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How times have changed! Just a decade ago tape enthusiasts literally grabbed any title they could get their hands on just to have something, anything, to play on their machines. Many of those tapes, in retrospect, were pretty darn bad. Jump ahead a decade and there is such a glut of tapes on the market... Read More »

Trio Archè, BOSSI Piano Trios. Marco Enrico Bossi (1861-1925). BOSSI Piano Trios No. 1 in D minor, Op. 107; No. 2 in D, Op. 123. Brilliant Classics 95581. TT: 66.29.  The music of those nineteenth-century Italian composers who didn't write operas is generally well-crafted and colorful. Yet, despite the occasional attempt to stoke interest—a collection of music... Read More »

Sunny War, With the Sun. ORG Music ORGM-1041, LP $15.89 at Amazon.com. I have this really bad habit of judging albums by their covers. Something gets sent to me in the mail, I glance at it, maybe open it up and look at the liner notes and then I place it in the rotation according to what... Read More »

Arvo Pärt. Mullova - Järvi. Onyx 4201. Darf ich..., Fratres, Passacaglia, Tabula rosa, I Ludus, II Silentium, Spiegel im Speigel] I have never been drawn to the extremely popular and to be fair much admired Estonian contemporary composer, Arvo Pärt. I have found his music an example of the dictum that less may be less. It... Read More »

Photo credit: Geoff Zagarola of La Naranja eBay auctions. I find it hard to believe that 2018 marks the 30th anniversary of the recording session for Arturo Delmoni's legendary 1988 Water Lily solo-violin recital. Recorded at night in a monastery chapel, Delmoni's compelling performances combine thrilling technique with thought-provoking musical insights. This minimalist-audiophile, two channels from two... Read More »

Sarah Reich, New Change. Tap Music Productions B07FTXR22W, CD $9.49 from Amazon.com "I want to be the first tap dancer to win a Grammy Award!" Okay yeah, it's nice to have dreams, kid—wait a minute, did you say tap dancing? A Grammy Award? When you think of tap dancing as an art form, do you think about... Read More »

This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 73. The Stooges, The Stooges. Elektra – EKS-74051 (1969), 33 1/3 rpm. Genre: garage rock, psychedelic-tinged hard rock, proto-punk, avant-rock Clearly there must be something lurking in those waters but thankfully this has nothing to do with the tragedy that hit Flint in 2014. Michigan's music scene... Read More »

Open Goldberg Variations, Werner Schweer, editor. Listening to "happy" music can make one feel happier. However, instead of always making people feel worse, listening to sad music often brings on a state of "paradoxical pleasure." I am not saying that listening to sad music in and of itself makes people happier, what I am saying is that... Read More »

In Positive Feedback Issue 31 (May/June 2007) I reviewed three CDs from Silva Film Music (HERE). Silva Film licenses the rights to film scores and re-records the music using the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. In my review of 2007 I was impressed by the quality of the performances, the excellent recording and mastering that results in... Read More »

The lute is an ancient instrument with its forebearers having been traced back to 3100 BCE in Mesopotamia. Though a popular instrument during the Middle Ages, the lute reached its zenith during the Renaissance. While gradually falling out of favor after the Renaissance, the lute was still being widely used during the Baroque period. By... Read More »

Paavo Järvi conducts Bruckner's Ninth. BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 9 in D minor. Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra/Paavo Järvi. RCA Red Seal 88697542572.  TT: 65.39 The notion of Bruckner's music as thick and heavy persists in some circles, but the earliest recorded evidence from the composer's prominent exponents—think Furtwängler, Klemperer, Horenstein —belies the stereotype. Those conductors projected the music in... Read More »

What is the difference between a collector and someone who just gathers some items? Mieczysław Stoch, the hero of the interview you can also read in this issue of High Fidelity says that collecting is gathering with sense and purpose (HF | No. 171). And what is listening to music from files and how does... Read More »

Friday Night In San Francisco  - John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, and Paco De Lucia Back Story Impex Records has now reissued Friday Night In San Francisco on 180 Gram Numbered Limited Edition vinyl. Only 3000 copies will be made available for sale. Remastered by Bernie Grundman and Bob Donnelly from the original master tapes,... Read More »

Vivaldi, Sonatas for Cello and Basso Continuo,  Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello. Harmonia Mundi. It has been quite a while since we've had recordings of this seldom heard, truly engaging music. Christophe Coin did it well in 1989 for L'oiseau Lyre, Susan Sheppard did it fine that same year with L'école d'Orphee for CRD; and then there... Read More »

"Laid Back is a masterpiece! Gregg's greatest solo album and I'd be shocked by anyone disagreeing with that!" - Alan Paul, author of One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band. "Laid Back is probably the finest record Capricorn released in the post-Duane Allman era." - Scott Freeman, author of Midnight Rider:... Read More »

Radio Free Chip The French have a phrase for it. The bastards have a phrase for everything and they are always right. To say goodbye is to die a little. Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye It’s always too damn soon to say goodbye.  I have always believed...well, postulated in any event, the notion that when... Read More »

Light in the Attic Records LITA169, colored LP $22, LP $20, CD $12, available at lightintheattic.net "Lee Hazlewood wasn't a cowboy, but he sure played the part. He never took LSD but made some far-out, psychedelic records, and he sure as shit didn't surf…but he had a brief yet prolific output of surf music. The... Read More »

Arbors Records ARCD 19463, CD $10, available at https://arborsrecords.com/collections/frontpage/products/tom-hook-62 "Where were you in '62?" The number 62 always gets my attention. That's because I was born in 1962, and any mention of that year and the events that occurred instantly gets embedded in my memory, everything from Marilyn Monroe's death the day before I was... Read More »

If you're wondering why I enjoy having John Marks' erudite commentary (editor of The Tannhauser Gate) here at PF so much, puzzle no more, my friend! His latest essay is full of delights for music fans, and also for those who admire the work of Stanley Kubrick. Read and learn! Dr. David W. Robinson, Ye Olde Editor Trio... Read More »