49 Results for : imitates
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Remember
The choral selections on this recording cover a wide spectrum in their approach to life and it's inevitable ending. The composers of these pieces have created strong emotional works that can move the listener to tears, but at the same time raise that listener's spirit. Listening to this music is a chance to remember - but that can be experienced in different ways. Five of the compositions are directly related to war. Three of them are based on texts from World War I. Of those, two are set to Laurence Binyon's timeless poem For the Fallen. Canadian composer Eleanor Daley's setting makes evocative use of the trumpet so often associated with military ceremonies. Mike Sammes' composition for male voices is incredibly moving and ends with the piano playing the final notes of The Last Post. It has been sung at every Saskatoon Chamber Singers' Remembrance Day concert as the Act of Remembrance. Many choral compositions have been written to the words of John McCrae's In Flanders Fields. Canadian composer Kirkland Adsett has chosen to use violin and cello to create a melodic and lyrical setting of this famous text. We Remember Them by American composer Donald McCullough (The Holocaust Cantata) has a distinctively sad and melancholy character. The text by Rabbi Sylvan Kamens and Rabbi Jack Riemer is, in many ways, reminiscent of Binyon's poem mentioned above. The text reminds us that we must all remember the terrible things that can happen in the world when hate, prejudice and oppression go unchecked, so we can try to prevent them from happening again. A Soldier's Prayer by Canadian composer Beverly Lewis is set to an anonymous text found by a hospital nurse in the Philippines during World War II. The text begins "Let them in, Peter, for they are very tired" and then goes on to enumerate those things that the dead will never see or do or know. The fallen in war deserve to be given "things they like" and be told that "they are missed." The plaintive sound of the oboe adds to the poignant mood of this piece. Following along the lines of these pieces is Michael Horvit's Even When God Is Silent. The text for this piece was found by Allied troops in Cologne, Germany, written on a basement wall by someone who had been hiding from the Gestapo. It was commissioned by Congregation Emanu-El on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht. In Ose Shalom, John Leavitt uses clarinet, violin, cello, bass, and piano to accompany the choir in this moving plea for God to create not only peace in the heavens, but also peace for the Jewish people. Four of the selections are more traditionally sung as hymns. There are two settings of O God, Our Help in Ages Past. Paul Christiansen uses chorale-like arrangements of the familiar tune "St. Anne" for verses one, three, and five. The first and fifth are for male voices and the third for mixed voices. Each of these verses is joined by a contrasting verse that creates a sense of tension and despair. Alan Hovhaness wrote his own tune and accompaniment and set only three verses of the text. The first and third are homophonic in nature, the second has the voices entering one after the other, and all are accompanied by organ. Stephen Hatfield's Amazing Grace is a wonderful and innovative setting of this very familiar tune. The actual hymn tune is heard only in the solo oboe, accompanied throughout by a very beautiful counter melody for the choir. My Shepherd Will Supply My Need was arranged by our accompanist, Rod Epp. He has taken the traditional tune associated with this text and created a wonderfully tender and melodic piece. Both British composer William Walton and Canadian composer Jeff Enns have set Phineas Fletcher's poem "Litany" to music. Although Walton seldom wrote church music, A Litany, composed when he was only fourteen, already foreshadows his distinctive style. Jeff Enns' Litany, inspired by Walton's version, is a composition that is both heartfelt and uplifting and full of beautiful melodies and rich harmonies. The text begins "Drop, drop, slow tears." The shedding of tears is a natural part of the grieving and remembering process. Three of the compositions on this recording are better known for their text than the music to which they have been set. Australian composer Graeme Morton chose Tennyson's timeless poem Crossing the Bar, in which the final stages of life are paralleled with the sailor's evening return to port at journey's end. Christina Rossetti's poem Remember is the text used by Canadian composer Stephen Chatman. The sentiments of this poem reflect much of what we are asked to do when we remember: never should we let the pain of memory take away the joy of living. Chatman's piece is reminiscent of chant in that the character and movement of the piece are reliant on the ebb and flow of the words of the text. Canada's senior composer, Healey Willan, has written a sublime piece to a text by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, How They So Softly Rest. One of Willan's early works, it hints of Russian church music with it's rich chords for both male and female choirs and is typical of his soaring melodic lines. Canadian composer Allan Bevan has written a truly beautiful arrangement of Ave Maria for two soprano soloists and women's voices. This piece won first prize in the equal voices category in the 1999-2000 Association of Canadian Choral Communities' choral composition competition. The beautiful melody and harmonies unite to create a piece that soars majestically to it's conclusion. Another Canadian composer, Stephanie Martin, set to music comforting words from the Eastern Byzantine rite (circa 842). Kontakion, although homophonic in nature and sung with a feeling of chant, creates a sense of peace now that death has come and a sense of jubilation about what is yet to come. The words of the faithfully departed ask that they be given rest with the saints in a place where there is no longer pain, sorrow, or sighing, but only life everlasting. Cellist Pablo Casals composed O Vos Omnes to a short text from Lamentations. At first Casals sets the male voices against the female voices, but soon they come together as one to reflect a united sorrow. I'm Stillen Friedhof by Hugo Wolf is one of his early compositions and was probably written for the Ritterbund, a close group of friends who came together on a weekly basis for music and good company. The sombre mood first set by the opening chords of the piano gives way to a rhapsodic melody that is sung in turn by the four voices before once again returning to the same sombre mood of the opening. The piece asks us to consider the speed with which the body within a grave can be forgotten, since life seems to continue unaffected. Canadian composer Pierre Mercure wrote Cantate pour une joie in 1955. It is a remarkable work of seven movements, six of which depict the horror and savagery and sadness of war and the state of the world. The cantata concludes, however, with a joyous A Cry of Joy in which the opening piano introduction imitates the pealing of bells on some auspicious occasion, and this sense of festivity and celebration continues throughout the piece. Mercure was concerned with the yearning for joy rather than the concept of joy itself. Jeff Enns' God Be in My Head serves as a suitable conclusion or benediction for this CD. Sung in unison, it's simplicity of melody and text calls us back together to do what the title of the CD first asked us to do - Remember.- Shop: odax
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Vox Balaenae
VOX BALAENAE The musical project: The spells generated from the Sea are really multiple: the scents of the waves, the colours of the sea bottom, the rainbows created by the waves, the voices of the marine animals and so on. The miracles of nature have always fascinated man: poets, writers, painters, sculptors have all tried, in their own arts, to recall and reproduce the majesty of the sea. Yet the musician has always made more than the other artists: through the ethereal language of music he has often tried to ravish and imitate the voice of the sea. Games of sounds, cries and voices have been reproduced in an evocative musical journey entitled Vox Balaenae: the listener is driven into a surreal and suggestive world in which all kinds of musical expressions are melted in a unique performance following a complex process of interaction. Vox Balaenae opens a new frontier in the world of contemporary art, breaking with the traditional representative patterns: a journey in which acoustic and electronic vibrations are melted and impressed on the disc to be infinitely reproduced for people living thousands of kilometers far from the charming places of the Sorrentine Coastline, the very place where live recordings have been made in suggestive grottos and gorges. In the Vox Balaenae universe listening, feeling and meditating change into a symphony of the senses where innovation and creativity are interwoven in a continuous dialogue among modern concepts, knowledge and techniques. In other words there is the transposition of the traditional live concert into a "sensorial disc". Vox Balaenae, a project wholly planned and cured by Alessandro Crosta and Nadia Testa, borrows it's title from the homonymous aquatic and evocative work composed in 1971 by George Crumb, an American composer now considered one of the best representatives of the musique d'avanguard. Inspired to a recording of the voices of whales, the first track imitates and transfigures the sounds of nature, which are musically ri-elaborated. The American composer, still living, has wisely reproduced the voice of the whale and all the sounds of the sea and it's creatures (such as dolphins, gulls and so on) by using classical instruments (such as the piano, the flute, the cello and the crotales) in an experimental way thanks to it's innovative techniques of amplification and technical exploration. Among the following tracks there are Vermont Counterpoint by S. Reich, and some reproductions of marine sounds lively recorded by Alessandro Crosta ad Nadia Testa. The musical journey starts from contemporary music to go back to the beginning of the XXth century with Debussy, whose music is proposed in a modernized polyphonic version: "The future as a mirror of the past". Tracks are preceded by the listening of natural samples recorded on the sea of Sorrento (natural set of the disc) which, insinuating in each gorge, succeeds in emanating voices of an uncontaminated nature, unique in the world. The Artists: Alessandro Crosta, Flutist Alessandro Crosta, polyflutist and composer, is a young Italian versatile and innovative musician. His repertoire goes from the traditional literature for flute to the contemporary music as well as the electronic one. In his performances he exhibits in a vast range of roles: he has played as a soloist flute with a lot of European Orchestras (Orchestra dei Professori del Teatro S. Carlo - Napoli, Orchestra Arcenciel - Zurich, Minsk Orchestra - Belarus, Plovdiv Orchestra - Bulgaria, Orchestra Craiova - Romania), he has toured with the Italian pianist Nadia Testa as well as with the Belgian "Le Vraie Note Trio", and he has worked with several composers like Roland Moser (Switzerland), Wolfgang Rhim (Germany) and Arnoldo Antunas (Brazil). He has been on concert tours to Italy, the USA, Israel, Spain, France, Egypt, Jordan, Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Brazil, Morocco, Malta, Tunisia, Bahamas, Greece, Turkey, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Grenada, Ucraine, the UK, Argentina, Croatia, Uruguay, British Virgin Islands, Reunion, Denmark, Switzerland, Senegal, Cyprus, Libya, Tenerife, Funchal, Antigua and Barbados. Several CD recordings show his inclusive musical interests. As a flute-collector, he usually makes exhibition-concerts showing and playing his instruments (about 40 ca. Ancient and modern flutes from the XVIIth to the XXth century). Playing ancient flutes he succeeds in reproducing sound now forgotten, while playing modern flutes he is able to create new sounds and unexpected atmospheres. Nowadays he is composing a new kind of music with electroacoustic techniques applied to Flutes. He took the first degree with full marks at the 'D. Cimarosa' Conservatory of Avellino (Italy) with Nicola Caiazza and the master summa cum laude at IMP "G. Braga" of Teramo (Italy). After perfecting his technique with Conrad Klemm, he moved to Switzerland where in 2005 he took the 'Konzert Diplom' at the Musikhochschule of Winterthur-Zurich with Matthias Ziegler. As a concert flutist Alessandro Crosta has won about 21 musical competitions and scholarships and has made many recordings for the Italian television broadcast RAI. Since 2000 he has been the Artistic Director of 'Gli Anniversari della Musica International Festival" of Avellino (Italy). He has published several books such as "Bellini, Verdi e Cimarosa", "Muzio Clementi", "Sergej Prokofiev", "Antonin Dvorak", "Luigi Boccherini", "Mozart e Schumann", "Grieg, Leoncavallo, Pleyel e Sibelius", "Puccini e Casella" and the first volume of the "Quaderni musicali del flauto traverso" dedicated to the piéce of Albert Roussel "Joueur de flutes". Now he teaches flute at the Italian Secondary Music School. Nadia Testa, Pianist Born in Avellino, Nadia studied piano with Carlo Alessandro Lapegna and graduated with full marks and praise at the 'D. Cimarosa' Conservatory of Avellino in 1983. At the age of 18 she made her international debut with orchestra in Switzerland, where she played Mozart Concertos with the Symphonic Orchestra of Sannio. Then she specialized in piano with Vincenzo Vitale, Franco Medori e Carlo Bruno. Later Nadia won a scholarship to study as a soloist with Aldo Ciccolini at the Biella Music Academy, where she took the degree in 1987. At the same time she has been a finalist in several national and international Competitions. After studying as a lyric singer as well as Psychology at "La Sapienza" University of Rome, in 2005 Nadia received her degree in the discipline of Art, Music and Show Performance at the "Braga" IMP of Teramo (Italy) summa cum laude. As a soloist pianist she has made many concerts in Italy (Bologna, Torino, Bergamo, Milano, Messina, Firenze, Pisa, La Spezia, Udine, Salerno, Sorrento, Napoli, Aosta, Siracusa, and Caltanissetta) and abroad (Belgium, Switzerland, Israel, Egypt, Brasil, South Africa, Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, Malta, Greace, Argentina and Uruguay). She has been a founder member and the President of the "Associazione Igor Stravinsky of Avellino since 1997. As an accompanist pianist Nadia has partnered a wide range of soloists, both instrumentalists and singers. Since 1998 she has been playing in duo with the Italian flutist Alessandro Crosta, making performances in various international festival. Their international debut was at the A. Scarlatti Auditorium during the "Festival for Bach Celebrations" of Naples in 2000, since then the duo has been regularly invited to play in many countries of Europe, North Africa and the USA, and has performed throughout the UK to critical acclaim. Their repertoire goes from the XVIIth to the XXth century music, including the contemporary one. From 1998 to 2003 she accompanied the flutist Conrad Klemm during his Italian master classes and made several recordings for the Italian television broadcast RAI. In 2000 Nadia founded the flexible chamber group Stravinsky Ensemble (piano, flute, strings and singers), one of the most appreciated ensemble in Southern- Shop: odax
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Islas
Ian's desire here was the creation of contemporary yet tuneful chamber music, with most of the tracks written with Kyle Horch (saxophones) Guillem Calvo (violin) and Pavel Timofjevsy (piano) in mind. Woven into the violin sonata are themes, harmony and phrasing with a provenance in Celtic and psychedelic music. It's composed in a traditional 19th Century style with much use of rubato and flexible tempos. The delays often found in electronic music can be heard in Astral Hurdy-Gurdy. In Limes Groves the piano imitates the Autoharp (prominent in Bluegrass music), with each instrument providing a pulsing part somewhere in the textures. The title track Islas (Spanish for Islands - with Ian enjoying Spain and Malta when he can escape London) is influenced by ambient/new age music. The piano creates a dreamy texture over which the soprano sax plays long melodic lines. As well as composing music ranging from classical and jazz to electronica and new wave - Ian plays keyboards, trombone and bass guitar - alongside new instruments like turntables and laptops. His classical saxophone compositions have been played by Saxploitation and John Harle with the Brodsky Quartet. Ian has always had a passion for unconventional instrumentations - his first album San Gejtanu on the Music Chamber label featured Kyle Horch alongside an octet of violins and violas.- Shop: odax
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Sonate Pour Violoncelle Et Piano
'The new music are becoming more and more maddening! What are the brains who design it, and what are those who encourage such an art of their applause! - Period sick! ' Wrote by Théodore Dubois in 1923, one year before he died. On the opposite of Impressionism pioneers Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918) and Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937), Dubois tried to sustain the glory of French romantic music tradition, like his predecessor Gabriel Fauré and César Franck. In the first decade of 20th century, Innovation and tradition coexisted in Paris. However Debussy and Dubois' music are beyond simply the absolute contration of "new and old", In the cello sonata, Dubois incorporated innovative composition technique on the traditional fundation. Portraiting modern color and harmony, Debussy's cello sonata is tribute to French Baroque Music. Dubois' cello sonata was composed in 1905, just 10 years before Debussy composed his one, but both music, political, and economic environments were greatly different due to World War II (1014 - 1918). One month after the war, German marched to only 30 kilometers Paris, government relocated to Bordeaux, Debussy went to Pourville, north Normandy. Caused by the war and Debussy's deteriorated health, his cello sonata début until 1917 in Paris. Théodore Dubois was born in 1837, studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Ambroise Thomas. He became a man of great power and influence in France after he won the Prix de Rome in 1861, taught harmony (1871 - 91) and composition (1891 - 6) at the Conservatoire, and finally, after AmbroiseThomas, as director of the Conservatoire ( 1896 - 1905). As an organist, Dubois was the Choirmaster at the Church Madeleine in 1868, and in 1877, succeeding Camille Saint-Saëns as organist. Dubois was profific in all genres music composition, but mostly successful in choral and organ works. The Sonata for cello and piano in D Major was premièred in December 10, 1905 by professors of conservatoire - the cellist Jules Loeb and the pianist Louis Diémer in Concerts A. Lefort, Salle des Agriculteurs Paris. The score dedicated to his friend Paul Taffanel, professor of Flute at Conservatoire. Dubois followed French romantic tradition with César Franck and Gabriel Fauré: Composed in logic design, endless, splendid melody line, while skillfully balancing the music lyric and dramatic elements. With the experience of being an organist and choirmaster, his cello sonata contains enriched harmony effect and delicate depth. This sonata was well recognized by critics by it's high requirement of playing skill during the premièred in 1905 Afterwards, it became the most frequently played cello sonata in Paris, surpassing the popularity of the first cello sonata by Camille Saint-Saëns. Dubois was sixty-eight old in 1905. This three-movements cello sonata is just like a proper review of his entire experience. The Allegretto con moto e con calore could easily be summarized as 'Supplication', The iambus rhythm offers this movement powerful energy. The syncopated character, though sometimes soft, sometimes rough, and even reached the suddenness. It evokes a slow, but persistent persuasion that goes from joy to pain. The clean and warm motif in the beginning, mixing with some melodic fragments, finally became hot and exciting. After sudden crease, piano presents second theme (1'38") as if a tender pleading, even smiling withpersist desire to reach the goal. The most absolute confidence suggests the following pattern that flows with slight variations,. Through his frequent appearances, the piece adds more force until end. Andante con variazioni is basically a variation in the classical form, with a noble, sentimental, and rococo style theme, following by seven variations. The end of the second variation comes with a very surprised piano cadenza, music toward huge dramatic power (2m37s), then finally ends in a large tragic feeling. The final movement, Allegro bien rythmé, piano states a rustic dance theme with rhythmic and joyful. Cello joints with several lyric fragments connecting with small notes. Dubois presents a gorgeous composition skill to force the music with related melody fragments and motifs, just like a continuously but changing scene in a joyful journey. The second half he recalls each melodic fragments and motifs just as a turn-back, and suddenly ends this movement with astonished ending. Nocturne for Cello and Piano was composed in 1903, following with French nocturne tradition after Gabriel Fauré: a clear and almost endless melody line supported by harmonic accompaniment. It fully presents the elegant and balance of French music.Lyrical singing melody is just like a peaceful night, but end the singing with a question mark, (1m16s). This question brings to the second part of Ternary, like a self-struggle. .In the end, everything ceases at the deep night. The music remains as beautiful as usual, and as eternal. In 1915, the fifty-three old Debussy moved to Pourville, Normandy because of World War I. For the patriotic reason, he planned to compose six sonatas with various instruments, to walk away from Richard Wagner's influence, and pay tribute to French baroque composers such as Jean-Philippe Rameau, François Couperin, and Jean-Marie Leclair. Eventually, he only finished three compositions, apart from this cello sonata, the others are Trio for flute, viola and harp, and a violin sonata. In the score cover, Debussy named himself as "French Musician." This cello sonata largely extends the possibility of cello performance to imitate the sound effect as guitars, flutes, expressing every mood of human beings. Debussy tried to break through the bar line and tempo, and returned to the nature rhythm of speaking, "In the good sense of word," as the baroque composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, his opera composition, therefore delivered a lot of expression mark and tempo mark in score. The simplified and skillful setting of piano are also understood as what he wrote in the opening page of score "The pianist must never forget that he should not fight against the cello but accommodate it." Though Debussy thought that he composed this cello sonata with "The close-to-classical style and the positive sense of the term," The three-movements piece is actually closer to an incidental music than a "sonata". Implying by it's subtitle "Pierrot is angry at the moon.", Pierrot was a character of a pantomime and Commedia dell'Arte, a sad clown with white face, in which Pierrot was a puppet with pale and blue look, which symbolized horror, anxiousness, contradiction and emptiness. It can be also seemed as seeing through the entire life. It is said that Pierrot was a puppet, which was tame and follow people's requests without any own will. However, under the moon light, he turned alive and exploded out his entire anger during the day. Furthermore, he had many close-to-crazy actions. (some people consider moon equips with a power to drive people angry and crazy.) Along with the scene, in the music, we see Pierrot was awakening by the moon and presents his devil side from within (painful, anxious, crazy, ecstasy and horror). On the other side, piano is as if the moonlight and shadow. Sometimes follow through and sometimes just observe as an outsider. A simple D minor chord in piano starts the first movement, Prologue, It is an elegant phrase imitates French baroque harpsichord fantasie. Pierrot awakes now, from slowing movement to crazy and strange dance. Debussy changes expression and tempo mark frequently to describe the feverish ghosts, leading their vast, and dismal dance. The second movement start with Cello's pizzicato, a Sérénade", by playing like guitar, mandolin and flute. Pierrot is happily playing a novel toy, but moonlight (piano) only echoes back with few short and cold notes. This "serenade" is not a sweet night, but an endless nightmare, which is hard to be awake from. Toward the end of the chapter, a slight deem is revealed and seems the hope i- Shop: odax
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Journeys of Soul: From Bach to Balakirev
Each of these composers takes us on a personal journey with their music. They allow the performer and the listener to enter their private sound world, and they are willing to share their deepest emotions. Inspired by the music of the Italian Vivaldi, Bach composed his 'Concerto in the Italian style' and dedicated it to 'music lovers, to refresh their spirit.' Bach returns to the baroque concerto, imitating it's solo and tutti contrasts. Written originally for a two manual harpsichord, the pianist imitates these contrasting keyboards with their alternating dynamics. There is a sense of joy and triumph throughout, especially in it's opening and closing movements. The middle movement is a touching vocal aria, sung over a moving ostinato bass. The Concerto joyfully concludes with the presto finale- a brilliant and virtuosic tour-de-force. According to Bach, all of his music was written to glorify God. Ravel was thirty years old when he composed his 'little' Sonata. There is an elegance, a purity and a peacefulness to this miniature gem. No sense of struggle here- Ravel knows the pathway he is following. My favorite movement is the 2nd movement Minuet- minimally written- not one note too much or too little- perfection in every way. The last movement is a virtuosic finale and according to Ravel, this movement was much too difficult for him to play. He wasn't a virtuoso like the great Franz Liszt. Liszt struggled all his life with his personal relationship with God, and his Sonata in B minor serves as his spiritual confessional. Since a young child, Liszt was torn as to how best serve the Lord- whether he should enter the church with a life devoted to prayer or whether as an artist he could still serve. He finally resolved this conflict in his fifties when as Abbé Liszt, he took minor orders in the Catholic Church . His Sonata in B minor is one of the masterworks of the entire piano literature and represents his personal journey, running the gamut of emotion. He takes us from birth through life and then to what lies ahead. The ending of this work is extraordinary for Liszt makes us experience in it's last measures the ascension of the soul towards a higher place. We feel it's peaceful acceptance before the final low B- It's quite a journey! For me as a performer, this work is always evolving- every time I perform it, it let's me know exactly where I am- where I've been and where I'm headed- a bit like taking my musical pulse. Scriabin also walked the pathway of discovery. I think if he were alive today, he probably would be dressed in flowing robes and beads, and be living and seeking truth somewhere in an ashram in India. I adore his early Etudes, we can hear Chopin's influence but we also can feel Scriabin's Russian romantic soul. He wrote his Etude, Op. 2 No. 1 when he was only fifteen and it's a beauty. In his Etude, Op. 8, No. 10 in double thirds, we are reminded of Chopin's Etudes but also combined with lots of Lisztian virtuosity. With the Etude, Op. 42 No. 5, the passion and sense of forward momentum that Scriabin creates is just dazzling. Scriabin studied to be a pianist and while practicing Balakirev's Islamey, injured his right hand. That's why he wrote the Nocturne for the left-hand alone. Hard to imagine that only one hand is responsible for this beautiful composition. We conclude with the virtuosic showpiece of Balakirev, Islamey. Balakirev was basically self-taught and became one of the leaders of the 'Russian Five.' This group of composers wrote music linked to their homeland- nationalistic music inspired by Russian folklore and history. In this 'Fantasy-Orientale' Balakirev includes the folk songs of Central Asia. You might recognize the middle section tune that we know as 'Stranger in Paradise.' The piece might sound a bit dated nowadays but it is fun for the pianist to play and entertaining to hear occasionally. From Bach to Balakirev- it's been quite a trip!! "Nissman's opening movement raptures me out and tells me something new about Ravel's music. Nissman shows the passion and the 'lovely bones' beneath. She plays the second-movement minuet so beautifully, it stops your breath. This may be the finest recording of the Sonatine I've heard, at least equaling my benchmark, Gieseking." "She also provides the bonus of bringing clarity to Liszt's complex textures and made me realize how truly contrapuntal the work is. There's plenty of excitement and genuine tenderness in her account. She also shares with Argerich a spontaneity. I can't predict how she will finish a phrase or what subtle adjustments in tempo and dynamics she will make to a line, but it nevertheless sounds not merely individual, but right." "Since Nissman plays Chopin so beautifully, she turns each of these Scriabins into gems. She actually makes Scriabin sound as natural as breath, like Fred Astaire dancing." 'an impressive series: brilliant, technically and musically. Lifelike sound and totally satisfying discs." "A true transcendental performance. In her journey to the spiritual, technique, intellectual structure and dramatic structure have all been transcended."- Shop: odax
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Against the Grain
Despite her hiatus, the mid-western artist still owns that raw, but sweet, dynamic delivery. Assata...Came to life as the Artist "Qwyetstorm" at The Good Life Cafe, in Los Angeles, Ca. she remained on the underground circuit for a while, while gaining audiences from a variety of cultures. She spent a few years signed to Virgin/Rap-A-Lot records in the group "The Blac Monks. The Rap-o-Lot Recording Artist completed two albums "Secrets of the Hidden Temple" followed by "No Mercy". Storm at this point had already shared the stage with artist that range from 2Pac, ScareFace, Devin the Dude, Jay-Z, T-Pain, just to name a few, as well as gained,national radio play. After Rap-O-Lot, Assata, remained active as an independent artist. Now the long awaited and anticipated, under-rated artist of our hip- hop, r&b, and soul times, Assata Storm finally takes her place. Regaining consciousness, Assata brings you into a world of "Art Imitates Life" while touching on something that may feel familiar to you. So, Open The Doors to the clubs!!! "Back In The Spot' Assata expresses how, it's about timing. As she knocks down the clubs doors, let'n, you know, it's the season. And she's still showing love,while smashing up the clubs, LOL!! While "Ghetto Girl" Brings you a short story about, not judging before experiencing. Not allowing life to set boundaries for you, based on anothers analogy. Don't judge a book by it's cover",cause it's not about where you're from, but about where you are at, is where she takes you. And just when you,you thought it couldn't get any better, 'Summer Breeze' takes you to another whole level, when she devastates your world while expressing the days of innocence of living life young and free, then growing into lifes lessons and changes, and still enjoying a good summer breeze,in any season. So whatever your mood, your lifestyle, your worries, your cares, Assata has something for you. She's a definite must listen!- Shop: odax
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Petites Inspirations
Originally, the goal of this album was to create music where each individual piece would represent something in a child's room. However, my heart and emotions have more power over me than I could ever explain. As soon as I entered into a relationship, my music shifted immediately, expressing in sounds what I could not express in words. I began my summer of 2009 writing several child related pieces. "Rêverie d'enfant," begins by setting the atmosphere of what it's like to be in a child's world and thoughts. "Le carrousel," as you can guess, materializes a colorful carrousel that one might find on the nightstand. "Petite danseuse" animates a dancing ballerina who comes to life. And finally, "Sur l'eau, petit bateau" depicts a serene painting of a little boat on it's own journey in calm waters. A transitioning piece, "De longues heures," brings me in an altered state where I am transported in time. I feel as if I have control over the clock's hands, making them spin faster and faster in order to make time appear to be moving as quickly as possible. "L'attente" portrays that uneven feeling you get when anxiously waiting to see someone. While all afore mentioned pieces were written at home, it wasn't until I arrived in France that I faced my true suppressed feelings. The relationship I was in was not the one in which my heart wanted to be in. Aching for someone else, my music painted those internal hidden emotions. "Un manque" underlines that feeling of missing something. "Mon secret" is an attempt to hide the amount of hurt within, while unwrapping some sweetness and vulnerability near the end, as if to ask for someone to recognize my pain. The bittersweet sound of "Nostalgie" continues by sharing this sadness aloud, while softening this hurt with it's legato nature. "A tire-d'aile" imitates a bird, stuck in a cage, symbolizing my desperate search for an escape. "Coups de coeur" mirrors my heart beating a million miles an hour, which is the effect I get when talking to this special someone. "Douce nuit" is the sound of my heart resting in peace. And last but not least, "Voyage" is my final work written in France, mixing sounds of uneven feelings with certainty and motion. I was finally ready to return home and make things right again, being honest with others, myself, and most importantly, my heart. Before I end, there's one special piece that I want to dedicate to my favorite aunt, Anne DeChezelles. "Larmes d'amour" meaning Tears of Love, expresses the hurt I hold in regards to her situation. She has had much difficulty holding her own child, and if there's anyone who is a more loving, giving, and deserving person when it comes to being a mother, it's her. I will end this by telling you that my music is my diary. Hence, sharing it with you, while putting me in a vulnerable position, truly brings me nothing more than heartfelt joy and honor. Thank you again for all those who have supported my first album, Cascade, and even more so, my music in general. It is with long awaited excitement that I am absolutely thrilled to finally share this second album with you! Tara O'Brien.- Shop: odax
- Price: 30.61 EUR excl. shipping
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Meet Peter C. Dzialo
It is evident to cellists that most composers have had little experience with the physical act of playing the instrument, and thus performance technique, as a source of inspiration, supplied little direction to their writing. The three works on this recording deviate from this shortcoming to marvelous effect. The Sixth Suite for Unaccompanied Cello by J. S. Bach was written ca. 1720, at a time when Bach was happiest and most productive. Employed by Prince Leopold in Cöthen as Director of Music, he had few fixed obligations and was mostly free to pursue his own compositional interests. One of these interests was to experiment with the cello, to understand it, and exploit it's capabilities. Although the most involved and complex of the cello suites is the Fifth, it is the Sixth Suite that is the most adventurous and which best blends a virtuoso style with compositional perfection in baroque form. The Grande Étude Symphonique by Louis Abbiate (1866-1933) is the culminating composition in his pedagogical course on cello playing, coming after some 300 pages of preliminary studies. Other than the Kodály solo cello Sonata, this is the only work I know of in which a cello alone evokes a symphonic texture. A unique variety of physical techniques are required of the performer and I have never encountered some of these techniques elsewhere. The structure is cyclical but successively builds upon itself and extracts more and more potential from the whole range of the instrument. In a remarkable turnabout that would not typically satisfy the ego of a virtuoso, and unlike other compositions of tremendous difficulty that end with a grand finale, this piece changes direction to finish with a peaceful ascent that floats us away into eternity. Mon Cirque by cellist and composer Paul Tortelier (1914-1990) is music clearly inspired by the act of cello playing itself. Almost every passage uses hand movements and finger dispositions that would occur only to an expert cellist, fiddling with the instrument, searching to discover new, captivating combinations. The result is the development of an exceptionally rich and colorful palette which Tortelier uses to portray circus acts in musical form. As Bach employs different voices, and Abbiate demonstrates orchestral textures, Tortelier with greater explicitness imitates circus performers. This is Tortelier's most brilliant work and more, it is one of the most successful pieces of program music written for cello by any composer. Music at Lonely Peaks Records "A lonely peak of grandeur"-is the way one Bach biographer described the achievement of the six works for unaccompanied violin, and the words are well chosen. They represent an ultimate sophistication and difficulty. The extraordinary inventiveness with which Bach created his masterpieces not only stretched the capabilities of the instrument but also require from the performer endurance, concentration, and critical interpretative insight to shape the separate movements into a logical whole. Lonely Peaks Records was organized with the fullness of that thought in mind. A good recording reveals a complex story. We look for honesty when we make a recording-what the instruments really sound like, presented with clarity and realism. We are more interested in placing the microphones where they need to be to hear inside the music and less interested in having our records sound like you are seated in the tenth row. Good recording technique will allow the recording artist to do his work, which is to reveal the multifaceted beauty that exists in the details of great music. We make great classical music recordings that usually feature the cello alone, or small ensemble chamber music, where there is more freedom to express oneself, more give and take between colleagues, more spontaneity and intimacy than are really ever possible in even the most successful orchestral recordings. Recording can make music a much more cogent experience for the listener. The artist has more options and more choice in the performance that is captured. The listener benefits from microphone placement and always has the best seat in the house. Moreover, a wonderful performance isn't lost, it can be heard again and again. If your playback equipment is good, the experience can be overwhelming-heard properly at home, intimately, quietly, and reflectively. Good music is made for an individual's consideration and appreciation...to move the emotions well.- Shop: odax
- Price: 16.81 EUR excl. shipping
