Very Ethel and very good!

Ethel

I receive a lot of music each week. Yesterday was no different, and I was quite happy to get the latest from the string quartet Ethel, called Heavy. It will be released next Tuesday, April 24th in all the major outlets. I think you should check it out - whether you love or hate chamber music, and even if modern, living music isn't your thing.
When I opened the envelope, I thought, did they make a 45rpm record?! The packaging is large, about the size of the older lp, but no, it is unique, with a full length cd enclosed from Innova Recordings. Listening, I wondered, do composers write pieces that sound like Ethel, or does Ethel find music that sounds like their style? Don Byron's Second String Quartet is classic Ethel - mesmerizing, lyrical and hip. Motor-rhythms and crunchy sounds delight in this fun "Four Thoughts on Marvin Gaye."

Heavy - Innova 820

John Halle and John King provide modern sounds with electronics, drones and amazing ensemble from Ethel. Two of the Bang on a Can founders, Julia Wolf and David Lang are well represented with "Early That Summer" and "Wed" - surely to be taken up as other quartets hear these delightful readings.
Kenji Bunch joins Ethel as violist for "String Circle" - and it stands as a real charmer on the disc, again, asking "Does it sound this way because of Ethel, or was it chosen and sounds Ethel-y?" "Round"ing out Heavy is Marcelo Zarvos' "Rounds" - someone to look for in new music, it has a light sound and touch that could go far!
Whether you are an "Ethelhead" or just want something to make you smile, Heavy should be on your iPad or other listening device - it is on mine, and won't be leaving anytime soon!
- John Clare, host in the afternoons & of Classical Spotlight

Bargain Bach!

Tomorrow, March 21th, 2012 eOne Music relaunches the storied Bach Guild label with Big Bach Set – 120 tracks of Bach’s works, equaling NINE hours of music. In celebration of Bach’s birthday, March 21st, Big Bach Set will be sold for 99 cents at Amazon.com’s MP3 store. On March 22nd, the price will be $9.99 for the collection, available for download at all digital retailers. Big Bach Set will include a cross section of J.S. Bach’s most beloved works including the entirety of the Mass in B Minor, the Harpsichord Concerti, Orchestral Suites and all six Brandenburg Concerti. Artists include Joseph Szigeti, Anton Heiller, Paula Robison, Kenneth Cooper and András Schiff. Conductors include Johannes Somary, Antonio Janigro and Felix Prohaska. The Big Bach Set is the cornerstone of the return of The Bach Guild, a label devoted to Bach and the music of the baroque era. With the revival of the imprint, the classic recordings of the Bach Guild catalog will be made available, many of them for the first time in digital format, while new recordings of the great master are also a priority. Five additional new releases from the original Bach Guild will also be released on March 21st. The Bach Guild will continue to evolve on eOne with new recordings and releases, first with violinist Anne Akiko Meyers’ chart topping Air: The Bach Album, and cellist Charles Curtis’ genre bending Bach: An Imaginary Dance, due for release on March 27, 2012.

Also, the American Bach Soloists are offering many of their recordings at a special price, $2, only on March 21st: ABS cd website

Artistry of Michael Rabin

There are two new ways to get to know the wonderful playing of Michael Rabin - a new paperback edition of "Michael Rabin America's Virtuoso Violinist" and also a digital download of "Icon: Michael Rabin Young Genius of the Violin."

Sadly, it has been forty years since his death at age 35. These are both excellent chances to learn more about the violinist.





The book is an interesting look at Rabin, with insights from family, friends and colleagues. This paperback edition follows the original edition by six years and corrects some errors from the first publishing. I recommend reading it, and hope it will be made for digital platforms as well. In the meantime, at just under $18 it is well worth it!

The digital download of the six cd set of Michael Rabin has nothing new from the 1991 EMI Classics set, nor has it been remastered. But the convenience of having all of the great concerto and classical recordings with Rabin so portable, AND at a bargain is a complete no brainer to own. It is also a chance for a younger generation to hear the amazing artistry of Rabin, especially in the Paganini Caprices, Wieniawski's Second Concerto and Engel's Sea Shell.

Neither of these releases are groundbreaking or completely new, but are staples of classical music - especially for those violin lovers - and now easily available, I think you should pick them up before they are not widely available!
-John Clare, KPAC Host of Classical Spotlight

Coming to your computer soon

From the Wall Street Journal:
Technology entrepreneur Pierre Schwob thinks Bach and Beethoven haven't been given their due in the digital age.

Classical Archives, a new digital store focused exclusively on classical music, is Mr. Schwob's answer to mass-market digital retailers with "a complete lack of understanding of how classical music should be offered," down to the way they often categorize recordings. "It's basically a lack of respect when you say Bach is an 'artist,' not a composer," Mr. Schwob says.

For example, when online shoppers type "Beethoven" into iTunes, the top results they get back include a rock medley by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, an uncredited recording of "Für Elise" and individual movements culled from greatest hits collections. It's not that the music seller is skimping on the composer -- customers can find complete works by browsing deeper in the iTunes classical section -- it's just that his oeuvre doesn't fit neatly on the virtual shelves with that of Miley Cyrus and the Black Eyed Peas.

Check out the rest of the article here, and don't forget James Baker's lovely post here about "record stores."

Free Classical Music

Violinist Julia Fischer's new album of Bach Concertos will be released in stores through Decca Records on January 27, but a free preview is available now on iTunes, Apple's online music store. It's the first time I can remember Apple featuring classical music as their free Discovery Download of the week!

It's only a small sample (3:27, the Allegro movement of Bach's BWV 1041 concerto), but it's free classical music; better than a poke in the eye with a sharp conducting baton, for sure.

From Apple's iTunes site: "German Julia Fischer is a violinist in her mid-20s who has won a variety of prestigious competitions... Her style is crisp, meticulous, and passionate."

--Nathan Cone

Green gift idea?

Been looking for that just right something for that someone special who seems to have everything classical? Can't decide which Opus 18 or BWV 1005 is missing from your collection?

The Boston Symphony has gotten on the digital download band wagon, and have opened their archives too!

Check out the story here and shop away here.

The BSO is continuing their Elliott Carter 100th birthday celebration this weekend with a world premiere with pianist Daniel Barenboim and music director James Levine.

They were in hot water with a guest conductor recently also!