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« on: January 15, 2009, 12:50:27 AM »
I haven't done a count, but there were lots and lots of suggestions for Series 2, and a cursory scan that I did show that two seemed to have made it - a suggestion for Monk, and one for Church Windows.
Have done licensing deals myself, I can appreciate the difficulty of "t" ing this material up, and the more I look at the start of Series 2 the more interesting it becomes; however, there are still 4 titles to go, so there is still opportunity to fill out the series.
So far the jazz releases have been consisently most interesting for being "core" recordings. There isn't really a rock release yet, and the classical works chosen are not close to the core of the classical literature. Well, OK, the Liszt piano sonata qualifies, but only that one and maybe the Bruch. Everything else is peripheral - interesting, though.
My suggestions are likely naive as I don't know what actually is available to license, so with that caveat:
Classics - I would like to see one of the core symphonic works added as a release. (BTW, now that I have heard the Ansermet Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique on LP I withdraw it as a candidate - while the performance is fabulous, the recording is one of the most egregious examples of bad multimiking I have heard - there is absolutely no way to form a coherent picture of an orchestra as instruments move spatially depending on their role - one minute an instrument is located properly in the orchestra, then it moves to center stage, and then retreats. Yucch.)
So, the first suggestions assume access to the "Columbia" catalog - over the past year I have heard early pressings of many of Bruno Walter's late 50"s recordings, which I understand were recorded with all-tube analog equipment. I have also heard the 200 gram reissue of his Eroica, and I think there is merit in considering one of these as the recordings are really live and the performances of many of the works are excellent. Two for major consideration would be his Beethoven Pastorale, considered to be a classic reading of the work, and his Brahms 3rd - not my favorite Brahms symphony, but a magnificent reading. Or maybe the Mahler First - he was Mahler's key assistant, of course.
If you are doing solo piano, the Moravec Chopin recordings are wonderful.
(And if you do have access to the Columbia recordings, there is always Brubeck and Miles Davis to think about).
For rock, again, I don't know if you can license these, but one of our greatest all time voices is Linda Ronstadt - Carly Simon once said she has the best white pipes out there. Heck, if you did Heart Like a Wheel, you could kill two birds with one stone - you'd have a rock release and a country release all in one.
I'd like to see some solo acoustic guitar music - could be classical (I could go for Segovia, Julian Bream or Christopher Parkening and have no issues with any of them)or could be something else. How about Eric Tingstad's early 80's recording "On the Links" - wonderful set of original guitar works, and I believe it is an analog recording. As far as I know this never made it to CD, even though Tingstad has had a reasonable career.
Well, it is late and I am rambling more than I wanted to. I go could on.....Dexter Gordon.....Duke Ellington Live at Newport....Frank Sinatra (I am actually more of a Tony Bennett fan but more of his most interesting stuff has been done in the digital era, unfortunately). Mozart.....Satch Plays Fats......