Violinist Alena Baeva with three tapeheads

[astrotoy]

Ed Pong's UltraAnalogue Tape's recording artist violinist Alena Baeva was featured in a concert with the Oxford Philharmonic last Saturday (June 1, 2019), She played the rarely heard and virtuosic Schumann Violin Concerto with both passion and technical brilliance. Ed Pong and wife Amy went to England to attend the concert. They found that I would be in the London also and additionally invited Dave Denyer, the author of the Reel to Reel Rambler blog who drove down from Bristol. We all went backstage after the concert to give our greetings and congratulations to Alena. From left to right are Dave, Alena, me, Amy and Ed. A great time was had by all.

Alena is the winner of three major international gold medals - the Wienawski International Competition, the Moscow Paganini Competition and the Sendai International Competition. Ed has recently released five tapes featuring Alena and pianist and Van Cliburn winner Vadym Kholodenko in both live performance and studioi recordings. A real sonic and artistic treat (I have all five tapes!!).

Larry

 

[Ki Choi]

If the concert was just a little closer...I would have been there too. Thanks Larry for sharing. Ki

 

[Steve williams]

If the concert was just a little closer...I would have been there too. Thanks Larry for sharing. Ki

we all would have been there had it been closer

 

[Edward Pong]

She's playing the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic this weekend in Liverpool...
This is an interesting arrangement with 9 string players earlier in israel...

I will record the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Xaing Yu this fall... (with piano reduction of the orchestra part...)

Ed

 

[NorthStar]

 

[Edward Pong]

Please have a look at these videos...

Alena playing the Tchaikovsky in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.... 1.1M views...

Narek playing the Haydn Concerto in Suntory Hall in Tokyo.... (please listen to the encore piece at the end.. amazing)

Both with major orchestras & conductors in some of the most famous concert halls of the world...

Both international soloists..... AND you have a chance to hear them in new recordings, on 2 track 15 ips tape! This is rare...!
Our latest recordings with Alena, Narek & Vadym are incredible for both musicality, performance & sound...!

Ed

 

[Tango]

Please have a look at these videos...

Alena playing the Tchaikovsky in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.... 1.1M views...

Narek playing the Haydn Concerto in Suntory Hall in Tokyo.... (please listen to the encore piece at the end.. amazing)

Both with major orchestras in some of the most famous concert halls of the world...

Both international soloists..... AND you have a chance to hear them on 2 track 15 ips tape! This is rare...!
Our latest recordings with Alena, Narek & Vadym are incredible for both musicality, performance & sound...!

Ed

Hi Ed,

Do you have her Tchaikovsky above on your tape?
Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff are my favorites.

Thanks,
Tang

 

[Edward Pong]

Sorry, Tang, these orchestras & halls would not allow me to just record...! They are all union & huge fees...
But what i was getting at, was, these are the best young soloists of this generation & I have new recordings of them, be it chamber music only... but I guarantee you, no other new recordings on 2 track 15 ips will have this caliber of artists....

Ed

 

[Edward Pong]

Tang, the 3 new tapes by Narek & Noreen are outstanding, as are the 5 by Alena & Vadym.... they're listed on the website.....
try them, you won't be disappointed!

Ed

 

[Edward Pong]

I'm sorry, I sound like a salesman... (which I'm not..)
but you will not hear a cellist of Narek's musicality or Alena on a new all analogue tape.... except at UltraAnalogue Recordings!

Ed

 

[Steve williams]

I'm sorry, I sound like a salesman... (which I'm not..)
but you will not hear a cellist of Narek's musicality or Alena on a new all analogue tape.... except at UltraAnalogue Recordings!

Ed

Totally agree Ed

Tang , you need to order these tapes as you won’t hear better. Plus you need to catch up with me re number of Ed’s tapes owned.

 

[astrotoy]

Alena is playing the Bruch Scottish Fantasia in this video. You can hear the Scottish folk songs woven into this concerto. Wonderful piece, played beautifully by Alena. Thanks for posting.

Larry

 

[Tango]

Tang, the 3 new tapes by Narek & Noreen are outstanding, as are the 5 by Alena & Vadym.... they're listed on the website.....
try them, you won't be disappointed!

Ed

Dear Ed,

You produce excellent tapes for sure. I will buy every single one of your tapes that has the piece of music and composers I like. I no longer buy excellent sound but not the musical pieces that don't draw me into. The musical pieces you picked to make tapes must hit my button too. Sound clip of every music you have on your tapes will be helpful to customers like me. You do have samples but not all.

Kind regards,
Tang

 

[Edward Pong]

Dear Tang,

I totally agree with you on the repertoire. Buy what you like....
I used to put 1 min of a digital file as a sample, but what's better is to go to Youtube & listen to the whole piece.... this way you will know if it works for you..

As an example: one of Narek's new tapes has the Grieg Cello Sonata.... here's the link to Youtube (it's a wonderful piece, not played very often...)

Also, not only can you hear the whole piece, you see who's recorded it... M.Maisky & Martha Argerich - 2 giants in the classical world.... so you can also deduce this is a major classical piece in the repertoire...

So I'd suggest using Youtube to check pieces in any of the tapes...
Also, it's nice to be introduced to new music...

Hope this helps

Ed

 

[Tango]

Dear Tang,

I totally agree with you on the repertoire. Buy what you like....
I used to put 1 min of a digital file as a sample, but what's better is to go to Youtube & listen to the whole piece.... this way you will know if it works for you..

As an example: one of Narek's new tapes has the Grieg Cello Sonata.... here's the link to Youtube (it's a wonderful piece, not played very often...)

Also, not only can you hear the whole piece, you see who's recorded it... M.Maisky & Martha Argerich - 2 giants in the classical world.... so you can also deduce this is a major classical piece in the repertoire...

So I'd suggest using Youtube to check pieces in any of the tapes...
Also, it's nice to be introduced to new music...

Hope this helps

Ed

Hi Ed,

Please consider having Narek play this Rachmaninoff's Vocalise for your tape.

Kind regards,
Tang

 

[Edward Pong]

Hi Tang,

Glad you found Narek on Youtube....!
Have a look at this Moses Variations...

This is on one of the latest Narek tapes.. Chopin Intoduction & Polonaise, Etude, Paganini Moses Variations...!

I dare say, this recent recording is even more musical than this early one when he was 19....

These last 3 tapes he recorded are beyond amazing... Beethoven, Chopin & Grieg.... THERE IS NO BETTER MUSIC... unmatched performances & sound... what more could you ask for??? Ha!

Will record this Vocalise for you next time...!
Ed