The first hour of today's "Performance Today" program includes about 2/3rds of Carmina Burana from a terrific performance with the Chicago Symphony that Muti gave last week to open the Carnegie Hall season. Available for the next seven days here .

Mmmm, smoked Cammel. Probably better than smoked horse.

A little search showed that Minnesota Public Radio carried the enire Carmina Burana live on their "Carnegie Hall Live" program here .

J.B.:

When I was in Freidburg, Germany a few weeks ago, I visited the large cathedral there. It is home to 4 magnificent pipe organs placed strategically around the building.

Our tour guide stated that there are a total of 10,200 pipes & that each organ has its own keyboard plus a master station that can play all 4 simultaneously. It takes a special organist to successfully accomplish this due the length of time that the sound takes to reach the master station along with the 6 second decay time in the building.

There is a CD & an SACD available showcasing all 4 organs playing simultaneously by EP Biggs that I would like to get but, since it so rare, it is prohibitively expensive. Info here (first review on the page):

http://www.audaud.com/audaud/MAY03/HIRES/hires2MAY03.html

I'd love to have Cameron Carpenter have a go at these beasts.

Here are some pics of the 4 sets of pipes but unfortunately they were silent when I was there:

Shows WWII bombing damage - luckily the cathedral survived:













TAM

thanks a lot for the info exlabdriver, i just ordered it on CD for $11.34, right here:
http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Four-Great-Toccatas-Fugues/dp/B0000026HJ/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1349895168&sr=1-1&keywords=Bach%3A+The+Four+Great+Toccatas+and+Fugues

i would never pay that huge amount of money for a SACD.
i'll see how it comes out using DPLII; i suspect the "movie" mode will give better results, meaning more like the original 4 channels.

J.B.:

From what I've read about this CD, the SACD is far superior to the CD due to its true 5.1 mix that places each of the 4 organs in its own speaker. The original recording was for quadraphonic sound back in the 70s so that it has 4 separate channels that was quite easily brought over to 5.1.

It'll be interesting how the CD is rendered in your surround system. Please keep us advised.

Maybe I can find the SACD at a garage sale, ha...

TAM

if you find 2 at a garage sale, take one for me.

Steve Harris (Iron Maiden bass player)solo cd "British Steel" and emerging Canadian talent Shawn Hook "Cosmonaut & The Girl"

Just received a SACD Poncho Sanchez - Out of Sight. Got it from ebay for $8 including shipping - a steal. There's a couple on ebay right now.

Wonderful Latin Jazz that has lots of surprisingly full bass that is most pleasing - my EP400 shakes my couch nicely throughout this one.

Well worth it...

TAM

Apologies to whomever mentioned it first, but I finally had time to listen to my copy of Within Temptation's, "Black Symphony" with the Metropole Orchestra, Pa'dam Choir and other quests..

WOW, just WOW !!!!

I don't think I ever heard a more natural blend of symphony and rock. Many bands have attempted it but too often the result is that it generally sounds like one side or the other is constantly competing to come to the forefront. In this case, you would swear that the symphony and band have played together since day 1 and that the scores for both were written simultaneously, not one later for the other. At one point, I heard my brain claim that this was an evolution of music that might even make Mozart buy a Gibson, were he still alive.

I expected it to work considering the powerful, operatic voice of Sharon den Adel but it still blew me away. No matter what side of the musical divide you stand on, you should experience this concert.

Amazon.com/ca has on DVD it but I suggest going to Amazon.co.uk for the Bluray version.