There is a new thing that’s all the rage in the music buying world. iTunes [and also Windows Media and Real]. Buy your music, get it instantly. Sounds good. You can buy singles or whole albums online, no waiting. Of course the sound quality is not exactly CD standard, more like really really great cassette, but it is more or less decent. And do not underestimate instant gratification. But there is something missing……

I have been ripping my large CD collection to iTunes for quite a while, and may be done one of these years. So I have become accustomed to just scrolling thru my iPod to listen to songs, or on the computer when I want to hear something. I still use my cds a bit if I am in my office, but for work, the car, or when walking around the house and yard, the iPod is great. But there is something missing……

I have a rather large classical collection. I have been listening to my Barber and Meyer Violin Concerto CD by Hilary Hahn on my iPod. I am using this cd as the first review on this site, so I needed to read the liner notes on the cd to help with the review. So I went to the box I keep all of CD covers in, and pulled it out. Very informative. But what if I had purchased it on iTunes? Or if my readers wanted to purchase it there? I hopped over, searched and quickly located the CD. Great. But there is something missing…….

The CD booklet with liner notes and listing of the performers. Now to be fair, there are some albums that offer booklets, but more often than not they just contain a few pictures. With classical CDs especially, you get a description of the work, maybe an essay, and notes on the performer. But for some reason these seem to be missing from a lot of downloaded albums. Would it be so hard to have a PDF file with a copy of the CD booklet included with the tracks? They are already available, and there is no additional printing costs, just the download bandwidth.

iTunes albums are around $10, and I can go to a record store and get the same on a physical CD with all the extras for just a little more. Also, there are plenty of tags available in the AAC format to place pictures of the booklets, and room for text fields that could display the contents of the booklets. But this is not happening. With the advent of CDs, we lost those large pictures and liner notes of the LP era, and now we seemed to have lost everything in the digital download arena. I would love to see all this info on my iPod. The newer iPod models show album art if you wish, but I have no access to the info inside the CD booklets. Maybe I could type all of the information in, but that is not something I would do. If I knew all of this was embedded in my files, and I could read it while listening on my iPod, the odds of me purchasing these tracks online would go up a lot. I could forgo a little sound quality for convenience and the music text included on my tracks.

I miss my liner notes. Just a thought. [I will let you know where you can get the booklets for select labels in another post]

Box Sets 1 – Beethoven

Classical Box Sets abound, and are great ways to collect full groups of works, like Beethoven’s Symphonies, Mozart’s Late Symphonies, etc. I decided to comment on some of my favorites over the next few posts.

Beethoven Symphonies and Piano Concertos are probably the most popular sets available, and if you look around, there are some great bargains out there.
After a long absence, the Toscanini performances have finally been compiled into one set by BMG/RCA. The recordings are old, in mono, and I could not care less. The power and energy that Toscanini brings to these works is beyond compare. You quickly overlook the sonic shortcomings when you hear these recordings. To be honest, the sound quality is surprisingly good, and for under $30, this is a great way to get all the symphonies, or just fill in some works missing in your collection. Do not let the word MONO stop you from discovering this great set.
Beethoven – Toscanini at Amazon

A super bargain set of the 9 symphonies along with the 5 piano concertos, and some overtures thrown in for good measure can be had by Klemperer on EMI in a 9 cd set. The price can be as low as $40 on sale. These are 1960’s era recordings, so a bit more modern than the Toscanini set, and better sound. The performances do hark back to the old school of Beethoven, so tempos are not as brisk as in more recent recordings, but they are nonetheless classic interpretations.

Beethoven – Klemperer at Amazon

Samuel Barber: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14
Edgar Meyer: Violin Concerto
Hilary Hahn with Hugh Wolff/St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Sony Classical

Why buy a cd from a performer you do not know, with an unfamiliar conductor, and with one of the works unknown to you? Well, on a whim, I decided I needed more Barber in my collection, and chose this cd with 19 year old [at the time, in 2000] Hilary Hahn. I tend to be suspicious of very young violin players. Their technique may be flawless, but the performances are missing soul. Not so here. Hahn’s tone is smooth, but not too sweet. While razor precision does not fall in the perview of these two works, there is some great violin playing on this disc. Hahn’s playing has emotion, and she brings the music alive, instead of treating it as a dusty tome that has to be played just right, in order not to offend. I will be expanding my collection of Hahn recordings to be sure, and am interested how her performances of more familiar works will hold up.

Technically, the recording is good, not too close, and the violin stands apart slightly from the small orchestra, but not in a distracting way. The orchestral parts are a little bit back, but this may be due to the size of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Overall, the recording is not quite stellar, but close.

The Barber Violin Concerto has been well recorded, and there are over a dozen cds in the current catalog. Having never heard the work, I cannot compare this particular performance to others, so it will have to stand up on its own merits. And it does, very well. The work touches on the classical style, but with some 20th century elements. Movement one is a nice allegro, while the second movement has a sad feel, and you can almost feel the distress that Hahn’s playing conveys. The CD liner notes reference the fact that Barber had trouble with the third movement, and that the violinist Briselli [who commissioned it] called it unplayable. There is a lot of energy here, and qualifies as a violin showpiece. Between the 3 movements, the violinist gets to stretch their performing styles, and overall it is a very good work.

The Meyer Violin Concerto was commissioned by Hahn and this is the world premiere recording. The first movement has a rolling theme, and somehow reminds me of Stravinsky’s 8 Miniatures for 15 Players. Of course, I have been listening to the Stravinsky a lot lately, and it may have to do with the small orchestration of the performance. The second movement starts with an Appalachian Spring by Copland feel, and moves from there. The work as a whole is a pretty piece, and floats in and out thru various themes and styles, but definitely worth a listen. It is not a violin barnstormer, but rather a nicely composed work with some interesting violin work. It is good to know that performers will still commission new works, for they will be the classics of tomorrow.

So, if you are a fan at all of the violin, buy this cd. It has provided me with hours of pleasure, and will be one of those cds that you play over and over again.