fuwen

Very few concerto written for Pipa after the very famous and good 'Little Sisiters of the Grass Land'. Strange enough no good recording in the market for this one (IMHO) even those by Liu De Hai. His recording with Seiji Osawa was horrible. Those with Chinese Orchestra from China also not very satisfactory although I had attended to his 2 live concert and he is just fatastic both in skills and showmanship. In fact the best recording I have is a record from the Singapore Radio Station of the live performance he made with SSO and Choo Hwee. Here I am recommending a new work (not really that new was recorded in 1991) for Pipa the 'Sunset-Glow of Xishuang Banna'. I really like the first theme. Also in the same Hugo CD is the recording of another Pipa Concerto 'Lady Hua Mu-Lan'. These 2 concertos are accompanied by Chinese Orchestra. The Little Sisters in the Grass Land was written for Western Orchestra. HRP 743-2

Finally got hold of a stereo copy of Beethoven Violin concerto by Oistrakh/Orch National de la Radiodiffusion France/Andre Cluytens. This is a CD/DVD set EMI 5-58029-0. Recorded in the DVD is the Spring Sonata in B&W of course. Also manage at the same time got another 2 copies of Beethoven Violin Concerto new releases by Nikolaj Znaider/Isreal Phil/Zubin Mehta and Maxim Vengerov/LSO/Rostropovich.

Happy Birthday!!

Hi! Ablaze, happy birthday!

Happy Birthday!

If u have a clothing dryer at home can consider putting the pads inside and dry for about 20mins. Guess to kill germs rather than remove any stains. However I myself have not done this before.

A nice Haydn collection of string quartets by Emerson String Quartets. Not the complete string quartet works from Haydn. The 2-CD set was release for the 25th Anneiversary of Emerson String Quartet. There is a third bonus disc with single movement compilation from their various string quartet recordings. DG 471 327-2

I have DIY a 4-pin XLR to TRS headphone jack before. Not sure is the 4-pin XLR terminal easy to find. I got mine from a shop few stores away from Hungs Brother at Sim Lim Square. This shop display lots of connectors in the display cabinet. I think the 4-pin XLR connector is used for microphone cable but I am not sure. Also the termination I believe is not common so do bring along the instruction that came with the AKG K1000 to make sure they solder correctly. Basically the 4-pin signals to K-1000 consist of 2 for left channel and 2 for the right channel. So when solder to the headphone jack will be left positive, right positive and the 2 ground signal solder together.

Yes, the Nikkor 105mm AI(S) is a f2.5 lense.. Know an ex-owner of the lense.. He sold it to another person whom I know online.. LOL.. Coincidentally, both live within 5 min walk from my place. The former runs the Kodak minilab/ studio near my place and the person who bought the lense is also his customer.. LOL... Hi! Firefox, I think I just bought some stuff some the one operating the colorlab. A friendly young man!

Still available. Sold a D-2 instead.

Hi! Want to sell a SONY D-88 PCDP (made in Japan, 1988). Asking $100. Prefer to deal at Woodlands MRT after office hours or Boon Lay MRT during office hours. This is a 17-year old discman. It is designed to play 8cm CD but can also play 12cm CD. Due to its old age, and also the lack of anti-shock design for portable use, I would thus recommend this only for old-gadget lovers. PM me if u are interested.

I think there is a FM2N on sale on clubsnap. A FM also. Do a search and good luck!

Hi! Atempo, I am a Karajan supporter and thus would say that u can go presto with Karajan's Beethoven Symphonies. Some people dun like him though. He recorded the complete Beethoven 9 Symphonies (if I can remember correctly) 4 times in his life, 1st with EMI (correct me if I am wrong) and the other 3 with DG. If u are talking about recording quality and technology then his last cycle of the Beethoven with DG is the best but at the age of 70-80 his control of the Berlin Phil is not as good as the others. Some people say his first cycle with DG is the best but I guess the recording is a bit rough. The performance is forceful and energertic though. I have the 60s DG first recordings, the 70s 2nd DG recordings and some of the 80s last DG recordings. DG has cut the 60s complete Symphonies into SACD version. Only the 9th of the 70s recordings is cut into the SACD version. However, lately people are perfroming the Jonathan Del Mar version of the Beethoven Symphonies. I have the set performed by Abbado and Berlin but sorry I am not good enough to tell u what is the difference between the Del Mar edition with the rest. But I would say Karajan version is worth considering.

The quality of the picture I attached is horrible. Looks like a direct scan and resize does not do justice to the picture. av98m or Firefox, if u know a away of making the picture better please PM me and enlighten me. Anyway still have to learn to put the scanned photos somewhere and link them to here like what u all have done.

Wow! Film camera die-hard must support film camera thread. Captured this when I was in Sentosa with my family. While waiting for my wife bring my kids for a train ride along pink dophin lagoon, I bumped into this humming bird. Took a few shots at f4/5.6 and 1/125 with a 135/2.8 Sonnar. Film was my favourite Kodak VC160.

I myself do not use Nikon but from the photos I had seen try looking at the MF 24/2.8 and the 105/2.5 (not very sure of the f stop but I know is between f2 and f2.8). I am not a believer of zoom but I have to admit that I am quite impress by the 80-200/2.8 lens. If u dun mind carrying 1kg+ around can consider this zoom lens but get the version with tripod bush. Enjoy!

Oh yes also just realise recently that if u want to do manual focus to use manual focus lens is the correct way. If u put the AF 50/1.8 side by side with a manual MF 50/1.8, u will realise that the depth of field scale of the AF lens is much narrower than the MF one. I believe to enable fast focusing with AF mechanism the lens has been designed with short movement. As a results if u use manual focucing human hand actually cannot have the resolution for pin-point focusing. However I believe the AF motor inside the lens can do a better job with short lens movement for focusing.

Wow av98m, FM3A, that is a good one! When u are into that type of photography where u want full controll and want to be the one who decide the moment of taking the picture, fully manual is the way. After all these years I have never been sick of manual focusing and manual exposure. I even use only matt focusing screen without microprisms and split image finder. Just like the way I have full control of the camera. Of course I use the build in meter for TTL metering.

I mentioned about the Mahler 6th in my previous post here and recomended a value for money Telarc 3-CD Benjamin Zander recording. However, Zander and Philharmonia performance was not as well controlled and accurate as this Karajan recording: DG 457 716-2. Karajan is very convincing. In this version the Scherzo was played before the Andante, the order that was also preferred by Zander. However, I think Karajan did ommit the 3rd hammer blow in the last movement.

Totally agree. Anyway there is probably no point for Mutter to record the sonatas again as what have been played. I am quite agreeable to her interpretation though. The pianist wetn along well with her also. Also I believe the whole set is live recording, done during her Beethoven Sonatas cycle of performance.

thats great.. hows the pricing ? Definitely cheaper than HMV Singapore. Not sure when compare to Grammophone but shoud be reasonable. SACDs however I believe can get cheaper at New Disc Village or Grammpphone.

Wow! Rameish, are u plannig to do something grahpics intensive?

Pleasant baraque recording, breathtaking virtuosity of the soloist, good orchestra support. Concerto Veneziana, Giuliano Carmignola as solo violin, Andrea Marcon conducting Venice Baroque Orchestra. DG 00289 474 5172. Also available in SACD version. 2 violin concertos from Vivaldi, 1 from Locatelli and one from Tartini.

Tchaikovsky Complete String Quartets (with Souvenir de Florence) Chandos CHAN 9871(2) 2CD set Well performed, good recording, u collect all quartets by Tchaikovsky in 1 set. Souvenir de Florence is a Sextet for 2 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos. Mstislav Rostropovich as the second cello.

Sing Music no problem. Not really having every classical under the sky but u can get the friend lady boss to order for u. She has the catalogue for most of the major classical label. SACD as well.