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Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 - Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 / Blomstedt, Argerich, Lucerne Festival Orchestra [DVD]

Accentus Music

DVD

$31.99 ~~$41.99~~ Save 25% Nov 19, 2021

In August 2020, Herbert Blomstedt made his debut with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. You could hardly tell that the maestro had celebrated his 93rd birthday only a month prior for he continuously exudes vitality, awareness, and curiosity. “I’m in love with music,” says Blomstedt, who views his profession as a kind of joie de vivre. Together with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Martha Argerich he revealed just what this joy sounds like with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 – the work that marked Argerich’s stage debut in 1949 - and Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3, the famous Eroica. Recorded live at the Concert Hall of KKL Luzern, August 2020.

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Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 - Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 / Blomstedt, Argerich, Lucerne Festival Orchestra [DVD]
Accentus Music Nov 2021
DVD
~~$41.99~~ $31.99

Czernowin, Neuwirth et al: Fenster (Window) - New Piano Music / Aghayeva-Edler

Genuin

$20.99 Sep 02, 2022

In the middle of the 2020 lockdown, Fidan Aghayeva-Edler, an internationally active and recognized artist in the contemporary music scene, recorded the album Fenster (Windows). In this GENUIN production, she has exclusively compiled world premiere recordings by some of the world's leading female composers. There are works by Olga Neuwirth, Isabel Mundry, Olga Rayeva, Helen Grime, Chaya Czernowin and Margarete Huber, as well as the titular Fenster by Jeanne Artemis. An insight into seven different tonal worlds, which the inspiring pianist explores with her vast knowledge of contemporary playing practices and enormous sensitivity.

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Czernowin, Neuwirth et al: Fenster (Window) - New Piano Music / Aghayeva-Edler
Genuin Sep 2022
CD
$20.99

GARNER, Erroll: Yesterdays (1944-1949)
Naxos Mar 2002
CD
$19.99

American Classics - Copland: The Tender Land Suite, Piano Concerto, Etc / Pasternack, Hanson

Naxos

$19.99 May 27, 2008

This is another collection of American classics that deserves the highest praise. With exemplary playing, singing and an acoustic to match this is plainly indispensable.

Thankfully this isn’t the umpteenth recording of Appalachian Spring but a collection of lesser-known Copland. As always this music is quintessentially American, the suite from his opera The Tender Land, the bluesy piano concerto and the Old American Songs, the latter in choral arrangements. Appropriately enough the orchestra is the Illinois-based Elgin Symphony, which has embarked on an ambitious project called In Search of Our American Voice. Helping them in this endeavour are the St. Charles Singers, a multi-talented chamber choir founded in 1984.

Speaking of voices, Copland has a unique, instantly recognisable ‘voice’ of his own and that is clear from the first bars of The Tender Land suite. In his illuminating liner-notes Joseph Horowitz reminds us that although this has a Depression-era rural setting one could argue that, in part at least, it’s also Copland’s response to the McCarthyist witch hunt of the 1950s.

Interestingly the suite, arranged after the opera’s premiere in 1954, starts with the introduction to Act 3 and the love duet between the farm girl Laurie Moss and her drifter beau, Martin. The second movement is based on the party in Act II and the final movement comes from the quintet,’ ‘The Promise of Living’, at the end of Act I.

Whatever Copland’s intentions the music is not far removed from the Pennsylvanian hills of Appalachia, with its open, unpretentious scoring. The usual epithets ‘folksy’ and ‘homespun’ apply but there is also a degree of disquiet reflected in the brass at the start of this movement. The ensuing harp melodies are most affecting in their simplicity and directness, Robert Hanson securing warm, idiomatic playing from his orchestra.

The recording is clear and detailed, notably in the vigorous party music, and there’s no sign of strain or grain in the climaxes. Indeed, it’s an almost perfect acoustic for such a lucid score, the surging music of the last movement lovingly shaped and projected. This is vintage Copland and hearing this music may spur you to try the opera itself.

Horowitz makes the point that Copland’s piano concerto was somewhat eclipsed by Gershwin’s much better known effort, written the year before. It doesn’t have the latter’s Broadway-inspired razzamatazz but what it does have is a more sophisticated, cosmopolitan feel to it. The insouciant, bluesy first movement – introduced with the usual fanfare – has the pianist doodling quietly at the keyboard. Benjamin Pasternack captures the languor of this movement very well indeed, the piano ideally placed and faithfully recorded. Copland’s detailed scoring is wonderfully realised too, the more expansive moments thrillingly intense but never overheated.

The doodler is back in the second movement, his random notes followed by raucous music that has a real swing to it. The drums and percussion are certainly reminiscent of Gershwin but there is a fresh, individual quality to this concerto. Pasternack is suitably foot-stompin’ in those repeated jazzy phrases and the Elgin players give him wonderful support throughout. But it’s the final minute or so that’s the real tour de force, with the splendid percussion chasing the pianist all the way to the finish line.

This is exhilarating stuff and quite possibly the most enjoyable item on the disc – go on, give it another whirl – so the choral arrangements of the Old American Songs needs to be pretty special to top that. Most listeners probably know these pieces in their original scoring for voice and piano; if that’s the version you want do try Willard White on Chandos CHAN 8960.

Alas, first impressions of the choral arrangements aren’t very encouraging, baritone Nathaniel Stampley’s rather wide vibrato spoiling ‘The Boatmen’s Dance’. The St. Charles singers are another matter entirely; they are clear and nimble and, to be fair, Stampley does improve in ‘The Dodger’. Those who have heard Willard White in this repertoire will know just how much character and personality he brings to bear in these songs. Well worth seeking out.

The Elgin Symphony is never less than excellent and the chorus sing eloquently in the ballad ‘Long Time Ago’. Diction could be clearer but with such heartfelt singing it seems churlish to complain. And then there’s ‘Simple Gifts’, the Shaker hymn we know from Appalachian Spring, essayed here with a wonderful sense of innocence and optimism. They even manage the farmyard onomatopoeia of ’I Bought Me a Cat’ which, if you don’t mind this kind of silliness, will probably put a smile on your face.

Really it’s the chorus that makes these arrangements stand out; their bright, focused sound is invariably pleasing, even if the music doesn’t always sound like Copland. They are also suitably impassioned – febrile, even – in the Revivalist hymn ‘Zion’s Walls’. Then Stampley and tenor Jeffrey Hunt join them for a spirited rendition of ’The Golden Willow Tree’. Both soloists acquit themselves well here and for once the quirky orchestration actually sounds like authentic Copland.

Of the two remaining songs the hymn tune ‘At The River’ could have been penned by Charles Ives, such is its mix of devotional text and strange harmonies. Hanson and his band bring this music to a stirring close before launching into the utterly delightful ‘Ching-a-ring Chaw’. If you haven’t smiled so far then this will surely do the trick, the singing and playing pin-sharp and full of fun. An upbeat finale to an enchanting disc.

Minor caveats about the baritone aside this is another collection of American classics that deserves the highest praise. With exemplary playing, singing and an acoustic to match this is plainly indispensable. And the song texts are included as well, which is a welcome bonus. Buy it and enjoy.

-- Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International

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American Classics - Copland: The Tender Land Suite, Piano Concerto, Etc / Pasternack, Hanson
Naxos May 2008
CD
$19.99

Claudio Abbado - Lucerne Festival Orchestra

Accentus Music

Blu-Ray

$53.99 Mar 31, 2015

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

All are equal before the work, before the mysteries of a score; this was Claudio Abbado’s heart-felt conviction. For him, the willingness to be open to one another and to the independent life of musical processes was the only prerequisite for making music. In the live performances documented here for the first time on DVD/Blu-ray, Abbado could be sure of the devotion of these world-class artists: the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, the sopranos Christine Schäfer and Juliane Banse, as well as the actor Bruno Ganz. They shared his credo of “listening togetherness” (Die ZEIT) that made possible those precious moments of musical truth toward which this great conductor strove throughout his life.

CLAUDIO ABBADO CONDUCTS MOZART AND BEETHOVEN
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Misera, dove son!, K. 369
Ah, lo previdi, K. 272
Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio, K. 418
Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K. 385, “Haffner”

Ludwig van Beethoven: Egmont, Op. 84

Christine Schäfer, soprano
Juliane Banse, soprano
Bruno Ganz, narrator

Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Claudio Abbado, conductor

Recorded live at the Concert Hall of KKL Luzern, 19–20 August 2011 (Mozart) and 8–10 August 2012 (Beethoven)

Picture format: 1080i Full-HD
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Italian, German, English, Japanese, Korean
Running time: 89 mins
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 25)

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Claudio Abbado - Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Accentus Music Mar 2015
Blu-Ray
$53.99

MOVIE MAGIC: EPICS & WESTERNS
ALTO Oct 2012
CD
$11.01

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 - Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 / Blomstedt, Argerich, Lucerne Festival Orchestra [Blu-ray]

Accentus Music

Blu-Ray

$40.99 ~~$53.99~~ Save 25% Nov 19, 2021

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Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 - Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 / Blomstedt, Argerich, Lucerne Festival Orchestra [Blu-ray]
Accentus Music Nov 2021
Blu-Ray
~~$53.99~~ $40.99

Gershwin & Kern (Octave Remastered Series)

MACK AVENUE RECORDS

$12.49 Jun 12, 2020

Digitally remastered and expanded edition. In his original 1976 liner notes, concert impresario George Wein concluded fittingly, "To put it simply, Erroll Garner is a great musical genius." On this final album released during Garner's life, he shows yet again his complete mastery of his instrument and his unmatched ability to interpret songs and make them his own. This newly restored album includes a previously unreleased Garner original, worthy of the two composers to which this album is dedicated. - The Octave Remastered Series is a historic year-long, 12-album project featuring newly restored and expanded editions of classic Erroll Garner releases from the 1960s and 1970s. Each album contains a newly discovered, unreleased bonus track. The newly minted bonus tracks in the series are all Garner originals, eight of the 12 being previously unreleased compositions. Utilizing the Plangent Process playback system for analog tape, these new transfers were remastered and, when needed, remixed by the Grammy winning Garner team.

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Gershwin & Kern (Octave Remastered Series)
MACK AVENUE RECORDS Jun 2020
CD
$12.49

TAVERNER, J.: Missa Mater Christi (Boughton)
Nimbus Oct 1996
CD
$20.99

Midwestern Heart
Flying Fish Records Jan 1981
CD
$15.99

Warner: Easter in Ireland / Newman Vocare Ensemble

GIA

$18.99 Apr 02, 2021

GIA Publications, Inc. is pleased to offer Easter in Ireland, our first recording by Steve Warner and The Newman Vocare Ensemble, music ministers at the Notre Dame-Newman Centre for Faith and Reason in Dublin, Ireland. This album offers a taste of the rich fabric of sounds found in Ireland. It is a merging of traditions: four-part choral singing; Uilleann pipes, low whistle, harp and harmonium; strings, organ and guitar. All of the selections are directed toward the joy of Easter. The available octavos and downloads include choral anthems, hymns, refrain songs, psalmody and liturgical items for use in any parish. This recording also honors one of the newest and most celebrated saints, St. John Henry Cardinal Newman, who commissioned the building of University Church, home to the Newman Vocare Ensemble and site of this recording.

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Warner: Easter in Ireland / Newman Vocare Ensemble
GIA Apr 2021
CD
$18.99

Roma Eterna - A Journey Back in Time

Arcana

$20.99 May 23, 2025

The aim of this musical tour - an expedition that travels backwards, from today to the Renaissance - is to reconstruct the overarching strands that comprise and unite five centuries of music of a "Roman school" famed for it's contrapuntal rigour, melodic flair and popular roots. The label "romano", which many a musician of bygone eras proudly displayed after their name, is a sure sign of belonging to a school, to a special style. The backdrop for this excursion back in time is Rome, which in this same Jubilee Year of 2025 is the destination for millions of pilgrims on the march from every part of the world, each with their own history and culture. And the various stops on the journey present the music of the eternal city, a music that - no matter whether sacred or secular or whatever the type of work - is as capable today as then of moving, delighting and nourishing the soul of any human being. After exploring the personality of Giovanni Zamboni (L'ultimo romano, 2016) and the refinements of the French repertoire (Meditation, 2022), in this, his third solo album for Arcana, Simone Vallerotonda engages with contemporary and ancient music, broadening the horizons of the lute with a confidence and sense of novelty that fascinate and surprise

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Roma Eterna - A Journey Back in Time
Arcana May 2025
CD
$20.99

ETERNAL JOURNEY

MACK AVENUE RECORDS

$18.99 May 18, 2004

Trumpeter Sean Jones has won numerous awards including the Downbeat 2000 Jazz on Campus Award and Downbeat Noteable Performance Award 2001. Performing with Mulgrew Miller, Ralph Peterson, and Charles Fambrough on his debut "Eternal Journey", Jones embarks on a musical voyage demonstrating his virtuosity, robust tone, and soulful delivery on his debut, a collection of original works and standards. While paying his respects to the storied tradition of jazz, with influences including Clifford Brown, Willie Shaw, and Freddie Hubbard, he has performed with the Gerald Wilson Orchestra, Illinois Jacquet Big Band, the Louis Armstrong Legacy Band, Harry Connick Jr., Joe Lovano, Tom Harrell, Jon Faddis, and Frank Foster.

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ETERNAL JOURNEY
MACK AVENUE RECORDS May 2004
CD
$18.99

Burchard: The Silver Swan / Cummins, Northwestern Chamber Choir

Centaur Records

$17.99 May 12, 2023

American composer Richard Burchard (b. 1960) has established himself as an internationally renowned composer with his innovative and unique choral compositions. His compositions merge the styles of Renaissance polyphony with modern dissonance and mixed meter. Burchard draws text sources such as the texts and rites of the Roman Catholic Church, and poets such as Rainer Maria Rilke.

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Burchard: The Silver Swan / Cummins, Northwestern Chamber Choir
Centaur Records May 2023
CD
$17.99

Sisters of Jazz: The Hidden Ladies of Jazz

Storyville Records

$17.99 Oct 13, 2023

The Sisters of Jazz release their self-titled debut album on legendary Storyville Records on September 15, 2023. Sisters of Jazz is a dynamic all-female ensemble consisting of bandleader and renowned vocalist Anna Pauline, Danish Music Award-nominee saxophonist Pernille Bévort, accomplished trombonist Lis Wessberg, virtuosic pianist Catrine Ullerup Frølund, versatile bassist Ida Hvid and Ben Webster Prize winner, drummer Benita Haastrup.

The project began in 2014, when jazz singer, composer and lyricist Anna Pauline, as a bandleader, was commissioned to put together a band consisting solely of female musicians for a concert during International Women’s Day. The concert, which was a great success, led to the formation of the current Sisters of Jazz. This debut album consists of 13 tracks, one of them sung in Danish and another in Swedish. On this recording, they embark on a musical journey that celebrates and pays tribute to the contributions of oft-forgotten female jazz composers and musicians like Nancy Hamilton, Ann Ronell, Marian McPartland and Mary Lou Williams – just to name a few!

Many of these female musicians are incredibly important stylists in jazz, who in turn paved the way for others and have been mentors to several of the jazz icons considered role models of jazz, :Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Coltrane and many others. Sisters of Jazz brings together six remarkable women, who share an unwavering passion for jazz music. Individually, they have won accolades and garnered attention for their exceptional talents, but it is their collective energy that truly sets them apart. Their unique blend of musical prowess and unwavering dedication to highlighting the hidden ladies of jazz, who may not have received the proper limelight during their lifetime, is quite frankly inspiring.

Beyond paying homage to the underappreciated female jazz legends, Sisters of Jazz aim to contribute to the evolution of jazz music in the modern era. With their collective musicianship and individual voices, Pauline, Bévort, Wessberg, Frølund, Hvid and Haastrup are breaking barriers and redefining what it means to be women in jazz. Their performance on this album is characterized by fearless exploration, pushing the boundaries of convention, and embracing the freedom of expression that jazz offers. Through their interpretations of the works of the composers covered on this project, the ensemble showcases their profound respect for jazz history while bringing a fresh perspective to their compositions.

Sisters of Jazz’s commitment to celebrating the female jazz composers and their inspiring approach to jazz has garnered the attention of critics and audiences alike. By paying their respect to the past and shaping the future for women in jazz, Sisters of Jazz aim to leave an indelible mark on the jazz landscape!

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Sisters of Jazz: The Hidden Ladies of Jazz
Storyville Records Oct 2023
CD
$17.99

The Darkest Midnight - Winter Songs from Medieval to Modern / Papagena

SOMM Recordings

$20.99 Nov 16, 2018

The all-female vocal ensemble Papagena makes its debut on SOMM Recordings with The Darkest Midnight, a sublime collection of songs for winter from the Middle Ages to the modern era embracing the secular and the sacred. Described as “a stunning addition to the vocal music scene” and “la crème de la crème in the crowded a cappella space”, Papagena’s three sopranos (Elizabeth Drury, Abbi Temple, Suzie Vango) and two altos (Suzzie Purkis, Sarah Tenant-Flowers) look certain to add to their fast-growing reputation with this beautifully sung compendium. Casting a dark glamour all of its own, the bleakness of winter has prompted some of the most bewitching, brittle and bright songs. Alongside traditional Christmas anthems can be found legendary singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell’s ‘The River’ in an achingly melancholic arrangement and American composer Don Macdonald, whose When the Earth Stands Still is movingly poignant and still, twilit and shining. Celebratory songs marking the Christmas season – the exuberant In dulci Jubilo, burnished, glowing harmonies of Angelus ad virginem, sublimely serene Es ist ein Ros entsprungen and infectious Shchedryk/Hark How the Bells from Ukraine – are heard alongside lilting Irish songs from antiquity and the charming Scottish lullaby Balulalow. Songs from England, Germany, Norway and ‘Toi le coeur de la rose’ from Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges round off a recording that includes first performances of eight arrangements and is marked by sheer beauty of sound.

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The Darkest Midnight - Winter Songs from Medieval to Modern / Papagena
SOMM Recordings Nov 2018
CD
$20.99

Over Here! / The Andrews Sisters

Sony Masterworks

$17.99 Jul 16, 2009

Principal cast: Maxene Andrews (Pauline DePaul); Patty Andrews (Paulette DePaul); Douglass Watson (Norwin Spokesman); Jim Weston (Make-Out); MacIntyre Dixon (Father); Bette Henritze (Mother); William Griffis (Rankin); Marilu Henner (Donna); Phyllis Sommerville (Wilma); Ann Reinking (Maggie); Janie Sell (Mitzi); John Travolta (Misfit); Treat Williams (Utah); John Mineo (Lucky); William Newman (Sarge); Samuel E. Wright (Sam); April Shawhan (June); John Driver (Bill).
The Big Band: Joseph Klein (leader); Ruben Rivera (cello); Carmen Mastren (guitar/banjo); Jimmy Sedlar, Bob Millikan, Jay Brower, Charles Sullivan (trumpets); Harry DiVito, Merv Gold, Jack Gale, Vincent Forchetti, (trombones); Bernie Berger, Harvey Estrin, Michael Schuster, Sol Schlinger (saxophones); Mike Cavin (clarinet); Clay Fullum (piano, accordion); Hal Schaefer (piano); Doc Soloman (bass, Teddy Sommer (drums); Warren Hard (percussion).
Recorded at CBS 30th Street Studio, New York, March 31, 1974.
All songs composed by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.

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Over Here! / The Andrews Sisters
Sony Masterworks Jul 2009
CD
$17.99

Eastern Promises (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Sony Masterworks Sep 2007
CD
$11.98

Torstensson: Lantern Lectures I-IV for Sinfonietta / Karlsen, Norrbotten NEO

BIS

SACD

$10.99 ~~$21.99~~ Save 50% Jul 01, 2022

Although born in Sweden, Klas Torstensson has spent most of his working life in the Netherlands following his studies in Utrecht in the early 1970s. Stylistically, he may call to mind Varèse, Xenakis and – perhaps more distantly – Stravinsky. First and foremost, however, Torstensson’s music is personal and distinctive. It is often nourished by his experiences of nature: rough granite, the sea, ice in the frozen Baltic inlets, the polar ice cap. His Lantern Lectures were composed in the aftermath of his opera The Expedition, about an ill-fated journey to the North Pole. While occupied with the opera he had received commissions from several different ensembles, and he therefore decided to write a cycle of works for these ensembles – compositions to be performed separately or as ‘movements’ forming a greater whole. The four lectures portray fundamental elements and phenomena in Nordic nature: bedrock with stratified memories of its violent origins (Solid Rocks I & II), traces of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) and potholes, cylindrical holes drilled into the bedrock under glaciers (Giant’s Cauldron). They all involve 12 to 15 players, and are connected by Brass Links, brief interludes for trumpet, horn and trombone. Lantern Lectures is here performed by Norrbotten NEO, an ensemble dedicated to the promotion of contemporary chamber music, conducted by Christian Karlsen.

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Torstensson: Lantern Lectures I-IV for Sinfonietta / Karlsen, Norrbotten NEO
BIS Jul 2022
SACD
~~$21.99~~ $10.99

Christopher Tye: The Western Wind Mass, Anthems & Motets
CRD Records Jan 1991
CD
$20.99

The Art of the Oud / Bardezbanian Middle Eastern Ensemble

ARC Music

$20.99 Mar 27, 2020

Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian was the unparalleled master of the oud, the Middle Eastern lute. Here he showcases many styles of oud playing, with fourteen folk songs and original compositions from his homeland of Armenia, as well as Turkey, Lebanon and Greece. “Oud at lightning speed with incredible sensitivity to the melody” - Allmusic.com “An earthy, elevating sound…” - Elsewhere New Zealand “The improvisational work is world class…” - OmRadio USA ALAN SHAVARSH BARDEZBANIAN was born into an Armenian family in the thriving ethnic community of Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1950. Musically gifted from an early age, Al began playing the oud as a child, modeling his playing on the versatile dance band musicians like George Mgrditchian and Richard Hagopian who performed in the local clubs every weekend. By his teens, Al had already mastered the Armenian dance hall repertoire, which he continued to perform for the rest of his life, and began exploring a wide range of other musical idioms, particularly the contemporary jazz scene of the 1960s.

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The Art of the Oud / Bardezbanian Middle Eastern Ensemble
ARC Music Mar 2020
CD
$20.99

Western Wind / Parrott, Tavener Choir & Players

Avie Records

$19.99 Mar 01, 2016

Andrew Parrott and his Taverner Choir & Players turn to music of their namesake alongside works by his contemporaneous King Henry VIII, an exceptionally musical monarch, and two composers of the previous generation, William Cornysh and Hugh Ashton. With Taverner’s Western Wind mass as its corner-stone, this recording takes its lead from the unashamedly secular character of that work and ventures beyond the chapel door to explore the parallel world of courtly vernacular song and instrumental music.

-----

REVIEW:

Andrew Parrott’s past recordings of Taverner count among his finest achievements, and time has not dulled his affinity for the music of his ensemble’s namesake. For this recital, he turns his attention to the secular music of Taverner’s contemporaries, interspersed among the movements of the Renaissance composer's Western Wynde Mass.

From a discographic standpoint, the instrumental numbers are very valuable, and dispatched with real flair. Finally, the sound recording successively juggles a wide range of distributions, from harpsichord to choir, with no apparent discontinuity.

– Gramophone

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Western Wind / Parrott, Tavener Choir & Players
Avie Records Mar 2016
CD
$19.99

FUN ONE

CRISS CROSS

$19.99 Dec 27, 2024

Some might think that guitarist Oz Noy, a celebrated voice in jazz-fusion over the last quarter century for applying his formidable guitar chops to funky rhythms and blues-based changes on 13 leader albums and hundreds of plugged-in concert performances, is not an obvious fit for Criss Cross, whose 420+-album catalog connects almost exclusively to the various tributaries of the hardcore acoustic jazz river. Noy, 52, begs to differ. "I've known about Criss Cross since my brother brought home albums when I was a teenager, " he says, discussing the back story of his label debut, Fun One, a creative, sophisticated and, shall we say, swinging trio encounter with pianist David Kikoski, bassist James Genus and drummer Clarence Penn. "I know Peter Bernstein's albums and Adam Rogers' albums. I love Mike Moreno's last album. I know how the albums sound. I started to study jazz chords and harmony when I was 13. I started making a living playing pop and rock music when I was 15 or 16, and for all my years in New York I've had an electric trio that plays groove music mixed with jazz and funk that's enabled me to get a record deal and make albums. But I've been playing standards and jazz all my life, and probably since 2017 with this quartet. I've just never recorded it." From 2017 until March 2020, when COVID shut down New York City, the group's encounters transpired on Thursday nights at the 55 Bar, the Greenwich Village basement where high-level practitioners like alto saxophonist-composer (and frequent Criss Cross artist) Dave Binney and guitarists Mike Stern and Wayne Krantz held years-long weekly sinecures. After the Christopher Street landmark shut down two years later, Noy "moved our operation" to the Bitter End on Bleecker Street, a signpost venue in the development of comedy and various streams of second-half-of-the-20th-century popular music where Noy has played regularly with his power trios for more than two decades. From the beginning of 2024 until the end of July, when Noy recorded Fun One, he frequently workshopped this repertoire there "with some form of this band." The Album was recorded July 26 / 27, 2024 at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio, NYC. Recording engineer Mike Marciano. Sound engineer Mike Marciano also did the mixing and mastering at Systems Two in NYC. Photography by Anna Yatskevich.

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FUN ONE
CRISS CROSS Dec 2024
CD
$19.99

Naxos Musical Journey - England - London & Westminster

Naxos AudioVisual

DVD

$13.99 Aug 26, 2008

This series of DVDs features travel scenes accompanied by classical music.

The Places
The tour of London takes us to the best known parts of the British capital, with views of the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Hampton Court and down river to Greenwich.

The Music
The music for this tour of London is taken from the last two of Joseph Haydn's twelve London Symphonies, the last such works that he would write, composed specially for a series of concerts he gave in London in the 1790s, during two extended visits.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: Dolby Digital / DTS Surround
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 60 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

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Naxos Musical Journey - England - London & Westminster
Naxos AudioVisual Aug 2008
DVD
$13.99

Escualdo: Masters of Tango Violin / Fernando & Leonardo Suarez Paz

Azica Records

$9.49 ~~$18.99~~ Save 50% Jul 29, 2016

Fernando Suarez Paz joined the Quinteto Nuevo Tango at the request of Astor Piazzolla in 1978, and he toured with the ensemble until their disbandment in 1988. In his decade of performing alongside Piazzolla, Paz recorded 18 albums all over the world. The first track on this album, Escualo by Piazzolla, is dedicated to Fernando Suarez Paz. The New York Times gave Paz a 7-star rating after his performances alongside vibraphonist Gary Burton at various jazz festivals across Europe, Japan, and the United States. Fernando’s son, Leonardo Suarez Paz is featured on this release. Leonardo grew up alongside Astor Piazzolla and was mentored by both Piazzolla and his father. He directs tango projects all over the globe, and his productions have appeared in such venues as the Lincoln Center in New York, and the Teatro Colon Opera House in Buenos Aires.

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Escualdo: Masters of Tango Violin / Fernando & Leonardo Suarez Paz
Azica Records Jul 2016
CD
~~$18.99~~ $9.49