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Topics - TomR

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16
Tape Project Albums - general / Back to harping on a topic......Mahler
« on: January 24, 2011, 12:00:58 AM »
I was listening to Mahler's First symphony on the radio, and was struck again by the thought of what an excellent Tape Project release a Mahler symphony would be. The prime candidates, due to length of the works (I imagine shorter is better) ought to be the First and the Fourth.

Of course, if you are a Mahlerite this is a very big year - the centenary of his death - there will be a flood of performances (the SF Symphony is doing 3 works in June, I believe) and recordings, and I am hoping we can do our little part as well.  Of course, Series 2 still has to be completed, and there isn't much hope that we could get a Mahler release in time for June....but we can dream, right?

17
Tape Project Albums - general / Completion of Series 2/start of Series 3
« on: January 17, 2011, 12:44:21 PM »
I just read the post where there is a Series 3 event up at Doc's.  However, we still have four tapes to go in Series 2, if you include Clifford Brown, which I do since I have not yet received a shipping notice. Little Hatch, the last tape I received,  arrived in August.....with that rate of shipment, Series 3 feels very far away. Will 2011 finds shipments moving at a faster pace?

Thanks,

Tom

18
Tape Project Albums - general / My Three Christmas Wishes
« on: December 16, 2010, 01:17:47 AM »
1. To receive the Clifford Brown tape before Christmas

2. To see the announcement of Series 3, also before Christmas

3. For health and prosperity in 2011 for everyone on this board.

Tom

19
Events / Meet Jared Sacks of Channel Classics
« on: November 08, 2010, 09:35:17 PM »
Ok, this is not a Tape Project event - but many TP subscribers live in the Bay Area, and Robert Lang (who has written many thoughtful comments on music and recordings on both audioasylum and sa-cd.net) will be hosting Jared Sacks of Channel Classics at his home in Oakland on November 21.  Channel has become one of the top labels devoted to multichannel SACD and has focused on producing extremely well received recordings by artists like Rachel Podger and Ivan Fischer, as well as the infamous recording of Brahms "Piano Concerto No. 3".  Here is Robert's posting from www.sa-cd.net:

"I am honored to host Jared Sacks, founder of Channel Classics for discourse and music listening at my home, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sunday 2 pm, November 21. Mr. Sacks? credits also include being a producer, recording engineer and editor for Channel Classics recordings.

Mr. Sacks is foremost a musician for a passion of music who also happens to make recordings. And to that end the Channel Classics discography includes more than 100 SACDs listed at SA-CD.net. An avowed supporter of the format, all of Mr. Sacks? SACDs are recorded in DSD.

In addition to listening to music and learning of Mr. Sacks? approach to recording and producing music he is, most importantly, interested in a fluid interchange of ideas with music lovers on a broad number of music topics.

So join me for this most unique opportunity to meet and discourse with Mr. Sacks.

For more information please email me: [email protected] "

Lary


20
Events / Next Bay Area Get Together?
« on: October 11, 2010, 09:55:33 PM »
It has been awhile since we have had one in the Bay Area....hey this would be a great time to announce Series III!!!

Go Giants!!!


21
Now that we are half way through Series 2......when will we get to hear about Series 3?

22
Suggestion Box / More on Large Band Jazz
« on: April 18, 2010, 12:07:22 PM »
There is a thread below where there is a discussion about enriching the TP catalog with a bit of large band jazz- we have had some fantastic small combo releases but no large band jazz. I suggested Duke Ellington's Live at Newport as a possibility. The other night I had a desire to hear Paul Gonsalves' "interval", as Duke puts it in his intro (27 wailing choruses) and put on my Columbia CD of this on my system, and heard some of the most incredible jazz atrociously reproduced - compressed, flattened, sucked out.....this recording is a treasure, and deserves first class treatment. So this is another plea to look at this one when the guys get out their gin and tonics to figure out Series 3.

Tom

23
Suggestion Box / The Planets
« on: February 02, 2010, 07:07:46 PM »
I don't know if this has been suggested before, but I am sure that it would come up in any discussion of Tape Project classical releases. The Planets (Gustav Holst, an Englishman if you didn't know) has long been an audiophile favorite, and there are lots of potentially interesting analog recordings out there - the Mehta on Decca has long been a darling of the audiophile community (Mehta is by a long shot not my favorite conductor. I own this on a 7.5 ips tape but can't recall ever playing it), the Stokowski on Capitol and any number of recordings conducted by Boult on EMI. Steinberg on DG would be a contender in my book as well.

Anyway.....The Planets would probably work great on tape, although it wouldn't be my first choice for a big orchestral piece (have I mentioned Mahler's 1st symphony before?). I bring it up mostly because I am going to hear it live for the first time Feb. 11 (at Flint Center in Cupertino) with the SF Symphony conducted by Dutoit (a great conductor, a shame that much of his work on record is disfigured by digital sound). In all of these years of concert going, I can't believe I have never heard this work live. It is coupled with the Walton violin concerto, a really interesting piece of programming.

24
General Discussion / Is Church Windows next?
« on: January 28, 2010, 01:18:05 AM »
If I believe that the order posted in the catalog will mirror reality, Church Windows is next. I had the pleasure of hearing this live once - it is not often performed. Respighi, who is better known for other works (Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome, Ancient Airs and Dances) surely must be the great Italian orchestral composer of the 20th century. (Not a lot of competition, true, but he wrote some great stuff.) Church Windows is a densely scored work that makes an impact hard to replicate on record....it will be interesting to see how it sounds as TP release. As a longtime collector of classical music, this has my vote as the most significant classical release yet (although I can't wait for the Series 3 Mahler.....:-))

25
General Discussion / Bay Area Audio Society
« on: January 06, 2010, 12:59:12 PM »
I was reading that being a member of an audiophile society (is that the same as being an audiophiliac?) gets you a discount at CES, or something like that, and by clicking links I found the Web site of the BAAS, which looks like it was created by Jason Victor Serinus, who among other things is a reviewer for Stereophile. Any members here? If so, is it worth it (yeah, just $15, but there are lots of people who want my $15!).

www.baasnotes.com


26
Suggestion Box / Comments on comments
« on: January 02, 2010, 11:31:35 PM »
I really like some of the suggestions for Series 3 that I've read, and I would like to add a few comments:

1. Please do a real core orchestral work like Mahler's First.....OK, that was my idea, but I still believe a valid one.

2. I like the idea of big band jazz, although I am personally more familiar with small group jazz. One personal favorite is Duke Ellington Live at Newport - the "Interlude by Paul Gonsalves", as Duke put it, on the last cut simply has to be heard to be believed.

3. Dexter Gordon is a personal jazz hero of mine, right up there with Sonny Rollins. I'm OK with Art Pepper as well. Some of the fifties Louis Armstong stuff ought to be candidates as well. I prefer "Satch Plays Fats" to the W.C. Handy recording, and "Ella and Louis "would be a great alternative. Oscar Peterson was never better than he was with Ella and Louis .

4. Steely Dan was a great group, but IMHO their best work was the cinematic "Countdown to Ecstasy" - Aja is OK, but a little mundane relatively speaking. It has been done to death on high quality vinyl, too.

5. I mentioned Creedence Clearwater Revival to Michael - "Cosmos Factory" or "Willie and the Poor Boys" would be my own recommendations. CCR at their best. OK, as an alternative how about Fogerty's "Centerfield"?

6. I like the idea of guitar as well. Besides the jazz stuff, there could be Segovia or Julian Bream, or perhaps flamenco by someone like Sabicas.





27
Service Resources / Technics RS15XX servicing-another Bay Area resource
« on: January 02, 2010, 12:05:34 PM »
I didn't see it anywhere else, so I wanted to mention that Steve Koto, AKA Ironbut, is also a resource for the Technics RS15XX series - I had some issues with my RS1520 and Steve was able to get it back into tip top shape for me, quickly. When taking my deck to his house for work, I also had the pleasure of hanging with him for a bit and checking out his awesome gear, collection of Barclay Crocker tapes and jazz LP's. I have never heard a Barclay Crocker tape sound as good on any other system - between his Doc-modified RS1500, his Bottlehead Repro,the tube headphone amp and the Advent Dolby unit, it was a real Wow!

28
Listening right now to "Saxophone Colossus" - but while I was threading the second reel I realized that "Tails Out" is a nonsensical term, by itself, so it must have an interesting history.

29
For me, and for absolutely no reason, the tape I have played the most has been Blackjack David, followed by Creek Bank and Jacqui Naylor. Now....I had a couple of problems with my RS1520 - the first was tape scrape, which was fixed by the use of a spacer, and the second was channel loss, which with some fiddling is now fixed (and there is an embarrassing story associated as well - you will have to liquor me up to hear it) so the tapes weren't spending as much time being played as they should have.....but now, I am having a great timewith them. Listening to Blackjack David right now, and the sound is so effortless-that's the best way to describe it, I think.

This is fun stuff. Looking forward to hearing more.

30
Suggestion Box / More on Mahler 1
« on: October 07, 2009, 02:47:53 PM »
As you all know, I am campaigning to have a Mahler symphony included in Series 3, probably the 1st, although the 4th would not be unwelcome. I am running a poll on the analog versions over on the Mahler board (www.gustavmahlerboard.com), a place where some really serious Mahlerites lurk. I have identified, mostly by prompted memory so there may be a few missing, some 11 stereo recordings that should have been recorded using analog technology given the dates they were recorded. I am asking the inmates on the Mahler board to vote to see which version might be the favorite.  Not sure what this will tell us since the winner might be a recording that can't be obtained for the Tape Project, but what the heck, this can be fun. So if you feel like it, please vote!!

One interesting fact - of the 11, 6 were recorded in the US, with US orchestras - that wouldn't be the case today!

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