Somewhere in this movie is an interesting comment on these mindless revenge thrillers starring middle aged men rampaging through American or European cities, usually because a child was killed or abducted. I can see the germ of that idea. And it’s an idea I love. I want to see that movie.
Month: September 2014
Grieg: Songs (1993) by Anne Sofie von Otter; Bengt Forsberg
This is a collection of Grieg’s songs that includes both Haugtussa and other songs from his numerous sets, picked, I guess, arbitrarily. Haugtussa is the highlight for me and a reason to rate this set higher than just an arbitrary collection of a composer’s songs should be rated.
Grieg: Piano Concerto; Holberg Suite (1988) by Various Artists
This is one of those extremely annoying compilations where there is virtually no information: we know the performers of the pieces but not when or where. Labels like Quintessence get their hands on recordings that don’t have copyright protection in North America and release these recordings to unsuspecting consumers such as libraries, which is how …
The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark (1997) by Grant Green
This set compiles the first three albums Grant recorded with pianist Sonny Clark before the band was expanded to a quintet later in 1962. Interestingly, none of these albums were released until 1980 (in Japan) which, given the quality of the music, it’s really hard to understand.
Violin Sonatas: Bartok / Strauss / Grieg (2011) by Vilde Frang
This is a strong collection of mid-to-late Romantic and early modern violin sonatas. The collection spans a very long period of time.
Peer Gynt Suites; Karelia Suite; The Swan of Tuonela (1965, 1976, 2003) by Various Artists
This is a compilation of two major romantic orchestral suites – one by Jean Sibelius and one by Edvard Grieg – buttressed by an excerpt from another of Sibelius’ suites.
Dvorak; Poulenc; Grieg (2009) by Marie-Josee Simard, Marie Fabi
This is an interesting recording that takes three well known sonatas (two violin sonatas, one of which at least is among the greatest of the twentieth century, and one flute) adapted for vibraphone. I am really open to this kind of stuff and I must say that I think this really works and I am …
The 50 Year Argument (2014, Martin Scorsese, David Tedeschi)
Scorsese and Tedeschi’s film about the New York Review of Books is not a documentary about the magazine so much as it is a love letter to it. (To be fair, in the subsequent conversation, Scorsese said he wasn’t interested in “conventional” documentaries – that is documentaries as journalism. Rather he wants to make Cinema.) …
Natural Resistance (2014, Jonathan Nossiter)
I thoroughly enjoyed Mondo Vino and so I guess I was looking for more of the same. Well this is a very different film (as well it should be).