In search of the perfect tracks
Date:
06/21/2012 Contributor:
OK, music lovers, here's something to divert your attention from the summer heat and the NEPR fund drive — after you've contributed, of course. In honor of the two perfect games tossed this season by pitchers Philip Humber and Matt Cain, I asking you to give us your perfect tracks. By that I mean individual musical selections that come as close as humanly possible to achieving perfection. They may not be the grandest or the deepest; indeed, they may be quite modest. But from beginning to end, with economy and grace, they accomplish exactly what they set out to do. They can not be altered or bettered; they're just right as they are.
To stimulate the conversation, here's my list. They're in no particular order. All but the last can be heard on Spotify and perhaps on other services (Rhapsody, Pandora, etc.). And there's nothing terribly new. Hey, it takes time for a track to mature into perfection! Please reply with yours, however many or few. They can be in any genre. It would help if you said what album they're from, especially if there are other versions from live albums, outtake collections or the like. And remember, musical perfection is in the ear of the behearer, so no questioning anyone else's choices allowed.
Mabel Mercer: Some Fine Day
Nathan Milstein: Chausson's "Poème"
The Left Banke: Pretty Ballerina
Duke Ellington: Dancers in Love
The Association: Cherish
Louis Armstrong & Earl Hines: Weather Bird
Early Music Consort of London: Guillaume de Machaut's "Se je souspir"
Ray Charles: What'd I Say
Artie Shaw: Stardust
Clifford Curzon: Schubert's Moment musicale No. 6
Hank Williams: Lovesick Blues (version three)
Nick Drake: River Man
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus: "Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit" from Brahms's "A German Requiem"
The Beatles: Eleanor Rigby
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Comments
regarding Vladimir Horowitz The last recording
I forgot to add it was the 1989 Sony Recording produced by Thomas Frost/Engineer: Tom Lazarus/Recorded in New York City
sold 1990 by CBS records/ Manufactured in the Netherlands.
ok there is no more beautiful classical recording of piano ever
ever ever and you John, frankly, should know this ]right away and just say , yes of course I agree and I knew this for ever ever ever ever ever:
here it is
the most beautiful pianist of all ages (Polanski would have cast him in the film The Pianist if he had been avaible then, of course, of course):
VLADIMIR HOROWITZ
THE LAST RECORDINGS
CHOPIN HAYDN LISZT WAGNER
OF COURSE ALL OF THEM ]
BUT THE ONE THAT MAKES ME MOST CRY IS:
OF COURSE (SHOULD YOU IGNORANTS NOT KNOW WHAT "WEINEN" MEANS WELL IT IS INDEED CRYING CRYING CRYING)
WEINEN, KLAGEN, SORGEN, ZAGEN BY FRANZ LISZT
NOBODY EVER EVER EVER DID ANY THING MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN IN HIS OLD DAYS INTERPRET THIS IN THIS WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Samuel Muri
Perfect stuff
Ray Charles and Betty Carter: Baby it's Cold Outside (so perfect you remember it when it's 96 outside.....)
Billie Holliday: Autumn in New York, (Though God Bless the child is a close second.....)
Louis armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald: "They can't take that away from me....."
and the associations: dinner is always better whenthe Art of the Fugue is in the next room.....
your list
John,
I just noted Artie Shaw on your list. Stardust was on my shortlist (along with Frenesi), but didn't quite make it to my top twelve. I also considered adding mvmt III of Goldmark's violin concerto as played by Milstein, which is, I think, a part of the Milstein set you note. I also considered Mabel Mercer, believe it or not, but I just couldn't remember the name of the very obscure Jerome Kern song that I love her singing ("one shining star" is part of the lyric). I thought of Duke Ellington too, but for I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart (ever hear Kathleen Battle sing it?) . Cherish is an interesting choice. But yeah, that's a great song and performance too. I have the Art of Courtly Love album. I'm going to have to listen Se je souspir. And I need to check out your others as well. Fun!
Mark
Twelve Perfect Tracks
Okay, John. Here are twelve perfect tracks. And ain't no one gonna tell me they're not.
#1. Ravel: Trois Beaux Oiseaux de Paradis (Equilbey; available on Spotify)
#2. Sibelius: Humoreske #5 (Ida Haendel/Paavo Berglund -- perfect except for its unavailability)
#3. Mendelssohn: Hymn to Athens from Odipus (Soltesz; available on Spotify, track #3)
#4. Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Heart Like a Wheel (available on Spotify)
#5. Jerome Kern: The Enchanted Train from Sitting Pretty (available on Spotify -- actually, every track is perfect)
#6. Benjamin Godard: Etudes melodiques #1 "Causerie Intime" (Martin; available on Spotify)
#7. Irving Berlin: No Strings from "Top Hat" (Fred Astaire, Leo Reisman; available on Spotify)
#8. Bernard Herrmann: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir -- tracks 1&11 (Elmer Bernstein; available on Spotify)
#9. Lerner & Loewe: How Can I Wait? from "Paint Your Wagon" (Julie Andrews; available on Spotify) -- perfect except for the artificial reverb
#10. Holst: Band Suite #1, mvmt. III (Fennell, Cleveland Winds; on Telarc, I don't see it on Spotify)
#11. Monteverdi: Beatus Vir (Andrew Parrott; Track 6 of Disc 4 of Monteverdi Sacred Music; available on Spotify)
#12. Weber: Leise, Leise from "Der Freischutz" (Elisabeth Grummer, Josef Keilberth; disc 1 track 18; available on Spotify)
P.S.
Very nice choices. The Godard is especially novel, and Grümmer's "Leise, leise" is especially lovely. Funny thing, Gundula Janowitz singing "Und ob die Wolke" on the Kleiber Freischütz could easily be added to my list. Perfect!
You get my "imprimatur," my
You get my "imprimatur," my "nihil obstat," and my "way cool!" Thanks. Anyone else? Doesn't have to be a dozen.