Ludwig van B. spent the final years of his life composing 7 things – his 5 late string quartets (Well, 5 ¼, but that’s for another post.), the epic Symphony No. 9, and the equally epic Mass, Missa Solemnis. The Maestro is said to have lifted up the String Quartet Opus 131 and Missa Solemnis […]

A classically trained, virtuoso, superlative showman whose first four albums were all top-20 sellers. An acclaimed rock star who rejected that accolade, who never listened to rock music, who preferred jazz and classical. A composer of symphonies, piano concertos, movie soundtracks, and legendary rock epics. Keith Emerson is dead.Emerson, who mastered as many as a dozen

Let’s get this over with at the top. Alfie Boe is the best musical theatre tenor. I could wax on about breath control, pitch accuracy, diction, and tone, but, whatever. Only one word is needed: Perfection.I realize I’m late in writing this, for which I can only plead a lack of words to describe the

I’m going to ignore the actual meaning of the title and focus on just the brain salad part. My brain’s tossed. The SACD release (within a 3 disc collector’s set) of Brain Salad Surgery is one spectacular effort, elevating the already-legendary album to the top of my playlist.PictureFrom the iconic cover art from the late

To go along with my post on getting back to quality, high-fidelity listening, here are my favorite rock recordings on Super Audio CD, in no particular order: 

They’re everywhere. Those little white earbuds show up on joggers, bicyclists, commuters, and the breakfast table. Follow the cords down from the ears and you’ll soon find the other end plugged into some little digital device the size of a few playing cards holding 5000 ultra low-fi songs. That is if the device isn’t hidden

The Symphony emerged from the Baroque period as a grand form of composition suited for wealthy courts that could gather and afford to pay a large number and variety of musicians.  It was developed and standardized during the classical period, particularly with Mozart, who wrote more than 40 symphonies, and Hayden, who wrote more than