A sense of the inevitable weaves through the Gospel of Mark and it is evident too in The Song of Mark, but there is much more going on here than anticipation over coming events. This musical leads us to make the refreshing discovery again as well. This memory reclaimed is the gift of true hope that Jesus provides the downtrodden and forsaken—the strength of God that is made perfect in weakness. Through Jesus, the nameless are given a voice that is heard. True to Mark's telling, the anonymous women storytellers in the chorus of The Song of Mark bear out a great understanding of what true discipleship means, greater even than the Apostles. At the end of the piece, in "The Song at the Empty Tomb," these voice of the faithful rise with Jesus and resonate the Good News.
Nearly twenty years have passed since HelSne Grimaud first encountered Valentin Silvestrov's Silent Songs. She has finally found a partner to perform these songs with in the sensational young baritone Konstantin Krimmel. HelSne explains, "It's music I find very touching in it's honest and transparency. It's poetic. It's not pretending to be anything and has a very special color and texture."
Delmark Records were motivated to record this, their very first "jazz vocals" album after hearing Francine's outstanding singing talents - she has performed w. Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis & many others.
The poems and songs of the Gruuthuse Manuscript originated in Bruges around 1400, and the collection is named after the later owner, Lodewijk van Gruuthuse. The songs form the most well-known part of the collection: love songs, bawdy songs and drinking songs. The Gruuthuse Manuscript contains the largest collection of Dutch language songs from the medieval period, and it is the largest collection of songs with music notation. The form of the songs also attests to the fact that these songs were intended for connoisseurs. The poet uses forms fixes, the canonized forms of French songs of the late medieval times: ballades, rondeaus and virelais, and the wide variety of the forms used is remarkable. Instrumentalists have been around all over Europe during the 15th century, but musical manuscripts unambiguously showing a repertoire for instrumental ensembles from that period are scarce. The instrumental repertoire on this album contains arrangements and polyphonic ensemble pieces from about 1450-1470. The arrangements are either instrumental versions based on pre-existing polyphonic models or arranged monophonic tenors.
Ed Ames on Broadway - Opening Night & More I Cannot Wish You
Sony Masterworks
CD
$17.99May 29, 2014
The legendary Broadway producer George Abbott once said that Ed Ames's voice was one of the finest he had heard on the legitimate stage. After success as a member of The Ames Brothers – the multi-platinum vocal quartet and popular TV fixture – Ames turned his attention to acting and a solo vocal career. His acting career took off as he landed roles in the Broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks and the role of "Mingo" in the TV series Daniel Boone. Opening Night, a collection of songs from Broadway musicals recorded in 1964 was his first solo recording and includes "Try to Remember" from The Fantasticks, his first charted single. Several years later, he followed up with the album More I Cannot Wish You, another collection of Broadway favorites that includes "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" from The Sound of Music.
The Music Of Paul Bowles / Jonathan Sheffer, Eos Orchestra
RCA
CD
$17.99Dec 13, 2011
A delectable program. If you want to know what Bowles was all about, this CD is the one to have.
This delectable program was originally issued by BMG back in 1996 to commemorate the 1995 visit to New York of expatriate Paul Bowles (1910-99) to New York after several decades of self-chosen exile in Morocco. It is now being rereleased, and apparently it was never reviewed in Fanfare, although a couple of other overlapping Bowles collections (on the Koch and Largo labels) were covered quite favorably in these pages at that time.
Of these three, this is the most orchestrally plentiful and probably the most authentic, because Jonathan Sheffer, founder and conductor of The Eos Orchestra of New York, has long been associated with Bowles's music and was the guiding light behind the week-long celebration of the composer that took place back in September 1995. In fact, several of the works on this disc were recorded shortly after being performed in Alice Tully Hall.
It is customary to contrast the relatively lighthearted character of Bowles's compositions (most of them written before he devoted all of his attentions to literature) with the rather grim and stark existentialism of his exotic culture-clash novels and short stories, for which he is more universally acclaimed. All this writer is prepared to observe on the matter is the likelihood that his music may have been unfairly underrated to the extent that his fiction has been overrated; in any case, suffice it to underline that listening to the music is a lot more fun than reading the books!
The Suite for Small Orchestra of 1932-33 is the earliest orchestral work of Bowles to be recorded, and its three brief movements (Pastorale, Havanaise, and Divertimento) are all that is left of a projected "symphony." Although the idiom is a bit more dissonant and jagged than the theater-based music he wrote in the 40s (Bowles made a reputation for his incidental scores and ballets), its understated amiability—and populist overtones—are typical of the kind of spare and deliberately unpretentious manner and deadpan humor he cultivated in later years. Although the example of Virgil Thomson is germane here, the actual music sounds like a panoptic fusion of folk idioms stretching from Mexico to Spain, with divagations to New York and Tangiers. Perhaps a blend of Milhaud's Saudades do Brasil and Copland's El salón Mexico with a Jean Françaix-like personality best situates its stylistic profile.
Pastorela is drawn from a 1947 ballet with a Hispanic setting similar to the "zarzuela" mini-opera The Wind Remains after Lorca (once available on an MGM LP but here heard in a new version prepared especially by Sheffer). This relatively ambitious work—which comprises a quick succession of songs, instrumental interludes, and underscoring—is somewhat more low-key when compared to Bowles's masterpiece, the utterly nonpareil Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra of 1946—47. This irrepressibly jaunty, jaundiced, yet at times delicately sentimental four-movement quarter-hour montage features the most wonderfully wacky juxtapositions and discontinuities while brilliantly exploiting the sonorities of a percussion-heavy chamber orchestra. The best way to describe its spirit is as a kind of "concerto-in-drag." This careful but carefree performance brings out more felicitous details than the helter-skelter premiere recording by the work's commissioners and dedicatees—Gold and Fizdale—on an ancient 10-inch Columbia LP (which should be reissued along with their several other Columbia recordings of two-piano works). The program closes with a set of six elusive but evocative songs to poems by Bowles, his wife, the novelist and playwright Jane Bowles, and a single mock-valentine by Gertrude Stein. These highly melodic and occasionally bluesy settings reveal a tenderly lyrical aspect of Bowles that compares favorably with Barber's great Hermit Songs and indicate that he would have been capable of writing a musical comedy in the popular American vein. They bring a comprehensive musical portrait to a perfect finish.
Excellent and dedicated performances and a top-drawer annotation by K. Robert Schwarz, plus full texts. If you want to know what Bowles was all about, this CD is the one to buy.
Lieder and Pictures, featuring 12 Schubert-Liszt transcriptions and Mussorgsky's greatest piano cycle, is the young pianist Mikhail Mordvinov’s GENUIN debut CD. + Mr. Mordvinov was first propelled onto the international stage when he won the 12th Robert Schumann Competition (Zwickau ‘96) and the 6th Schubert Competition (Dortmund ‘97). + His busy touring schedule includes performances at the world’s major concert venues. + Reviews have noted his virtuosity, clarity, lyricism and confidence.
Saxophonist and composer Gregory Tardy emerged from the highly productive and creative jazz scene of the 90s and has established himself “as one of the most important saxophonists of his generation.” (Matthew Miller – AAJ).
The music Gregory Tardy composes and performs is filled with devotional texture and emotion. The strength of his music and performance reaches out to the vast range of people regardless of their spiritual background, as it is the case with this his 8th release on SteepleChase.
“He sounds as if he’s physically wresting new possibilities and beauty…. It’s moments such as these that invoke the combination of faith-infused yearning and hard-won triumph that is at the heart of the best spiritually inspired improvisational music.” (Carlo Wolff - JazzTimes on The Strongest Love” SCCD 31698
Antonio Carlos & Jocafi, the legendary duo from Bahia whose music has embodied the soul of Brasil for over five decades, return with a bold new collaboration: Jazz Is Dead 026. Introduced to Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad by Beto Barreto of Baiana System, the meeting was instant magic. "The first time we met, it was like family," they recall. That kinship led Younge and Muhammad to invite the duo to Los Angeles, where they carried a handful of ideas and created new songs on the spot-an intuitive, improvisatory process that defines the Jazz Is Dead ethos. The story of Antonio Carlos & Jocafi begins in Salvador at the close of the 1960s, when the pair first joined forces as composers and performers. In 1971, their debut album Muita Zorra! Introduced Brasil to a sound that was both rooted in Bahia's folk traditions and attuned to the modern pulse of samba, funk, and MPB. From that record came Voce Abusou, an anthem that became one of the most recorded songs in the history of Brasilian popular music. The duo quickly distinguished themselves through their ability to channel the everyday life, humor, and struggles of Bahia into universal songs that resonated across the country and beyond. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Antonio Carlos & Jocafi wrote and recorded music that blended the sacred and the profane, Afro-Brasilian traditions and urban funk, biting satire and joyous celebration. Their compositions were picked up by some of the greatest voices of their generation: Clara Nunes, Gal Costa, Maria Creuza, and Sergio Mendes among them. They also contributed to television and cinema, writing theme songs that became part of Brasil's cultural fabric. Despite their success, they remained deeply tied to Bahia, drawing constant inspiration from Salvador's streets, the Mercado Modelo, the rhythms of candomble, and the irreverent humor of the people. Now, with Jazz Is Dead 026, Antonio Carlos & Jocafi reaffirm their creative vitality while introducing their timeless Bahian spirit to a new generation. "Adrian's love for Brasil is greater than that of many Brasilians," they say, noting how deeply he listens, studies, and channels the rhythms, stories, and feelings of their culture. The result is an album that bridges Salvador's Mercado Modelo with the global stage, weaving Bahia's folkloric traditions into Jazz Is Dead's analog soul. This collaboration stands not only as a continuation of their journey but also as a testament to the enduring power of Bahia's music-a sound that carries history, resistance, and joy in every beat. From Voce Abusou to Jazz Is Dead 026, Antonio Carlos & Jocafi remain essential voices in the evolving story of Brasilian music.
Jamie deRoy has been declared 'The Fairy Godmother of Cabaret' because she has helped so many performers in the cabaret world. But life is much more than a cabaret for the versatile performer, who is equally celebrated as an actress, record producer, and talk show host. A gifted singer/comedienne, Jamie has appeared as Joan Rivers' opening act in New York and Los Angeles, and headlined at every major club in New York. Jamie has also enjoyed successful engagements at Caesar's, Showboat and Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, and The Sahara in Lake Tahoe. For the past 12 years, Jamie has hosted and produced the critically acclaimed variety show, Jamie deRoy & friends, which also serves as a basis for her 10-year-old cable television show, Jamie deRoy & friends. It airs in the New York tri-state area, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. Her television show has earned nine Telly Awards and First Place in the Northeast Video Festival. Jamie has recently produced three CDs, available on Harbinger Records. Jamie deRoy & friends: The Child in Me, Volume 1, won the MAC Award for Recording of the Year, and Volume 2 of this popular recording -- featuring Tony winners Faith Prince and Roger Bart -- was released in November 2000. Jamie deRoy & friends, Volume 3: 'Tis the Season, a collection of holiday songs, was selected as one of Time Out New York's hot Holiday Gift Ideas, and won the 2002 MAC Award for Various Artist Recording of the Year. Jamie is also the Executive Producer on several Harbinger releases Heather Mac Rae: Songs For My Father (2002 MAC Award for Solo Artist) and the recently released Mabel Mercer: Previously Unreleased Live Performances and the upcoming Songwriters Showcase: Broadway Tunesmiths. Jamie's expertise extends into theatre, television and film. She was a co-producer of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) at The Century Center, and also co-produced it's original Off-Broadway version. With Rick McKay, she produced the Emmy-nominated segment 'The Biggest Little Operas in Town' for City Arts, as well as that show's 'Where Do Musicals Come From?' and 'All That Glitters." Jamie is also one of the producers of McKay's highly anticipated upcoming documentary, Broadway: The Golden Age. Jamie is currently an Associate Producer of the Broadway show "Say Goodnight Gracie", written by Rupert Holmes and starring Frank Gorshin. As an actress, Jamie has guest starred on numerous TV series including Alice, Spiderman and Knight Rider. Her film credits include GoodFellas, Raging Bull and Married to It. Onstage, Jamie appeared with Rene Auberjonois in Three Penny Opera. She was also seen in The Drunkard, a play with musical direction by Barry Manilow, who became her musical director for several years. Jamie has earned a total of seven MAC Awards, four Back Stage Bistro Awards and CaB Magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award. She is President Emeritus of MAC, and was one of the first women to join the famed New York Friars Club. She also sits on the Boards of The Friars Foundation and CAP21, and is on the Honorary Board of the Humane Society of New York. Jamie is also actively involved with New York Women in Film & Television.
On Philip Glass - Songs, Baritone Martin Achrainer and pianist Maki Namekawa give the world premiere recording of Glass's 1997 song-cycle Songs of Milarepa, about the spiritual journey of Milarepa, a Tibetan poet who lived 900 to 1,000 years ago. Martin Achrainer has quickly become a Glass specialist of a kind, having sung in multiple Glass operas including his breakthrough performance as Kepler, the title role of Glass's 2009 grand opera. Namekawa is one of the preeminent artists working with Philip Glass today. Chose by Glass in 2014 to be the first pianist to record his Complete Piano Etudes. The album concludes with Three Songs for Baritone and Piano which is a collection of songs drawn from two sources, Glass's 1989 song opera Hydrogen Jukebox which was created with Allen Ginsberg, and two songs from Monsters of Grace, a multimedia opera created with director Robert Wilson.
2018 release. Get ready to experience Joshua Henry's soul-stirring "Soliloquy" on repeat. The Tony-nominated revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel has announced an original Broadway cast recording. Henry leads the cast in a Tony-nominated turn as Billy Bigelow alongside Jessie Mueller in a Tony-nominated performance as Julie Jordan. The principal company also includes Tony nominee and Broadway. Com vlogger Lindsay Mendez as Carrie Pipperidge, Tony nominee Alexander Gemignani as Enoch Snow, Tony nominee Renee Fleming as Nettie Fowler, Tony nominee John Douglas Thompson as the Starkeeper, Amar Ramasar as Jigger, Brittany Pollack as Louise and Margaret Colin as Mrs. Mullin. Tony winner Jack O'Brien directs the revival with choreography by Tony nominee Justin Peck.
2015 release, the sophomore album from the UK's musical theatre supergroup. COLLABRO were one of THE UK success stories of 2014. Not only did they win Britain's Got Talent and go on to perform at the Royal Variety Show, they also entered the charts at #1 with their debut album. That album went on to sell over 180,000 copies, making it one of only a handful of new British artists that went Gold or Platinum with their debut releases. This second collection includes more of your favourite West End and Broadway Theatre classics along with the boys inimitable take on some Classic songs, given the COLLABRO twist. With a sell-out tour already under their collective belts and their first biography out in March, 2015 promises to be another record breaking year for COLLABRO.
but I like to sing... / Carolyn Sampson & Joseph Middleton
BIS
SACD
$10.99$21.99Save 50%Nov 03, 2023
After many acclaimed releases on BIS, most recently ‘Sounds and Sweet Airs – A Shakespeare Songbook’ (BIS-2653), Carolyn Sampson’s latest recital with Joseph Middleton lives up to its name: it is an eloquent testimony to the English soprano’s love of her art. This programme artfully blends well-known and lesser-known lieder by German and Austrian masters such as Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Richard Strauss and Hugo Wolf with French songs by Gounod, Poulenc and Franck, as well as works by Anglo-Saxon composers such as Hubert Parry, Samuel Barber and Ivor Gurney. Female composers are not forgotten, with rarely-performed songs by Rita Strohl based on slightly risqué poems by Pierre Louÿs, music by Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Kaija Saariaho – who has recently passed away – and Deborah Pritchard, whose song presented here was composed especially for Sampson. And while Leonard Bernstein’s comically cheeky song ‘I hate music’, appears to be a call not to let music take itself too seriously, Errollyn Wallen’s ‘Peace on Earth’, which concludes the album, invokes calm and encourages us to find peace, a message that seems more relevant today than ever.
Written by Moliere during the XVIIth century, 'Les fourberies de Scapin' is one of the most famous play of French Literature. On stage there are Francois Perier, Claude Rich and Louis de Funes, amgonst the most popular French actors of the 60's. A comedy classic, 2 CD, in French.
