Summer Music

Music is the science of sound made art. The development of music notation combined with the printing press meant that western music, which we call classical music, could develop at the same pace as science, politics, art, and technology. The harpsichord gave way to the clavichord which gave way to the piano. Bach wrote his cello suites to see what the Amati-Stradivarius pattern cellos during that time period could do. We no longer have five string cellos and the instruments of today have strings that are far more powerful that the pure gut strings made in the seventeenth century. (Yech. They really had gut strings) Some of his suites are difficult if not impossible to play on modern instruments but Bach's First Suite for the Cello is pure genius. I hear it all the time, on Television commercials, in movies, and even as background music on computer games. Without classical music we would never have had spirituals, jazz, blues, or rock since the structures, forms, harmonies, and chordal progression were worked out by centuries of western musical experimentation.

As always I've been trying to find the highest quality music for the Library's collection. With classical music this is always problematic. It's not just the music, it's also the performer, and even the specific performance that makes a particular recording great. Yo Yo Ma, for example, is famous for his ability to play the Haydn Cello Concerto. Some performers just have a feeling for a particular piece of music. Some performances are just stellar.

This summer I have made three different Music buys, chamber music for the piano, solo pieces for the piano, and solo pieces for the violin. I did this not just to have a good general collection but because music lessons are a rite of passage for many kids. I have now, hopefully built collection of the best solo works for cello, violin, and piano for music students to emulate and enjoy.

Piano Works

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas No.s 28 & 29
Liszt: Sonata in B Minor
Rachmaninoff Preludes, Morceaux De Fantasie.
Glen Gould Edition: Brahms: Ballades, Rhapsodies etc.
Scrlatti: Keyboard Sonatas
Rubinstein Collection Vol. 51 Schumann
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3, Bagatelles Etc.
Beethoven: Sonatan Op. 31, 53, 79 & 81
Ravel: Gaspard De La Nuit; Prokofiev Piano Sonata No. 6
Schumann: Kreisleriana

Violin Works

Bernstein Century - Beethoven Violin Concerto
Schubert: Violin Works
Beethoven: Triple concerto, Brahms
Joshua Bell Edition V. 3 - Brahms Violin Concertos
Isaac Stern - A life in Music - Wieniawski, Bruch Concertos
Schumann: Sonatas for Violin & Piano 1-3, Faust, Avenhaus
Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky, Khachaturian
Artist of the Century - Jascha Heifetz
Shostakovich
Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole, Saint Seans, Ravel.
Paganini: Violin Concertos 1 & 2
Mendelssohn: Violin Sonatas
Schubert: Sonatas for Violin
Spohr: Concerto No. 8, Beethoven Serenade
Brahms: Violin Sonatas
Franck, Strauss: Violin Sonatas
British composers - Elgar, Delius: Violin

Piano Chamber Music

Stokowski: Symphonic transcriptions
Schubert: Trout Quintet
Brahms: Complete Piano Quartets
Dvorak: Piano Quartets Op. 23 & 87
Bach: Great Organ Works
Haydn: Piano Sonatas, Piano Concertos
Mozart: Piano Quartets
Beethoven, Mozart: Quintets
Schumann: Piano Quartets

Still Catching up

June? I'm just now getting to my June movies?
Okay this order is all over the place. From Lawrence Olivier and Vivien Leigh to the films of Halle Berry. I was filling a lot of holes with this order.

The Movies

American Psycho Great cast. Christian Bale, William Dafoe, and Reese Whitherspoon, but lousy reviews.
Blow Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, and Paul Reubens rags to riches to prison true story of a cocaine dealer.
Boys from Brazil Lawrence Olivier and Gregory Peck in a movie with Nazis and cloning. Silly plot but Sir Larry is great.
Bunny Lake is Missing This British mystery-suspense thriller is a near classic which stars Lawrence Olivier and Carol Lynley and was directed by Otto Preminger.
Children of Men Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine in the nightmarish near future tale from a novel by PD James.
Cop Land I think this is Sylvester Stallone's best movie. Of course it also has Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert Di Niro and a host of other actors you will recognize.
Croupier Clive Owen is a writer working as a Croupier in a London Casino. Tough smart script with nice plot twists.
Die Another Day Pierce Brosnan is Bond, Halle Berry and Rosamund Pike are the Bond Girls.
Executive Decision Kurt Russell, Halle Berry, and Steven Segal. Made back when Hollywood thought it was okay to kill Arab Terrorists.
George of the Jungle Probably more of a kids movie but there are some pretty good gags in it. Brendon Frazier.
Hoax Based on the true story of Clifford Irving faking the biography of Howard Hughs with Richard Gere and Alfred Molina.
Hoffa Jack Nicholson is Jimmy Hoffa and Danny Devito is his sidekick. Directed by Danny Devito.
Iceman Timothy Hutton, Lindsay Crouse, and John Lone. A frozen Neanderthal is found and brought back to life. Odd premise but the critics liked it.
Jungle Book The old one with Sabu, Directed by Zoltan Korda and the music of Miklos Rozsa. I think I bought it just for all the cool names.
Last Tycoon A movie about the movies with Robert De Niro, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Nicholson, Ray Millan, Dana Andrews, Theresa Russell, and Directed by Elia Kazan. Oh it was based on an uncompleted novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Monster's Ball Halle Berry's Oscar winner.
Othello Lawrence Olivier.
Pawnbroker The raw drama of a concentration camp survivor unable to feel again. Rod Steiger directed by Sydney Lumet and Music by Quincy Jones.
Private Life of Henry VIII Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Charles Donat, and Merle Oberon in a British Classic directed by Alexander Korda. Charles Laughton won Best Actor for this one.
Quiet American The earlier 'Hollywood' version of the Graham Green novel with Audy Murphy.
Ragtime An all star cast including Jimmy Cagney's last performance based on e L Doctorow's novel of 1906.
Rescue Dawn Christian Bale Escapes from a Viet Namese prison camp.
Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone Vivien Leigh is an aging actress in Rome Warren Beatty is the Gigolo.
Ship of Fools Grand Hotel at sea. Vivien Leigh, Lee Marvin, and Jose Ferrer. A don't miss classic.
Swordfish A thriller/action adventure with John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, and Halle Berry.
Taps Timothy Hutton Tom Cruise, Sean Pen, Ronny Cox, and George C. Scott. The boys in a military academy cadets go a little wild.
Thief of Baghdad Classic pre-CGI special effects movie based on the Arabian Nights.
U 571 Mathew Mcconaughey Harvey Keitel and Bill Paxton capture a German sub in WWII.

TELEVISION

All in the Family Fourth Season
All in the Family Fifth Season
All in the Family Sixth Season
Gilligan's Island Complete Series
Gunsmoke Third Season Volume 1
Gunsmoke Third Season Volume 2
I Love Lucy Complete Sixth Season
Magnum P.I. Complete Fourth Season
Magnum P.I. Complete Fifth Season
Murder She Wrote Complete Seventh Season
Murder She Wrote Complete Eigth Season

Non Fiction

Ken Burn's The Civil War