In 1967 it was worth the hassle of a long Greyhound ride to San Francisco and an interminable Muni ride to Columbus & Bay if you were 14 and stuck in Redwood City. Right from its opening the bins at Tower Records had LPs for $2.99, but more important, they held unparalleled depth — especially if you were a classical nerd discovering R & B. Tower lasted 46 years; not bad.

But please, could we have common sense enough not to swallow the hogwash about how da innernet and da ipods and da big box stores done put Tower in the grave? A chorus of stories peddled the same nonsense about Cody’s a couple of months ago, ignoring the blindingly obvious: Cody’s is surviving on Fourth Street and in SF — the Telegraph store was done in by my hometown’s abject inability to deal with reality. The city’s ideological rigidity won’t let it lift more than a cursory pinky to help see that people might actually be able to get into and out of the Telegraph neighborhood quickly and safely, and in Cody’s itself the same sclerosis — as apparent on the shelves as on the surrounding sidewalks — didn’t help. As contributing factors, ecommerce and Wal-Mart probably rank well below the dollar price of gas and the psychic price of relentless assault.

If Tower had paid just a little more attention to reality, and while doing so paused opening up new stores long enough to revise the existing ones, they might have avoided succumbing — not to the net, but to little Amoeba.

Paul Creston: Cantilena, op. 117a (1980)

Terry King vc / John Jensen pf (Music & Arts CD-685)

Franz Schreker: Der Schatzgräber: Zwischenspiel / The treasure seeker: Interlude (1915-18)

BBC Philharmonic / Vassily Sinaiski cond (Chandos CHAN-9797)

Franz Schreker: Phantastische Ouverture / Fantastic overture, op. 15 (1904)

BBC Philharmonic / Vassily Sinaiski cond (Chandos CHAN-9797)

Paul Creston: Cantilena (as above)

Hugo Wolf: Der Feuerreiter / The fire rider (1888-10-10)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau bar / Sviatoslav Richter pf (DG 2530 584 — live, Innsbruck, October 1973)

Hugo Wolf: Der Feuerreiter / The fire rider (1892)

Württembergischer Kammerchor chor / Chor der staatlichen Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst Stuttgart chor / Ensemble Stuttgart / Dieter Kurz cond (Claves CD 50-9622, live, 1996-02-18)

Claude Joseph Johnson: You better run to the city of refuge

The Rev. Dr. C.J. Johnson and family (Smithsonian Folkways CD SF 40073, Wade in the water vol. II — African American congregational singing: nineteenth-century roots, rec. 1989)

Olivier Messiaen: Visions de l’Amen / Visions of the Amen: Amen de la consommation / Amen of the consummation (1943)

Martha Argerich pf / Alexandre Rabinovitch pf (EMI CDC 7 54050 2)

Alban Berg: Kammerkonzert / Chamber concerto (1923)

Isaac Stern vn / Peter Serkin pf / Members of the London Symphony Orchestra / Claudio Abbado cond (CBS MK 42139)

Yo la tengo: I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass: “The story of Yo la tango [sic]” (2006)

Ira Kaplan egtr / James McNew eb / Georgia Hubley dms (Matador OLE-692)

One reason to see The illusionist, apart from the reliable pleasure of watching Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti at work, is to hear Philip Glass’s score. He shows he can do an effective evocation of Vienna (or in this case Prague-standing-in-for-Vienna) while retaining all the signatures of his style. Staying close to conventional becomes a virtue in this case — it’s effective, doesn’t get in the way, and pretty much just works. Think Peer Gynt, a century & change later.

J.S. Bach: Suite no. 2 in C minor, BWV 813: Allemande

Glenn Gould pf (Sony SK87764)

Roberto Gerhard: Symphony no. 2 (1959)

BBC Symphony / Matthias Bamert cond (Chandos 9694)

Glenn Gould: Stokowski: A portrait for radio, excerpt (1971)

Glenn Gould producer (CBC PSCD 2025-2)

Johannes Brahms: Piano concerto no. 2 in D minor, op. 15: 3rd movement (excerpt)

Glenn Gould pf / New York Philharmonic / Leonard Bernstein cond (Sony SK60675, rec. 1962-04-06)

Judith Lang Zaimont: A Calendar Set: September

Joanne Polk pf (“Zones,” Arabesque Z6683)

Franz Schubert:
An Die Musik, D. 547
An Silvia, D. 891
Auf dem Wasser zu Singen, D. 774
Das Lied im Grünen, D. 917
Der Musensohn, D. 764
Die junge Nonne, D. 828

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf S; Edwin Fischer pf (“Références,” Angel 7243 5 67494 2 9.ECL))

Samuel Barber: String quartet, op. 11

Emerson String Quartet (“American Originals,” Deutsche Grammophon 101392)

Federico Mompou: Cants magiques

Pierre Huybregts pf (“Spanish Piano Music,” Centaur 2026)

Francis Poulenc: Gloria (1959)

Rosanna Carteri S / Orchestre Nationale de l’O.R.T.F. / Chœurs de la R.T.F. / Georges Prêtres cond (EMI CDC 7 47723 2)

Francis Poulenc: Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence / Four penitential motets: “Timor et tremor” (1938-39)

Chœurs René Duclos / Georges Prêtres cond (EMI CDC 7 47723 2)

Christobál de Morales: Parce mihi domine

Jan Garbarek ssx / Hilliard Ensemble (ECM 1525)

Francis Poulenc: Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence / Four penitential motets: “Vinea mea electa” (1938-39)

Chœurs René Duclos / Georges Prêtres cond (EMI CDC 7 47723 2)

Guillaume Dufay: Ave maris stella

Jan Garbarek ssx / Hilliard Ensemble (ECM 1525)

Gabriel Fauré: Messe de Requiem, op. 48: Pie Jesu (1888/1893)

Judith Blegen S / Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Robert Shaw cond (Telarc 80135)

Q’s review of the Saariaho world première at the Bastille is up . . .

classics without walls is proud to announce an evening dedicated to Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde to be led by our good friend, Phil Raines, of Washington, DC. We convene at the Hayes Street Grill before sunset for Phil’s presentation of Act One, followed by a three-course dinner especially designed for the event by Patricia Unterman. Act Two is followed by dessert, then Act Three will round out the evening and send us on our way around 8:30.

Phil will give us a tour through the opera with his wonderful selection of audiovisuals and his congenial technique of focusing the attention without narrowing it.

The date is Sunday, February 12 — the evening of the full moon for February — with no-host bar open at 4:30 PM, and the presentation beginning at 5:00. The price of $75 includes dinner; space is limited to 50.

Phil is honored to dedicate the evening to the memory of Birgit Nilsson.

To register, email me or call me direct at 415-731-7131.

We hope to see you there!

Q

UPDATE: Register for Day into Night and pay online via PayPal:

You’ve probably figured it out by now, but just in case: Renée does the third Monday of the month. So those of you who prefer a coherent broadcast probably want to circle those Mondays and forget about the rest. Oh, but wait — the first Monday of the month is our usual (but not set in stone) night for the Martian telepathic disinfotainment show where we choose stuff without coordinating ahead of time and invariably find bizarre synchronicities in said stuff. Second, fourth, and those occasional fifth broadcasts of the month you’re usually stuck with me. Deal with it.

Oh, and yes, the ghostly hand of Howard Rheingold hovers in this posting.