Vinyl Records - Recent Vinyl Purchases

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 I picked up 3 albums at Taz Records in Halifax today. One is a  new issue, another is a 2007 release but new in the package and one, "Great Organ Works" is used.

Dianna Krall
The first is Canadian jazz singer and pianist Diana Krall. I have a number of Diana Krall CDs but nothing in vinyl so a compilation hits album seemed appropriate. This is the 2007 release and a little internet surfing reveals that it was #1 on the Billboard chart (jazz) that year. So, probably a good album to have in ones collection. This is a two-record set and looks and feels like 180g vinyl (turns out that it is). I saw her in Halifax about five years ago and she was terrific. She has a smooth haunting voice and a wonderful stage presence. Incidentally, she is married to Elvis Costello.

The second album is Great Organ Works which includes Bach, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Gigout, Widor and Bonnet and a couple of others performed by Nicolas Kynyston. Should be interesting. It looks like it was either rarely played or perhaps never played, and looks to be a very clean record.

Great Organ Works - Various
The last is also a two-record set, Vivaldi's Four Seasons by Max Richter who I assume collaborates with the Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin. I take it that he interprets Vivaldi so I am expecting something a little different maybe even a little off the wall. We'll see.  It is 180g vinyl and produced in the spring of 2014. The fact that it is a Deutsche Grammophon recording should make it impressive from a production standpoint.
Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin

Collecting vinyl in the digital age is fun but not necessarily inexpensive. The total for the three albums was just under 70CDN. Used albums are a bit of a crap-shoot; you never know what you're going to get. Generally a classical record is a good bet because it has not been played as often as popular music records and those collecting classical music tend to take better care of their records. If purchasing new, 180 or 200gram vinyl records are worth the price and virtually indistinguishable from CD and I would venture further t say that there is an airiness and depth that one does not experience on a CD.

Anyway, onward with my record collecting.



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