Rosen Guitar Review

[Marion Georgi]

Whata pleasure it is to have this recording from 1994 of Nathaniel Rosen playing the complete Bach Suites for Solo Cello. Rosen brings his broad flowing strokes and lyricism to bear with delightful effect in these pieces brought back to us by John Marks and HDTT.

I am an unabashed enthusiast for the performances of Nathaniel Rosen. I've written previously about his recordings (HERE) and I'm delighted that John Marks has been able to bring us yet another. Rosen's playing simply dances in these performances. His interpretations are uniquely his own, eschewing historically informed performance practice but never falling into the abyss of overly romantic playing either. He applies rubato, but he lets the music flow with a lithe grace.

As Les Berkley writes in his 1994 Stereophile review, Rosen's interpretations of these pieces "unfold beautifully and lyrically, impelled by a technique that is at once virtuosic and unselfconscious."

The sound quality of this early digital recording is surprisingly, very surprisingly, good. Back in 1994, few of us could ever have heard just how good this really is. I certainly would not have had the opportunity. This release from HDTT is sourced from the original 20-bit 44.1kHz digital edit master tape. As such, it has stayed entirely in the digital domain from recording to our ears, without intervening duplication or DA/AD conversion. And, because it was originally recorded at 20-bit, and transferred in this release to today's standard of 24-bit, the original tape contained more information that would an alternative 16-bit recording.

"This release is based on a new transfer from the original 1994 edited digital master tape, which was created from the 1993-94 session master tapes. All of these tapes were recorded on a Nagra D digital tape recorder recording at a 44.1 kHz sampling rate, 20-bits, on quarter-inch tape, which at the time was considered by many as state of the art (a Nagra D recorder retailed for c. $27K in the early 1990s). Of necessity, this same machine was used for the recent transfer made in preparation for the instant release. Since the recording was digital, the 1994 edited master tape did not degrade the sound of the session tapes. The original unedited session tapes were available to us but unusable."

Oh, I'm definitely the WRONG person to ask. I have easily a dozen and more complete sets, including (in no particular order) those by Casals, Starker, Bylsma, Ma, Rostropovich, Shafran, Eijlander, Tunnicliffe, Fournier, Helmerson, Wispelwey, Isserlis... Plus transcriptions for violin from Rachel Podger and for guitar by Segovia and by Hoppstock. Plus individual suites from Elinor Frey, Martin Zeller, Frederic Rosselet...

Over the past thirty years, 4-6 new recordings of the complete suites have been issued each year. Just take a look at the year-by-year summary shown at the JS Bach Cello Suites website for a rather eye-popping series of album covers displayed by year of release.

While I don't have favorites, I do have some recordings to which I listen more frequently than to others (e.g., Starker, Ma, Bylsma) to which group I'll very likely add this new release of Rosen's recording.

I like his flexible dance-like approach to these works. They are dances, after all. I like that he is not constrained in his meter, but happily varies it according to how he feels about the music in that moment. I'm sure this must drive others crazy. Not me. I live for this kind of free flexible music-making. It's joyful and it makes me happy.

Robin Garr reviewed Sitar for LEO Weekly, which ran his treatise without a score for the third straight week. The version of the article he published on his own site, however, included the grade of an 83. That's an 83 everybody, 83. When he sees his review in LEO without his carefully calculated rating, does Robin "grrr?" [Yes, fully aware that last sentence is the dumbest one this site has yet published.] "'Sitar.' Sounds like 'guitar,' and sort of acts like one, too. This oversize Indian guitar-equivalent that the Beatles loved plays eerie, sinuous music that can't be duplicated on a keyboard because it slides into the spaces between the keys. When you think about it, Indian food is kind of like that, too." How much LSD does one have to take for that comparison to make sense? Anyway, "The lunch buffet line doesn't house an overly large selection, but it offers a good sampling of Indian flavors, with about a half-dozen vegetarian options to the left and a similar selection of meatful dishes to the right, salad in the middle and soups and dessert down at the end. We managed to sample just about all of it and judged it all above average for local Indian fare." [LEO Weekly]

The Kansas Supreme Court will conduct a special evening session Thursday, March 30, at Southwestern College in Winfield. The special session is part of ongoing outreach to familiarize Kansans with the high court, its work, and the overall role of the Kansas judiciary.

The court will be in session from 6:30 p.m. to about 8 p.m. March 30 in the Richardson Performing Arts Center located in the Christy Administration Building on the Southwestern College campus at 100 College Street.

The public is invited to attend the special session to observe the court as it hears oral arguments in two cases to be announced soon. After the hearing concludes, the justices will greet the public in an informal reception in the lobby adjacent to the performing arts center.

The Supreme Court has conducted several special sessions outside its Topeka courtroom since 2011, when it marked the state sesquicentennial by convening in the historic Supreme Court courtroom in the Kansas Statehouse. From there, and through the end of 2011, the court conducted special sessions in Salina, Greensburg, and Wichita. Since then, the court has had sessions in Garden City, Hays, Hiawatha, Hutchinson, Kansas City, Overland Park, Pittsburg and Topeka.

The court started conducting evening sessions when it visited Hays in April 2015. That event drew a crowd of nearly 700 people. Subsequent evening sessions have also drawn crowds numbering in the hundreds.

Russell seeks compensation in this medical malpractice action against three doctors she claims were professionally negligent when they delayed diagnosing her breast cancer, lessening her chance for recovery and long-term survival. At trial, a Sedgwick County District Court judge dismissed the primary care physician from the action and the jury found the remaining two providers were not at fault. The Court of Appeals affirmed.

Gray appeals his Harvey County District Court convictions for drug possession, interfering with law enforcement, driving on a suspended license, and failing to signal. In part, Gray argues he was unlawfully stopped by law enforcement based on his race, and the district court should have suppressed evidence collected as a result.

Anyone who wants to attend the special session should plan to arrive at the school before 6 p.m. to allow time to get through security screening. Court security offers these guidelines to ease the process:

Best-selling author and CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin will present the 2017 Docking Lecture on Thursday, March 2, at 11 a.m. on the campus of Southwestern College. The Docking Lecture Series is sponsored by Union State Bank,

No one remembers when the neighbors started calling the McCutcheons to complain about the loud singing from young John's bedroom. It didn't seem to do much good, though. For, after a shaky, lopsided battle between piano lessons and baseball (he was a mediocre pianist and an all-star catcher), he had "found his voice" thanks to a cheap mail-order guitar and a used book of chords.

From such inauspicious beginnings, John McCutcheon has emerged as one of our most respected and loved folksingers. As an instrumentalist, he is a master of a dozen different traditional instruments, most notably the rare and beautiful hammer dulcimer. His songwriting has been hailed by critics and singers around the globe. His thirty recordings have garnered every imaginable honor including seven Grammy nominations. He has produced over twenty albums of other artists, from traditional fiddlers to contemporary singer-songwriters to educational and documentary works. His books and instructional materials have introduced budding players to the joys of their own musicality. And his commitment to grassroots political organizations has put him on the front lines of many of the issues important to communities and workers.

Even before graduating summa cum laude from Minnesota's St. John's University, this Wisconsin native literally "headed for the hills," forgoing a college lecture hall for the classroom of the eastern Kentucky coal camps, union halls, country churches, and square dance halls. His apprenticeship to many of the legendary figures of Appalachian music imbedded a love of not only home-made music, but a sense of community and rootedness. The result is music...whether traditional or from his huge catalog of original songs...with the profound mark of place, family, and strength. It also created a storytelling style that has been compared to Will Rogers and Garrison Keillor.

The Washington Post described John as folk music's "Rustic Renaissance Man," a moniker flawed only by its understatement. "Calling John McCutcheon a 'folksinger' is like saying Deion Sanders is just a football player..." (Dallas Morning News). Besides his usual circuit of major concert halls and theaters, John is equally at home in an elementary school auditorium, a festival stage or at a farm rally. He is a whirlwind of energy packing five lifetimes into one. In the past few years alone he has headlined over a dozen different festivals in North America (including repeated performances at the National Storytelling Festival), recorded an original composition for Virginia Public Television involving over 500 musicians, toured Australia for the sixth time, toured Chile in support of a women's health initiative, appeared in a Woody Guthrie tribute concert in New York City, gave a featured concert at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, taught performance art skills at a North Carolina college, given symphony pops concerts across America, served as President of the fastest-growing Local in the Musicians Union and performed a special concert at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. This is all in his "spare time." His "real job," he's quick to point out, is father to two grown sons.

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