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Post by erik on Dec 21, 2009 13:58:58 GMT -5
This may come as an enormous shock, but up until just last Christmas, this was an album that left me very cold--and that's not an easy thing for me to say, given what Linda has meant to me. It has grown on me for these last two Christmases, with "Away In A Manger" and "I Wonder As I Wander" standing out in particular. I do wish Linda had made a Christmas album back in the late 1970s that would have been more slanted to pop and rock X-Mas favorites. Still, I guess I shouldn't have been so down on this album, since it'll probably be the only such one she ever makes. John Williams' score to Steven Spielberg's 1993 Holocaust epic SCHINDLER'S LIST is one of the most haunting scores ever composed for any film of any kind. It is essential listening, just as the film itself is essential viewing.
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Post by jhar26 on Dec 21, 2009 14:57:15 GMT -5
This may come as an enormous shock, but up until just last Christmas, this was an album that left me very cold--and that's not an easy thing for me to say, given what Linda has meant to me. It has grown on me for these last two Christmases, with "Away In A Manger" and "I Wonder As I Wander" standing out in particular. I always liked it because it's so original. There are maybe 30 or 40 classic Christmas songs from the first half of the 20th century that everyone knows and 99% of all Christmas albums are made up of songs from that group. LR's album gives us sort of an overview of the entire history of Christmas music, from the middle ages up to today. BTW - I bought Bob Dylan's Christmas album today. That will probably sound very different from other Christmas albums as well, albeit for very different reasons.
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Post by erik on Dec 21, 2009 22:45:32 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26 re. A Merry Little Christmas:
I guess this was one instance where I wasn't sure originality and being different were really such good things...at least not right out of the chute.
Quote by jhar26 re. Dylan's X-Mas album:
I've heard a couple of tracks from Mr. Dylan's album on the radio here in Los Angeles, and he actually sounds quite good for someone not known for having all that hot a voice (IMHO).
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Post by jhar26 on Dec 22, 2009 12:26:13 GMT -5
Not bad. Probably not a word that has been used much in relation to Dylan, but it's a "charming" album. He doesn't have the voice of Nat King Cole, but as Keith Richard once said, "it's not about WHAT you have but about what YOU DO with what you have." Dylan sings these songs with sincerity in traditional arrangements. It doesn't make for a masterpiece, but it definitely isn't the disaster I expected it would be either.
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Post by erik on Dec 23, 2009 13:42:07 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26 re. Dylan's X-Mas album: That's the thing about Dylan; he does things his way, not caring what the world at large thinks. I have to admire him for hanging in there for as long as he has. Speaking of guys who have hung in there a long time: Everyone's favorite (or most despised) in-house bunch of desperados came back in 2007 with this 2-CD epic that is a kind of summary of all that they, America, and the world at large have been through. Henley and Frey still dominate in terms of songwriting (and Don Felder was unceremoniously tossed from the band six years before), but there are also moments for the other two guys, Timothy Schmit and Joe ("Hey, How Ya Dooin'") Walsh. The last track on CD-2, "It's Your World Now", is not only a passing of the torch to the next generation (and maybe a literal "Adios" to the world), but its Mexican-tinged arrangement (with prominent Mariachi brass) is, to me anyway, a kind of nod towards Linda and her Mexican-American heritage (given that this band was her road band in 1971 before they became their own unit, with her blessing).
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Post by egoodstein on Dec 23, 2009 14:10:05 GMT -5
Today-- early AM: classical album of Kate Royal w. pianist Graham Johnson and sev. guests including Felicity Lott singing some Schumann Lieder (album 10 of the Johnson Schumann Leider 'series). Nice version of 'Liederkreis' esp.-- I've enjoyed Royal recently though I think overall I prefer her orchestral solo albums a little more.
Also last night and today new album by singer/songwriter Erin McKeown, ' Hundreds of Lions'-- nice departure w. some strings & even 'West coast/Beach Boyish' sound often. Interesting songwriter & guitarist IMO.
Also, right now listening (1st time1) to latest one by West Coast band The Mother Hips, 'Pacific Dust.' They combine several 'West Coast' strands including nice harmonies, light-psychedelia like early Association and such w. bits almost like Jayhawks/Byrds & others. This one seems a bit rockier than some of their stuff overall.
Ed
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Post by jhar26 on Dec 25, 2009 12:35:24 GMT -5
Good album, although it ranks behind The Kick Inside, The Dreaming and Hounds of Love in my opinion.
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Post by erik on Dec 25, 2009 12:47:04 GMT -5
Ennio Morricone's majestic score to director Sergio Leone's epic 1969 western ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, designed almost exclusively around four principal motifs, one for each of the main characters of the film (Henry Fonda; Charles Bronson; Claudia Cardinale; Jason Robards). In fact, the score was completed by Morricone before Leone even exposed a single frame of film. An incredible score, one of the finest of any film in any genre (IMHO).
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Post by jhar26 on Dec 26, 2009 13:57:22 GMT -5
6 cd box set with piano music from Debussy and Ravel. Not the most accessible music I guess, especially Debussy's, but very rewarding in the long run
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Post by erik on Dec 26, 2009 18:26:18 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26 re. Debussy/Ravel piano music set from EMI:
Maybe not accessible at first, of course, but yes, quite rewarding. These two French giants did a lot to lay the groundwork for 20th century classical music all around, and their works for piano are a part of that legacy (IMHO).
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Post by jhar26 on Dec 26, 2009 19:25:24 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26 re. Debussy/Ravel piano music set from EMI: Maybe not accessible at first, of course, but yes, quite rewarding. These two French giants did a lot to lay the groundwork for 20th century classical music all around, and their works for piano are a part of that legacy (IMHO). In general I find Debussy a harder nut to crack than Ravel. Having said that, I love Debussy's Preludes and most of the rest of his work grows on you more and more with each listen. Ravel is easier to get into for me - probably because I already knew some of his piano pieces in the orchestral arrangements he later made of them.
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Post by egoodstein on Dec 26, 2009 21:32:59 GMT -5
I love both Debussy and Ravel-- not really the same if often paired of course. I've also been listening to some of their music today-- the string quartets, recording by the Dante Quartet-- very nice: I love both of these works & have a few other recordings of 'em too. I love Debussy's piano music a lot esp. too. Also while driving around doing errands earlier-- new one by The Mother Hips 'Pacific Dust' which is def. growing on me; and some of Kay Hanley's 'Widowspeak' plus EP of the Dilletantes (a short-lived duo group she had) which I combined on a CDR. Love those. Later (we have to cook tonight for a lunch w. some friends tomorrow-- so that first !), I have cued up to hear a couple short albums by jazz/'classical' pop singer Annette Sanders, her 1st 'Time is Right' from I think early '70's and 'Everything I Love' from '90's. Sweet voiced singer best known as backing singer but really good IMO. Ed
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Post by erik on Dec 26, 2009 23:56:34 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26 re. Debussy piano music:
And of course one can't go wrong with an impressionistic masterpiece like "Clair De Lune" (or as Victor Borge once said, "English translation: Clear the saloon." [LOL]).
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Post by erik on Dec 27, 2009 14:01:29 GMT -5
In the meantime: One of our nation's greatest contemporary composers pays tribute to a city that is slowly but surely rising up from the ashes of the collapse of its main industry (Autos), in three great works: "Fire And Blood" (with violinist Ida Kavafian); MotorCity Triptych; and "Raise The Roof" (with timpanist Brian Jones). Neeme Jarvi conducts the Detroit Symphony Orchestra here. Mahler, of course, is never an easy composer to crack, but Michael Tilson Thomas gets a lot out of conducting the composer's Symphony No. 7, the ultra-complex "Song Of The Night", a work featuring a lot of exotic instrumentation (including mandolins and glockenspiel). Thomas gets the most out of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra here (this is part of Thomas' ongoing Mahler symphonic cycle as the orchestra's Music Director).
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Post by jhar26 on Dec 27, 2009 16:08:52 GMT -5
In the meantime: One of our nation's greatest contemporary composers pays tribute to a city that is slowly but surely rising up from the ashes of the collapse of its main industry (Autos), in three great works: "Fire And Blood" (with violinist Ida Kavafian); MotorCity Triptych; and "Raise The Roof" (with timpanist Brian Jones). Neeme Jarvi conducts the Detroit Symphony Orchestra here. I like Michael Daugherty very much. Brilliant orchestrator. Today: Important album, although it's uneven in quality. + some more Debussy and Ravel.
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Post by erik on Dec 27, 2009 20:20:24 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26 re. Michael Daugherty:
Yes, he has a way. I have another recording of his music, one that has "Philadelphia Stories" and "UFO", featuring percussionist Evelyn Glennie, and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Marin Alsop.
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Post by jhar26 on Dec 28, 2009 13:14:26 GMT -5
Another high profile contemporary composer - Osvaldo Golijov. I like this cd very much. "Oceana" is an interesting piece, but I LOVE "Three Songs" - the three song cycle that closes the disc especially. It has an almost otherworldly beauty and must surely rank with the best music of the 21st century so far.
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Post by erik on Dec 28, 2009 13:25:31 GMT -5
Yes, Golijov's pieces are becoming fairly well-established here in America, thanks to recordings like the one you mentioned. Indeed, his music has become something of a specialty for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and its music director Robert Spano; this is their second recording of the composer's works, the first being of the opera "Ainadamar."
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Post by jhar26 on Dec 28, 2009 13:38:49 GMT -5
Yes, Golijov's pieces are becoming fairly well-established here in America, thanks to recordings like the one you mentioned. Indeed, his music has become something of a specialty for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and its music director Robert Spano; this is their second recording of the composer's works, the first being of the opera "Ainadamar." The good thing about composers like Golijov, Daugherty, Gorecki and Jenkins is that their music is more accessible than the music of most modern composers from the second half of the 20th century. As a result there is once again a pretty substantial audience for contemporary music, and it will hopefully only get better.
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Post by erik on Dec 28, 2009 13:53:25 GMT -5
What I think would help--and this is something that many U.S. orchestras are doing more often now--is to program these contemporary works alongside the more established so-called "warhorses" of the repertoire. Sometimes, we need to be reminded that those warhorses (Beethoven; Mahler; etc.) were "new music" in their time, just as the works of Daugherty, Golijov, and other contemporary compsoers are "new music" now.
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Post by jhar26 on Dec 28, 2009 14:00:26 GMT -5
What I think would help--and this is something that many U.S. orchestras are doing more often now--is to program these contemporary works alongside the more established so-called "warhorses" of the repertoire. Sometimes, we need to be reminded that those warhorses (Beethoven; Mahler; etc.) were "new music" in their time, just as the works of Daugherty, Golijov, and other contemporary compsoers are "new music" now. Exactly. Another example that you may or may not be familiar with. "The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto" from the Chinese composers Chen Gang and He Zhanhao. If you don't know this work please listen. There's no reason why this highly melodic work shouldn't become a very popular piece. It already is in China, but it's so lyrical and drop dead gorgeous that it should be popular the world over. These are just the first six minutes, but it lasts for 28 minutes plus. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLT8BLqvuAk
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Post by erik on Dec 28, 2009 14:18:41 GMT -5
Yes, the Butterfly Lovers concerto should be heard more often, especially here. It's exotic, yes, but it is genuinely accessible as well (IMHO). In the meantime... Ralph Vaughan-Williams' Symphony No. 7 (the Sinfonia Antarctica, extracted from his score to the 1948 British film SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC, about Robert F. Scott's ill-fated attampt to be the first to discover the South Pole) is given a very vivid performance by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Women's Choir, with the underrated British conductor Raymond Leppard on the podium. This recording also includes the composer's much-loved string orchestra masterpiece "Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis."
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Post by jhar26 on Dec 28, 2009 14:27:05 GMT -5
Ralph Vaughan-Williams' Symphony No. 7 (the Sinfonia Antarctica, extracted from his score to the 1948 British film SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC, about Robert F. Scott's ill-fated attampt to be the first to discover the South Pole) is given a very vivid performance by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Women's Choir, with the underrated British conductor Raymond Leppard on the podium. This recording also includes the composer's much-loved string orchestra masterpiece "Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis." For God only knows what reason I've never been able to get into the music of Vaughan-Williams. I have a box set of his symphonies conducted by Vernon Handley, but so far his greatness doesn't register with me. I have a similar problem with the Elgar symphonies. I love lots of his other music, but for some reason his symphonies leave me cold, although most Elgarians argue that they contain his best music. I'll keep trying though.
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Post by erik on Dec 28, 2009 14:55:12 GMT -5
Elgar and Vaughan-Williams are definitely not easy to "get into", and I'm not quite sure why that is. In the case of Elgar, I would suspect it is because of the very...I don't know..."British-ness" of pieces like the Pomp And Circumstance marches and the large, arguably marital orchestrations he concocts.
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Post by jhar26 on Dec 28, 2009 14:59:36 GMT -5
Elgar and Vaughan-Williams are definitely not easy to "get into", and I'm not quite sure why that is. In the case of Elgar, I would suspect it is because of the very...I don't know..."British-ness" of pieces like the Pomp And Circumstance marches and the large, arguably marital orchestrations he concocts. Maybe, but it's strange that it only applies to his symphonies. Maybe I just haven't heard 'the right' recordings. I love his cello concerto, violin concerto, Dream of Gerontius, Enigma Variations and so on.
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