Recent content by Tam Pollard

The Jochum is very good and if you're limited the vinyl it is probably the one I'd go for. Completely disagree about the Rattle/BPO version - superbly played and plenty of drama. Another favourite of mine is from Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on Telarc. Extremely well recorded...

I'm not a big ballet fan, but in February I will be going to a programme of three short works which includes Weill's Seven Deadly Sins (which is more a cross between an opera and a ballet) - I saw a very impressive performance at the Edinburgh festival a couple of years ago. regards, Tam

I haven't heard the Klemperer flute, but his Mozart horn concertos with Alan Civil as the soloist are excellent - in a blind listen I don't think I would have identified it as Klemperer who can be a little heavy and leaden sometimes. I'm not able to help on a recommendation for Magic Flute...

For some reason Zavvi have just closed their store in centre of Edinburgh. Of course, the classical section there has been useless for several years, but it was still decent for DVDs.

Sunday at the Village Vanguard is a superb album (as it Waltz for Debbie) the other one drawn from the same sessions. However, you can now get the complete recordings: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000AMJEKA/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Cheese - we obviously have slightly different ideas of good value, but I regard that as towards the pricier end of Beethoven symphony cycles. Also, I've personally never much enjoyed Karajan's Beethoven. My starting point would be the Mackerras cycle from Liverpool, perhaps slightly less good...

I have to say I've found the testament Ring to be massively overrated (the Keilberth one, that is, I'm very curious to hear the new one). Siegfried, the first release, was pretty good, and certainly I don't think Varnay, Windgassen and Hotter have ever been caught so well on disc. But the sound...

I don't think Miles Davis ever really did anything quite like Kind of Blue again. The closest in terms of style, though the presence of electric instruments makes a rather different feel, is in my view In a Silent Way. I would suggest the various collaborations with Gil Evans - Porgy and Bess...

Don't know that you'll find a recording of the whole thing, but Dudamel and the Orchestra have recently released a disc of mainly latin american music: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0013USZHG/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21 regards, Tam

Les Canyons aux etoiles is a magnificent piece. I heard a superb performance from Reinbert de Leeuw and the Netherlands Youth Orchestra at the 2006 Edinburgh festival - the rather conservative classical listening public here meant that the Usher Hall was only about 20% full (and a few of them...

Orff's Carmina Burana. Some good recordings here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00005V0WU/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0006IRMXY/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000001GQP/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000026I04/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21...

During the 2007 Edinburgh festival I spent several evenings in the Jazz Bar on Chambers street. One in particular stands out: the magnificent Tony Monaco Organ Trio (the organ in question being a hammond). They were wonderful - the range of tones and colours they produced and their quality as an...

Very sad news. He was unique and radio will be poorer without him. However, I think it would be wrong to stop one of the funniest shows going as a result. Clue suffered badly from the loss of Willie Rushton a decade or so ago, and in some ways it hasn't been the same since. But it has carried...

I have the second of Ma's two sets (the one that was made to accompany a series of films), and I find them a little pedestrian. regards, Tam

I must have missed this thread the first time round, but I am amazed to see the Rostropovich recordings described as bland. Indeed, most of the complaints I read are along the lines that he takes too romantic an reading. Certainly, he seems to bring a great deal of passion to the works. I don't...