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Speaking of dozens of chamber ensembles, as I was much earlier today, Rick Phillips will have not dozens, but all kinds of new recordings of chamber music – duos, quintets, octets and more.
And Sound Advice regulars take note -- today is the last installment of the series on the music of Sir Edward Elgar -- Rick will play the “unfinished” symphony, Symphony Number Three.
It’s nothing but Mahler, today on Sound Advice. This is not an arbitrary whim of Rick's or anything, it's because there’s a fabulous new boxed set of all nine of Mahler’s symphonies, and lucky us, it’s only available in Canada (and at a great price to boot!).
And then, of course, there is still the unresolved matter of Mahler, the lousy Graffiti artist.
Rick Phillips spotlights piano music this week on Sound Advice, including light works for the salon, Liszt, Mendelssohn and much more.
And last call for Gould! Well, not really, but just in terms of Rick's series on In The Library -- today he wraps up Great Gould Recordings, with a look at Gould’s recordings of music by Brahms.
Rick Phillips spotlights recordings of Early Music this week on Sound Advice - all the way back to the 13th century, and all the way up to Bach and Handel.
In The Library, more in the series on Great Gould Recordings. Yes, it's true the official CBC celebrations are over, but it is still The Year Of Gould, after all. (Besides, Rick didn't finish playing all the music he wanted to play last week.) So this week you can hear Glenn Gould’s version of Bach’s Italian Concerto.
This week on Sound Advice, host Rick Phillips continues exploring the new boxed set of all the Beethoven symphonies (played by the Russian National Orchestra under the direction of Mikhail Pletnev).
In the Library, more in the series Great Gould Recordings. This week, it’s Gould's controversial 1962 live concert recording of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor Leonard Bernstein so strongly disagreed with certain aspects of Gould’s interpretation that he gave a disclaimer to the audience (included in the recording) before the performance began! (Although not without a certain amount of humour, and also with a great deal of regard for Gould.)
Pretty incredible though, when you think about it -- one artist issuing a disclaimer before both artist's perform together...and not to steal Rick's thunder, but you may want to check out this archival clip of the incident. (And of course, to hear the music you will need to tune into Sound Advice...)
Attention Beethoven-lovers! This week on Sound Advice, Rick Phillips samples a new boxed set of all nine Beethoven symphonies, played by the Russian National Orchestra under the direction of Mikhail Pletnev.
In the Library, more in the series Great Gould Recordings as CBC honours the 75th anniversary of the legendary pianist’s birth. Rick will continue the Beethoven motif with a look at Gould’s recordings of Franz Liszt’s piano transcriptions of Beethoven’s symphonies.
Speaking of CBC's Glenn Gould celebrations, Variations on Gould, there are some really great concerts you can attend, across the country, and of course if you are in T.O., many are being held at the Glenn Gould Studio, fittingly enough.
The Gould Anniversary is coming up, to mark what would have been Glenn Gould’s 75th birthday, and the 25th anniversary of his death. This week on Sound Advice, Rick Phillips begins a series in the Library called Great Gould Recordings. (No shortage of material there!)
In part one of the series, Gould’s recordings of music by the composers of Tudor England – Byrd, Gibbons and more.
And a bonus anniversary celebration, musically speaking -- it’s also the 100th anniversary of the death of Edvard Grieg, so Rick will play music by the great Norwegian composer. That's on Sound Advice today.
The new season has begun everywhere, kitchens (parents suddenly making those lunches again), alleyways (for dawdling in on the way home from school) and of course, on the airwaves.
Rick Phillips kicks off the new season of Sound Advice with a bit of an oddity – two new versions of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 by different pianists, released on the same label. The first is by Mikhail Pletnev, the second by Lang Lang. Then Rick will compare them with a version by Canada’s Glenn Gould that’s half a century old.
Clearly Rick is not of the "comparisons are odious" school of thought. But then, what broadcaster/music critic is? We'd be put out of business if that were the case.
And before I forget, a note to Sound Advice regulars -- the long-awaited solution to the Musical Tree Quiz that’s been running all summer will be unveiled on today's show!
Rick Phillips suggests we "break out the vodka and caviar." Seems a tad early in the day for that, but who am I to pass judgment on other people's celebratory habits? Besides, there's musical motivation, as Rick spotlights Russian music this week on Sound Advice – chamber works, vocal music and more.
In the Library, part of a series called Slava, the profile of cellist/pianist/conductor Mstislav Rostropovich. This week, the focus is on his role as a conductor, as demonstrated in his versions of the Ballet Suites by Tchaikovsky.
It's mostly pianos this week on Sound Advice. Host Rick Phillips samples news CDs of piano solos, chamber works and full orchestras, including a new disc of Chopin Scherzos.
In The Library: Cecile Chaminade, an almost-forgotten composer who flourished around 1900 but then more or less faded into obscurity. Apparently she wrote around 400 compositions, including orchestral works, but her most popular works were her piano pieces. But to find out more about her (and who knows, perhaps aid in a Chaminade comeback) tune into Sound Advice today.
Today on the best of Sound Advice, Rick Phillips has new discs of symphonies, including the Prague by Mozart and the Italian by Mendelssohn. And In the Library, part of Rick's series on pianist Sir Clifford Curzon, featuring Curzon's recording of the Trout Quintet, made fifty years ago - and still a classic!
Rick Phillips has sound advice about music, so you can bet his best of Sound Advice is very good advice indeed.
Today, the bests include a tribute to violinist Angele Dubeau,issued by the Analekta label in honour of her 30th anniversary as a pro. Plus some gorgeous choral music, including Renaissance polyphony. And "In the Library," it's Symphony No. 6 by Sibelius (showing the influence of that same polyphony).
You can never have too much good vocal music, in my opinion. Maybe Rick Phillips agrees. Today at least, as he spotlights vocal music - especially music written for women's voices - on Sound Advice. You can hear the latest from Anonymous 4, and from one of the finest singers of either gender - Renee Fleming.
Plus, In The Library, Rick pulls out another volume of the Great Shostakovich Recordings: this week, the two piano concertos.
Shostakovich fans take note -- Rick Phillips goes all Shostakovich, all the time. Well, today's Sound Advice does, at any rate. Tune in to hear the third movement of Symphony No.6, and concertos, songs and waltzes.
Today's edition of Sound Advice with Rick Phillips is the last completely new episode before the start of his 8-week summer-long "Best of Sound Advice" series.
Now that doesn't mean there's not a reason to tune in in the summer just because you've been listening all winter and fall. Each week, Rick will have another clue to a special summer quiz with the winner announced in September.
This weekend, though, Rick surveys a bunch of recent releases of suitable summer selections. Included is a new Beethoven "Symphony No. 9" and a couple of new releases of stories with music for children aged 4 and up. When the books, games and DVDs aren't cutting it anymore, this summer, try these to keep the kids busy!
Today on Sound Advice with Rick Phillips, the spotlight is on three new releases from male voice choirs.
Would you like some testosterone on your toast?
This week on Sound Advice with Rick Phillips: all new recordings of the three “B’s” of classical music:
Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. Nothing but…. including a new recording of Symphony #1 by Brahms.
BTW, the Three B's of pop are The Beatles, Bob (Dylan) and the Beach Boys.
Today on Sound Advice with Rick Phillips, the spotlight is on a wide variety of recently recorded symphonies.
And in The Library, the series “Slava” wraps up with a recording of Rostropovich conducting "Symphony Number One", which was composed by his mentor and friend, Dmitri Shostakovich.
Following a recent popular trend, Rick Phillips spotlights guitar music this week on Sound Advice. I swear I had nothing to do with it!
Then on to some selections featuring the cello, including The Library where Rostropovich - the guy Yo Yo Ma called the greatest cellist in the world - performs a Dvorak cello concerto.
Did I mention I have a great picture of one of the members of Quartetto Gelato holding a guitar as if it were her cello?
I was working at a restaurant when Hiram Walker first introduced Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya vodkas to Canada. For the launch, they had frozen multiple bottles into blocks of ice and had the chef prepare steak tartare and caviar with baskets of pumpernickel bread.
I can still feel the ice-cold burn of the vodka chasing the velvety caviar. Magnificent.
If only today's edition ofSound Advice with Rick Phillips had been on in the background because this week the spotlight
Whenever Rick Phillips spotlights music by Mahler on Sound Advice, the mailbag overflows; there are obviously a lot of fans out there, which is a little surprising, given how difficult Mahler's music can be.
This week, Rick spotlights a new recording of Mahler's "Symphony No. 9", played by the Berlin State Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim.
Meanwhile, in the Library, more of "Slava", Rick's series on cellist, pianist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich. This week, the focus is on Haydn's "Cello Concerto No. 1", one of the cellist's favourite works.
When Mstislav Rostropovich died on April 27th, the world lost a brilliant musician -- one of the greatest 20th-century cellists -- and an extraordinary man. He famously stood up for the rights of Soviet-era dissidents, and on the musical side, was a champion for new music.
Today on Sound Advice with Rick Phillips, Rick spotlights German Romantic including works by Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schumann. Among them is a new recording of Symphony No. 3 by Brahms, made by conductor Marin Alsop with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
In the Library, Rick wraps up the series on Cecile Chaminade, the turn-of-the-last-century composer who has now been well-celebrated by Rick, if not by everyone else. He'll conclude with a look at some of her songs and the singers who recorded them.
The advance copy for the last few weeks of Sound Advice with Rick Phillips has touted the series about Cecile Chaminade, calling her "an almost-forgotten composer who flourished around 1900 but has faded into obscurity since then". However, this being week three of the series, I'm hoping that Rick's fans have been paying close enough attention that she's moved out of the "who the heck" category into the "Who's Who" This week, Rick plays one of her foremost works, the "Concertino for Flute".
If you'd like to make her even less obscure, there is some information online to learn more about her.
Also this week, Rick catches up on all the new CDs that couldn't be fitted into any one category, including a new CD of music from movie Westerns.
It's mostly pianos this week on Sound Advice with Rick Phillips.
Rick samples news CDs of piano solos, chamber works and full orchestral, including a new disc of Chopin Scherzos.
Later, in the Library, Part Two of the series on Cecile Chaminade, the almost-forgotten composer who flourished around 1900 but has faded into obscurity since then (though hopefully she hasn't faded too much again since Part One last week).
Today on Sound Advice, Rick Phillips spotlights early music, going all the way back to the 12th century. Of course, the recordings are pretty crude and those granite LPs are gonna wreak havoc on your needles!
He'll also have music from the Baroque period all the way up to CPE Bach.
Meanwhile, in the Library segment, a profile on Cecile Chaminade, a pianist and composer who was wildly popular around the year 1900 - to the point that there were clubs formed by devotees of her work! Since then, however, Chaminade's music has faded into obscurity. Funny how that happens.
Here's what's coming up to take you through from lunch until dinner time on Sound Advice with Rick Phillips, Saturday Afternoon at the Opera with Howard Dyck and Tonic with Tim Tamashiro...
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