...it's not really recorded in a gymnasium. It just sounds that way (more on this below). More importantly, this is lovely Mozart from beginning to end. It's rather old-fashioned, in a warm, Romantic way, with moderate tempos. But smiling and lively too. And here's the deal...if you think Raffaele Trevisani sounds JUST like James Galway, you're right. He does. Trevisani was a student of Galway's. And I've heard it said (and have witnessed it firsthand a few times myself back in the day) that any flutist who spends time with Galway (even for just a one-off master class), comes away with his distinctive tone. I sure wish they'd share the secret! 

There is a problem here, though. And it's not that Trevisani sounds just like Galway. In my book, that's actually a positive. And it's what drew me to this particular flutist in a world where one flutist tends to sound pretty much like every other. No, the problem here is the outrageously over-reverberant acoustic. Delos for some reason has chosen the biggest, swampiest, churchiest church to record this intimate music, and then did nothing to mitigate the reverberation. Even on a very highly detailed stereo system such as mine, the acoustic reverberation swamps the music-making in a very distracting way. And it's a real pity, because the playing has all the ingredients to be charming and smiling. This would be a glorious venue for recording an a cappella choral group in some ethereal, 20th Century repertoire. But for lively Mozart chamber music - not so much. On the plus side, the flute is spotlit in front of the strings, so that radiant Galway-esque tone shines through. But it leaves the string trio wallowing in the reverb. This so easily could/should have corrected by the recording engineer with a simple adjustment of the microphones.

Returning to my favorite recording of these glorious quartets - from Oxalys on the Fuga Libera label - I'm rewarded instantly with a breath of fresh air. It's fresher, lighter, airier, much clearer, and positively bubbles with charm, energy and life-affirming joy.

I really like this flutist and have ordered his discs of Mozart and Mercadante concertos. I'm currently listening to his Delos disc, "New Century Flute Concertos", which contains some interesting music (and one masterpiece). It's also well recorded. He is a very musical, insightful player and I absolutely love his sound. Compared to Galway, Trevisani's sound isn't quite as thick, his vibrato is not quite as wide and heavy, and mercifully he does not honk the low notes like his teacher loves to do. So I actually prefer his sound to Galway - at least in Mozart. But I sure hope he has better recording engineers in other discs. Delos is a label we don't see much of any more. But sadly they really made a mess of this one from 2014. 

​I'm relatively new to British clarinetist, Julian Bliss. And the more I hear, the more I love his playing. (Incidentally, he studied in the U.S. at Indiana University and subsequently with Sabine Meyer in Germany.)

He possesses an absolutely beautiful tone. If not quite the overtly gorgeous woodiness of Martin Frost, it is clearer, perfectly focused and supported - a simply beautiful, rounded tone. And it is lovely to listen to. No matter the material, there is never a strident high note; never a fruity, unsupported spread. It's not overly dark or thick. Suffice it to say, Julian Bliss has just about the most beautiful, natural clarinet sound you're ever likely to encounter.

And he's so utterly musical too. His Mozart simply sings - as if he's a soprano at the Met expressing her profound love for the tenor. Not melting; not sentimental; simply a natural outpouring of expression via lovely legato lines, punctuated by crisply executed articulation. Again, though, it's not quite so intentionally ravishing, ala Martin Frost. But somehow even more natural in its simplicity. Mr. Bliss does play a basset-clarinet here, with the 4 additional low notes, making this one of the most rewarding accounts of this concerto on record.

And he turns in an exceptional Nielsen too, where his display of virtuosity is never ostentatiously flashy, ala Andreas Ottensamer, but so very musical - serving only the composer's score. This somewhat wayward concerto has not always convinced me of its musical merits, but Mr. Bliss brings a real sense of purpose and direction to it which finally allows this piece to fully make sense. I found it very enjoyable. Conductor Mario Venzago deserves high praise as well, providing insightful and responsive support in both concertos.

The fillers are two Mozart soprano arias, arranged for clarinet by Mr. Bliss himself. They work exceptionally well for clarinet, and sound for all the world as if Mozart wrote them just this way! I enjoyed both ever bit as much as the concertos.

Signum Classics provides excellent recorded sound, with the soloist perfectly placed before the orchestra in a lovely acoustic. The clarinet is not at all spotlit, as it is in their more recent recording of the Mozart for Mark van de Wiel, where his close proximity to the mic in the low notes nearly ruins Mozart's musical line. 

It would be difficult to imagine a better recording of these clarinet concertos than this. Indeed, I cannot think of another recording of the Mozart that I enjoy more. I've already listened to this one many times. Julian Bliss is one I will explore further.

​I'm puzzled by this release, especially as it is listed as a "Vol 1" in a series. 

First, Chandos already has a wonderful, 80-minute disc of the music of Eric Coates, conducted by Rumon Gamba with this same orchestra (the BBC Philharmonic, 2002). That CD is an absolute knock-out, containing all the real "greatest hits", with sparkling, energetic music-making and superb sound - rather unlike this latest one from John Wilson, I'm afraid.

Second, Mr. Wilson has already recorded a lot of Coates. There are two late-1990s discs of orchestral works and miniatures for ASV with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Then he made another collection with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in 2005, for Avie Records. And in 2008, back to the BBC Concert Orchestra he went to record yet another collection for Dutton Epoch. Now he takes up this repertoire again, this time with the BBC Philharmonic for Chandos.

The good news is that there is very little duplication - so far - in all these discs. This new Chandos series, however, starts off with three. From the ASV recordings, Wilson here duplicates The Dancing Nights and the first of the Two Symphonic Rhapsodies. And he duplicates the London Everyday Suite with Gamba's Chandos disc. One has to expect many more duplicates will be inevitable with future installments.

What bothers me the most, however, is that the inspiration from the podium is several notches below what we'd expect. Mr. Wilson now sounds just a little tired of it all and the music lacks the charm, sparkle and sheer joy found in his earlier recordings. Then there is the sound. I was surprised Chandos chose not to release this on SACD, as would have been expected based on prior successes with that format and this conductor (namely the Copland and Bennett series). And listening to it, I can hear why. This is not one of Chandos's best-sounding recordings. It's a little claustrophobic/congested, a bit hard in climaxes, and overall lacks air and spaciousness. This soundscape may very well be part of the reason the music doesn't seem to smile as much as it should.

And finally, an unfortunate programming blunder: just as the final, gentle sounds of the lovely By The Sleepy Lagoon fade into nothingness, all of a sudden...BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The hugely loud, hard, bombastic opening note of the London Suite blast into the listening room without warning (with some audible distortion in the recording, I might add), quite ruining the mood and annoying the hell out of me. And what follows continues to be loud, bombastic and too fast - completely devoid of charm. I just can't imagine what anyone involved with this had in mind here. 

After being rather bored with this first volume in the new Chandos series, I dusted off Wilson's ASV discs from my shelves and sat down for a quick listen. And I couldn't for a moment turn it off! I thoroughly enjoyed them and was pleased to hear ASV's brighter, more immediate house-sound suited these scores perfectly.

While I welcome new recordings of this composer's delightfully lighthearted music, I'm afraid this series from John Wilson is superfluous. I can only guess he would like to memorialize his recordings of this composer in an integral set for a single label. But, frankly, the music of Eric Coates doesn't really justify such extravagance, especially when he's already recorded so much of it and there are so many neglected composers he could (should) turn to. For those interested in this repertoire, I'd highly recommend starting with Gamba's fabulous Chandos CD, or any of Wilson's earlier recordings.

I'm not often enticed by cover art, but I have to admit this one did it to me. Seeing that big basset-clarinet up close to a normal clarinet was so fascinating (having never seen one in person) that I had to give this disc a try. And Mark van de Wiel, being the principal clarinet of the Philharmonia, sealed the deal.

And it's a bit of a mixed bag, I'm afraid.

Beginning with the Phibbs Concerto, I read in the wonderful booklet that it was written for (along with a "creative friendship" with) our soloist. It was premiered with the Philharmonia in November 2017 and this recording was made shortly after. And what a wonderful, fresh, energetic creation it is! It is structured in an ambitious 4-movement layout and is expertly and colorfully orchestrated. The first two movements are very reminiscent of Copland's more famous clarinet concerto. Yet it possesses such a unique voice (and colorful orchestration) the Copland flavor simply brought smile after smile while listening. Then with the Adagio, and especially the finale, Phibbs establishes a more original and secure individuality. While the preceding is decidedly American-esque, the remainder sounds firmly French. The Adagio often reminds me of Henri Tomasi (specifically his glorious saxophone concerto), while the finale takes it another daring step further into the realm of Connesson, with its dazzling virtuosity for both soloist and orchestra. 

The playing here is simply fabulous. This is a studio recording but sounds for all the world like a live performance, with its effortless spontaneity and unbuttoned exuberance. There is a sense of occasion and an ever-present feeling of new discovery. It is also spectacularly recorded, with the orchestra given thrilling presence.

The Mozart, unfortunately, is not as satisfactory. It was recorded "live", with a different orchestra in a different hall. It is well played and the London Chamber Orchestra is incisive and alert. But there is a touch of the routine in Mr. van de Wiel's playing. But what spoiled it for me was his propensity for showing off those low notes of his basset-clarinet. He honks them out with unnecessary force, disrupting the melodic line and sounding quite out of character for Mozart. I guess I should have expected such ostentation, given the cover art; but Mozart's glorious score must still be given top priority. I suppose signum classics might be partly to blame, as the  soloist is very closely mic'd. However, the sound of his clarinet overall does not strike me as outrageously spot-lit throughout the rest of its range. And on another live recording from signum of this same concerto, from the wonderful Julian Bliss, there is none of this honking in the low notes. That entire performance is eminently more musical and natural. Perhaps van de Wiel leans in toward the mic as he plummets down to those lowest notes. Or maybe he's trying too hard to fill the hall with sound. Who knows. Regardless, it left me annoyed. And the rapturous applause which instantly erupts at the end is something I certainly could have done without. (Signum had the good sense to edit it out on their live recording for Bliss.)

This disc is worth it for the glorious Phibbs concerto. But if your main interest is with the Mozart, I'd turn to any number of other recordings of that - none better than the aforementioned Julian Bliss. The one from Martin Frost on BIS is also satisfying.

I haven't reviewed many discs this summer - for a variety of reasons (stereo issues, mainly). Now that things are getting back to normal, it's time to get back to what I love. Starting off with this ridiculous bunch of nonsense on DG's latest "star-marketed" album doesn't get me motivated, I'm afraid. But here it is - short and very sweet. ​

I'm scratching my head trying to comprehend why John Williams participated in this. He doesn't need the money; he doesn't need the fame; he doesn't need the exposure. He certainly doesn't need a job! So then why would he stoop to a project requiring him to make syrupy sweet, elevator Musak arrangements of all these wonderful tunes? 

I guess DG should be admired for making it happen. Because there is not a whit of musical value to it. I personally could not listen to much of it. It's like eating chocolate mouse, followed by chocolate cake and finishing the meal with chocolate cream pie. It's so sickeningly sweet, it's simply nauseating. And Mutter's slow, wide, sea-sick vibrato only increases the urge to hurl. 

John Williams is my hero. He's one of my very favorite composers - ever. I probably listen to more John Williams music on the stereo than any other composer - certainly more than any other living composer. And yet this CD just makes me sick to my stomach. But people will buy it and go "Ga-Ga" over it because it's John Williams and it's Anne-Sophie Mutter, who they think they're supposed to just love. But I just can't. 

DG, good job; you'll make your "classical" quota this quarter. Mr. Williams, I'm shocked you had any part of this. I'd discourage anyone from supporting this kind of production.

​These fantastic Dohynanyi/Vienna Stravinsky and Bartok recordings have been reissued many times before (on Decca and Eloquence). For once, they are worth the repeated appearances. They are magnificent in every way - exciting, colorful, atmospheric, superbly played and spectacularly recorded.

If this Eloquence release seems familiar, it is - sort of. The Dohnanyi items were issued separately on 2 Eloquence CDs in 2004. For this current release, Eloquence has helpfully combined them as a two-fer, and had the brilliant idea of adding Maazel's 1974 Rite of Spring. This addition brings together all 3 famous Stravinsky ballets, plus the Bartok, making this a very attractive and extremely generous bargain. Indeed, the playing times are 80'33 and 79'31!

One remark about Maazel's 1974 Rite: this is somewhat of a rarity. To my knowledge, it is has only been issued on CD in Decca's massive box set of every Rite of Spring Decca/DG ever recorded. (That is a splendid collection, by the way!) To have it here, separated from a 20-disc set, is cause for excitement. It is a splendid performance, in great sound. I prefer this one over his subsequent recordings of the piece. It is more natural and less over-the-top, yet still splendidly full of drama, color and spectacle. And it is superbly played by the Vienna Philharmonic. The vintage 1970s Decca sound is typical of that era - with some minor spotlighting, but yet natural enough.

Hopefully, these Dohnanyi recordings are well-known to most collectors. If not, they should be. Not only are they among the very best (certainly some of the most exciting) of this repertoire ever committed to disc, they're also some of best recorded. And for those who are often disappointed with the inaudible organ contribution in most Miraculous Mandarines - you are in for a real treat with this one. Wow.

I have enjoyed Volumes 1 and 2 in this series from Chandos, with some notable exceptions. But Volume 3 will be my last. (Please see my reviews for the earlier volumes below.)
​
So here's how it's going:
Volume 1 - thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end (well, with the exception of the Marimba Concerto). Beautifully played and recorded.
Volume 2 - a mixed bag. Some more of the richly atmospheric, lyrical expression heard in Volume 1, plus some atonal nonsense in the form of his Symphony #2. And there's a truly disappointing performance of the saxophone concerto, played with unpleasant tone by a poorly chosen soloist. Recording quality becomes questionable and variable.
Now comes Volume 3, which is more of RRB's atonal serialism we heard in the symphony on Vol 2. Ugh.

His Symphony #1 begins with an unpleasant, unmusical, uninteresting motif and it continues similarly for 22 long minutes. I'm certainly glad RRB eventually outgrew this phase. But I'm not glad Chandos has decided to subject us to it.

Zodiak (symphonic poem) is more of the same - atonal, but not quite so "serial-ist"; not quite the obvious "paint-by-numbers" formula heard in the first two symphonies. More tolerable, and rather more pleasant, is Reflections for String Orchestra, which was written for our conductor here, John Wilson. But surprisingly, I found this reading of it to be rather reserved and uninvolving. One would have thought Mr. Wilson would have poured his heart and soul into this one, being its dedicatee and all. But nope. I found it curiously unmoving. I didn't listen to the vocal selection, as that is simply not my thing, even under the best of circumstances.

The sound is good in the traditional Chandos manner, especially in SACD. But I'm over Richard Rodney Bennett now. Mr. Wilson (and Chandos), please move on to something else.

I do not normally review audio equipment on this blog, but a recent acquisition of a new power conditioner prompted me to inform others of my experience with it.

​I was excited when AudioQuest announced this unit and its bigger brother, the PowerQuest 3, both of which are affordable alternatives to their big-boy power conditioners in the Niagara line. But, alas, as with everything, you get what you pay for.

This unit ($200) is all plastic, as to be expected at this price point. But it comes with its own, captive power cord. On one hand, this saves you the expense of buying an after-market cord; but on the other, also prevents you from upgrading it to something better. I was pleased though to find it was a custom-made AudioQuest cord with a 3x14 awg rating. That's pretty impressive on such a relatively inexpensive unit, and should provide the necessary current for a complete home theater system. It has an on/off switch and a reset button, which protects the unit in the event it is tripped by an actual surge/spike.

What makes this unit so enticing is that it offers: 
1) a high current outlet, which is very useful for those with a high output amp or receiver; and 
2) a special plug specifically filtered for a high-def (4K) television. The owner's pamphlet states this plug may be beneficial for blu-ray players as well. I did not try it with a disc player, but it seemed to work wonders for the crispness of picture and richness of colors on my 55" Samsung TV.

This unit did not fare nearly as well on sound, though. Right out of the box, it was ill-focused, dark, muddy and dynamically polite, which can be expected from a brand new unit. And, sure enough, after several days of constant use, it began to open up and dynamics and focus improved considerably. Unfortunately, what began as a rather dark sonic character eventually lightened up too far in the opposite direction. The resultant sonic palette was rather gray and washed out, lacking warmth and richness. It was refined and had a pleasant perspective (not too forward, not too laid back), but lacked fullness, color and real power. I attribute this to its inherently lean sound. Deep bass was tight but light. This overall sound did not benefit full symphony orchestra recordings or movies.

Worst of all, however, I eventually began hearing distortion here and there on a variety of movies and CDs, which worsened as time went on. Combined with its thin sound, I began to suspect something was amiss. I removed the unit and upon close examination, I discovered a 1" long, deep cut in its power cord, which went all the way through to the wires inside. I do not know how detrimental this defect was to its overall sound, but I can state with almost certainty it was causing the distortion I was hearing (which went away completely once I removed this unit).​

It's disheartening to realize that even a reputable company like AudioQuest can fail at quality control. This is a serious defect which is, frankly, unacceptable. I returned the unit back to Amazon and received a full refund. I may consider AudioQuest's new Niagara 1200 power conditioner, coming in April, 2019. For $995, I expect it would be a significantly better-sounding unit. However, I now have reservations about AudioQuest, particularly as it is well known that much of their product offering is made in China these days. And their quality control can suffer as a result.
​
Incidentally, the only difference between this unit and its more expensive sibling, the PowerQuest 3 ($300), is the number of outlets. The "3" offers two high current and two HD TV plugs, along with the identical 4 standard plugs. 

UPDATE 03/30/19 - AudioQuest commented on my review - as posted on Amazon.com - and offered sincere regrets for the problem I encountered. More importantly, they also kindly pointed out there is a significant difference between the PowerQuest 2 and PowerQuest 3, other than just the additional plugs I noted above. On the 4 standard plugs, the PQ3 provides "Ultra-Linear" filtering, while the PQ2 offers just "Linear" filtering. Not knowing what this means, I did a little research and found that "Ultra Linear" provides both Common-Mode AND Differential-Mode filters, while "Linear" is just the Differential-mode circuit. I cannot say how much this additional filtering will affect the overall sound, but theoretically, the PQ3 should offer better performance than the 2. And the extra circuit accounts in large part for the additional $100 in cost.