Return of the Classical Vinylist

Welcome. It's been two years since my last post, so I'm way overdue for an update.

Although I have stopped posting for a while, I haven't stopped buying -- or listening to -- classical music on records. I'll resume posting here shortly, but first, an update for anyone who recently visited.

Because of technical problems, I had to remove all the audio clips from the earlier posts. They'll come back in future posts, but for now, I had to strip the older files. Short story: They vanished from the server where I had them, and crashed the blog every time I tried to load it.

So for now, all you get are my witty writings, some photos and a few videos. Hope you find this blog entertaining, and that you'll come back often.

Samuel Barber, Concerto for Violin & Orchestra

At last, an absurd album cover from the 1970s that kind of makes sense:

Get it? It's a violin! With shaving cream! Because the composer's last name is Barber!

I'm really starting to love the folks at Westminster Gold. Pity the label isn't around anymore.

Anyway, Happy New Year. In order to post delightful albums more frequently I'm dispensing with lengthy commentary (yay!) and giving you instead some samples from the records I find, as well as links to find the recordings if they're still out there.

Today's featured artists are Samuel Barber and Frederick Delius. Barber wrote just one violin concerto, commissioned in 1939 for a Philadelphia patron. When the violinist for whom it was written complained about it, Barber took the only appropriate action: He said screw you, bought back the rights for the first performance and in 1941 allowed Albert Spalding and the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform it.

The violinist who complained? That name, so far as I know, is lost to history. And Samuel Barber's concerto has enjoyed multiple recordings, some without shaving cream-covered violins on the cover.

The Westminster Gold recording features Robert Gerle on violin, with Robert Zeller conducting the Vienna State Opera Orchestra.

The site ReDiscovery.us has the recordings of Robert Gerle performing both the Barber and Delius works available on CD. But if you're not particular about who plays it, you can also find separate recordings here for Barber, and here for Delius (a $6 CD, at that.)

Brahms' 'Ein Deutsches Requiem' to be performed this weekend in Bethlehem, Pa.

Call it a bit of shameless self-promotion, but I might as well come clean: This ain't my only writing gig. I also write about music, classical and otherwise, for The Express-Times, a newspaper in Easton, Pa. If you happen to live in the Lehigh Valley and need something non-Halloweeny to do this weekend, the following article might interest you.

The Lehigh Choral Union will perform -- TWICE! -- "Ein Deutsches Requiem" by Johannes Brahms, a choral work well regarded as a marathon for singers and also a rare, secular requiem. (Say that three times fast.)

Back to the shameless self-promotion: Check out the article below about the upcoming concert. The Brahms Requiem has been performed just three times before in the last 30-odd years by the Lehigh Choral Union, according to longtime director Steven Sametz.

Lehigh University's Choral Union to perform Brahms' 70-minute "Ein Deutsches Requiem"

To whet your appetite, here's a video of the first part of the requiem. Listen, enjoy, and discuss in the comments below.