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).
The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck
It just so happens that I started to watch Ken Burns’ The Dustbowl just as I finished this book, and contrasting the two approaches is illustrative. It’s interesting that Steinbeck makes no mention of the man-made nature of the disaster, even though he knew it was man-made. I suspect this is to help further create …
Hot Coffee (2011, Susan Saladoff)
Full disclosure: I was once a drinker of the “frivolous law suits” koolaid and, if I am not mistaken, I may have even mentioned in my first book that I thought judges should make decisions on “non economic” damages in civil suits.
Granados: Danzas espanolas (1994) by Angela Hewitt
I love Keith Jarrett, and I want to believe that his “improvised” sets from the mid ’70s on are indeed spontaneously conceived, but listening to these dances, I detect at the very least the inspiration for (to get snobby) the harmonic language of The Koln Concert at the very least, in two of these. This …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Jake Gardiner
I think it’s safe to say that Toronto Maple Leafs’ GM Dave Nonis has had a pretty mediocre summer. No, he didn’t break the bank on any underwhelming free agents, like he did in 2013. But he also didn’t demonstrably improve the Leafs in any significant way – if anything they are shallower than they …
Battleship (2012, Peter Berg)
I briefly decided to live blog this one twitter, the first time I ever tried, but frankly I just got tired. It’s hard to know what to do with this film, produced by a toy company, “based” on a board game, and full of every single Navy movie cliche in history.
Witches Brew (1959, 1964, 2008) by the New Symphony Orchestra of London conducted by Alexander Gibson
This is one of those “Spooky classical” things that is generally entertaining but hardly anything more. It’s a good (but obvious) selection of famous “spooky” pieces, primarily from the Romantic era. The Ex and I attended one of these types of things with the TSO one Halloween a few years ago and the selection wasn’t …
Granados: Goyescas; Allegro de concierto; Danza lenta (1990) by Alicia de Larrocha
This is a performance that pairs the Goyescas with two earlier pieces, one a complete piece for piano, and the other a dance excerpted from his first major work.
Jazz (2001, Ken Burns)
Jazz is a noble attempt to be the defining documentary about jazz, “America’s art music” and one of the greatest things to happen in human history, in my humble opinion.
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Bodie, Kontiola, Santorelli
I’ve been busy lately and didn’t have time to comment on the Leafs signings of last week. Well, now’s the time:
String Quartet; So You Want to Write a Fugue; Shostakovitch; Poulenc (1997 Compilation)
I really like Gould’s quartet. I know it’s not the most forward-thinking piece for the time, but I think it’s among the second tier of its era and I really don’t mind listening to it. The fugue-song thing is a different story: I like it but it’s almost too clever. I like that it seems …
The Glenn Gould Collection Vol. 3: Johannes Sebastian Bach: The English Suites, the French Suites (2007 Compilation)
This is a compilation of Gould’s performances of many of Bach’s keyboard suites (originally intended for harpsichord but, as always, Gould plays them on piano). I am not sure of the original recording date because there is no booklet. I think he recorded them in the ’70s but I’m not sure. I believe I have …
SAGA – Curse of the Shadow aka Curse of the Dragon Slayer (2013, John Lyde)
This is s special kind of film.
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Leo Komarov
After doing absolutely nothing on the first day of free agency – which is alright by me – Nonis signed ex-Leaf Leo Komarov to a 4 year, $11.8 mil deal. To which I say, I liked Komarov, but why exactly is he getting nearly $3 million per season?
Civilization (2011) by Niall Ferguson
This appears to me to be an attempt by Ferguson to provide a sort of sequel to Guns, Germs and Steel. I say that because both books begin the same way – the attempt to answer a question about Europe’s predominance over the last few hundred years and because Ferguson makes multiple reference’s to Diamond. …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Maple Leafs’ 2014 Draft
The Leafs missed the playoffs for the 8th time in the last 9 seasons and, as a result of that failure to improve in any tangible way over the last decade, the Leafs were handed their 3rd Top 10 pick since 2008. (Though it should have been their 5th Top 10 pick, but that’s another …
The Raptors’ 2014 Draft
The Raptors surprised everyone this year by drafting a seemingly unknown Brazilian player, Bruno Caboclo, 20th overall. And as much as I would like to give Ujiri the benefit of the doubt, I think we can object to this decision even without invoking the sports xenophobia that idiotic Raptors “fans” have already invoked to criticize …
Swans and St. Vincent Live at Yonge and Dundas Square, June 20th, 2014 (North by Northeast)
The last time I was at one of the North by Northeast free concerts at Yonge and Dundas Square, everything was late, so this time I stupidly showed up late for Swans, expecting them to be late.
Mendocino (1999 Compilation) by Sir Douglas Quintet
Throughout the history of recorded music, there have always been these silly little labels who try to profit off loopholes in music contract regulations, by releasing records or compilations of music that is somehow exempt from copyright protection. This is one of those releases. And I fell for it. Years ago this happened to me …
Did Justin Williams Deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy?
The Professional Hockey Writers Association’s members love clutch goals. At least recently, that appears to be the driving force in so many of the Conn Smythe winners’ resumes, whenever those players are not goalies. So Justin Williams has been given the award this year. Did he deserve it?
Morawetz / Ginastera: Harp Concertos (1989) by Gianetta Baril, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra conducted by Uri Mayer
I have long loved the harp. Ever since I first heard “She’s Leaving Home” sometime in my tweens I was enchanted. And yet I have done a piss poor job of ever seeking out harp music. I can’t really say why exactly, I guess I was just too busy looking for other sounds (that of …
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013, J.J. Abrams)
I was somewhat of a Star Trek fan in my youth: I watched The Next Generation pretty much all the time it was on – both new episodes and reruns – I watched DS9 and Voyager and I watched enough reruns of the original series, to the point where I probably saw a small majority …
Kleines Requiem fur eine Polka; Concerto for Harpsichord; Good Night (1995) by Henryk Gorecki, performed by the London Sinfonietta et. al
This is a rather arbitrary collection of Gorecki’s later “avant garde” works, featuring a concerto from 1980 and two chamber pieces from the 1990s. But putting the arbitrariness to the side, what we are left with is some very stirring music.
Miserere et. al (1994) by Henryk Gorecki, performed by John Nelson et al.
This is a collection of Gorecki’s choral music, mostly performed by choruses from Chicago. (Yet another release where the performers differ from track to track! I really need to get over this.) Fortunately, I wouldn’t have known that, if they didn’t tell me. So that’s something.
The Factory (2012, Morgan O’Neill)
This is one of those “inspired by true events” movies where you know the screenwriters found out about a case with the “factory” of the title and then wrote their ‘idiot plot’ (to steal a phrase from Ebert) all around it. So we have the typical tired, spent cop pursuing a case that nobody else …
The Beer Store Continues to Suck
I was reading The Grid‘s “Spring Beer” guide a little while ago and noticed that Flying Monkey had put out a new version of their cedar-aged Matador. This was exciting since I tend to like a lot of the Flying Monkey special edition beers, and I found the Matador extremely interesting, if not actually stellar. …