This is, to my ears, quite superior to the followup, the Kingdom. The music is more interesting and compelling, and this is also a little shorter (I think). I still don’t know why someone would opt for this over, say, a Bach, but it’s well done decent enough. 8/10
Sir Edward Elgar Conducts Elgar: Falstaffl Cello Concerto; Nursery Suite (2007)
Though the sound isn’t ideal – though it certainly is better than I expected – this is the most interesting Elgar I have heard so far. Fastaff is fantastic; it feels like half of the first wave of film score composers adored it. And unlike so much programmic music, it actually sounds out the action, …
Piano Quintent; String Quartet by Edward Elgar (2011) performed by Goldern Quartet, Piers Lane
This is an odd combination: we get a string quartet, piano pieces seemingly picked at random from two separate eras of his career, and the piano quintet. I guess they wanted to give us our money’s worth or something.
Elgar: Sympyhonies 1 & 2 (1968, 2007) by London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult
I guess Elgar gets his rep because he was perhaps the first really notable British composer in some time – or up until that point, I don’t really know. But I think that reputation is inflated – at least based on my earliest listens to his music – by the general Anglophilia that is a …
Elgar: Enigma Variations; In the South; Serenade (2007) by Andrew Davis, Philharmonia Orchestra
The so-called “Enigma Variations” are disappointing if only because one thinks that maybe they will be weird (or at least mysterious). They are not weird. They are tuneful and crowd-pleasing. “In the South” is one of those weird things that composers write where it feels like there should have been more (and they acknowledge that …
2013 NHL Awards
Here is my annual wrap-up of the NHL awards. As usual, it includes both real awards and made-up awards that should exist to save the voters from themselves.
Your 2013 Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs have mercifully made the playoffs for the first time since 2004. There are those out there who are very excited about this – I am more cautious in my enthusiasm – and many are thinking that those of us who often criticized former GM Brian Burke’s “plan” should eat our own words. But …
Timing is Everything
When the RCMP announced they arrested two suspected train bombers the other day, many people questioned the timing. They claimed they had been following them for a year, and yet there was no immediate danger to public safety. Announced in the week following the Boston Marathon bombing, many suspected the RCMP were either just trying …
Chimes of Freedom: the Songs of Bob Dylan (2012) by Various Artists
This is, I guess, a fitting tribute to the greatest English-language singer-songwriter of the second half of the twentieth century (of the whole century? of any language?). It is extremely vast, though that is appropriate, as there are over 70 songs. The problem with all tribute albums, but especially one that attempts to deal with …
Your 2012-13 Toronto Raptors
I think this year has to be viewed as a major disappointment for Raptor fans. Though I didn’t watch nearly enough games to properly judge this team I will do so anyway. [Note: the real title of this piece should be “Riley cannot evaluate basketball talent.]
NHL Trade Deadline 2013: It’s a Buyers Market
It has been fairly busy prior to trade-deadline day, likely meaning that, as usual, trade-deadline day will be uneventful. Here’s what’s been happening. March 29, 2013 Edmonton Oilers get: Kale Kessy, 20, LW Phoenix Coyotes get: Tobias Rieder, 20, RW Rieder is still very young and has been putting up decent numbers in the OHL. …
Dvorak: Symphony No. 8 / Brahms: Symphony No. 3 (1988) by Wiener Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
In 2013, I wrote the following: At first this seemed to me like an arbitrary combination (something which I generally dislike) but for some reason the two works seem to mesh well together, and it’s not just because they were written within five years of each other. They seem (at least on my first listens) …
Jarome Iginla Trade to the Penguins
Iginla used to be my favourite player back in the day, even though I am not a Calgary fan. So I am glad to see him move to a contender, even though it certainly would have been nice to see a player who entered the league more recently than Lidstrom finish his career with one …
Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000)
I get this, I appreciate it intellectually, and I often find it amusing, but I have to say that, as someone who had a love-hate relationship with George on Seinfeld, I have trouble watching parts of this show. My problem is that I don’t like people like this and I have trouble relating to the …
Did Boardwalk Empire Jump the Shark at the end of its third season?
The Conservative Party of Canada is now officially the Party of Willful Ignorance.
Last week, the Government of Canada voted against “Science.” Quite literally, it turns out. Here is the text of the motion the Conservatives voted down: That, in the opinion of the House, a) public science, basic research, and the free and open exchange of scientific information are essential to evidence-based policy-making; b) federal government scientists must …
Treason is what you make it
I am a regular viewer of the Amazing Race, the only “reality” show I can handle which isn’t cooking-related. I am aware that the show is not exactly what it seems, as I am aware that it is edited and that the crew manipulate the results. I don’t care. I enjoy the “race” aspect of …
Dvorak Piano Trios Nos. 1 and 2 (1989) by the Raphael Trio
This collects Dvorak’s two least-regarded piano trios. I didn’t know that while I listened to it, and, now that I know, I’m not quite surprised. The music is certainly pleasant, but one can understand why people haven’t gone crazy over this music, which seems to me as if it could easily have been written in …
Dvorak: Violin Concerto, Sonata and Sonatina (2009) by Jack Liebeck
This is a good summary of Dvorak’s violin music. Dvorak isn’t my favourite, but I enjoy him enough. As usual, I cannot really comment on the performance and how it relates to other performances as this is the first time I have heard these pieces. But the sound is good and Jack Liebeck sounds like …
The Campaign to fire Dave Nonis: Komisarek
Mike Komisarek got waived yesterday. It’s about time. Hopefully somebody takes him. But it doesn’t really matter as the Leafs can afford to pay him in the AHL anyway. $4.5 million per year for:
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: David Steckel
Anaheim Ducks get: David Steckel, 31, C Leafs get: Ryan Lasch, RW/LW; 7th Round Pick Before I knew who Steckel was, I was really upset when the Leafs traded a 4th round pick for him back in October of 2011. This is because I looked at his hockey-reference.com profile and not his NHL.com profile and …
The Songs of Henri Duparc (1989) by Sarah Walker, Thomas Allen, Roger Vignoles
For reasons I can’t quite articulate, I find lieder tough to get into. My first reaction is to be a little surprised that this guy’s status in the canon rests on this.
New NHL Divisions
The NHL Board of Governors just approved this realignment plan. I am, for the most part, all for it. The plan was necessitated by the Thrashers moving from Atlanta to Winnipeg. Back in May of 2011, I discussed the problems for the current six-division system. Since the move, the Zombie Thrashers have been playing in …
Journalism and Democracy
We are at a time when journalism – or at least the potential to perform journalism – has become democratized in ways previously never thought possible. There are more “journalists” and outlets supposedly performing “journalism” than ever existed in history before. There are more people and outlets posing as journalistic. There is more coverage of …
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012, Timur Bekmambetov)
Based on the title and on some moderately positive reviews I read at the time of its theatrical release, I was actually kind of looking forward to this despite – perhaps because of – its poor box office performance. But I don’t really know where to begin.
Nazem Kadri’s 2013 NHL Performance
Based on nearly half of this bastardized “season,” the remarks I made about Kadri were wrong. And, provided he keeps up this point-per-game pace – and there is no guarantee that he will or won’t – his emergence as a legitimate top 6 forward in the NHL stands as a reminder to people like me …
String Quartets Nos. 1-4 (2012) by Michael Tippett, performed by the Britten Quartet
This is certainly my king of music. I do prefer it a little more out there, but this is still pretty great stuff. 9/10
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
I have just returned from spending five nights at the Elk Country Inn in Jackson, Wyoming, where my brother and I skied (and snowboarded) at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, just outside of Jackson. We did not know this, but JHMR is widely considered one of the most difficult ski resorts in North America. (We were …
Symphonies Nos 1-7; Kullervo (2009) by Silbelius, performed by London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis
Sibelius’ symphonies range from really over-the-top late 19th century folk-inspired stuff to the kind of subtle innovation this unsophisticated listener might associate with Mahler. I am still a complete neophyte (tyro?) when it comes to discerning great symphonic writing from okay symphonic writing, so it’s the 1892 Kullervo that I notice the most, and it …
Debussy: the Complete works for Piano (1995 compilation) by Walter Gieseking
Debussy’s piano music is as significant as Satie’s, even if it isn’t always as obviously revolutionary. Debussy eventually became very mainstream and so his music had much more currency. And it’s been absorbed so much it’s sometimes hard to tell how exactly he was breaking away (but other times it is very obvious). As someone …