Jean Françaix - Music for String Orchestra - Symphony for Strings - Ode sur 'La Naissance de Vénus' de Botticelli - Die Kamelien: Pantomime - Sir Georg Solti Chamber Orchestra, Kerry Stratton - Toccata Classics 2012

Greetings all. Here is a quick post before I head out to work. I have always thoroughly enjoyed the music of Jean Françaix, especially his chamber and concertante works. Everything he composed displays a tight and thoughtful craftsmanship. His style is loosely neoclassical, almost always charming and exuberant; there is a lightness of touch and the moods are typically cheerful and full of play, not unlike his compatriot Poulenc.

Here's a blurb from the Toccata page:

Jean Françaix (1912-97) has long enjoyed a reputation as one of the happier composers, his Gallic charm and breezy good humour obscuring the superb craftsmanship of his writing. Françaix once observed that 'I live in exile in my own country and am nourished from abroad' — Plus ça change, he then might have thought, with this CD presenting an Hungarian ensemble led by a Canadian conductor on a British label, with two first recordings and a rare hearing for one of his more substantial scores.

I have included the booklet notes, authored by the composer's son Jacques.

Enjoy!

Francaix_Music_for_String_Orchestra-Tzadik.zip

http://www84.zippyshare.com/v/pIGQUxcH/file.html

Adelphi Saxophone Quartet: "Simply Four Saxophones" - Jean-Philippe Rameu - Jean Francaix - Gabriel Grovlez - Astor Piazzolla - Béla Bartók - Jean Rivier - G.F. Handel - J.S. Bach - Ferenc Farkas - George Gershwin - EMI Classics 1998

Someone recently (in a comment I haven't responded to yet, only noticed it in my gmail) requested the music of Ferenc Farkas, a very good lesser-known Hungarian composer. This fine recording  of music for Saxophone Quartet was the first disc that surfaced. I have the Toccata discs and some others and frankly now I'm quite eager to hear them all again! I have no time to comment, although I will quickly say that the Adelphi Quartet are exceptional. And, everything here is a great listen (if you enjoy saxophones...and if for some reason you don't...well, it's really about time you did!!)

Needless to say the Bartok is a "perfect 10" (the wonderfully rustic Romanian Folk Dances would sound good played on a kazoo!) and while I enjoy everything here, the Francaix, Farkas, Gershwin and Piazzolla also stand out the most imo.. 

The audio files for this album = 159 mb and yet when I compressed them, and then uploaded

the file to zippy it's 128.43 mb.. I would have expected it to be around 145 to 150mb. So I d/l it myself to check, and it seems to be fine. I dunnnooooooo

Enjoy the sax appeal.

Adelphi_Qt_Simply_Four_Saxophones-Tzadik.zip

http://www112.zippyshare.com/v/KEjgeq83/file.html