The battle of Minor vs Major

Hello my friends. I come to you this week with the first of a segment I'm going to title "Album of the *insert arbitrary time frame here*". This entry will be a review of a newly obtained recording of Beethoven's 5th symphony. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I did not have a recording of this piece. I took this a personal insult to myself as it is my favorite piece in the classical repertoire. I am also under the belief that every brass player in an orchestra should have their symphony cherry popped, so to speak, with this piece. It is the birth of brass as a major contributor to the group and of Romanticism. This is the first symphonic piece to include the trombone. In their mighty debut in the 4th movement, you can hear them saying "I am a trombone". You can sing it, seriously.

The recording I chose to pick up is a 200g virgin vinyl pressing from the original tape recording of the never released recording of Pierre Monteux conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1965.

Right away this recording draws you with a full, dark, rich sound on the now almost cliched "G-G-G-E flat". The interpretation is aggressive and in your face. The tension holds through not just the first movement, but the first three. The pacing of the second movement is very methodical and withdrawn. Though the movement is long, it does not feel it as it stays exciting and pompous. It holds the energy at stasis that was built during the first movement.

I flip the record and get to the real treat, of the third and forth movement. The third movement is firmly in minor and brings back the motif of the first movement, but in slightly different rhythm. After a fugue, the rumblings die down and an incredible crescendo builds to the the attacca forth movement.

HELLO BRASS! The fourth movement opens with a grand release of the tension from the last half hour with a C major arpeggio so loud that it knocks C minor out of your head. Its an emotional moment. Its cathartic and this performance is that. You can hear the trumpets more than normal in the first and second movement but they become a whisper in the third movement, only to take full control of performance in the opening four bars of the forth. A soaring horn sound so dark and rich that it brings chills, and of course fond memories of a friend. Chills at this point are running down my spine.

I truly believe this is probably as close as you're going to come to hearing this symphony as Beethoven desired for it to be heard. Violent, chaotic, good vs evil battle, packed with emotion. This record is full of suspense with masterful production quality. You can feel the orchestra. At the end of the first movement you can hear a collective sigh of relief from the group, as they probably can't even believe the intensity they just captured.

From what I can tell this was only released on vinyl. There are CD recordings of Monteux conducting Beethoven's Fifth, but I don't think they are the same as this one. The link to amazon for this product is here. It is a bit of a steep price but I would have paid $100 easily to have heard this live, so $33 with shipping and I can hear it over and over again is a bargain to me. Be warned though, if yo look up a photo of Monteux, he does look like Wilford Brimley. you be the judge:

Vinyl Fetish

Hello my friends, hope everyone has survived the oh so terrible Tropical Storm Hanna. This entry is geared about the new stereo system I obtained from my grandmother. She was kind enough to set me up with a Pioneer receiver with a laser disc/5 CD disc changer and two Marantz 45/450 floor speakers. My dad then gifted me his old Pioneer direct drive turntable, that was just in need of a new cartridge. After a new cartridge purchased from Internet giant, Amazon.com, and a crash course in turntable maintenance, I had a sweet vintage turntable.

A few months ago, I had noticed Record and Tape Traders had just about all of AC/DC's albums on brand new virgin vinyl, on what seems to be about 180g vinyl for $15 each. Very intriguing. So needless to say, the moment I got this stereo set up, I headed for the ol' R&TT. I immediately burned that $15 gift certificate from Sarah Jo on "Back in Black". While digging through the used albums, I did come across "For Those about to Rock". Both came home that day, along with a "Best of Mountain" album. None of these disappointed as I have now become charmed with the full warmth of the vinyl sound. A second trip to the store found a better stocked vinyl room. This trip produced several Journey albums, Queen, and the jewel of the find, "Moving Pictures" by Rush.

Next stop was my basement. In the basement was stores some real gems, including "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, "Umma Gumma" by Pink Floyd, "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra, "Switched on Bach", and multiple 45rpm singles. I have a pretty well stocked and rounded vinyl collection considering how little time I've had a record player. Next was the Internet again.

I ordered off the web "The Pines of Rome" by Respighi and "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath. Both albums phenomenal. Its amazing to hear classical music on vinyl. Analog recordings allow you to hear other things going on with the performance. You can hear the conductor and the strings giving themselves breath cues. You can hear the feet shuffling of the brass section in the quiet sections. It really causes a feeling of actually being at the performance. At this point now, I have to admit that I am in love with vinyl. I find myself in stores now seeing if I can find an album on vinyl instead of CD, even though CD allows me to add it to my iPod. I could even see myself in the future just buying albums in both media, even though this Hi-Fi system has even made my CD collection sound better.

The amount of vintage recordings still available on vinyl is quite amazing, and I look forward to my friend Steve bringing over his vinyl. It is quite nice to have such a sound system to spoil my ears, and today's digital age has made our ears so forgiving to poor production and compression. Give yourself a treat, find a Hi-Fi with a turntable and give yourself the pleasure of listening to some classical or jazz, or even many rock albums on it and hear the difference. Relax your ears and take in the sound. Have a good night my friends.