Don Satz:

>Bob from Santa Fe will be keeping us informed of the quality of the
>Hanssler series as he receives advance or promotional copies.  How did
>he luck out? Is he going to share those cd's with the rest of us?

Luck is not the word.  And they're not even mine at this point.  [Some]
Labels forward us promo copies for Schwann listings.  An enviable job perk
for a CM freak.

And I'll keep you updated as best I can.  Hard to pay good attention while
working sometimes though.

So far I've been through:

Cello Suites (Boris Pergaminschikow): very nice.  Not as nice as my
Casals but infinitely better sound.  Went to the local high-end audio store
to play it (and some other stuff) on their good good good way-expensive
speakers.  You can hear the air moved by his bowing hit the mics.  Almost
too good I guess.

Art of the Fugue (Robert Hill, Harpsichord): Well, I think I've heard the
string arrangements too many times.  The harpsichord version (this one at
least) sounds to me like the voices are all mushed together, so...tinny; I
like the strong independent lines of the strings.  His playing seems
technically good though.  On this note I refer you to

>I do wonder about the 16 cd difference.  Overall, Hanssler might have
>fewer minutes on each cd.  Then again, performances on Hanssler might be
>slower with Teldec artists requested to speed things along.  Best of all,
>perhaps Hanssler discovered 16 cd's worth of additional Bach music unknown
>to the folks at Teldec, and they will spring their discovery on us at a
>later date.  Stranger things have happened.

Yes, I was wondering too.  This Art of the Fugue is on 2 CDs (my ECM str qt
version is on one long one).  That is because they include, at the end of
disc 2, 4 contrapuncti and 1 canon included in or modified from the "early
version" so you can program your changer to give the early MS version, I
guess.  Including the extra tracks the thing clocks in at 1:44:04.  Without
them it's more like 1:26:00 or so.

I've also been through 2 CDs of Weimar organ works: Martin Lu:cker, organ.
I'm no expert on organ sound but I liked his playing, seemed a bit heavy at
times, but the thick chords and riffs in the preludes and fugues BWV 553-60
or so were great.  I'm gonna listen to them again before I leave.

All have extensive liner notes, usually by the performer, in 4 languages,
discussing their approach to the work(s), the history, speculation, &c.

Haven't pulled myself to the cantatas or flute chamber music yet.  One
of these days.  So many cantatas, so little time.  What a horrible
predicament!

BTW these CDs are all avaible singly of course, for the likes of Don.  You
don't hafta buy the whole $2500.00 set!

Bob K.