The World Turned Upside Down

The World Turned Upside Down

Editorial Reviews
About the Artist
Barry Phillips and Friends explore the colorful variety of music popular in late 18th and early 19th century America, from elegant Colonial drawing rooms to homely frontier hearths to rollicking waterside taverns. The title tune, according to legend, was played by Cornwallis' surrendering troops at Yorktown; the album also includes dances and folk songs (All The Pretty Little Horses, Rights of Man, Fisher's Hornpipe, Love in a Village) along with a suite of early American classical music by the Boston master William Billings. As always, liner notes provide colorful background history of the music and the times.

Product Description
As an independent label, we've worked hard to develop a distinctive sound — part-folk, part-classical, all-acoustic instrumental music. We feel our music is indeed unique, and we've never compromised in our determination to produce only the highest quality, most beautifully packaged recordings.

We include detailed liner notes for those who are curious about the history and background of the music.

Gourd has licensed music to Warner Bros. Music, Narada, Hearts of Space, Windham Hill, The Disney Channel, A&E and The History Channel. Selections from the Gourd recording The World Turned Upside Down were featured on the Ken Burns documentary Thomas Jefferson. Three Gourd recordings were featured on Ken Burns' latest project ( a documentary on Susan B. Anthony & Elizabeth Cady Stanton) on PBS.

Tracks:

Song Of The Liberty Bell
Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier
Surrender The Sword
Soldier's Joy
When Bidden To The Wake Or Fair
The World Turned Upside Down
Bunker Hill
Freedom
The Flowers Of Edinburgh
Brave Wolfe
Devil's Dream
Song Of The Liberty Bell

Customer Reviews:

OK.......2005-03-17

Good CD, especially if you're a fan of Mark O'Conner. I have to admit that a couple of the tracks seem rather directionless (in a Vaughn Williams sort of way) and I tend to lose interest, but other tracks are fun, even exciting. The production is excellent throughout.

Great Music.......2004-02-27

I watched the documentary and heard Mark O'Connor play this piece in a concert and loved it immediately. The music is great to help the battles come alive but great for just listening to anyway.

GREAT SOUNDTRACK!.......2003-07-04

Fine CD full of great pieces of music from a great miniseries! Full of patriotism! I highly recommend it! Grade: A+

Finest Music Ever Heard.......2002-03-27

I heard this music on the excellent P B S Documentary: "Liberty - the American Revolution" and I knew I had to have it! It is the finest music I have heard, capturing the heart and soul of the American Revolution. The documentary "Liberty" was a masterpiece that was beautiful and moving. So too this music with its most wonderful arrangements and accompaniment. I love it! I could hardly wait to get it in the mail. It framed the documentary (which I also bought) like a great frame compliments a beautiful canvas painting. Superlatives fail me. This music must be experienced by first watching the great series on the American Revolution and then by listening to it apart. This is some of the most wonderful music I have ever heard. It reminds me of the genius of Aaron Copland who wrote the Applachian Spring and Rodeo suites.

Stirring Americana.......2001-11-10

This CD stands on its own merits as good music, not simply as music for a TV show. It evokes images of America old and new. O'Connor's violin carries us from the dance hall to the battlefield to the sorrow of lover's lost. Simple melodies twist and turn, rising up from their solid American roots. James Taylor's solemn rendition of "Johnny's Gone for a Soldier"is as true a telling of the grief of the soldier lost to war today as it was hundreds of years ago. Sit in a comfortable chair in the warm light of evening and let it surround you. To know where we have come from offers hope that the magic of freedom and liberty will not desert us in these troubled times.

Average customer rating:

A great message.
A thoroughly enjoyable album
Simply Delightful and Delightfully Simple!
A musical exploration of early America

The World Turned Upside Down
Barry Phillips
Manufacturer: Gourd Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

Nostalgia | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Colonial America
Early American Roots
Music of the American Revolution: The Birth of Liberty
Jefferson and Liberty
The Spirit of '76 and Ruffles and Flourishes

ASIN: B000005C2N
Release Date: 2001-08-14

Tracks:

World Turned Upside Down, The
Love In A Village / Love Forever
Rights Of Man, The
When Jesus Wept
Billings Suite
Dutchess Of Brunswick
Young Widow / Black Joke
New German Spa
Pretty Little Horses
Sweet Richard
Fisher's Hornpipe / Patterson's Hornpipe
Rights Of Conscience

Album Description

As an independent label, we've worked hard to develop a distinctive sound — part-folk, part-classical, all-acoustic instrumental music. We feel our music is indeed unique, and we've never compromised in our determination to produce only the highest quality, most beautifully packaged recordings.

We include detailed liner notes for those who are curious about the history and background of the music.

Customer Reviews:

A great message........2006-04-21

I had this CD delivered to someone I filled a lawsuit against. They finally settled out of court in my favor. When they asked what was this? My lawyer indicated, "Why don't you know your history? The title piece was the tune British General Cornwallis played at the surrender of Yorktown to General Washington."

How fitting!

A thoroughly enjoyable album.......2005-01-30

I love this album, and I listen to it frequently. Barry Phillips, I hope you follow up this album with another one that is very similar to this one. The musicianship is superb. It is a highly enjoyable album.

Simply Delightful and Delightfully Simple!.......2000-12-31

Barry Philips has assembled a very fine group of musicians here, performing on period instruments of the American Revolution era. Expect to hear bright and lively arrangements with such instruments as the mountain dulcimer, bowed psaltery, fiddle, and clavichord. These were the real "folk tunes" of those times, and while strictly instrumental, they express such sentiments as love, lost love, the joy of sighting attractive horses on the run... the simple stuff of life that often goes overlooked.

The songs reflect a nice representation of styles and tempos; though all are unmistakably American colonial in flavor. This is a nice disk to enhance appreciation of early American historical music. Also, it is an unexpected but enthusiastically received alternative to the Sousa marches for any Fourth of July gathering. People will likely ask you "What are you playing and where did you get it?" Then you can explain that it is the kind of everyday music our forefathers enjoyed. But don't just leave this one on the shelf until Independence Day... its simple yet heartfelt tunes will pick you up on any day.

In a similar vein, though different, and highly recommended: "New Britain: The Roots of American Folk Song" Joel Cohen and the Boston Camerata, "A Land of Pure Delight: Anthems and Fuging Tunes" Paul Hillier and His Majestie's Clerkes. Enjoy!

A musical exploration of early America.......1998-09-07

Barry Phillips, always a tasteful musician, has constructed a wonderful example of early American musical history. Phillips and company use a variety of period and folk instruments, including fiddle, cello, dulcimers, flutes, and psalteries to revitalize these simply beautiful and haunting tunes. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in folk and traditional music, as well as those who enjoy rich, soft, listening pleasures.