Frankfurt Radio Symphony • June 4, 2019

This shelf you see here? That entire area used to have the cds stacked… fifty inches high. So, if I needed a disc from the lower half, it was a chore to get at it! So, I was out back one day and saw this in the storage shed! I didn’t remember it from anything, it was Dads’ shelf, and he never though much about it either. He’d picked it up for six bucks!

The problem now is that I need another one to go right next to it. I’m not picky about the price as much since space is so precious and this shelf is so perfect!

Currently I’m going through a long-term re-organization of the library, so this is a huge help.

I do owe Dad six bucks though.

This is a month’s worth of thrifting… not much compared to this time last year!

The Rise of Germany: 1939-1941 • I did some reading in this and really liked it as it expanded on some info I’d heard in some YouTube lectures… unfortunately the book smells like some sort of chemical. I gave it a clear, transparent contact-paper cover (it’s a paperback) and left it in front of a fan for two days, and left it for five more days outside. It still smells. So instead of putting it on my main shelf next to another James Holland book, I’m storing it in a more obscure bookshelf for the time being, maybe the smell will go away or I’ll find another copy. A hardback to match the other James Holland book?

Iwo Jima: Portrait of a Battle • This is a big book with really good photos, and I paid ten bucks for it which is not a price I usually pay, but it is worth it for sure.

The Count of Monte Cristo • One of my favorite tales, it was very good luck to run across this of all things!

Star Wars: Episode IV • This version has twice the music my previous copy had. I’ve been listening to a lot of John Williams lately, so I was glad to find this. I have The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi from this release already, so those are bigger editions as well. I only need to get the music from the last three movies (bad movies, but great music) but I can take my time as I have a lot to listen to already. John Williams is fantastic.

Residence: Dvorak in Prague • I bought a few of these Residence releases by Erato in the early nineties, brand-new, so when I see these, I get them in an effort to get them all. Up to eight of them so far.

Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet • I’ve been discovering a lot of new music (to me) in ballet and opera. It’s right there, in front of me and I always pass on listening to it, which is not the case anymore.

Beethoven: Famous Piano Sonatas • This is exactly the kind of album I have already. How I don’t have this already is testament to how many releases there are out there. It is A: Beethoven piano sonatas, and B: a Naxos release. That alone would lead me to think that I already had it, but I didn’t!

Isaac Stern: Wieniawski / Bruch Violin Concertos • Another series I’m putting together that would be so much easier just grabbing it off of Amazon. I have enough of these already that I’m not going to do that!