Washington

I took a few days to visit the nation’s capital and explore fine cuisine.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

We had a great time. Details of the food may be found at MessyCuisine.

iTunes vs. Amazon

With a day off to go shopping from my chair (i.e., online), I began looking to see if I had missed any “Bach” from what I could find in digital downloads.

My two principal places to shop would be the iTunes Music Store and Amazon Digital Downloads.

I started at Amazon. I always look at what they recommend to me, thinking, “that must be all the classical they have.” They love trying to force Keith Jarrett albums down my throat because I once told them I owned a few.

This time around, I simply typed “Bach” in the search window, and it registered some 14K results. I’ve gotten through some 55 pages so far, looking at a lot of albums. Curious to know what some sound like, etc., I of course heard a lot of J.S.B. but also his sons. There’s a lot of Bach out there.

So, I found a recording by the London Baroque. It caught my fancy, and it costs $8.99 through Amazon. It’s offered in their non-DRM, 256kbit resolution (mp3). Just to check, did Apple carry this album?

They sure did. Somehow, despite Apple’s store within iTunes, I found the Amazon searching experience easier. I’d never encountered this CD through Apple’s interface (despite it being years old). Interestingly enough, Apple’s cost is $1 more. Non-DRM (iTunes Plus), and same resolution (albeit in Apple’s preferred AAC format).

I compared other albums, such as those from John Eliot Gardiner’s Bach cantata series. Amazon: $14.99, Apple: $19.98. Same file resolution.

Here I am, an Apple fan (I carry the stickers on my car, the tattoos on my… (just kidding)). Isn’t Amazon the clear choice? For a classical fan, it seems like Amazon just might be the clear winner. For your extra money, you could have Apple’s AAC-encoded tracks, but, thus far it’s only Apple that is suggesting they are in fact a better quality format.

A true test, no doubt, would be to download one of these from each store, compare the results, and see what we have. Of course, it would be my ear against yours, and I am not sure you’d trust my ear. After all, I’m just a guy with a blog. If I had the resources, it would be fun to have a whole room full of folks and test them on the MP3 vs. AAC business. Or not, you could just save yourself some dough buying from Amazon, in lieu of buying plastic and aluminum CDs.

Consequently, I think if I found a recording that was super-special to me, I’d still buy it on CD (it’s roughly 8-10 times more data on CD); I am looking forward to two CDs coming via mail to me right now as I type this.

Now, a few comments on what I don’t like.

1. I found a CD of Bach’s French Suites by Christophe Rousset that seemed to be labeled wrong through Amazon. Skip that.
2. Many times, the Amazon reviews on their digital downloads don’t match the actual recording!! I might be reviewing the London Baroque trio sonats, but the reviews are for E. Power Biggs on the organ. Yowsah.
3. The Amazon album artwork is not always crisp and clear, the Apple artwork from Apple is.
4. Apple sometimes offers a PDF for the CD as liner notes. Amazon, haven’t seen it.
5. The previews for Amazon’s tracks are heavily encoded. You don’t hear the track at the same resolution at which it’s sold. That can be misleading. “Crappy sound, not going to buy,” when in fact, the MP3 you download sounds fine.

No doubt, Apple and Amazon are the biggest competitors right now in the buying model of online music (rather than the rental model). For what I see now, there isn’t any one true, clear winner; Amazon for now is beating Apple through more aggressive pricing and a larger classical catalog.

Vivaldi - Stabat Mater, Nisi Dominus

I recently picked up (digitally) a new recording of Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus by Jean-Phillipe Spinosi and the Ensemble Matheus. This CD features Phillipe Jaroussky and Marie-Nicole Lemieux. While the countertenor takes RV 608, the alto takes RV 621. What’s interesting is a competing CD by Fabio Biondi’s Europa Galante with David Daniels. How do they compare?

There’s a lot to compare: different vocalists, interpretations, and ensembles. Not to mention the recording itself. Let’s start by saying, out of the gate, Jaroussky is amazing in the opening number from Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus. A great, fast tempo is established, and then his singing sticks to the instruments like glue, strong, and expanding with emotive power when necessary. You feel he owns this number. The Ensemble Matheus is lean in this recording, plenty of attitude (as usual), but maybe a tad flat? I’m not sure who the soloist is the Gloria, but here the EM take a second seat to the viola d’amore solo by Fabio Biondi in the alternative, older recording. Both the tempo and phrasing are superior with Biondi. By the time we get to the Amen, the drama and vocal flights of fancy go back into Jaroussky’s court.

I admire David Daniel’s sound and voice. And I’ve always enjoyed his recording with Fabio Biondi. But for Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus, Jaroussky under Spinosi is an all-around better contender. It’s not clearly better in every detail, but the sound and artistry are simply more affective coming from this new CD.

The second work is Vivaldi’s more famous (and in my opinion, better) work, the Stabat Mater. Here we have another contrast, a female contralto with a male countertenor. I think the new recording by Spinosi loses in this round, compared to the reading by Biondi with Daniels. Where Daniels is a golden honey sound, Lemiux is more dark flavor, thicker, slower, and tinged with an ounce of poison. The whole interpretation by Matheus is another quizzicality too. The playing is dynamic, for sure, but in odd ways. Who can resist that solo treatment Biondi gives the same work, that tone and that personality? The multiple violins under Spinosi just don’t compare. And they don’t seem to be speaking Vivaldi’s language here.

For the SM, Daniels and Biondi clearly have the upper edge. It’s simply more enjoyable under them. Now, if the EM took a 1 per part approach, and followed the line (the melody versus the vertical alignment in phrasing), and had Jaroussky at the mike, then… we might have something really to compare.

So, it’s a tie. Spinosi: 1, Biondi: 1.

Stimulating Podcasts?

This thread on Metafilter discusses some intellectually-stimulating podcasts.

I have personally found a lot of great content being podcasted–both by folks who are professionals and those that are amateurs. By amateur, I mean, they aren’t regular talk-radio personalities.

I have found a lot of food/restaurant/cooking podcasts I like. With the advent of AppleTV in my home, I have also found listening and watching new podcasts much easier. Sometimes podcasts are more interesting because they come from amateurs, or they aren’t constrained by the influences that constrain normal radio and television programming.

In the back of my head I’m considering a podcast project that’s aimed at educating.. I’ll let the ideas percolate a bit before saying more.

Pierre de la Rue - Motets

The Hilliard Ensemble perform a mass and motets by Pierre de la Rue.

I honestly don’t listen to this recording often; it was recorded in the early 1990s, and I purchased it in Madison, Wisconsin on Virgin’s cut-rate label for reissues.

It just came up this evening after I was listening to Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (a favorite work), and it hit me… this recording has some gems within.

The ensemble sounds great together. The music is slow, and the overall affect harmonious and sometimes otherworldly. It is those shifts of harmony into places (or back to chords) that we often might not expect coming from the 21st century that arrest our attention.

Listening to this on the extreme fringe of Easter morning, with the personal strife I’m currently enduring, this was a nice gift to come in my iTunes playlist.

Il Giardino and the Pisendel Concerto

I found this excellent video on You Tube of IGA performing a difficult Vivaldi concerto for Pisendel, the German violinist.

Mr. Onofri — an awesome, great violinist!

Martha and her MacBook Air

Martha Stewart recently blogged about getting a MacBook Air.

As long, longtime readers of biberfan most certainly know, I am not Martha’s biggest fan. I ate cake when she went to prison.

But in retrospect, I have watched some of her shows, and bought some of her ideas on paper. She’s certainly an inventive businesswoman, and you have to give her credit for that.

But reading her blog… and all the folks to read it… I began to think.

1. She gets blog traffic because she’s famous and people trust her judgement. She’s built brand, and she is the brand.
2. Any joe can start a blog and recommend products.
3. What’s the difference between her and someone else who’s in the know?

While I might go to Martha for a suggestion on cheap, good-looking sheets, I am not sure she’s the best authority for what computer to buy. Simply the fact that she prefers to work side-by-side with two suggests she’s not hitting either one very hard.

I have found many bloggers whose opinions and judgement I value; I likely value their judgement even more than some of these folks value Martha’s.

Now the question is: how many blogs do you follow written by felons?

Your opinion is obviously… a vendetta?

Today I was searching for something on Amazon.com: a review of a recording I was listening to. I do this from time to time, as I value the opinions of others, and frankly, Amazon isn’t a bad place to find opinions.

So, I found some comments online by a guy who didn’t much care for Manze’s playing. He gave him credit for being an “academic,” but not a “professional.” I am not sure I agree with the terms used, but I did agree with some points.

I found Manze’s recording of Biber’s Rosary Sonatas a tad anemic, if not down-right boring at times. It also seems that this guy and I both reserve admiration for Musica Antiqua Köln’s recordings.

What surprised me was some of the sharp “attacks” against this guy for his opinion. Does it make sense that everyone has the same opinion about something? On something as subjective as a musical performance? What seemed inconceivable to these folks was that someone could have a differing opinion. They characterized it as a “vendetta” against the performer. Granted, the folks defending Manze were really strong supporters. They wrote as fanatics, themselves. My impression was that whatever Manze put out on Harmonia Mundi, they’d love it.

The passion everyone seems to pour into their opinions is good, I think. What a wonderful place the Internet has become for music lovers to express their opinions. What a great place to see reactions, with opportunities to disagree, agree, or have your own unique reaction. Yet, I too lament the close mindedness we see when someone is convinced that one person’s opinion is simply dead wrong.

Sometimes opinions do reflect wrongs in the world. This rendition by the Jarrett Trio of “Green Dolphin St.” that I’m listening to right now is really good. It’s happy, celebratory music of the highest order. But music is such a personal, subjective entity, I believe, too. You might not like jazz. You might have a more favorite rendition of this standard. You might find the performance fine, but the work sloppy and lacking. What motivates someone to suggest, online in front of the world stage, that someone who differs in opinion has no right to give fewer stars, or disagree with us?

It is tantalizing, I think, to find others that see the world as we do. It can also be scary to find everyone may not see the world as we do. Opinions are always valuable as perspectives.

No Reservations

Catherine Zeta-Jones came into my bedroom this evening; I rented her movie based on cooking from the iTunes rental service. No glitches, this time; I ordered the non-HD version, which looked fine, but with the black bands at the top. I’m glad I didn’t get the higher-resolution version, as this movie was a stinker.

The film was based on the book and earlier movie entitled Mostly Martha. Why do a remake so soon? The original was in German. But it was a far better film.

I, in fact, have never seen just a bad re-make; they even copied some of the same music. They could have taken the same story, but adopted it, and made some changes.

A friend at work considers Martha her favorite movie; she already warned me not to watch this one. Oh well. I still like the idea of iTunes rentals better than going to a store. I scored there.

Brandenburg Madness and the Sunroof

In high school, several of my friends and I entertained ourselves in the car by “blasting” classical music. A prime candidate would be Bach’s third Brandenburg Concerto, and the windows and sunroof would likely be down.

All the better if someone noticed as we passed.

I also recall times I’d spend alone in my room, with the same said music “blasting” out of my little boombox. Not unlike Fraiser Crane and his brother Niles from a particularly funny episode of Fraiser, I’d break wooden hangers (for pants) when air-violin playing that Brandenburg.

Tonight, contemplating some personal dissatisfaction (not with myself, but with the fact that copies of my book have not arrived at my door for me to read, enjoy, or look at), I considered what I could do to deal with this disappointment and resulting stress.

• Buy something (maybe an Apple TimeCapsule)
• Drink something (really not my style)
• Eat something (okay, I had some ice cream, but that doesn’t count, I felt no real lasting benefit)
• Play music loud. (That’s the ticket.)

So, for all of those years that I had to leave the house to hear my classics loud, I’m glad I can now do so in my own home. Yes, and after all those years, Musica Antiqua Köln still plays one mean Brandenburg 3. Pure delight.

Week’s End Thoughts

This Saturday (or was it Friday night?) we were in Grayson (one of our two cars), and a George Winston CD was in the player. My music theory teacher in college would play George’s music (or facsimiles) and make fun of him (as a musician). Nevertheless, some of my songs I was writing at the time were Winstonesque. Despite the style (and his rather brash style on the piano), I connected with what he was doing (because it wasn’t that far from my grasp, and after all, he was successful doing that).

I asked outloud: “Is the bank account empty? Have I spent all of my musical capital? Do I have anything left to say?”

The response I got wasn’t terribly satisfying; I am not sure he understood my question quite right.

I used to sit down at the piano and just create music. I did so almost every day. I had a routine going on in my high school days: come home, watch a little TV, and play the piano until dinner time. It wasn’t focused lessons occupying my time; I simply played because I loved to play.

Today, I don’t play. And probably not surprising–there is nothing left to say. But the question remains: If I sat down and made time to play each day, would I once again find my musical voice, and consequently, find my musical bank account accruing interest?

I don’t know. I am not sure. I think if I stopped blogging, I still might have things to say. They wouldn’t get articulated, for sure, but I might not be any the less prolific a thinker. But you never know.

And here I used to think in graduate school I’d never have enough time to write down all the musical ideas I’ve had. Now, there are few left. I played the piano in public recently while I was away at a conference. It was sad (I mused) that the pieces I played had all been ones I had known/created since high school. There was something special, though, about the experience that likely “woke me up,” and started my thinking process about this.

(A) It was a real piano, and it felt good.

(B) There was a real audience, and the aesthetic aspect of the music came alive. I was emoting while performing.

Tonight I cannot tear myself away from the stereo/hi-fi. I become overwhelmed with all the content available, from podcasts to CD recordings and newly-purchased stuff I don’t yet “know” very well. This Biber recording of his Harmonia Artificiosa-Ariosa is profound; the opening work and opening movement seem to capture my personality, all the more so in the rendition by the Rare Fruits Council.

Its at once thick, rich, rustic, and there’s this line that gets tossed about between the top two players, fighting, coursing, and competing. Who knows what Biber was thinking about here; who knows if he ever heard this music played so fiercely. And would he have ever thought it would have captured the personality of a 21st century writer of trivial thoughts?