Steely Dan UHQR Series

Music Reviews: Modern Classical

March 14th, 2023

A Sonically Spectacular Percussion Record Worth Repeated Plays

compositions by Lou Harrison and Steve Reich plus a world premier co-commissioned by the Ensemble

By: Michael Fremer

Recorded during the same 2011 and 2012 Zipper Hall, Los Angeles sessions that produced the remarkable percussion record “Smoke & Mirrors” (Yarlung 17255-195V), “Earth & Wood” is another sonic spectacular recorded directly to tape using a single AKG C24 stereo microphone (with Elliot Midwood mic amplification). The one-mike recording technique required “just so” placement of both it and the seven member Smoke and Mirrors Percussion Ensemble that performed the... Read More

February 21st, 2023

Music of Dread and Vengeance

RE-IMAGINING FILM MUSIC NOIR: Michael Giacchino’s soundtrack for The Batman Comes to Vinyl on Mondo Records

By: Mark Ward

It has become customary for many film music old-schoolers like myself to lament the current propensity for the “Zimmerization” of movie scores: ie., the devolving of a film’s soundtrack into endless drum-circles and synthesized loops, harmonic stasis, motivic repetition, all of which have become the hallmarks of Hans Zimmer’s work of the last 20 years or so.Obviously this is a vast over-simplification, and not entirely fair to Zimmer himself, but his protégés and... Read More

January 25th, 2023

Diving Deep into the John Williams' Harry Potter Film Scores

La-La Land Records’ Essential Deluxe Limited Edition is Back In Stock!

By: Mark Ward

John WilliamsEven within the context of his catalogue of one classic film score after another, the three films that John Williams scored for the Harry Potter franchise - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) - occupy a very special place. But you wouldn’t necessarily have known that to judge from the somewhat parsimonious manner in which the soundtrack scores... Read More

January 20th, 2023

The Mysterious Film World of Bernard Herrmann Conjures Musical Magic and Sonic Spectacle

Looking for something a little different to put your system through its paces? Then look no further than this orchestral spectacular from one of the greatest of all film composers.

By: Mark Ward

And as a recent perusal of the usual audiophile retail sites reveals, the latest limited edition reissue from ORG (Original Recordings Group) of this unique and spectacular record is very much in stock (even in some cases discounted), and so I felt it was the perfect time, indeed essential, to introduce Tracking Angle readers to this magical record.First, some background.The Mysterious World of Bernard Herrmann was just one of a series of records Bernard Herrmann... Read More

September 16th, 2022

Rachel's' 'Music For Egon Schiele' Floats Above Cliche

From the archives: You’ll feel this the first play and you’ll play it repeatedly

By: Michael Fremer

(This review originally appeared in Issue 7, Spring 1996.)Rachel’s’ 1995 release Handwriting LP (Quarterstick 30 LP) is on my top 10 of ‘95 list and this enchanting record may end up on the ‘96 list. The music here was composed by pianist Rachel Grimes for a dance and theater piece based on the life of turn of the century Viennese painter Egon Schiele.The stage work was written and directed by Stephan Mazurek for Chicago’s Itinerant Theater Guild, which he heads. The... Read More