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Venezianische Mehrchorigkeit (Venetian Polychoral Music) / Tarr, HR Brass
Capriccio · Apr 2009CD$16.99 -
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Rautavaara: Rubaiyat, Balada, Canto V & 4 Songs from Rasputin / Storgårds, Helsinki Philharmonic
Ondine · May 2016CD$18.99 -
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SaleKastalsky: Requiem for Fallen Brothers / Slatkin, Orchestra of St. Luke's
Naxos · Aug 2020CD$19.99$9.99 -
Our Favorite Things / Tony Bennett, Charlotte Church, Plácido Domingo, Vanessa Williams
Sony Masterworks · Oct 2001CD$11.98 -
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Standard Stoppages
Mary Reilly - Original Soundtrack
1. House of Henry Jekyll, The - (opening credits, with London Symphony Orchestra)
2. Birth of Hyde, The - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
3. Announcement, The - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
4. Story of the Scars, The - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
5. Mary's Errand - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
6. Mrs. Farraday's - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
7. It Comes in Like the Tide - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
8. Mary Meets Hyde - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
9. Shopping Trip, The - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
10. Butler's Night Off - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
11. Haffinger's - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
12. Transformation, The - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
13. Mary Reilly - (end credits, with London Symphony Orchestra)
The London Symphony Orchestra includes: George Fenton (conductor); Lucia Lin, Janice Graham (leader, solo violin).
Recorded at CTS Studios and Abbey Road Studios, London, England.
Personnel: Lucia Lin, Janice Graham (violin).
Recording information: CTS Studios, London, England; EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England.
George Fenton's score for the artsy horror film Mary Reilly is appropriately gothic and haunting, capturing the essence of the movie. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
AD HOC
GOT 2 BE GROOVIN
New York Voices Sing The Songs Of Paul Simon
1. Baby Driver
2. Cecilia
3. One Man's Ceiling Is Another man's Floor
4. so Long, Frank Lloyd Wright
5. Loves Me Like A Rock
6. Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard
7. St. Judy's Comet
8. Punky's Dilemma
9. Overs
10. Mother And Child Reunion
11. Do It For Your Love
12. Still Crazy After All These Years
13. Why Don't You Write Me?
14. Old Friends/Bookends
Additional personnel includes: Gil Goldstein (keyboards); Russell Malone (guitar); Christian McBride (bass).
All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.
As Paul Simon was perparing his first Broadway musical, The Capeman, the New York Voices assembled New York Voices Sing the Songs of Paul Simon, a song-and-dance production of Simon's biggest hits. As a musical experience, the New York Voices turned out a better, richer album than Simon, whose Songs from the Capeman was curiously stillborn. The Songs of Paul Simon, however, is full of life, teeming with energy and bursting with melody. Produced by Joel Moss and featuring cameos by Christian McBride, Gil Goldstein and Russell Malone, the project features familiar numbers like "Cecilia," "Loves Me Like a Rock," "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard" and "Still Crazy After All These Years," but it also showcases wonderful album tracks like "One Man's Ceiling (Is Another Man's Floor)" and "Baby Driver." The arrangements are brighter and brassier than Simon's originals, but there's a real charm to the performances that makes it a thoroughly entertaining experience, one that's much more fun and engaging than The Capeman. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Venezianische Mehrchorigkeit (Venetian Polychoral Music) / Tarr, HR Brass
The program represents a fairly deep single-disc sampling of the instrumental music associated with St. Mark's cathedral in Venice around and after the year 1600, played on modern brass instruments rather than the motley crew of devices that a historically authentic performance would use. This so-called polychoral" music drew its structure from St. Mark's complex internal space, with groups of musicians situated in different parts of the building falling naturally into antiphonal structures... Unlike the many recordings that simply present Gabrieli's works in series, this one offers a large section of music by other composers associated with St. Mark's... [A] valuable introduction to the polychoral style." -- James Manheim, Allmusic.com [7/2009]
Rautavaara: Rubaiyat, Balada, Canto V & 4 Songs from Rasputin / Storgårds, Helsinki Philharmonic
A MusicWeb International Recording of the Month!
Steadfast Ondine have here gathered four world premiere recordings of works by Finnish contemporary composer Rautavaara. In the 1970s and early 1980s I associated him with the thornier groves of avant-garde dissonance as evidenced by the Third Symphony. In fact, time and again, I have been reminded that Rautavaara reaches out to many listeners beyond any narrow elite. His early Cantus Arcticus (1972) is miraculously accessible. A concert late last year also underscored the same message. The BBC Philharmonic under Carlos Miguel Prieto in MediaCity Salford played his Symphony No. 7 Angel of Light. This is a surgingly and phantasmally lyrical three-quarter hour work belonging among the last century's melodic treasures, close to Silvestrov's Symphony No. 5, the symphonies of Alla Pavlova and Ned Rorem's Lions.
Rubáiyát (2015) is a song-cycle using verse from Edward Fitzgerald's translation/realization of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam (1048–1131). We are fortunate to hear Gerald Finley singing it in its orchestral version. His voice is clear yet lush of tone. He sings across an incessantly inventive and beckoning orchestral arioso. His enunciation is sharply focused and while his 'line' is usually independent of the accompaniment he puts across the poetry's carpe diem philosophy with eloquence. Rautavaara does not shy from word and line repetition and grasps the opportunities provided by the most famous (least neglected) verses. The work begins with an abrupt plunge ‘in media res' and, as if further to emphasise the message, ends abruptly, without grace line or flourish, on the words 'O make haste'.
Verses have been popular with composers. Apart from Bantock's three-hour setting there are the song-cycle by Liza Lehmann, Arthur Foote's Character Pieces after Omar Khayyám, Robert Blum's Symphony No. 1 Omar Khayyám for orchestra and baritone, Lex van Delden's Omar Khayyám cantata, works by Charles Cadman, Henry Houseley, and in the 1970s, Alan Hovhaness's Rubaiyat for narrator, accordion and orchestra. There are also smaller-scale contributions from Hindemith and Penderecki.
Into the Heart of Light (Canto V - 2012) is the latest installment in the composer's series of works for string orchestra. The first of the Cantos dates from the 1960s. This glowingly confident example of lofty melodic writing for massed strings reaches across to the angelic ecstasy of the Seventh Symphony.
Balada (2014) sets texts by Lorca. It's a substantial piece for tenor, mixed choir and orchestra. On this occasion Mika Pohjonen is the soloist. The work was premiered in Madrid in May 2015. Its burning fervour injects a flaming drama which is put across with muscular commitment by both choir and orchestra. The music moves in approximately the same universe as the more demonstrative moments in John Tavener's big choral-orchestral works as well as recalling Szymanowski's Third Symphony Song of the Night and Barber's Prayers of Kierkegaard. As usual my intention here is to give some flavour of what you will hear, not to imply any lack of originality.
The Four Songs from the opera Rasputin are arrangements by the composer for mixed choir and orchestra. No doubt we will hear the whole opera before too long; the sooner the better. It's certainly a fruitful subject and story. The massed choral effect is redolent from time to time of Sibelius's Kullervo. The orchestral tissue gleams, shines and glitters around the plangent and awed singing. There's a touch of Mussorgsky's voice of the people here.
The notes by Kimmo Korhonen and a typically fine recording, lacking nothing in impact and subtlety, serve to complement some glorious music-making. This will make converts and have them exploring Ondine's already bejewelled Rautavaara pages.
– MusicWeb International (Rob Barnett)
Kastalsky: Requiem for Fallen Brothers / Slatkin, Orchestra of St. Luke's
A 2020 GRAMMY nominee for Best Choral Performance!
Alexander Kastalsky was a student of Tchaikovsky and a mentor to Rachmaninov, becoming director of the Moscow Synodal School until the Bolshevik regime banned all sacred music, including the extraordinary Requiem for Fallen Brothers which consequently lay forgotten for over a century. The Requiem is a rich and varied mosaic that honors those who perished in the First World War, poignantly combining Orthodox and Gregorian chant with hymns from the allied nations, even including Rock of Ages. This unprecedented and peerless monument to those who made the ultimate sacrifice was acclaimed on its 1917 premiere as a ‘uniquely Russian requiem that… gave musical voice to the tears of many nations.’ This is a world premiere recording.
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REVIEW:
One of Russia’s foremost composers of Orthodox church music, Alexander Kastalsky (1856-1926) is remembered for assisting Rachmaninov with his All-Night Vigil. During World War I, Kastalsky composed his Requiem for Fallen Brothers in honour of Russia and her allies: using a full orchestra, and mingling texts and melodies from the Orthodox, Anglican and Catholic Churches, Kastalsky also included textless tributes to the Indian and Japanese forces. Most of the music is clearly steeped in the Orthodox tradition, infused with memories of Mozart’s Requiem, but includes disquieting elements such as the Musorgsky-like funeral bell chord which makes ominous reappearances, like the bell in Britten’s War Requiem. After its 1917 premiere, Kastalsky added a further three movements including one honouring Russia’s new ally, America. The October Revolution precluded their performance, and the work was not heard again until 1977 when Yevgeny Svetlanov conducted the earlier 1917 version, its liturgical texts inevitably replaced with Soviet-style sentiments: this was recorded, but is currently only available as part of an expensive 11-disc Melodiya set.
Leonard Slatkin and his first-rate team of musicians now present the first complete recording. The ‘new’ post-1917 movements include a ‘Beati mortui’ sparkling with sleigh bells and piano figuration; a sombre bass solo ‘Kakaya sladost’, which for a moment enters a hellish region with shadowed smears and slitherings from the orchestra; and the American hymn ‘Rock of Ages’ bizarrely yet touchingly combined with Chopin’s Funeral March. Slatkin, who admits a deep belief in this work, draws a touching performance.
- Daniel Jaffé, Choral & Song
REVIEW:
Alexander Dmitrievich Kastalsky was born in Moscow on 16 November 1856 and died there on 17 December 1926. A student of Taneyev and Tchaikovsky at the Moscow Conservatory, his works stood to one side from the secular musical world. Rachmaninov saw Kastalsky as his teacher and was influenced by the older man whose presence can be sensed in the Vespers and in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom—also recorded by Charles Bruffy and his Kansas choir. Kastalsky became a leading light in a nineteenth century renaissance of the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church. With Smolensky and Grechaninov, Kastalsky was part of fresh passion for Russian devotional music. Tragically for Kastalsky, this was to collide with the Bolshevik ban on sacred music. The extraordinary imaginative strengths of the choral-orchestral Requiem for Fallen Brothers were disregarded. Even so it is reported that the Kastalsky Requiem travelled far and wide. It was, for example, performed in Birmingham by that city’s Festival Choir on 22 November 1917 conducted by Henry Wood, a fervent Russophile.
The towering Requiem lay in oblivion for more than a century despite its fresh and tragic inspiration: it recalled those who perished in the First World War. The score is affluent in ideas, both vocal and orchestral. Across seventeen segments (here separately accessible) the work accommodates a range of well-recognised spiritual references. Without falling into the trap of a variegated collage it finds a place for Orthodox and Gregorian chant and mixes in material from the allied nations. In tr. 14 Kastalsky weaves Chopin’s ‘funeral march’ and the hymn ‘Rock of Ages’ with the same mastery we find in Bridge’s Sir Roger de Coverley and Holst’s Fantasia on The Dargason. The more one experiences this major work, whether through this fine recording under Leonard Slatkin or in the hands of Evgeny Svetlanov, the more one places it alongside other known Great War humanist monuments like Delius’s Requiem and John Foulds’ World Requiem. To this group, can be added John Ireland’s These Things Shall Be and perhaps also a work quite unknown, Julius Harrison’s Great War tribute Requiem of Archangels. Kastalsky’s commitment towards church music spread to a work kindred to the Requiem but this time for unaccompanied choir. It was a short version; only 40 minutes as against the 64 minutes of the present Requiem. This a cappella work came under the title Memory Eternal to the Fallen Heroes.
The Requiem strides forward with slight pauses between sections. In terms of sweep and incident it coheres well. Proceedings begin with seraphic choir and tolling bells, all suggestive of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. The Kyrie (2) continues the seraphic treatment but is underpinned with tenderly stabbing strings. The whole rises to a searching intensity that recalls Rachmaninov’s The Bells. As this section closes Kastalsky refers obliquely back to the clangour of the first movement. The dark griping of the brass in the Rex tremendae (4) paves the way for a soprano solo in Ingemisco (4) and for Beethovenian protest and struggle in the Confutatis. Here Kastalsky deploys words from Pushkin’s poem John of Damascus; a text that also drew Taneyev. The Lacrymosa (6) has the two soloists’ voices mingling amid a choral haze. Mixed in we hear tendrils of the Dies Irae. In Domine Jesu (7) the scent of incense is strong against the treble of silvery bells. Beati mortui makes use of the sound of sleigh bells and, not for the first time, fleetingly suggests The Bells—the latter a work dating from four years before Kastalsky started work on the Requiem. The Hostias (9) blends the harp with the rich tone of the choir in a heaven-invoking carol. In the first of two Interludia (10), Japanese music is limned in to represent participation of the Japanese army in the conflict. Trumpet fanfares impel and crown the grand statement that is the Sanctus (11). The coaxing and soothing ways of the Agnus Dei (12) usher in What Sweetness in This World (13) with its commanding piano part and bass-baritone darkness. Its fruity solo trumpet makes you think of Holst’s Dirge for Two Veterans. The Dies Irae returns in mists for the Kyrie eleison (15)—an exercise in slow-stepping serenity. There’s unhurried atmospheric ululation in the second Interludium: Hymn to Indra, calling to mind, if only in choice of subject, Holst’s Sanskrit works. The Requiem ends with the bells: part hugely imposing and celebratory and part seeming to reach out towards apotheosis from the bleak fog of chaos. The superb echoing resonance of the church acoustic is very present as the finale rings out.
This fully-fleshed out Requiem has a tremendously dignified tread, noble grief and imperious ways. Naxos have done well by Kastalsky. This treatment extends to a twenty-page booklet with all the sung text. The layout has the Italian, Latin, Greek and Russian words with English translation in parallel throughout.
– MusicWeb International (Rob Barnett)
Our Favorite Things / Tony Bennett, Charlotte Church, Plácido Domingo, Vanessa Williams
1. Christmas Song, The - (with Tony Bennett)
2. O Holy Night - (with Charlotte Church/Plácido Domingo)
3. Do You Hear What I Hear - (with Vanessa Williams)
4. Jesus De Nazareth - (with Plácido Domingo)
5. Winter Wonderland - (with Tony Bennett/Vanessa Williams)
6. Silent Night - (with Charlotte Church)
7. My Favorite Things - (with Vanessa Williams/Tony Bennett/Plácido Domingo)
8. White Christmas - (with Tony Bennett/Vanessa Williams)
9. Hacia Belen Va Un Burro - (with Plácido Domingo)
10. Through The Eyes Of A Child - (with Vanessa Williams)
11. First Noel, The - (with Tony Bennett/Plácido Domingo)
12. Somewhere In My Memory - (with Gumpoldskirchner Spatzen Chorus)
13. I Saw Three Ships - (with Plácido Domingo/Vanessa Williams)
14. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - (with Tony Bennett)
15. Hijo De Dios - (with Plácido Domingo)
16. I'll Be Home For Christmas - (with Tony Bennett/Plácido Domingo)
17. Joy To The World - (with Plácido Domingo/Vanessa Williams)
18. Angels We Have Heard On High - (with Tony Bennett/Vanessa Williams/Plácido Domingo)
19. Silent Night
20. One More Year - (with Plácido Domingo/Vanessa Williams)
Musicians include: Tony Bennett, Charlotte Church, Placido Domingo, Vanessa Williams (vocals); Steven Mecurio (conductor); Ralph Sharon Quartet; Gumpoldskirchner Spatzen Children's Choir; Vienna Symphony.
Recorded live at the Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria in December 2000.
This stellar line-up, recorded live in Vienna, performs a program of quintessential Christmas songs in a rich variety of styles, from the light pop of "My Favorite Things" to traditional Spanish tunes such as "Hacia Belen Va Un Burro" and English equivalents like "Angels We Have Heard on High." Tony Bennett kicks the whole thing off with a typically warm rendition of "The Christmas Song." He's followed by a pretty straight reading of "O Holy Night" by the Welsh teen classical prodigy Charlotte Church and the inimitable Placido Domingo, and Vannessa Williams' gospel-tinged version of "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
It's an evening of familiar favorites, impeccably performed, with the added bonus of the Gumpoldskirchner Spatzen Children's Choir providing an appropriately child's-eye view of the holiday. OUR FAVORITE THINGS is a worthy addition to the bulging repertoire of Christmas collections, in a gimmick-free traditional setting.
LIVE AT THE DETROIT JAZZ FESTIVAL
In Concert
Sondrebo: Cantica Sacra
V10: INTEGRALE ROMANE
Original Tuxedo Junction / Erskine Hawkins And His Orchestra
1. Tuxedo Junction
2. After Hours
3. Tippin' In
4. Rockin' Rollers' Jubilee
5. Weary Blues - (bonus track)
6. Easy Rider
7. Swing Out
8. Big Wig in the Wigwam - (bonus track)
9. Swingin' on Lenox Avenue - (bonus track)
10. Gin Mill Special
11. Cherry
12. Dolomite
13. Song of the Wanderer - (bonus track)
14. Junction Blues
15. Sweet Georgia Brown
16. Five O'Clock Whistle - (bonus track)
17. Soft Winds
18. Nona
19. Blackout
20. Don't Cry Baby
21. Bear Mash Blues
Personnel: Erskine Hawkins (trumpet), Ida James (vocals), Jimmy Mitchelle (alto saxophone, vocals), William Johnson, Bobby Smith (alto saxophones), Julian Dash, Paul Bascomb, Aaron Maxwell (tenor saxophones), Heywood Henry (baritone saxophone, clarinet), Sam Lowe, Wilbur Bascomb, Marcellus Green, James Harris, Charles Jones, Willie Moore, Robert Johnson (trumpets), Edward Sims, Robert Range, Richard Harris, Norman Greene, David James, Donald Cole (trombones), Avery Parrish, Ace Harris (pianos), William McLemore, Leroy Kirkland (guitars), Leemie Stanfield (bass), James Morrison, Edward McConney, Kelly Martin (drums).
Recorded in New York between 1938 and 1942, and Chicago on January 10, 1945. Includes liner notes by Stanley Dance.
Booklet includes a discography and detailed personnel listings.
Personnel: Erskine Hawkins (trumpet).
Recording information: 09/12/1938-01/10/1945.
This is an excellent one-CD sampler of the music of Erskine Hawkins' Orchestra. Although serious collectors will want to get the comprehensive Classics releases, this is a perfect place for more general listeners to begin. Hawkins' three biggest hits ("Tuxedo Junction," "After Hours," and "Tippin' In") lead off the set which otherwise has highlights from 1938-42. With the exception of 1945's "Tippin' In" (which features some memorable lead alto by Bobby Smith), all of Hawkins' key soloists are here, including the leader and Dud Bascomb on trumpets, either Paul Bascomb or Julian Dash on tenor, baritonist Haywood Henry, and pianist Avery Parrish (who made "After Hours" famous). Timeless swing. ~ Scott Yanow
The Most Happy Fella: 1992 Broadway Cast
Music and lyrics written by Frank Loesser.
Principal cast includes: Spiro Malas (Tony); Sophie Hayden (Rosabella); Claudia Catania (Marie); Buddy Crutchfield (Ciccio); Tad Ingram (Postman); Liz Larsen (Cleo); Mark Lotito (Pasquale); Bill Nabel (Giuseppe); Charles Pistone (Joe); Scott Waara (Herman).
Recorded at BMG Studio A, New York, New York on March 23, 1992.
Tracklist:
1. Prelude 1:13
2. Ooh, My Feet 2:15
3. I Know How It Is 4:33
4. Somebody, Somewhere 2:12
5. The Most Happy Fella 3:52
6. Standing on the Corner 2:40
7. A Long Time Ago 1:56
8. Joey, Joey, Joey 3:38
9. Rosabella 2:38
10. Abbondanza 1:39
11. Sposalizio 2:41
12. Benvenuta 3:04
13. Aren't You Glad 2:46
14. Don't Cry 3:25
15. Fresno Beauties 3:13
16. Love and Kindness 2:10
17. Happy to Make Your Acquaintance 3:56
18. Big 'D' 5:01
19. How Beautiful the Days 3:09
20. Warm All Over 2:15
21. I Like Everybody 1:46
22. My Heart Is So Full of You 3:11
23. Mama, Mama 2:49
24. Song of a Summer Night 2:54
25. Please Let Me Tell You 1:27
26. I Made a Fist 1:05
27. Finale 2:15
IN THESE TIMES
Mozart Legendary Interpretations - Robert Casadesus
Though the very brisk finale of No. 21 in C is performed with tremendous bravura and sparkle, Casadesus's style is seldom self-consciously extrovert; he lets Mozart speak for himself. The playing in the slow movements is exquisite; colours are delicately shaded, dynamics subtly handled. The same comment applies to the secondary material of first movements, where Szell's authority is also telling. Concerto No. 22 in E fiat is marvellously played and my own favourite, No. 23 in A, captures that special blend of brilliance and underlying nostalgia that is the hallmark of this work. The Corona/ion (No. 26 in D) and the last concerto (No. 27 in B flat) both bring really memorable performances, in fact among the finest in the catalogue. Altogether this set is an essential purchase for any Mozartian who has not already invested in the separate issues.
-- Gramophone [9/1991]
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The ravishing slow movement of K 467 has never sounded more magical than here...this is exquisite Mozart playing, beautifully paced and articulated.
-- Penguin Guide [2003/2004]
Dreamer - Original Soundtrack
1. Dreamer, film score: Theme from Dreamer
2. Dreamer, film score: The Stand Off - 1st Ride
3. Dreamer, film score: First Race
4. Dreamer, film score: Ben Asks Pop For Help
5. Dreamer, film score: Soñador in Harness
6. Dreamer, film score: Popsicles
7. Dreamer, film score: Manny's Story
8. Dreamer, film score: Testing Soñador's Leg
9. Dreamer, film score: 2nd Ride - Thunderpants
10. Dreamer, film score: Runaway Horse
11. Dreamer, film score: Exercising Soñador
12. Dreamer, film score: The Noble King
13. Dreamer, film score: New Owner Montage
14. Dreamer, film score: Training Montage
15. Dreamer, film score: Smart and Beautiful
16. Dreamer, film score: Soñador Chosen
17. Dreamer, film score: Cale Won't Sell Soñador
18. Dreamer, film score: Leaving Sadir's
19. Dreamer, film score: She's Ready to Run
20. Dreamer, film score: She Wants to Race
21. Dreamer, film score: Last Race
22. Dreamer, film score: End Credit Medley
23. Dreamer, song (for the film Dreamer) - (Film Mix)
24. Dreamer, film score: Main Title (Film Version)
25. Dreamer, song (for the film Dreamer)
Composer: John Debney.
Personnel: John Debney (acoustic guitar); Weldon Dean Parks (guitar); George Doering (acoustic guitar, dulcimer); Dean Parks (acoustic guitar, mandola); Gayle Levant (harp); Eun Mee Ahn, Assa Drori, Al Hershberger, Ron Folsom, Irina Voloshina, Anatoly Rosinsky, Katia Popov, Tamara L. Hatwan, Robin Olson, Mark Sazer, Ana Landauer, Barbara Porter, Ken Yerke, Phillip Levy, Rene Mandel, Sungil Lee, Eric J. Hosler, Jay Rosen, Kevin Connolly, Lisa Sutton, Mark Robertson , Sid Page, Joshua Bell, Jacqueline Brand, Roberto Cani, Bruce Dukov, Julie Gigante, Peter Kent, Natalie Leggett, Sara Parkins, Roger Wilkie, Armen Garabedian, Darius Campo, Michael Markman, Liane Mautner, Dimitrie Leivici, Berj Garabedian, Endre Granat, Haim Shtrum (violin); Shawn Mann, Andrew Picken, Karie Prescott, Steven Gordon, Carrie Holzman-Little, Rick Gerding, Michael Nowak, Brian Dembow, Keith Greene, Jennie Hansen, Roland Kato, Janet Lakatos, Simon Oswell, Dave Walther, Piotr Jandula, Victoria Miskolszy, Darrin McCann, Denyse Buffum, Andrew Duckles, Shanti Randall (viola); Christina Soule, Trevor Handy, Timothy Landauer, George Kim Scholes, Dennis Karmazyn, Antony Cooke , Larry Corbett, Stephen Erdody, Armen Ksadjikian, Dane Little, David Low , Andrew Shulman, David Speltz, Sebastian Toettcher, Cecilia Tsan, Todd Hemmenway (cello); Steve Kujala, Geri Rotella, David Shostac (flute); Steve L. Roberts, Gary Bovyer (clarinet); Chris Bleth, Phil Ayling (oboe); Michael O'Donovan (bassoon); Jon Lewis , Warren Luening, Malcolm McNab (trumpet); Alvin Veeh, Alan Kaplan, Stephen Holtman (trombone); Jim Self (tuba); John A. Reynolds, David Duke, Phil Yao, Steve Becknell, Rick Todd, Brian O'Connor (horns); Richard Ruttenberg, Michael Lang , Mike Lang (piano); Alan Estes, Terrence Schonig, Tom Raney, Peter Limonick, Donald Williams (percussion).
Recording information: Todd AO Scoring Stage, Culver City, CA.
Composer John Debney (Sin City, Passion of the Christ) may seem an odd choice to score a film about a horse trainer, his precocious daughter, and their quest for the Breeder's Cup, but he rises to the occasion with a rousing piece of recycled Americana that's sure to bring a lump in the throat to even the grumpiest moviegoer. Like Mark Isham's similarly predictable score for the 2004 hockey drama Miracle, Debney represents the best of the genre, utilizing a not-so-subtle blend of soft pianos, warm strings (courtesy of Indiana-born violin wunderkind Joshua Bell), and patriotic brass motifs to paint a rural backdrop reminiscent of both Aaron Copeland's "Appalachian Spring" and The Natural-era Randy Newman. ~ James Christopher Monger
COME RAIN OR COME SHINE
PITTSBURGH
Shorty Rogers - Short Stops
1. Powder Puff
2. Pesky Serpent, The
3. Bunny
4. Pirouette
5. Morpo
6. Diablo's Dance
7. Mambo del Crow
8. Indian Club
9. Coop de Graas
10. Infinity Promenade
11. Short Stop
12. Boar-Jibu
13. Contours
14. Tale of an African Lobster
15. Chiquito Loco
16. Sweetheart of Sigmund Freud
17. Blues for Brando
18. Chino
19. Wild One, The (Hot Blood)
20. Windswept
Personnel: Shorty Rogers (trumpet); Art Pepper (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Bud Shank (alto saxophone, baritone saxophone); Herb Geller (alto saxophone); Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Cooper (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Bill Holman, Bill Perkins (tenor saxophone); Conrad Gozzo, John Howell , Maynard Ferguson, Pete Candoli, Ray Linn (trumpet); John Graas (French horn); Milt Bernhart, Harry Betts, John Haliburton, Jimmy Knepper, Bob Enevoldsen (trombone); Gene Englund (tuba); Hampton Hawes, Marty Paich, Russ Freeman (piano); Shelly Manne (drums).
Liner Note Author: Todd Selbert.
Recording information: RCA Studios, Hollywood, CA (01/12/1953-??/??/1954).
This double LP offers listeners a strong introduction to the trumpet playing and arrangements of Shorty Rogers, but unfortunately it has gone out of print and was the first and last in its series. The 32 selections feature six different groups headed by Rogers during 1953-1954, ranging from an octet to a big band; all of the bands feature sidemen who essentially formed a who's who of West Coast jazz. Among the other soloists are altoist Art Pepper; tenors Bill Holman, Bill Perkins, Zoot Sims, Bob Cooper, and Jimmy Giuffre; trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison; pianist Hampton Hawes; and altoists Herb Geller and Bud Shank. The majority of the selections are Rogers originals; there is music from the Marlon Brando film The Wild One and a Count Basie tribute set. Swinging and surprisingly fiery "cool jazz" that deserves to be reissued on CD in full. ~ Scott Yanow
Shostakovich & Pupils, Vol. 1 / Damiano
The first volume in an adventurous new series juxtaposing the piano music of Shostakovich with his most talented pupils. All three of the younger composers here demonstrate the individuality of their own voice.
Least known of them now is German Galynin (1922-1966). In 1951, the year in which he paradoxically obtained the Stalin Prize for his Epic Poem on Russian Themes, Galynin began suffering from schizophrenia that he was admitted to an asylum, and continued to received psychiatric care for the rest of his short life. He wrote this five-movement Suite in 1945, while still a student at the Conservatoire, and it alternates somewhat prophetically between moods of mania and melancholy.
Shostakovich himself cited Alemdar Karamanov (1934-2007) as one of the most original composers of his time. Ukrainian born but of Turkish parentage, he studied in Moscow before returning to Crimea, converting to Christianity and thus consigning himself to obscurity at the time, and his later music shares an experimental, visionary quality with contemporary pioneers such as Schnittke, Denisov, and Gubaidulina. The Variations for piano (1962) belong to the last phase of his Moscow period.
The career of Boris Tchaikovsky (1925-1996) proceeded along smoother lines. The single-movement Sonatina from 1946 is again a student work, albeit a highly talented and disciplined one, with the kind of thorough-going understanding of Classical form which Shostakovich evidently instilled in and expected from his students.
Fernanda Damiano juxtaposes these pianistic rarities with several pieces which demonstrate the breadth of style and confidence of artistic personality that made Shostakovich stand out from his contemporaries. Alongside the fleet-fingered brilliance of the Three Fantastic Dances and the Polka from his ballet The Golden Age, she plays a trio of Preludes and Fugues (Nos. 1, 7 & 24) from the collection he wrote for Tatiana Nikolaeva, another pupil, in 1950-51.
