No comments about Marce & Danze - Marches And Dances.

1 comments about Rameau - Une Symphonie imaginaire.

1. Before Rameau (1683-1764) there was instrumentation; after Rameau, there was orchestration. Then came Mozart, Beethoven, von Weber, Berlioz, Fry, Lizts, Gottschalk, Wagner, Lèfébure-Wélly, Franck, Bruckner, Mahler, and the rest is part of the world's music history.
   
   In the beginning, Rameau was an expert organist intensely interested with the exploration of new instrumental possibilities in music which he had already explored with organ music both as an instrumentalist and composer. He treated the organ as a great symphonic instrument rather than a polyphonic instrument. What we have here is what we call now "homophonic" music. He was not the only one to enter this form of thinking and composing; indeed there were others, but that does not take any away from his enormous accomplishments and advances in music theory.
   
   Rameau was throughly contemporary with François Couperin Le Grand (1668-1733), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), Giussepe Tartini (1692-1770), Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) and many other very well known composers of the early and mid 1700's. There is no doubt that for the most part all of the above knew in great detail about each other's whereabouts and current musical developments; assimilation of each other's theoretical and compositional ideas and forms was a widely accepted practice during that time period.
   
   Rameau as a matter of fact did not discover anything whether in music and/or instrumental sound acoustics but formally stated sound and acoustic "combinations" which if and when executed by composer and instrumentalists added to the clarity of the whole.
   
   As our old friend Mr. Plato (428-347 BC) remarked (I hope more than once), the foundation of anything in this universe (music included) in itself is indifferent to the existence of our universe. Indeed, indifferent to our minds and evanescent existence. Put it another way, music would exist even if musicians and/or we the listeners did not. I know this could be a debatable philosophical point for some but that's a theme for another discussion somewhere else.
   
   With his compositions Rameau explored first at the organ and then with opera, ballet and overtures orchestral and musical methods, and acoustic forms which in the end provided other musicians/composers in general with highly idealized representations of the real world, whatever the real world of acoustics in reality can be said to be.
   
   There is so much music (of all kinds), and composers which to this date knowingly or not, having adopted and assimilated Rameau's dictums have achieved such a mastery of acoustic "combinations" with effects of space, sonority, tone placement, antiphony, echo, silence, etc., etc, that have made this a wonderful world. One that Rameau re-discovered and which now-a-days is an integral and essential part of recognized music theory.
   
   Rameau wrote a number of "treatises" and books on music theory; the two most important are "Traité de l'harmonie" and "Gènération harmonique." In these two studies he described or "explicated" exhaustively all known to him blends of timbres/tones, space and reverberation combinations; to this day no musician could do without them! His main point was that melody and harmony are not independent of each other. These musical combinations were known by many, but Rameau was the first to write about them and put them to practice in a formal fashion - again - as far as we know now.
   
   I may add here that organists in general knew what Rameau knew; organistis knew very well how to score and employ acoustics and concomitant specific reverberation times and silences to obtain desired sound effects with their organ compositions. J.S. Bach was a master of this technique incidentally. It was and still is part of every good organist to "have the knowledge" and the skills to partake with organ music in such way; we also intuitively know when an organist is not for whatever reason applying these acoustic principles during a performance, generally to everybody's dislike.
   
   We must add here that Archangelo Corelli, Giuseppe Tartini and J.S. Bach for example scored "in scordatura" for string instruments, especially for viola da gambas but also for violins. Scoring "in scordatura" basically produces the same acoustical effects and results as those organists obtained with their organs;"in scordatura" in plain musical language means "mis-tuning." Scoring in this manner was a common practice during the 1600 and 1700's because it produced acoustical effects of the desired kind, that is, natural sound effects.
   
   Never-the-less, Rameau was apparently the first one to write and compose music following "natural" sound combinations without the need for scordatura. This is Rameau's legacy for the ages.
   
   He was (again, probably) the first to describe, justify and explain harmonic practice in music whithin a coherent system derived from the "nature" of sounds. It had been there all the time and Rameau just "nurtured" the idea. Again, we have here another example of "nature" and "nurture." Remember Mr. Plato's dictum?
   
   Very few composers before Rameau had conciously exposed and/or utilized that knowledge aside for the ocassional "in scordatura." We must resort here to Nikolaus Harnoncourt's "The Musical Dialogue - Thoughts on Monteverdi, Bach and Mozart" and Paul Bekker's "The Orchestra" to fully understand the inner works of this process. I highly recommend lecture of these two capital books as well as Dr. Philip Gossett's English translation of Rameau's "Traité de l'harmonie."
   
   With this SACD Marc Minkowski and his Les Musiciens de Louvre amply succeed in the representation of Rameau's orchestral music.
   
   Rameau never wrote a symphony as such; let's consider that for a moment. At about the same time J.S. Bach was calling some of his compositions "Symphonias", but it was not ultil his son Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach (1714-1788) threw away the traditional polyphonic media (instrumentation) or subordinated them to the dominant idea of harmonic development that a "formal" symphonic form appeared; we call this "homophonic" music incidentally.
   
   There were no symphonies until that time (C.P.E. Bach's time) but only "concertos" of the "grosso" kind. Concerti grossi (Italian for big concerts) were a popular form of Baroque music whereby an orchestra ensemble passed musical material between an small group of soloists (the concertino) and the full orchestra (the ripieno).
   
   That's the main reason for the added title to this SACD: "...un symphonie imaginaire." This SACD is about symphonies; symphonies which were never formally scored by Rameau. We are asked here and now to think about this music as being an imaginary symphony...or pieces of symphonies, or opera...ballets. Indeed not an easy proposition but, just after the first few bars of the the first track we realize that Rameau had a new perspective in music; his music was all about orchestration.
   
   Did Minkowski and his group succeed in their mission? Obviously the answer is a resounding yes! Minkowski and his musicians created these imaginary symphonies out of some orchestral music originally written for operas and ballets, and some specific overtures. These were orchestral parts composed during the last thirty years of Ramaeau's life. Previously he had only composed keyboard music mostly for organs.
   
   Presently, the question might be as follows: where do we begin with this SACD?
   
   The instruments: the instruments are all original period instruments
   and tuned to a prevalent a'= 415 Hz (so it's stated in the notes and my chromatic tuner corroborates exactly that) and that's very different than today's a'= ~ 440 Hz. The instrument's sound in this recording is different, totally different, and the tuning of the strings bespeaks well of the mastery of this orchestra's players. Remarkable, it's all I can say!
   
   Minkowski, the conductor. There is no doubt in my mind that he, along with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Andrew Manze, is the dominant figure in Baroque music at the present time. You can not do better than this or these if we include the other two conductors.
   
   The musicians. What can I say about them? That they have perfect pitch? Yes. That they play all the notes? Yes. That their string instruments had to be re-strung to a'= 415 Hz instead of playing "in scordatura"? I think so. Can they play in harmony? This is a great rendition of musical harmony at it's purest form.
   
   I think Rameau with this music and specially it's orchestration showed to the future the shape of things to come. This was the beginning of the end of the Baroque and the start of a new era.
   
   There are no words that could possibly describe the level of excellence which is achieved in this and the other Baroque recordings this conductor and musical group have been involved with. We do know this is the normal state of affairs with Minkowski and the musicians that subordinate to him. This is absolutely perfect.
   
   The sound, again, Archiv has produced another SACD reference recording. It's a true 5.1 DTS recording which means the sound will be coming out of six speakers if played in an SACD player. The total surround sound is as real as one could get and much better and more realistic than the same version in just plain stereo. In my opinion the SACD is far superior than the stereo version.
   
   I would not hesitate for a moment in recommending this SACD or any other that Minkowski and his musicians throw at us. Please hit us again and again with recordings of this caliber.
   
   FINAL WORDS: B U Y I T - NOW.

2 comments about Stravinsky: Works for Piano.

1. One thing that really pissed me off with this album is how Michel Beroff does his own thing and does NOT follow the tempo markings. People think "oh whatever the heck I feel is the tempo" but it takes away from the character of a piece. For example in "Les cinq doigts" he plays the Lento as an Allegro and everything else the same fast tempo. It makes everything this loud and fast music when there's much more personality in this master gem that Stravinsky composed.
   
   Most of the CD sounds very mechanical, and if any character in his playing it's very one-sided. Does not do Stravinsky's strong compositional personality justice.



2. I bought this cd primarily for "Movements for Piano and Orchestra", a short piece (about 9 minutes) using the 12 tone serial technique developed by Arnold Schoenberg. It is intriguing to hear the "neo-classicist" Stravinsky write in this style. To my ears, and I'm a fan of 12 tone, no new ground is broken here by Stravinsky (the piece was written in 1958-9, seven years after Schoenberg's death) but it's a good piece. The rest of the works are tonal.
   
   I'm not knowledgable as to whether this cd contains all Stravinsky's piano compositions but there is a lot here. Michel Beroff is a fine pianist and the recorded sound is very good. The liner notes are lacking but I've come to expect that from "bargain" classical cds.
   
   This is a two cd package. For $12, I'm very glad to have this set in my collection.

1 comments about The Instruments of Classical Music: The Harpsichord.

1. This is from a series of ten cds put out by Laserlight/Delta label.
   This cd is very good and offers a nice sampling of Harpsichord music by JS Bach, Scarlatti, and the other big keys in 17th-18th century keyboard music - Sweelinck, sorry guys
   
   This is an excellent cd for anyone interested in the piano predecessor, I have this cd and Vol 8 and 10, piano and organ cds.
   
   Good music, good perfermances, there are better recordsings of some of this stuff out there, but some goood names are on there, including Ton Koopman.

5 comments about Lise de la Salle plays Bach, Liszt.

1. I first heard Lise de la Salle on "youtube". She caught my attention with her clean, precise technique and her mature interpretations of the music. When she plays it is pure concentration.
   
   It is refreshing for me to hear Bach played with a little more pedal and sounding a little more romantic. Bach purist wil disagree with me I'm sure, however her performance was well thought out and by no means offensive. I will enjoy following her career through the years and am looking forward to her next CD. Definitely an artist to watch.



2. As a complete piece, this recital is very satisfying, and it has remained in my short-list rotation for the last several months. In this respect, it is much like the recent Liszt recording by Arcadi Volodos; the more I've listened to the music on these discs--music that, in the hands of lesser artists, can be inscrutable and tedious--the more I've been drawn into their respective visions.
   
   I have dozens of discs with the same material performed by Richter, Perahia, et al, and yet I would still place de la Salle's effort among the best. Are there more electric, barnstorming versions of some of the individual pieces on this disc? Yes, but this fact is beside the point. In my view, there are very few discs of this material that are so engaging from start to finish. I also disagree with another previous reviewer who complained about the sound. I don't know what kind of stereo equipment he has, but this disc sounds terrific on my system. Can de la Salle, sound the depths like Volodos? Not quite, yet she certainly makes the most of her vision and abilities. Don't hesitate on this one, unless, of course, you dislike artists such as Argerich!



3. It's difficult to believe that the pianist in this recording is just 16 years old. Is she real or it's just a dream? Her playing is both elegant and virtuosistic. Her interpretation is serious and essential. Her technique is prodigious! If you have not listened to her first cd recorded while she was fourteen and dedicated to Rachmaninov and Ravel...hurry up! There's also a DVD (La Roque d'Antheron - Les pianos de demain) but i think it's just Region 2; anyaway she's performs live some pieces present in this recording. Lise de la Salle's vision of the music is perfectly exposed in her own words "Concentration on the essential". She's an ethereal pianist.



4. I strongly disagree with the previous reviewer (villegem) assessment of Lise dela Salle performance and the quality of the recorded sound. I find the piano sound to be one of the best I have ever heard on a CD. To my ears, the Mephisto Waltz and as well as other pieces on the disc have a very solid base sound. Over all, the piano recoded sound is well balanced. As to the performance, I was especially moved by the Sonetto 104 Del Petrarca, which I felt had been delicately and beautifully played. I compared Ms. Salle Sonetto performance with seven other pianists from the Great Pianists of the 20th Centaury series (including among others Barenboim and Horowitz). In my view, it ranks very well among the giants. In the past, I have been only moderately interested in Bach's keyboard music. However, Ms. Salle performance gave me a new incentive to explore this music. My prediction is that this sixteen year old is destined to be one of the greatest pianists of the 21st centaury, if she is not already.



5. First: the recorded sound of the piano lacks lower register. Everything is concentrated on the sparkling of the upper register but you could not imagine a concert grand is 9 foot long and weights 350kg!
   Thus Liszt and particularly the Mephisto Waltz lack solid base. The diabolic, rapturous waltz becomes a lightweight exercice.
   The climax building in St Francis is not climbing much of a mountain.
   And of course there is Bach. Lise de La Salle is talented, musical but Bach "a la romantique" is really out of place.
   Heavy pedalling, homophonic as opposed to the polyphony of Bach make hers sound like film music, lacks the architecture and pulsation of Baroque music. The counterpoint and symbolic motives of the Baroque writing melt into a one liner thrill, unsure of its own meaning.
   That is a disappointment and clearly the young musician is not comfortable in this element.
   With its hints of annoying Argerich like accelerandos, Lise de la Salle first opus had the benefit of youth and novelty. It was worth the discovery. The second opus should have been better.
   Let's give some time to time and revisit this young virtuoso in a while!

4 comments about Conlon Nancarrow: Studies for Player Piano (arranged for Chamber Orchestra) / Piece No. 2 for Small Orchestra / Trio / Sarabande & Scherzo.

1. The previous reviewers said enough about Nancarrows history so that I won't touch on it. I like the orchestrated versions of the player piano pieces much more than the originals, they're more emotional, have greater dynamics, are less robotic (they swing at times) and the variety of timbres adds a lot to the listening experience. What were originally studies are now fully realized pieces. Perhaps not groundbreaking in the way the originals were, but so what. The beauty of Nancarrows' melodic and sometimes humorous music is really brought out by the orchestration. Very nice.



2. I couldn't get into this CD. I've heard some of Nancarrow's piano pieces and found them interesting, but when taken to a larger scale with an orchestra or ensemble, it sounds formless, senseless, and lazy. The piano trio is alright, but not worth getting the CD for.



3. Certainly a departure from his work on the player piano, these are very delicious arrangements of some of his most interesting studies. It was one of my first forays into the world of "serious music" and i have, frankly, never listened to anything, anything, quite the same ever again. I had had no idea music could be like this, like what it sounds like inside my mind. If you are even looking at this page, there is some curiousness; become its slave, and buy this here cd. There is no way you could regret it, even if you do.



4. To put it bluntly, this is some of the most original and entertaining 20th century music you will ever hear.

   Nancarrow's innovative player piano studies were written from the late 1940s to the early '80s and were intended, among other things, to explore ideas that were beyond the capacity of human performance. As electronic music was in its infancy when he began these studies, the player piano was Nancarrow's only outlet for these experiments. Unfortunately, their rhythmic complexities and furious tempos, as well as the unconventional instrument for which they were created, have limited their exposure. Nancarrow's audience in the US is still woefully small.

   This recording by the Ensemble Modern does Nancarrow a remarkable service. They've taken pieces long believed to be too difficult for live performance, and play them with the exhileration of a great jazz band. The arrangements, prepared mostly for brass, woodwinds, piano, harpsicord, and percussion, are bright and beautifully played. This music is constantly inventive and enormously entertaining (Nancarrow is serious music's greatest humorist since Charles Ives). Personally, the performance of "Study No. 7" on this CD is my all-time favorite piece of music, period. Included with the dozen arrangements of player piano pieces are selections that Nancarrow wrote for convential instruments.

   If you enjoy the more serious side of Frank Zappa, recent works of John Adams, Stravinsky, Bird, Bartok, Raymond Scott, Carl Stalling, or just want to hear a set of jaw-dropping ensemble performances, you've got to hear this recording.

5 comments about Super Hits: Scott Joplin.

1. I bought this not realizing that these are not piano performances, but every track is played on a Pedal Harpsicord. Don't make the same mistake... If you want piano, get a different disc.



2. I was delighted to find this LP recording re-issued on CD.
   E. Power Bigg's stylish and refined playing on his own mighty and meaty pedal harpsichord is a delight. He brings the right blend of joi-de-vivre and sophistication to the music. How pleased Joplin would have been to hear his music played by a musician of this renown on an instrument of this quality.
   Rifkin's piano recordings are fine, and very faithful. But E. Power Biggs brings an extra something, in addition to being faithful to Joplin's notes. Infectious, and a delight.



3. This is the most distinguished Joplin playing to be found.

   I was first aware of this recording in LP form in the 70s. My friends had it, and then I was delighted to buy an LP copy for myself as it was re-issued. I am so pleased that it is now available in CD form.

   E. Power Biggs is certainly the most distinguished musician to have recorded Joplin, and his playing on the wonderful, meaty pedal harpsichord is infectious.

   Joplin would have loved, I am sure, to know that his music ended up being performed by 'serious' musicians of this calibre on instruments of this quality. (Also worth mentioning is the Joplin Marches CD by Professor William Albright on a Bosendorfer Imperial Grand Piano. Albright's left hand seems a little 'light' however).

   My particular favourites on this recording are Cleopha and Binks' Waltz.

   The big pedal harpsichord has a full and ponderous sound, yet the renditions are full of liveliness and life.

   Joshua Rifkin's fine recordings can sound a little 'worthy' compared to this CD. Dick Hyman's fine 1970s set - very comprehensive - is nice, but the playing not in quite the same league as this. (and I do not think it was ever re-issued on CD).

   There are various other recordings of Joplin, by a variety of Pianists, on various labels. And there are various 'arrangements' by different musicians. But for sheer musical quality and 'joi-de-vivre', E. Power Biggs' playing on this recodring is unsurpassed.




4. Based on the previous review, I purchased this CD, and it is great. To begin with, I have the complete New England Conservatory, Red Book, and Joshua Rifkin Joplin LPs, and strongly recommend them. But, enjoyable as they are, their languidness is not what Joplin intended. I also have some piano rolls of several rags as played by Joplin, and the tempo is race track fast. Which is exactly the manner in which Biggs uses the pedal harpsichord to render these rags. Joplin intended these rags to be a Fourth of July parade, not a soft dreamy summer night, and Biggs fullfills the promise. So I like both the Rifkin "Entertainer/[movie]Sting" versions, and I love this recording. Of particular delight for me are Joplin's Paragon and Pine Apple Rags. And of course, do not miss the Houston Opera recording of "Treemoshina." Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.



5. Classical musicians have been featured playing ragtime since Joshua Rifkin's bestselling albums of the late 1960's. Many of these classically-influenced performances were appealing, but at the same time seemed a little stiff, a little pedantic, like badly played Handel. In contrast, E. Power Biggs, the Bach organ virtuoso, makes Scott Joplin really live. He opens up some intriguing new dimensions in this collection of rags, recorded in 1973.

   Biggs performs the music on the pedal harpsichord--which would seem to be an unlikely choice--but the percussive quality of the harpsichord makes the syncopations clear and crisp. The magnificent instrument used, made by John Challis, has a range of timbres, and Biggs combines and varies these so the different pieces each have their own character. The bass is played on foot pedals, and the left hand plays the chords on the off-beat. The right hand plays the melody on a separate keyboard, assigned a different voice for clarity. It sounds less like a baroque performance than a ragtime string band--something like the mandolin-guitar-string bass combinations of the ragtime era.

   While Biggs maintains the syncopations of the pieces, there is not a strong African American feeling. He doesn't rag that thing. But he has a wonderful ear for the chorale-like harmonies in Joplin, and a natural sense of the phrasing of the pieces that brings out the structure. He slows just a little at the final chord that marks the end of each melodic strain, and then picks up the tempo in the next strain, as if the piece was getting its second wind. These tempo changes are subtle, but the effect is very satisfying. Along with the tonal variations, the phrasing helps keep this somewhat-formulaic music from sounding all the same.

   The pieces performed will be familiar to Joplin listeners: Maple Leaf Rag, of course, and the usual selections such as Original Rags and The Easy Winners. The approach is different enough that hearing the standard rags does not seem like covering old ground. On the other hand, it is sad that Biggs, like the rest of the classical world, overlooked all the other ragtime composers, and the related early jazz of musicians like James P. Johnson or Willie "The Lion" Smith (who composed the 12th Street Rag). It would have been very interesting to hear what Biggs would have done with these more complex works.

   But, at the same time, the familiarity of this collection of music is one of its strengths. It's the same old stuff, but not the same old way, and the quality of playing easily surpasses almost all the recordings in this genre. If you like ragtime, and are open to an innovative approach t by one of the century's greatest keyboard players, this CD will bring a spring to your step.

No comments about Boris Goltz; The Complete Works for Solo Piano.

1 comments about Cabassi: Dancing with the Orchestra.

1. This CD is a collection of dances that may be better known in their orchestral versions than in the piano arrangements heard here (though all arrangements here are by the composer of the original piece). I had watched Cabassi on video during the 2005 Cliburn competition, and was particularly impressed by his Petrushka and La Valse there. This recording lives up to my high expectations from that competition.
   
   Cabassi takes slower tempos on several of the pieces than I've heard elsewhere (notably de Falla's Fire Dance and La Valse), but the result is spectacular. The Fire Dance in particular was a revelation--I'd heard the piece banged into submission many times before, but Cabassi's performance instead utilizes a gorgeous palette of color and shaded pianissimo to create a hypnotic drama.

5 comments about Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibiton; Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring.

1. Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra have done a splendid job with "Rite of Spring" and "Pictures at an Exhibition." Muti conducts "The Rite of Spring" with high intensity, making sure that the barbarism of the piece is never ruined by any lyrical approach. The Philadelphia is the true star of "Pictures at an Exhibition". The Old Castle and The Unhatched Chicks and The Great Gate of Kiev are wonderful to listen to (though I still prefer Yevgeni Svetlanov's 1974 recording with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra). The only problem I had with the Rite recording was the strange sounding brass. Trombones and some French horns sounded very sloppy during the violent movements, but otherwise they sound better during the slower and more delicate movements .
   
   All in all, this is yet another Rite recording to add to my collection (I have Inbal with the Philharmonia, Craft with the London Symphony, and Levi with the Atlanta Symphony). Now on to Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic for me.



2. Dynamite vigorous recording both musically and tecnically. I heard it first on the radio and could not wait to own it.



3. After the death of Eugene Ormandy, EMI thought it had a golden opportunity to renovate the Philadelphia Orch., which despite its gleaming virtuosity hadn't made an exciting recording in decades. Muti, the young turk in town, seemed to be on the same wavelength. Into the world sprang performances in monster sound witth glaring spotlighting a la Decca's notorious Phase 4. This Le Sacre is a prime example. As a reviewer notes below, in the opening bars the oboe and double bassoon are miked louder than the whole rest of the orchestra!
   
   Many critics ate it up with a spoon, but time has made the whole enterprise seem vulgar, even trashy, and Muti has no special affinity for Stravinsky--behind all the noise we get a rhythmically wayward Le Sacre with no lasting insights.
   
   The Pictures at an Exhibition tones things down considerably, and once it's brought back into the corral, the Philadelphia Orch. sounds more impressive in its burnished sonority and excellent soloists. Muti is fairly subdued here, giving a middle-of-the-road reading that can't compare with the best but is good value at bargain price.



4. As if I needed further evidence that the people who produce these CD compilations don't listen to their own work, this Mussorgsky/Stravinsky disc would be exhibit A. Here we have two works, ably performed by the same orchestra and conductor, with the same producer, recorded in the same hall, one year apart. And yet, not only does the sound on the two works not match, in the Stravinsky, even part one and part two do not match! Basically, if you buy this, be prepared to be an active participant, or to buy a CD burner that will let you change volumes. 'Pictures At An Exhibition' is brisk and nicely recorded. However, your ears will be in for a shock when 'The Rite of Spring' starts and the solo winds are as loud as the whole orchestra had been. However, once you've lowered the volume so your eardrums don't rupture at the climaxes, you will find Part 2 mostly inaudible. What's going on? Pt. 1 of 'Rite' is about 5db louder than 'Pictures', and Pt. 2 of 'Rite' about 3db louder than 'Pictures' Let's toast to hearing impaired recording engineers!



5. This recording is pretty good, but absolutely nothing compared to Muti's 1991 release with Philadelphia on Philips. The brass section is much different but a thousand times better. Plus the CD has Night on Bald Mountain on it which is needless to say, better than Rite of Spring. The brass section on the 1991 recording is insanely in tune. Not just tempered tuning, but "just" tuning (if you know what just intonation is). This 1979 recording has a bass trombonist who is just about to retire and wasn't all that good. Certainly not as good as Blair Bollinger. Also, the brass on this 79 recording are really bright and really forced, but the 91 brass are all but perfect. The only bad thing is, I can't seem to find the 91 release anywhere online. I'll have to ask my friend where he got his. But you can buy this 79 release if you just want a good recording, but if you want the best, the 91 release is what you want.