Free CD Giveaway

Having successfully disposed of some fifty books through these pages, my attention now turns to my CD collection. I have a few dozen CDs that I’m pretty sure I won’t want to listen to again, and I thought I might try disposing of some of them in the same way that I shifted the books. It has been said that the stuff we throw away says more about us than the stuff we hold on to. If that’s true then the following may tell you a good deal about my taste in music, or perhaps even more about how my taste sometimes doesn’t conform to my own apperception of it. Also, I should have learnt by now to ‘try before I buy’, but still I very seldom do…

To lay claim to one of these discs, leave a comment below stating which of them you’d like. Then, send me an e-mail which includes your mailing address. I’ll decide who gets what (it’s almost always first-come, first-served), and will mail out the discs within a week or so. I’ll limit the offer to two single-CDs or one double-CD per recipient.

1. Kanon Pokajanen, composed by Arvo Pärt, performed by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under the direction of Tõnu Kaljuste. This is austere, sacred choral music: beautiful, but I only ever listened to it twice, and even then lacked the patience to play this 90-minute work right the way through. (2 CD set).

2. Orient Occident, again composed by Arvo Pärt. This disc comprises three orchestral/choral works by the Estonian composer, performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Swedish Radio Choir, again conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste. I love some of Pärt’s work, but these pieces didn’t catch my imagination.

3. Peteris Vasks’ Symphony no. 2, performed by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Storgärds, with Vasks’ Violin Concerto ‘Distant Light’, played by Storgärds and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Juha Kangas. These are lush orchestral works by the contemporary Latvian composer which have won high praise from the critics, but which failed to float my particular boat.

4. The Complete Piano Music (vol. 1) of György Ligeti, as performed by Frederik Ullén. I admire and enjoy Ligeti’s music, but I don’t listen to it often, and when I do, I tend to put on one of his orchestral works. Here, Swedish pianist Ullén does a fine job with Ligeti’s first and second books of Études, which are, by all accounts, incredibly difficult to play.

5. Alexander Scriabin’s Complete Piano Sonatas, performed by Marc-André Hamelin. I had heard a couple of these sonatas elsewhere & had liked them enough to want to hear more… collectively, however, I found their effect to be off-puttingly numbing. Plus there is something about Hamelin’s playing that I find hard to like (2 CD set).

6. The People United Will Never be Defeated!, composed by Frederic Rzewski, performed, again, by Marc-André Hamelin. This was a disc that sounded interesting: a series of virtuoso variations on the theme of a Chilean protest-song; but which I definitely should have tried before I buyed: I only listened to it once…

7. Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano composed by John Cage, and performed by Boris Berman. I was curious to hear these sonatas, but, curiosity satisfied, I haven’t felt the need to listen to them again.

8. Perpetuum Mobile by Einstürzende Neubaten. While there were a few fine moments on this latest release from the German band, it didn’t hold my attention for long.

9. 26 Mixes for Cash by Aphex Twin. I’m a great admirer of the Twin’s own music, but was underwhelmed by this mercenary selection of remixes (2 CD set).

10. Sheath by LFO. As is too often the case, I bought this out of curiosity, listened to it a couple of times, liked it but did’t love it, & will probably never listen to it again.

11. Summer Make Good by Múm. I had heard only good things about this Icelandic band’s stuff, but was distinctly unimpressed when I listened to this, which I think is their latest release.

12. Calling Out of Context by Arthur Russell. A glowing review in Uncut magazine led me to this disc, which I found moderately interesting, but not so interesting that I’ve felt any desire to return to it.

13. Popular Songbook, recordings by Alan Lomax of Various Artists. This disc collects early recordings of classic songs (Midnight Special, Stagolee, Black Betty, Rock Island Line, etc.) later made (more) famous by other artists. In most cases, alas, long-standing familiarity with the newer (presumably less authentic) versions of these songs just led me to compare these ‘scratchier’ but more authentic renditions unfavourably with them.

14. “Why Don’t You Kill Yourself?” by The Only Ones. I used to own, and came to dearly love a cassette of the Only Ones’ ‘Peel Sessions’. I later bought a CD of their official studio recordings, only to find the latter rather flat and lifeless-sounding by comparison. I recently came upon this 2-CD set in a local store, and, overcome by wishful thinking, bought it, only to realise that the official studio recordings still struck me as lifeless and flat. Oh dear.

15. Virginia Creeper by Grant Lee Phillips. I really liked some of his older stuff, & so snapped this up when I saw it in a Malmö record store. Sadly, I was disappointed when I played it: although there’s nothing obviously wrong with this music, it lacks the spark I thought lit up some of those Grant Lee Buffalo songs.