Mzony

Great Topic. This list could change daily or weekly for me, but here is an attempt:

1) Pet Sounds...No...SMiLE...No...Pet Sounds...OK...Pet Sounds and SMiLE both by Brian Wilson are coming.
2) Sibelius # 2 with Bernstein and Vienna.
3) Sketches of Spain...Boy, I love this one. I really do.
4) Daphnis and Chloe with the Boston Symphony and Charles Munch.
5) Frank Sinatra: September of My Years
6) People Time: Stan Getz and Kenny Barron
7) The Entombement of Christ: Philadelphia/Ormandy...Not for religious reasons...just very cool stuff.
8) Bach Cello Suites: Pablo Casals
9) Queen: A Night At The Opera
10) Porgy and Bess: Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

ecarroll

Pint 'o,

Nobody gets "flamed" on my forum, and this is your own list for your own, personal, reasons. That's the fun of it.

I remember when that particular Gabrieli recording was being made and believe, if memory serves me correctly, that "Studio A of the Berkshire Performing Arts Center" was actually a high school gym. Whatever. Telarc found a wonderful San Marco sound and there were no lines of tourists surrounding the Pala d'Oro to muck things up.

Best,
EC

PINT-O-MURPHY'S

that's right ed,
when I was at the EBQ seminar, we saw them make a demo in that gym for their "class brass on the edge" CD. sam had fancy mics all over the volleyball court. pretty funny, but all their recordings sound great.
it's me, by the way, and yes I'm still in mexico. we head off for a tour of china on wed., and some of these recordings will be keeping my mind occupied on that slow, long flight to beijing.
all the best,
michael samford

ecarroll

Michael,

I'm looking outside at my garage and wondering if I should park my Jeep in it or grab a horn and record in "Stall Left, Carnegie Hall of the North, Hanover, New Hampshire". Thank God/Lexicon for effects processing.

Good to see you here, amigo, and safe travels.

EC

trumpetmike

Just checking - do you know the BBC Radio programme of the same name?
They also choose one book (excluding the Bible and the works of Shakespeare which are already deemed present on the island) and one luxury item which must be inanimate and have no practical use.


Are we allowed whole albums, or are you looking for specific pieces on albums?

Assuming just singular items, let's take a stab (whether I can reach 8 is another matter):


Beethoven - Symphony No.5 - VPO with Sir Simon Rattle (everything about it is just perfect - the music, the interpretation, the playing - it had me in tears when I first heard it)

Philip Sparke - Year of the Dragon - Black Dyke

Louis Armstrong - We Have All the Time in the World

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

Douglas Adams - The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Original Radio Series (if pushed - just episode one, but I would hope that the whole series would count)

Mussourgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition - exact recording yet to be deicded (current top is Royal Liverpool Philharmonic - can't remember who is waggling).

Bernstein - Symphonic Dances West Side Story - recording yet to be decided

Haydn - Trumpet Concerto - performed by David Hickman - this would be a reminder of why I am on the desert island - I would have given up the trumpet world. This piece will probably be the piece that pushes me over the edge - how can this piece possibly be regarded as the finest piece in our repertoire????? The reason for the Hickman recording - having heard him perform it at ITG this year he is the only person I have heard perform this piece in a way that I thought it could be considered a good piece of music - but it was his performance, not the piece. He could have played a C major scale and it would have had the same effect.
(monthly Haydn rant over)



If I had to choose just one, Beethoven would come out at the top - I find it simply the most life-affirming piece I have ever heard. The moment at the end of the third movement where you can hear the tonality change from minor to major, ready for the most joyous experience as the fourth movement starts, is just magical - even writing about it is sending a shiver down my spine.


If I am going by the BBC rules - one book - Hitchhikers Guide - the complete trilogy in five parts.

one luxury - my juggling equipment. If I was alone on a desert island, my trumpet would just frustrate me (the idea of music making, for me, is to enjoy the experience of making music with others), whilst my juggling is always in need of work - but it is a fun sort of work, even when undertaken alone. I have this long term wish to one day work out the 5 ball Mills Mess (a pattern that only other jugglers will appreciate the difficulty of - think Berio Sequenza - then make it harder, being played on five instruments at once!), alone on a desert island I might just manage it.


I reserve the right to change the above, but these are today's Desert Island Discs.

There are many that were nearly in the list, but to list them would spoil the game

ecarroll

TptMike,

Terrific post,

Yes, I know about the radio 4 program(me). WQXR, the radio station of the New York Times, used to have the same show with the identical format as well. I was a panelist on two occasions.

Don't come to me for originality . . . just ask my wife.

Cheers,
EC

(Please keep those recordings coming, TMs)

trumpetmike

Did your choices change?

JackD

Since I doubt I'm allowed to bring my Bernstein / DG Mahler Box set...

Mahler 5 - NYPO, Mehta (This recordng if only for Phil Smith's trumpet playing! One of my favourite pieces of music)

Wynton Marsalis / ECO - "London Concert" Mike may hate the Haydn, but I don't, and Wynton's playing on this one is just beautiful!

Bach Cello Suites - Janos Starker / Yo-Yo Ma. I can't quite decide on which recording, but these are some of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written!

Miles Davis - "Sketches of Spain" Just beautiful.

Clifford Brown - "Study in Brown" I'd take the time on my island to transcribe and learn all his solos

Oscar Peterson Trio - "Night Train" No explanation needed for this one, just amazingly elegant, beautiful, timeless playing.

Saves the Day - "Stay What You Are" Some music without strings, or trumpets! I really love this album, and it would also be something different to keep me sane.

Mahler 9 - Philharmonia / Zander Another one of my absolute favourites, and one of the most profound pieces of music I know.

As for my book, it'd be a toss up between Brian Greene's "The Fabric of the Cosmos", because I could read it again and again until I actually understood all of it, and Marcel Proust's "In search of lost time", for the same reason Since I've already got the Shakespeare, I think I'll go for Brian Greene's science book.

And my luxury? Well this one is pretty obvious really, (since that inanimate rule prevents me from stowing away any of the hot women from "Lost"...) and since I seem to spend most of my life in the desert island that is the practice room anyway... my Bb.

JackD

Oh, and if I had to choose one disc, it'd be the Mahler 9.

PH

This is a challenge!

“The Complete Concert: 1964 (My Funny Valentine and Four and More)” by Miles Davis

“Bitches Brew” by Miles Davis

“Afro-Blue Impressions” by Coltrane

“Now He Sings, Now He Sobs” by Chick Corea

“Blanton/Webster Band” by Duke Ellington