What CD, book, DVD etc are you waiting for?

[Alison]

Brian Kay’s autobiography. Only he would call it ‘a gallimaufry of musical memories’.

Bit sad to see this going for under £2 when the book was published less than a year ago.

[Bryn]

Not, strictly one I am still waiting for but one supposedly not due to arrive until 7th June. When I got back from a shopping trip today, I approached the front door from the opposite direction to that from which I usually use. Just by chance, I spotted a rather wet corrugated cardboard package of the type often used by Amazon for books. It was dumped, leaning against the side of the recycling wheelie bin. How long it had been there, I have no idea. Fortunately, inside the soaked card case, the contents was wrapped in a sealed plastic film, so the ordered item was safe and dry. My thoughts drifted quickly towards Lonnie Donegan as the rationale for the package being outside the bin, for it contained "A Mycological Survey" and "Mushroom Book" by John Cage (the two items, side by side in a rugged hard card slip-case:



Though "A Mycological Foray" is a book, "Mushroom Book" (as against Cage's "The Mushroom Book") at first looks like a book but turns out to be a card folder containing a collection of 11 approximately A2 printed paper sheets, folded down to approximately A4, each sheet printed on both sides with colour illustrations of various fungal fruiting bodies, and other, written, material. Given the quality of the content and presentation, it was a bargain at £40.34 including delivery. "Mushroom Book" was authored by Cage in collaboration with illustrator Lois Long and botanist Alexander H. Smith (why a botanist, rather than a mycologist, I do not know). I am really looking forward to studying this.

Oh, and the delivery 'service' which dumped the package and totally failed to notify me that it had been dumped? Whistl. The item was ordered from Blackwells (to whom I attach no particular blame) via the amazon.co.uk marketplace.

[pastoralguy]

I’m awaiting the arrival of Alicia Weilerstein’s new recording of the Beethoven ‘cello sonatas. Seem to have been delayed for over a month now despite the download’s being available. Probably be middle of next week before they arrive due to additional bank holidays that are being put in place for a certain anniversary…

[Pulcinella]

Study score of Hindemith's Symphony 'Mathis der Maler'.
Just ordered; at £14.99 this seemed very good value.

[Old Grumpy]

On my present list: Mr Shipton's book "On Jazz" - well reviewed in BBC Music Magazine, but less favourably reviewed in Jazzwise.

[richardfinegold]

I’m awaiting the arrival of Alicia Weilerstein’s new recording of the Beethoven ‘cello sonatas. Seem to have been delayed for over a month now despite the download’s being available. Probably be middle of next week before they arrive due to additional bank holidays that are being put in place for a certain anniversary…

I am interested in that set . I was just listening to the Dvorak Concerto she recorded with Behlolavak and the Czech PO

[pastoralguy]

I am interested in that set . I was just listening to the Dvorak Concerto she recorded with Behlolavak and the Czech PO

It arrived, eventually! Well worth the wait. Superb music making.

[Pulcinella]

Study score of Hindemith's Symphony 'Mathis der Maler'.
Just ordered; at £14.99 this seemed very good value.

Just arrived!
Slow postal delivery, but never mind.

PS: No key signatures, just accidentals.
Is this a Hindemith trademark?
(I used to have copies of his organ sonatas but don't recall how they were notated!)

[Joseph K]

The recent release of Stockhausen's Carré.

[Bryn]

The recent release of Stockhausen's Carré.

A second spinning, yesterday, after some slight adjustments to the calibration of the surround speakers, offered a considerably clearer spacial image than the first spin. Would that more 'surround' works were available on SACD, DVD-A or Blu-ray. Such a pity that the Brabbins Proms performance of Havergal Brian's 'Gothic' had not been better engineered (without the heavy dynamic limiting employed by the sports broadcast engineers brought in by the Beeb), and in 5.0 surround. Hyperion did what they could with the sub-standard recording dumped on them by the Beeb but . . .

[RichardB]

PS: No key signatures, just accidentals.
Is this a Hindemith trademark?

It is. At one point he experimented with using odd key signatures (like F# and G# only), but with things like the Symphony I think the point is that although any given moment might sound "tonal", the way moments succeed each other doesn't follow conventionally tonal directions so that it no longer makes sense to think of a movement as being "in" a particular key.

[Pulcinella]

It is. At one point he experimented with using odd key signatures (like F# and G# only), but with things like the Symphony I think the point is that although any given moment might sound "tonal", the way moments succeed each other doesn't follow conventionally tonal directions so that it no longer makes sense to think of a movement as being "in" a particular key.

Thanks for this response, Richard.

[TBuckley]

Vaughan Williams - Complete Symphonies - Rozhdestvensky (Melodiya)

A belated purchase of this OOP 6xCD set before it disappears without trace. I suspect that
the chances of this set ever being reissued are remote.

[Joseph K]

I noticed Bryn was listening to this fairly recently (albeit with a different front cover) and I decided I ought to have it -

[teamsaint]

Well not so much waiting for as opening.

Purcell’s King Arthur ( accent on the cell, old habits etc) JEG and his Monteverdis.

Which is available on Amazon for £7.99 and I got a fiver off on a voucher. Hurrah.

Did he really hit a trombomist ? ( Jeggers, not the great English King, obvs)

“ No trombonists were harmed in the making of this record…..”