Amplified [Explicit Lyrics]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Breaking up is hard to do but sometimes the aftermath can shine a light on the individuals and just what they brought to the mix. Over the course of five albums (three of which are certified hip-hop classics), Q-Tip, the dominant wordsmith and resident sex symbol of A Tribe Called Quest, was the guy with the goods. With his adenoidal tone and nimble way with a rhyme, he was the focus of much of the attention Tribe justifiably received. Yet left to his own devices, Tip falls short and Amplified is not the triumph fans might have expected. Part of the fault lies in the production, which with the exception of two great cuts (both produced by DJ Scratch), is provided by Tip and partner J.D., who also worked the last two (weak) Tribe CDs. Tip's new sound is typified by the revved up, sexy push and pull of his smash "Vivrant Thing." But that song's sound and subject matter--sex--is the main theme throughout this album. Adding to the dilemma is the fact that the advances sent to press were sequenced as if Amplified was one continuous track, which makes the sameness of many of the cuts even more obvious. True, Tip is playful and pointed, but the lyrics are remarkably linear for a guy who once dubbed himself "abstract" and the similarity of the drum patterns and tempo start to grow tiresome. Sadly, what should have been a breakthrough solo debut from a truly gifted artist only makes you yearn for the subtle jazzy touches and deadpan retorts former Tribe members Ali and Phife provided. --Amy Linden

Amplified,Q-Tip,Arista,Alternative Rap,East Coast Rap,Hip-Hop,Pop,Rap,Rap & Hip-Hop,Soul/Reggae/Rhythm & Blues

Amplified [Explicit Lyrics]

Tracks:

Rollercoaster
Troubled Mind
I Don't Understand Anything
Walking To You
Get Me
Missing
Two Star
We Walk The Same Line
25th December
Disenchanted

Amazon.com essential recording

Amplified Heart marked a number of changes in Everything but the Girl's career, the most obvious of which was their sudden popularity when a Todd Terry remix of "Missing" became a dance-floor hit. But before the album was even recorded, Ben Watt--who with Tracy Thorn is EBTG--was hospitalized for a life-threatening intestinal disorder (see his book, Patient: The True Story of a Rare Illness, for a full account). His recovery invigorates Amplified Heart, making the love songs that much more passionate, the relationship songs that much more tender, and "25th December"--the one song in which Watt sings lead--that much more heartbreaking. Thorn's captivating vocals are the focus on the rest of the album, and she's as smooth as ever; combined with the focus that she and Watt share here, it makes for EBTG's best album. --Randy Silver

Amazon.com

Mired in an easy-listening rut since Baby, The Stars Shine Bright (1986), Everything But the Girl's return to self-production is a plus and might account for "Amplified Heart" being their most striking and listenable album in eons. --Jeff Bateman

Customer Reviews:

Wow.......2007-03-07

I could easily say that this album is one of the best "genre" records I have ever heard. Instead, I will say that it's one of the few albums that I actually smile about when I think back to listening to it years ago. From Rollercoaster to the end of the album, I can relate different aspects of my life to the themes, making it a bittersweet score to a bittersweet journey. The vocals are haunting and painful to majestic and sweeping and the lyrics inspired some of my earlier poetry. Listen to 25th December or Get Me and think of how those words could fit into some past scenerio that you experienced. I love this album.

Serious Music.......2006-06-10

Strong singing, poignant lyrics, tuneful melodies and spare but colorful arrangements make this album a gently melancholy pleasure. Its nostalgia is deeply heartfelt, and the frustrations of love are depicted as starkly as the artists in their cover portrait. But We Walk The Same Line is an inspiring anthem for the commitment that brings a couple through life's hard times.

Listen loud and feel it.......2006-01-30

If you listen to Amplified Heart for the first time, you'll find that one song will strike very deeply, and resonate with you for days or weeks. It's the best song you've heard in a long time. You'll skip over songs to get to it. As it starts to wear off, you'll find that another song, probably one you were actually skipping, is perhaps the best song you've heard in a long time. This will continue until you realize that this is one of those albums where there's really not a bad moment. This turns out to be a great collection of very strong, simple songs.

The emotion runs deep and true through this album without getting overbearing. A lot of that has to do with the songs themselves, which are just simple and powerful. But it's even more to do with the spare but rich production. The vocals are pitch perfect, and the choice of instrumentation prevents any song from getting overdone. When not to play is often as important as when to play. This album is one where every note seems to have a place and a meaning. The overall mood is longing, but thoughtful, profound, and mature.

I started out on Rollercoaster, jumped to Get Me, then found We Walk the Same Line, drove around on Two Star for a couple weeks, realized I Don't Understand Anything and just started playing the whole thing. There are many essentials that I'll be returning to for a long time.

One Of The Best Albums Of The 90's.......2005-12-07

Like most people I only knew of Everything But The Girl because of the hit single "Missing." Having an extensive CD collection, this album ended up just sitting there for a long time. Recently I put the disc on and started listening to the album from the beginning all the way through. What a surprise! The tunes have very simple melodies and structures, but are very powerful. The mark of a great album is one that stirs your soul and Amplified Heart does that. Surprising is that even though "Missing" is a great song, the rest of the album is even better. The split vocal on "Walking To You" will evoke feeling of a past love and what might have been. "Get Me" and "Two Star" are just terrific. All the songs flow together to create an album with an atmosphere of lamentation, longing, and reflection. You won't be disappointed, the songs really grow on you the more you listen. This is definately one of the best undiscovered albums out there.

great album.......2005-10-10

Definitely recommend this album. Mellow and soulful sound with modern electronic backing. The fifth song is really great - I think it is titled "Walking to You" and it really evokes feelings of longing and love for past relationships that were good but may not have worked out.
Enjoy!

Amplified: A Decade of Reinventing the Cello

Average customer rating:

One of a kind.

Amplified: A Decade of Reinventing the Cello
Apocalyptica
Manufacturer: Umvd Import
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Metal | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Hard Rock & Metal | Imports | Stores | Music
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Apocalyptica
Live
Reflections
Cult
Repressed

ASIN: B000FIHFDC
Release Date: 2006-06-05

Tracks:

Enter Sandman
Harmageddon
Nothing Else Matters
Refuse/Resist
Somewhere Around Nothing
Betrayal
Farewell
Master of Puppets
Hall of the Mountain King
One
Heat
Cohkka
Kaamos
Deathzone
Angel of Death

Tracks:

Repressed [#] - Apocalyptica, Max Cavalera, Matthew Tuck
Path, Vol. 2 - Apocalyptica, Sandra Nasic
Bittersweet - Apocalyptica, Ville Valo,
Hope, Vol. 2 - Apocalyptica,
En Vie - Apocalyptica,
Faraway, Vol. 2 - Apocalyptica, Linda Sundblad
Life Burns - Apocalyptica,
Seemann - Apocalyptica, Nina Hagen

Album Description

Two disc 2006 collection featuring the best moments from this classically based Finnish quartet's first decade, including a handful of tracks from their internationally successful Plays Metallica For Four Cellos. 23 tracks. Universal.

Album Details

2006 Anthology of the Radical Group of Cellists from Finland that Took a Cue from Rasputina and Play Rock N Roll. Not Just Any Rock N Roll....their Repetoire Comes Primarily from the Metallica Canon...as Well as from Other Bands that Influenced Or Are Similar to their Heroes. Includes Two Previously Unreleased Recordings of "Angel of Death" and "Repressed" (Which is the First Single Release from this Set).

Customer Reviews:

One of a kind........2006-09-11

Apocalyptica is three guys (used to be four) who play metal on cello. Best known for covering famous songs by renowned artists (they first startled the music scene in 1996 with "Plays Metallica by Four Cellos"), they also write some magnificent pieces of their own, frequently featuring the collaboration of other bands such as HIM. Talented musicians, they're all classically trained, but they put that skill to use in a unique way.

Their music is beautiful. On a piece like Metallica's "One," the strings dance through the intro in almost baroque fashion, only to plunge into a startling imitation of a guitar's grind, and then cut loose into the meat of the piece with a snarl you've probably never heard from a cello before. Maximizing the cello's rich tonal range from a deep bass growl to a soprano that soars into the upper atmosphere, the instruments lend power ballads a heart-rendingly beautiful sound, while they crash through the hard stuff with a vicious exuberance that'd make any metal band proud.

If you enjoy metal, if you admire the lyricism of a well-played string instrument, if you like discovering novel sounds, or if you're simply tired of hearing rehashes of the same old stuff over and over again, you owe it to yourself to check out Apocalyptica. This collection is an excellent place to start, with some of the highlights from all their albums up to this point. Dark, ferocious, beautiful, and ageless, every person I've played this album for has turned to me with a look of joyful surprise and asked where they could find a copy.

Average customer rating:

read this before the review up top
What's wrong with having a little fun?
Terrible commercial album
Abstract
stick this funking shiiit in your ear

Amplified
Q-Tip
Manufacturer: Arista
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Soul | R&B | Styles | Music

East Coast | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

Experimental Rap | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

Pop Rap | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
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The Love Movement
Beats, Rhymes and Life
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
Midnight Marauders
The Low End Theory

ASIN: B00002R0K9
Release Date: 1999-11-30

Tracks:

Wait Up
Higher
Do It
Moving With U
Let's Ride
Things U Do
All In
Go Hard
Breathe And Stop
Vivrant Thing
N.T.
End Of Time

Amazon.com

Breaking up is hard to do but sometimes the aftermath can shine a light on the individuals and just what they brought to the mix. Over the course of five albums (three of which are certified hip-hop classics), Q-Tip, the dominant wordsmith and resident sex symbol of A Tribe Called Quest, was the guy with the goods. With his adenoidal tone and nimble way with a rhyme, he was the focus of much of the attention Tribe justifiably received. Yet left to his own devices, Tip falls short and Amplified is not the triumph fans might have expected. Part of the fault lies in the production, which with the exception of two great cuts (both produced by DJ Scratch), is provided by Tip and partner J.D., who also worked the last two (weak) Tribe CDs. Tip's new sound is typified by the revved up, sexy push and pull of his smash "Vivrant Thing." But that song's sound and subject matter--sex--is the main theme throughout this album. Adding to the dilemma is the fact that the advances sent to press were sequenced as if Amplified was one continuous track, which makes the sameness of many of the cuts even more obvious. True, Tip is playful and pointed, but the lyrics are remarkably linear for a guy who once dubbed himself "abstract" and the similarity of the drum patterns and tempo start to grow tiresome. Sadly, what should have been a breakthrough solo debut from a truly gifted artist only makes you yearn for the subtle jazzy touches and deadpan retorts former Tribe members Ali and Phife provided. --Amy Linden

Customer Reviews:

read this before the review up top.......2006-12-27

this album is great. and the girl that reviewed this album doesn't have a clue what she's talking about. the drums sound the same because all drums in every song at that time sounded the same. it was 2000 and it wasn't until timbo blew up that drums in hip hop changed. secondly. J.D is JayDee and he killed the last two (still classics) that tribe put out. he was also a part of tribe before those albums came out, he just didn't get the credit. this album was way ahead of it's time, now jaydee is a legend. this album is nuts

What's wrong with having a little fun?.......2006-12-18

After the tragic breakup of the greatest rap trio of all time, A Tribe Called Quest, Q-Tip released his first solo offering, "Amplified," in 1999. Fans expecting the abstract lyricism and social consciousness of a Tribe album will not find it here, so some I'm sure were disappointed. When I first heard "Amplified" I was surprised for sure because this sounds nothing like a Tribe album, but I grew to like it a lot. This album is full of upbeat, light, and happy songs that aren't very deep lyrically but are just basically fun songs. Tip's raps aren't exactly thought provoking, nor are they meant to be. Production comes mainly from Tip and Jay Dee, the duo known as The Ummah that produced the last two Tribe albums, "Beats, Rhymes, and Life" and "The Love Movement." The production uses horns and heavy instrumentals, but sounds very unlike ATCQ music. It's fast and consistently joyful sounding. As a huge ATCQ fan who has enjoyed all five of their albums, I also enjoyed "Amplified" even though it is a very different kind of release.

The album begins with "Wait Up," which uses nice keyboard and saxophone instrumentation for Tip to flow over. "Higher" has vibesy, soulful production and a good chorus. "Breathe and Stop" is a single, fast and simple sounding but very catchy. The electronic and experimental sounding "Moving With U" follows. I love "Let's Ride," it's a laidback, fun song about riding in cars and listening to music. Tip would never have made this kind of song with Phife and Shaheed, but I like hearing him do it by himself. "Things U Do" and "All In" follow, adding to the consistency of "Amplified." "Go Hard" is a funkier song aimed for the ladies. "Vivrant Thing" is one of the best, a song with good production and funny lyrics. Busta Rhymes collaborates on the piano-heavy "N.T." and rock band Korn make an unlikely appearance on "End of Time," which is a song I actually like a lot, it's really different from everything else on the album. A bonus track is also included, which lyrically is the best. It explains the rise and fall of A Tribe Called Quest, chronicling their career and breakup, with inside stuff a fan wouldn't have guessed.

I recommend "Amplified" mostly because it is an album of catchy, fun hip hop music even if lyrically it is not what a lot of fans expected. I think a lot of different kinds of music listeners will enjoy it, and Tribe fans such as myself will like it in a lot of ways too. Overall "Amplified" is an enjoyable album that I really like to listen to on a lot of occasions, and I definitely recommend it.

Terrible commercial album.......2006-12-15

I was very disappointed in Amplified album since i'm A Tribe Called Quest fan. QTip tried to go commercial and pop on this album and i think he let a lot of his fans down. Only songs i liked on the album is Higher, Breathe And Stop, Vivrant Thing(this was already on the Violator compilation so it shouldn't have been on Amplified album). End Of Time song with rock group Korn would've been better if Korn wasn't on the song. I liked the beat and the lyrics on End Of Time but QTip should've rapped more on the song and left Korn off the song. I also like the bonus hidden track Do It, Be It, See It. I'm so glad his 2nd solo unreleased album Kamaal The Abstract never came out because from the reviews i read about it, i read that he sang on all of the 9 songs on the album LOL. What's the deal with rappers singing now? LOL. QTip is a homo. He was wearing house slippers in Breathe And Stop video hahahahahahahahahaha.

Abstract.......2006-02-14

This is an album I bought when it first came out. I was a big tribe fan. I felt that Q-Tip had such a distinct sound and lyrically was one of the most underrated in the game. I felt that this album was slept on by many. I feel, in my opinion that this was one of few cd's that you can let start at the beginning and play all the way through. I was a little affraid for Tip at first but after hearing this, this was a great effort and something I would reccomend anyone to check out or buy.

stick this funking shiiit in your ear.......2006-01-10

and let it clear out all that nasty built up wax from all those whack jack arse slacks who recylcle tracks and fony lyrics and listen to some dope shiiit get with it or get lost!!!!!!

Average customer rating:

An Avant-Garde Must Get
Crumb in poetic and eerilie beautiful mood
Exceptional
Just Listen
What is the Opposite of Music? Listen to this and find out!

Crumb: Ancient Voices Of Children

Manufacturer: Nonesuch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
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The Ligeti Project IV: Hamburg Concerto (Horn Concerto) / Double Concerto / Ramifications / Requiem

ASIN: B000005IY6
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Ancient Voices Of Children: El Nino Busca Su Voz
Ancient Voices Of Children: Dances Of The Ancient Earth
Ancient Voices Of Children: Me He Perdido Muchas Veces Por El Mar
Ancient Voices Of Children: De Done Vienes, Amor, Mi Nino? (Dance Of The Sacred Life Cycle)
Ancient Voices Of Children: Ghost Dance
Ancient Voices Of Children: Se Ha Llenado De Luces Mi Corazon De Seda
Music For A Summer Evening: Nocturnal Sounds (The Awakening)
Music For A Summer Evening: Wanderer-Fantasy
Music For A Summer Evening: The Advent
Music For A Summer Evening: Myth
Music For A Summer Evening: Music Of The Starry Night

Amazon.com

One of the most important and magical song cycles in contemporary music, Ancient Voices of Children, is the setting of a series of haunting texts by the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca for mezzo-soprano, boy soprano, and chamber orchestra. The piece made a huge impression on audiences at its initial performances. Indeed, this recording became something of a cult phenomenon, much like the Górecki Third Symphony today; and if you weren't around for the initial discovery, now's your chance. Music for a Summer Evening uses essentially the same forces as Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, and creates an evocative, glittering nightscape. Great stuff.--David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

An Avant-Garde Must Get.......2003-05-07

I remember a time when I was at a flea market and was looking through some vinyl records (possibly about the time before I got my first CD player). One particular record got my attention. The cover sort of resembles a newspaper article with a picture insert of a nebula. What got my attention were "Makrokosmos" and that it was a Nonesuch record. I've heard a few Nonesuch records and notice how different the music tends to be. So I thought I buy it for $1 (if I recall correctly). When I listened to it at home, I knew I made a good choice. It had the strange 20th century music - rather atonal. It's a good thing the vinyl record was in good shape, especially when it came to the very quiet parts. I have that record today, still in good shape.

About a few years after buying the vinyl record, I was looking through some CDs in a store (after I got my first CD player). I've found the Nonesuch CD that had "Ancient Voices of Children" AND "Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III)." I didn't buy it because I wanted to get it on sale. Well, time passed. One day, I saw one up for bid on eBay. I think I was the only bidder on it. The jewel case may have a few scratches (which I wouldn't worry about) but the CD itself was like new.

I'm glad that I got it on CD. I could listen to the music without any clicks or pops you would hear from a vinyl LP (especially since the music gets very quiet at times). Although you wouldn't get the "warm analog sound" you get from the vinyl. Nevertheless, it does sound very good considering that it's AAD. Whoever likes avant-garde music may want to get this.

One thing I want to let you know. Whoever did the tracking on the CD must've misjudged about the beginnings of "Myth" and "Music of the Starry Night." "Myth" begins at index 8:02 on track 9. Tracks 10 and 11 are the last movement, "Music of the Starry Night." Take note of that when listening to this CD.

Crumb in poetic and eerilie beautiful mood.......2002-06-17

Those who know US composer George Crumb mainly from the terrifying musings of 'Black Angels' (made semi-famous by the Kronos Quartet) will probably be surprised by the haunting beauty of 'Ancient Voices'. Based on texts from Lorca, the rich but sparing instrumentation is complemented by evocative, floating soprano - sometimes sung into the piano to create an eerie, mystical ambient. My first exposure was at London's Roundhouse in 1976, where even the background rumbling of trains couldn't sublimate the extraordinary lure of Crumb's sound world. Truly gorgeous and thoughtfully composed.

Exceptional.......2002-06-15

This disc is flawless. The caliber of music making is extremely high, and the pieces themselves are among Crumb's absolute finest.

Music for a Summer Evening is, perhaps, the lesser signifigant work of the two presented here. Even so, it is an astounding presentation of of Crumb's effective use of extended tequniques, and the ability of his atmospheric writing to stir up strong emotions. Here, Crumb has significantly built on the two pianos/percussion format that Bartok made famous in his Sonata.

Ancient Voices of Children is an important song cycle in the post-WWII repertoire. His extended singing tecniques are used to great effect, and the haunting, mystical effects that he cojours within the limited instrumentation are amazing.

Crumb is one a handfull of composers that can write atmospheric music so well, and pull off these avant-garde tecniques so usefully. If you do not know his music, start with this disc; it's breathtaking.

Just Listen.......2002-06-08

I just recently reaquainted myself with this work after about thirty years. Ancient voice of Children retains all of the mystery and magic that I heard when I first encountered the piece at the age of 11. The work resembles not so much a conventional piece of music as a mystic ceremony. Set to fragments from the poetry of Frederico Garcia Lorca, the music captures the magical nature of the poet's verse. The unusual instrumental effects are haunting. Amoung my favorite is the quotation from Bist Du Bei Mir played on a toy piano as a haunting elegy for a dead child. The work builds in it's last section to a shattering climax.

The perfomance is quintessential. Jan DeGaetani was marvelous in this style of music and is sorely missed as a performer. The ensemble is spirited and very precise. The only thing that you miss on this CD is the visual choreography of a live performance, which is hypnotizing.

Macrocosmos III was a new piece to me and is every bit as haunting as other Crumb music. The ending is luminous...en eternal spinning out of music in the Lydian scale.

Be aware, this is avant garde music, though I feel it is quite assessible to those who listen without preconceptions. It is certainly more assessible than Elliot Carter or Boulez. It is not Part or Gorecki...but then not everything has to be. For me, this is not about style but about substance. Crumb moves me every bit as much as more assessible composers. You just have to listen with different ears, that's all.

What is the Opposite of Music? Listen to this and find out!.......2001-11-02

Here I am, the skeleton at the feast of 5* reviews proving again the old adage that "One man's meat is another man's poison". I hardly believe that even a small percentage of people (let's leave aside Professors of Avant-Garde Music for the time being) would be able to listen to, let alone enjoy, more than a few minutes of this music (I use that term in it's very loosest definition). It is ridiculous, therefore, that this should have a preponderance of 5* reviews. Consequently I believe that I am doing a service by standing up and pointing out "bad" music just as I do in applauding "good" music.

I came at this CD - which I bought thanks to some of the aforementioned 5* which I was foolish enough to believe - with the expectation that it would be modern, avant-garde and probably rather ineffable initially. I am prepared for this, believing that often the best music is not instantly grasped and needs careful auditioning. When I listened to it, however, I found that my expectations were not nearly extreme enough. This is music trying so hard to establish its originality that it appears to have progressed well beyond my definition of what music actually is. It is music as art, as a statement and not music to listen to - think about this a little! Hence my opening line - this is the opposite of music.

Instead, this production seems to be comprised of irrelevant and inconsequential noises, none of them musical. To save you the money, and more importantly the time, I will precis this CD for you:

A womans shriek followed by about 20 seconds of silence.
A sound rather like a large rodent being let loose inside a piano.
Some blocks of wood being banged together.
More shrieking.
More silence.
A voice making a strange sound as if copying a phone ringing.
More silence.
More wood being banged together.
More silence

Etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseam

At some point in this avant-garde nonsense somebody is going to blow the whistle and irreverently point out that the "Emperors New Clothes" do not actually exist. In the service of music, as opposed to "art", I am prepared to do the pointing! This production is nothing more that a deeply unmusical joke against those pseudo-intellectuals who completely miss the concepts of humanity and accessibility in music. "Composers" who write this stuff do so as to hide their lack of musical creativity behind an intellectual argument. Don't believe the hype, leave this one on the shelf!

For those aesthetes and enthusiasts who are intent on heading down a progressive route of "classical" music which yet retains any humanity and sympathy, Part and Gorecki appear to have been able to create music of originality and humanity, proving that it can be done.

Tracks:

Andante con Variazioni
Violin Sonata No. 3: Intermezzo
(Nocturne et) Scherzo
La Captive, Op. 12
Morceau de concours
Donkey & Driver
The Swan
Song Of The Black Swan
Romantic Piece, Op. 75 No. 4
Duo For Two cellos
Dance Of The Elves, Op. 39
Souvenir russe
The Child Lived
Lied
Romance
Chonguri
Dance Suite
Inner World

Customer Reviews:

Mr. Isserlis..........2005-07-26

What a mix of pieces of which to compare and contrast. Through it all, Steven Isserlis takes us on a wide and varied journey! He truly is one talented artist. Well worth the money. Get a copy and give thanks!

Universal Music- I had to grab it.......2004-09-06

I was just listening to anything "interesting" in cello music & just took this like any other cd. I was hooked from the onsert.The tone of Isserlis is awesome, Beethoven's "Andante con Variazion" with harpschord accompanyment is just great. I continued to listen and things started hitting up when I heard a sorrowful soprano voice by Felicity Lott in Berlioz's "La Captive" song & the piano, cello move around it Oh! my God then & then I decided to purchase it, actually i had decided to purchase "Folk Cello" by Rautio & Ylonen(not available on Amazon, US)then i ended up using my last penny for Isserlis CD.The soprano returns again on Taverner's "The child Lives" with the same impact Wow !what a voice.This was very good for me because I like opera very much & to find it in this setting with the cello & piano was a bonus.ALL tracks in this cd are the greatest ever with a variety of styles from different composers but one song that really captured my imagination was Leonard's "Donkey & Driver" especially at the end. According to the story (as written by artist):there was this donkey trotting merrily along the road when its driver decides to sing a very beautiful sorrowful song well this is said to be a very busy donkey with people to see & their cultures clash then who wins? well listen to the song especially the last part when the cello mimics the sound of the donkey a rebelious one at that.All songs background are also included, the interpretations of the soprano songs in English are also included. Also check out the last song which was enhanced by isserlis when he says he was "hooked" by Carl vine's "Inner world" as played by David Pereira the dedicatee of the work.This is one of the most trilling cello renditions I like the warmth, the tone that is almost humanically lyrical.Well I guess if u love cello & u dont have this then u are missing out.

Other artists take note - THIS is how recitals are done........2001-06-29

'Cello World' is a model recital disc, conceived as a recreation of a typical turn-of-the-20th-century programme of short 'encore pieces'. Naturally, the bulk of the pieces privelege the essence of the cello, its deep, meditative, wistful melancholy - Schumann's sleepy 'Intermezzo', Villa-Lobos' evocative 'Song of the Black swan', Dvorak's romantically sad 'Romantic Piece no. 4', Rachmaninoff's rich 'Lied', Scriabin's atypically accessible 'Romance'.

this low-key mood is interleavened with moments of pure play - Beethoven's mischievous 'andante con Variazioni', a delightful tussle between (transcribed) cello and harpsichord that evokes a blithe aristocratic 18th century world rather than the composer's usual Romantic intensity; Popper's impish 'Dance of the Elves', Seiber's lovely Kreisler pastiche 'Dance Suite'.

There a couple of musical jaw-breakers to 'enlighten' the conservatism of the presumed audience - Tavener's sub-Gorecki 'The Child Lived', and the galloping epic 'Inner World' by Carl Vine, actually played by David Pereira, recorded on amplified CD, full of distorted computer echoes, and a lot more exciting and accessible than it should be.

Most cherishable for me is a little Francophone section near the start - Debussy's unexpectedly sprightly '(Nocturne et) Scherzo'; Berlioz's lyrically lilting 'La Captive', sung by Felicity Lott, for today at least the most beautiful song ever written; Faure's characteristically soulful 'Morceau de concours' (written as a Conservatoire sight test!); Leonard's deliciously funny 'Donkey and Driver', the cello playing the obstinate animal; and Saint-Saens' 'The Swan', a watery dream that defies over-familiarity.

A Masterpiece.......2000-09-10

There cannot be many greater British 'cellists than Steven Isserlis. He commissioned and premiered John Tavener's "The Protecting Veil" in 1989, to huge acclaim, and has championed for many years the 'cello music of Saint-Saens and Schumann. His playing is very energetic and intense (a 'cellist friend of mine noted that you can hear his fingers stopping the strings!) and his musicality shines as brightly as a precious jewel.

It is therefore very good to find this disc. It covers an eclectic range of styles: a set of Beethoven variations (with harpsichord accompaniment) opens the programme, whereas the last track is a strange and colourful work by Carl Vine with electro-acoustic effects produced by an amplified CD; we are also treated to a set of jazzy variations by Matyas Seiber and the wistful "Song of the Black Swan" by Villa-Lobos. Some tracks show the 'cello as a solo instrument, accompanied (these include "Romances" by Scriabin and Rachmaninov, and a "Nocturne" by Debussy) and otherwise (for instance the intriguing "Chonguri" for plucked strings by Sulkhan Tsintsadze). There is a dazzling display in the form of David Popper's "Elfentanz," but there is also a sober and calm use of the instrument in Tavener's "The Child Lived" (which features fine singing from Felicity Lott and shows how far the ''cello soundscape' has affected the composer since he was first approached by Isserlis). There is even a piece by one of Isserlis' relatives, and to hear him perform it is reminiscent of Julian Lloyd-Webber's recordings of music by his father and brother.

Everything about this disc is a joy. The music is good, the performance sparkles, the programme works despite being so varied, and the notes (by Isserlis himself) are witty and delightful to read. Highly recommended!

Very Enjoyable Listening.......2000-02-12

This cd relaxes me when I am working at the computer or driving the car. It covers a wide range of tempos but always pleases. A good cello lover's collection. Some pieces almost make me cry they have so much feeling.

Average customer rating:

Great Album.....dont believe the bad reviews
Dodge the Snobs, THIS IS A GREAT ALBUM
Alive!
Funkified!
not great, not bad

Alive & Amplified
The Mooney Suzuki
Manufacturer: Red Int / Red Ink
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Electric Sweat
If You Don't Already Have a Look
6Twenty
Making the Rounds
Save Rock 'n' Roll

ASIN: B0002MPQTQ
Release Date: 2004-08-24

Tracks:

Primitive Condition
Alive & Amplified
Legal High
New York
Shake That Bush Again
Sometimes Somethin
Loose 'N' Juicy
Hot Sugar
Messin' In The Dressin' Room
Naked Lady
Love Bus

Customer Reviews:

Great Album.....dont believe the bad reviews.......2007-03-24

this album is great, it gets you pumped up, especially alive and amplified

Dodge the Snobs, THIS IS A GREAT ALBUM.......2006-02-02

Firstly, if I hear another uninformed poseur talk about how this second album of theirs let them down, and oh, dear me, they changed their sound... After People Get Ready, then Electric Sweat, Live & Amplified is their third full length LP, and their fourth release if you include the Self Titled EP.

I don't care about the so-called change in their sound- I got into Suzuki with the, Your Love is a Gentle Whip, single. On that early release their garage sound was completely mechanical, and devoid of the blues/funk that they've evolved into today. They have changed/evolved with each album. Most good bands do.

This is a solid album. It would be a solid first album, and it is a solid third album. Their sound evolved and matured, and I hope it continues to. Yes, it was produced by the Matrix. Did that effect the sound. The producer always does. Primitive Condition, Alive & Amplified and Shake That Bush Again are all really great songs. I hope they made a few bucks licensing the title track to, appropriately enough, Suzuki for the Grand Vitara TV spot where the guy parachutes off the red-rock down to his SUV... You've heard it a dozen times, that's the song.

Alive!.......2005-08-07

A highly anticipated new release from New York garage rockers Mooney Suzuki thrills with peices like the funky, energetic title track, which boasts of drums reminiscent of "Sympathy For The Devil", vocals that sound like the twisted offspring of Ozzy Ozbourne and Jimi Hendrix, as well as with the opening track, "Primitive Condition", which starts with a guitar riff that could easilybe on an AC/DC album. Luckily the sophisticated yet poppy lyrics spare the need to compare the two.

Funkified!.......2005-05-26

I picked this up for free from the record store I work at, not really expecting much but hoping that it was good. And, I was pleasantly surprised! This album provides some damn good hip-shaking funk and deep sexy soul.

The first song is just naughty enough to make me smile, while the title track "Alive & Amplified" is a big energy romp through the highs of life.

I won't go into much detail after that, it's sort of something you need to experience for yourself.

not great, not bad.......2005-04-15

This is a good album, sure it could've been way better if it was recorded with the same production of Electric Sweat with the buzzing guitars and all, but this is not a bad album. Garage rock? nawwww, but good ol' rock n roll? h311s yes.

Xenakis: Orchestral Works & Chamber Music

Average customer rating:

Promise unfulfilled
THE introduction to Xenakis
Xenakis! Yeah Baby, That's What I'm Talking About!
"N'Shima", "Metastaseis", and "Jonchaies" are highlights
A strong disc that showcases Xenakis' remarkable style

Xenakis: Orchestral Works & Chamber Music
Iannis Xenakis , Safir , Swf So Baden-Baden , and Rosbaud
Manufacturer: Col Legno
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Duets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

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Xénakis: Pléïdes
Luigi Nono: Como una ola de fuerza y luz, for Soprano, Piano, Orchestra & Magnetic Tape (1971-72) / ...sofferte onde serene... For Piano & Magnetic Tape (1976) / Contrapunto dialettico alla mente, for Magnetic Tape (1968) - Maurizio Pollini / Claudio Abbado
Penderecki: Anaklasis; Threnody; etc.
Varèse - The Complete Works / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra · Asko Ensemble · Chailly
György Ligeti Edition 1: String Quartets and Duets - Arditti String Quartet

ASIN: B00004SZVO
Release Date: 2000-04-15

Customer Reviews:

Promise unfulfilled.......2007-06-05

The composer Xenakis brings most to mind is George Antheil. Both composers made a huge initial splash. But repeated listening to these pieces reveals that they are little more than empty effect. Although dates of the pieces here span two or three decades, all of the music is rooted firmly in the sixties. There are many composers who experimented with similar textures during this period. But for the best of breed, this kind of music became an important part--but only a part--of a larger toolkit. Without this experimentalism, we'd have never had Ligeti's "San Francisco Polyphony" or Lutoslawski's mighty "Third Symphony". But Xenakis appears to feel that the effect is the thing. There's not much in this music beyond theatricality.

This has often been considered to be groundbreaking music. But it's important to build something after breaking ground. Xenakis has left us an empty lot.

THE introduction to Xenakis.......2007-02-11

The Col legno label's "Orchestral works and chamber music" discs are usually overpriced and contain second-rate material. But on this collection of the music of Iannis Xenakis, we get several excellent pieces in historical performances, with surprising good sound quality.

Just for this recording of "Metastasis" alone the disc is worth for the price. This work, written for large orchestra between 1953 and 1954, was Xenakis' first mature effort. Of great proportions indeed, "Metastasis" has 61 instrumentalists playing 61 different parts. The opening is stunning, gradually each of the strings enters sustaining a single note, creating a massive wall of sound before some strings go astray via glissandi to other notes and pizzicato playing and the rest of the orchestra shows up. Closely related to the composer's design of the Couvent de la Tourette near Lyons, much of the dynamics of this first portion is based on the Fibonacci sequence, with nearly every decision in the work, from the structures of intervals to the length of dynamics and tones. The second section is more traditional, as the bulk of the orchestral forces remain silent with some strings playing a contrapuntal passage with drumrolls in the background and the occasional spotting of brass. This recording documents the world-premiere at the 1955 Donaueschinger Musiktage, where the SWF Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hans Rosbaud perform. While slightly lesser in sound-quality than the other two widely-available recordings, this one was considered to be the best by Xenakis, and even in 1950s mono sound it packs a tremendous punch.

Almost two decades passed between "Metastasis" and the next piece here. "Charisma" (1971) is written for clarinet, here Hans Deinzer, and cello, here the great Siegfried Palm. Unlike the wild energy typical of much of Xenakis' work, this duo consists of long-held sonorities and pregnant silences. Alone of the pieces here, it tends toward the forgettable, but some of the weird, noise-like sounds evoked unusual attacks on the instruments are quite interesting.

"N'Shima" (1975) is the only work here to include voices, and is also the smallest piece for ensemble. Two female voices, singing from a Hebrew text, are combined with two horns, two trombones, and a cello. The piece was rigorously constructed with the aid of a computer to create melodic patterns from probabilities, but the result, far from seeming inhuman or lifeless, is immensely elegant. Throughout each of the piece's six sections, a particular combination of instruments is explored, starting with voice and horns, the cello paired with breath sounds, and so forth. A strong effort, and this performance by Les Jeunes Solistes conducted by Rachid Safir, recorded at a 1991 festival in Metz, is admirably clear and confident.

In "Jonchaies" (1977) Xenakis returns to the massively large orchestra of "Metastasis", with 109 musicians, quadruple winds, six percussionists, and an extra-large string section. The piece is one of his late masterpieces, and it's got it all. The opening is for string alone, starting off with repetitive bowing reminiscent of the PSYCHO shower scene, then falling into some of Xenakis' most straightfowardly melodical writing. Gamelan-like sonorities appear in a long string continuum. Then, the piece launches into a series of rhythmic pulsations, with bouncy writing on drums and low strings similar to Per Norgard's much later piece "Terrains Vagues". The energy never lets up, even with most of the orchestra occasionally drops out to highlight one group. Gilbert Amy leads the Nouvel Orchesre Philharmonique in a splendid performance.

"Ata" (1987) similarly opens with a passage for string alone, but its main facet is not rhythm but texture. Overall it's one of the least "strange" pieces Xenakis wrote, resembling some of the work of Magnus Lindberg like "Fresco" or "Arena". I would have started the disc with "Metastasis" to show the fury that Xenakis is all about, but Col legno did well by putting this piece early to help new listeners gently acclimate to the composer's soundworld. This recording is from the premiere at the 1988 Donaueschinger Musiktage, with Michael Gielen leading the SWF Symphony.

"Ioolkos" (1996) was another piece premiered at Donaueschingen, and this recording is of that performance by the SWF Symphony Orchestra led by Kwame Ryan. In its numerous clusters and strong counterpoint, it looks back to "Metastasis", which appeared forty-one years earlier by the same orchestra at the same festival. However, it is much slower and a bit shorter, taking the gentle soundworld of "Ata" a bit further.

Xenakis was a notoriously inconsistent composer, and a few of his works are even well-nigh unlistenable. However, the material collected here is of a very high standard indeed. Unfortunately, the liner notes here, amounting to a single small paragraph on each work, are among the most unsubstantial I've ever seen. Fans of the composer would do best to seek out James Harley's excellent guide XENAKIS (Routledge, 2004) which covers the composer's entire oeuvre--don't worry, it doesn't assume that one can read music.

Xenakis! Yeah Baby, That's What I'm Talking About! .......2006-09-09

Initially I was hesitant in buying this CD. Primarily I wanted to hear the relatively famous "Metastaseis". This was it's premiere performance and recording under conductor Hans Rosbaud, it dates from 1955. I was suspicious that the sound wouldn't be great, how wrong was I to worry! The sound is unbelievable, better than many modern digital recordings in fact. The great strength of this piece is still well apparent even after the dilution of this type of musical idiom by other avant-garde composers not to mention the constant borrowings of Hollywood film musicians.

However fine "Metastaseis" is, there are plenty of other experimental works to be found here. For instance, track 2 called "N'Shima" (1975) has some truly wacked out vocal work, perfect background music for people who like to get drunk or high? Ha!

Another surprise was track 6, titled "Jonchaies" (1977). Is the opening an overt tongue-in-cheek jab at movie composer Bernard Herrmann? I know that Herrmann was certainly influenced by the avant-garde movements during the mid-century and incorporated it's ideas into his own film scores, Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" being one of them. So was Xenakis consciously trying to quote the score of "Psycho" so as to get back at Herrmann's continual lifting of ideas from avant-gardists like Xenakis himself in the first place? Can it all be just a coincidence? Who knows?

You'll have plenty of musical fun with this disc I assure you, the later featured Xenakis works are not as persuasive as Metastaseis but it's good to have such a well rounded 67 minute collage of his music on one CD. A definite buy.

"N'Shima", "Metastaseis", and "Jonchaies" are highlights.......2005-05-31

These works are amazing. They are hostile, forbidding, and occasionally terrifying visions of distant, extraterrestrial landscapes.

A strong disc that showcases Xenakis' remarkable style.......2003-12-18

The life of the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis is amongst the most interesting of all 20th century composers: injured and left for dead while fighting as a left-wing partisan against the Nazi occupation of Greece, escaping to France to avoid the death sentence pronounced upon him, teaching himself music and architecture, becoming a major name in both, and pioneering computer-aided composition. This disc in Col Legno's Collage series includes live performances of six works from the 1950s to the 1990s, allowing us to see that Xenakis' musical output is as interesting as his life itself.

The disc opens with the 1987 composition Ata, for large orchestra. This is a typical work in Xenakis' late style, with an overall tempo much slower than the surface activity might suggest and long sequences of atonal block chords overlaid with more dynamic material. The music is tense and energetic throughout, with vibrantly rhythmic, percussive passages keeping the music flowing. This is an excellent piece, superbly performed by the SWF Symphony under the predictably excellent Michael Gielen.

N'Shima, written in 1975, is for an unusual amplified ensemble: two mezzo-sopranos, two horns, two trombones and a cello. It has an intensely ritualistic feel to it, in part because much of the writing is in the same register. At times, this work reminded me of the 1970s music of Giacinto Scelsi, particularly in the incantatory nature of the vocal lines.

Next up is a recording with great historical significance, the 1955 Donaueschingen premiere of Xenakis' then-new Metastaseis. This work must have seemed quite outré to those expecting imitations of the pointillism of Boulez or Stockhausen at that time; with its wailing strings, siren-like brass, hushed percussion effects, glissandi and tone clusters this music now seems far more radical than, say, Le Marteau sans maitre. It is still disturbing listening even today--though it should be: Xenakis said it was in part drawn from his memories of watching crowds scatter under gunfire.

The next two works are less impressive. Ioolkos, written in 1996 and one of Xenakis' last works, might be considered an attempt to revisit the world of Metastaseis from a "late-Xenakis" vantage point. Its slow progress and rather curdled sounds do not appeal to me. Charisma, written in 1971, is a brief and rather fractured duet for cello and clarinet.

The disc closes as it began, with a hyper-energetic work for large orchestra. Jonchaies, written in 1977, is a bona-fide Xenakis classic, emerging from long string glissandi, travelling through more and more intensely rhythmic sections to a large climax before fading out in the sounds of piccolos and tiny bells. This is arguably the strongest work on the whole disc, but, unfortunately, this performance, with the Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique under the French composer Gilbert Amy, has been superseded by a more recent recording on Timpani that has better orchestral playing and a generally higher level of tension (though there is one percussive passage that comes off better in this recording).

Overall, this recording is well-worth considering, particularly for those who have not heard Xenakis' music before. The recording of Ata should be considered as close to definitive as we're likely to get, and only Ioolkos and Charisma--the two shortest works on the disc--are weak. Xenakis' music may not be for everyone, but it has a potential audience much larger than many of the other avant-garde composers (and yes, you could mosh to Ata or to Jonchaies!)

Complete Crumb Edition 9; Ancient Voices of Children, Madrigals Books I-IV, Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik
Average customer rating:
Complete Crumb Edition 9; Ancient Voices of Children, Madrigals Books I-IV, Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik
George Crumb , Tony Arnold , Justin Murray , David Colson , and Emanuele Arciuli
Manufacturer: Bridge Records, Inc.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Complete Crumb Edition, Vol. 6 - Echoes of Time and the River, Gnomic Variations, Four Nocturnes, Lux Aeterna

Complete Crumb Edition, Vol. 8; Makrokosmos Books I & II, Otherwordly Resonances

Complete Crumb Edition, Volume 5: Easter Dawning, Celestial Mechanics, A Haunted Landscape, Processional

Complete George Crumb Editon, Volume 7 - Unto the Hills, Black Angels

Crumb: Zeitgeist, Music for a Summer Evening

ASIN: B000AA4L50
Release Date: 2005-07-20

Tracks:

Ancient Voices of Children - El nino busca su voz
Ancient Voices of Children - "Dances of the Ancient Earth"
Ancient Voices of Children - Me he perdido muchas veces por el mar
Ancient Voices of Children - De donde vienes, amor, mi nino?
Ancient Voices of Children - Todas las tardes en Granada, todas las tardes se muere un nino
Ancient Voices of Children - "Ghost Dance"
Ancient Voices of Children - Se ha llenado de luces mi corazon de seda
Eine Kline Mitternachtmusik - Nocturnal Theme
Eine Kline Mitternachtmusik - Charade
Eine Kline Mitternachtmusik - Premonition
Eine Kline Mitternachtmusik - Cobweb and Peaseblossom
Eine Kline Mitternachtmusik - Incantation
Eine Kline Mitternachtmusik - Golliwog Revisited
Eine Kline Mitternachtmusik - Blues in the Night
Eine Kline Mitternachtmusik - Cadenza with Tolling Bells
Eine Kline Mitternachtmusik - Midnight Transformation
Madrigals - Verte desnuda es recordar la tierra
Madrigals - No piensan en la lluvia, y se han dormido
Madrigals - Los muertos llevan alas de musgo
Madrigals - Bebe el agua tranquila de la cancion aneja
Madrigals - La muerte entra y sale de la taberna
Madrigals - Caballito negro Donde llevas tu jinete muerto
Madrigals - La noche canta desnuda sobre los puentes de marzo
Madrigals - Quiero dormir el sueno de las manzanas
Madrigals - Nana, nino, nana del caballo grande que no quiso el agua
Madrigals - Por que naci entres espejos
Madrigals - Tu cuerpo, con la sombra violeta de mis manos, era un arcangel de frio
Madrigals - La muerto me esta mirando desde las torres de Cordoba!

Product Description

Volume Nine of Bridge's Grammy Award-winning George Crumb Edition features new recordings of two of Crumb's Lorca-inspired classics, as well as the premiere recording of the composer's latest piano piece. Ancient Voices of Children is the composition that brought George Crumb his greatest fame in the 1970s. Scored for soprano, boy soprano and a wild assortment of instruments including mandolin, musical saw, and toy piano, Ancient Voices is a dramatic masterpiece that influenced an entire generation of composers with its use of quotation, extremes of color and dynamics, and one of the most stunningly virtuosic vocal parts in the twentieth century repertoire. As sung in this composer-supervised recording, the young soprano, Tony Arnold, breathes new life and beauty into this cycle which has been virtually owned by the work's dedicatee, the legendary Jan DeGaetani. Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik is George Crumb's latest work for solo piano- a twenty minute take on Thelonious Monk's famous tune Round Midnight. Though the work opens and closes with literal statements of Monk's tune, from the outset, we know that the music is the inimitable work of George Crumb, with its strummed strings, percussive rumblings inside the piano, and typically Crumbian harmony. Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik includes a touching blues' movement, and a theatrical counting off' (in Italian) of the hours until Midnight. The work's dedicatee, the Italian piano virtuoso Emanuele Arciuli, is the performer in this premiere recording. George Crumb's four books of Madrigals comprise the longest work in his famed Lorca cycle. This new recording again features Tony Arnold in a spectacular realization of these seminal works by Crumb. From a field of nearly one hundred singers and instrumentalists at Holland's 2002 Gaudeamus International Interpreters Competition, the American soprano Tony Arnold triumphed, becoming the first singer ever to win the competition's First Prize. Ms. Arnold has recently completed a 10 city tour with George Crumb and the George Crumb Ensemble. The soprano's sensational performances of Mr. Crumb's works has inspired Crumb to compose a new work for Ms. Arnold, which will be featured on an upcoming volume in this series. The previous volumes in Bridge's Crumb edition are: BRIDGE 9028 - Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death; Apparition, A Little Suite for Christmas, AD 1979 BRIDGE 9069 - Quest, Federico's Little Songs for Children, Night Music I BRIDGE 9095 - Star-Child, Three Early Songs, Mundus Canis BRIDGE 9105 - Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III), Zeitgeist BRIDGE 9113 - Easter Dawning, Celestial Mechanics, A Haunted Landscape, Processional, Easter Dawning BRIDGE 9127 - Lux Aeterna, Pastoral Drone, Four Nocturnes, Gnomic Variations, Echoes of Time and the River BRIDGE 9139 - Unto the Hills, Black Angels BRIDGE 9155 - Makrokosmos Vol. I-II, Otherworldly Resonances

Average customer rating:

An impressive start to an important recording series
Xenakis' Terrifying World
Great beginning to a Xenakis orchestral cycle

Xenakis: Large Orchestra Works, Vol. 1
Iannis Xenakis , Sakkas , Daudin , Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra , and Tamayo
Manufacturer: Timpani
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Xenakis: Orchestral Works, Vol. II
Xenakis: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3
Xenakis: Orchestral Works & Chamber Music
Xenakis: Music for Strings
Xenakis: Metastasis; Pithoprakta; Eonta

ASIN: B0000521XC
Release Date: 2000-11-21

Customer Reviews:

An impressive start to an important recording series.......2003-12-14

The French record company Timpani is to be congratulated on attempting one of the most ambitious recording projects of recent years. Many of Iannis Xenakis' orchestral works have never been recorded before, and this set of recordings (so far, three have been issued) will be an essential purchase for the fans of this composer.

This disc begins with the dramatic scena Aïs, for baritone (who also sings falsetto), solo percussion and orchestra. Based on ancient Greek texts, this is a phenomenally intense work, with the soloist alternating between the deepest notes of his range and an unearthly wailing falsetto (this work and others of the composer's were written specifically for the phenomenal voice of Spyros Sakkas, the singer on this recording). Perhaps most impressive are the passages in the work where the tension suddenly releasees, and unexpected delicate modal melodies accompany surprisingly tender singing.

Traceés, the work that follows, is one of the best works of Xenakis' late period, a five-minute coiled spring of energy that never lets up for one moment--in contrast, Empreintes is often comparatively calm, opening on constant reiterations of one note, then contrasting it with massed string glissandi, repeated chords and trills, and closing with a mass of eerie repeated notes as if a vast range of interstellar signals were all going off at the same time.

The other two works on the disc impress me rather less. Noomena is impressive in its massed glissandi, but the musical argument seems to me to be less focused than in Empreintes, while Roáï is a rather routine essay in clashing slowly treading chords against a very different--though only apparently unrelated--melodic line.

Xenakis' music is certainly not for everyone, but his language is amongst the most immediately appealing of the post-war avant-garde. This series of discs should certainly bring new friends to the composer's music, even if (as this and other discs in the series have shown) Xenakis' oeuvre is sometimes a little inconsistent. All credit to the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, who manage impassioned and energetic performances under the experienced hand of Arturo Tamayo.

Xenakis' Terrifying World.......2002-10-10

I have to agree with the other reviewers here...this is a welcome release indeed. Tamayo's account of these Xenakis works is firm and authoritative in a notoriously difficult repertoire. And the disc is devoted to lesser known works from the 70s and 80's, all of them revelations.

For me, the most impressive piece is Ais, for baritone, percussion and orchestra. This work is terrifying in it's intensity. The vocal line is almost incantory. Much is in falsetto or in a deep grunt. What amazes me most on this is the balance. On of the biggest complaints that has been raised legitimately against Xenakis is that he really doesn't know how to balance instrumental forces. Tamayo handles this extremely well, with the help of some brilliant engineering. The baritone falsetto is always audible, no matter how loud and agressive the percussion or brass interjections.

The rest of the disc is equally well played. Each work is fascinating. Xenakis had a genius for interesting texture and color in the orchestra, even if some of his basic balances are off. With music this original, you forgive some technical lapses, and in the hands of sensative musicians, the point becomes moot.

The second volume looks equally interesting. I am looking forward to picking it up soon.

Great beginning to a Xenakis orchestral cycle.......2001-07-23

Iannis Xenakis died in February this year (2001), and has left behind an enourmous amount of music (not all of it top-notch), much of which has so far never been recorded (and Xenakis isn't really a favourite for symphony programmers either) so this important new disc is most welcome.

It forms volume one of a Xenakis orchestral cycle, and it augurs well. Those new to Xenakis's orchestral work should still begin with the recent Col Legno release which contains the first [1955] and best (according to Xenakis) performance of the seminal "Metastasis". That disc is an essential part of anyone's Xenakis discography anyway and this, I think, will become one too.

Arturo Tamayo is an experienced conductor of new music (he studied under Boulez) and is also responible for the recording of Richard Barrett's outstanding orchestral work "Vanity" on the NMC label (anyone interested in Xenakis should also investigate this Barrett disc). Likewise the Luxembourg Philharmonic acquit themselves well, seeming relatively at ease with this difficult music, but never lacking passion or precision.

The first piece, "Ais", is a dramatic work for Baritone (singing a lot of falsetto), percussion, and orchestra. The texts (given in the booklet) are from the Iliad, Odyssey, and from a fragment of Sappho's poetry. It is disturbing and uncomfortable, but exhilirating nonetheless. The baritone Spyros Sakkas, a long time collaborator with Xenakis, is secure and definitive in this difficult music.

The other four works, all for largish orchestras, explore and interrogate the sound-world in Xenakian fashion. There is no real way or need for me to explain the works - they speak for themselves. The finest work here, though, is "Empreintes", which creates a truly awe-inspriring sonoric landscape filled with dense, microtonal string textures and brass interjections.

With more of Xenakis's orchestral work becoming available on CD we are able to get a clearer and more rounded picture of his music and development. Listen, for example, to the conclusion of "Empreintes" and the end of "Phlegra" (both written in 1975) to hear how Xenakis explores similar ideas in different ways and in different mediums.

The only let down is Nouritza Matossian's (English) liner notes. Like Paul Griffiths, she writes an excellent book, but vague, pointless and unhelpful liner notes. The French or German notes are by separate authors, and the French notes look good (though I am not at all fluent in French).

A Timpani catalogue on the back page informs us that Vol 2 (to be released in September 2001) will include "Synaphai", "Jonchaies", "Lichens" and "Shaar". So look out for that too. Hopefully there will be more volumes to come.

Xenakis's reputation as embodying the worst kind of arrogant, avant-garde extremism often strikes me as ridiculous, and I think often puts people off from hearing his music. To me he was and is an original, powerful and sincere voice of the late twentieth century, and we have yet to meet him on his own terms. This series from Timpani can help us achieve that.

Makrokosmos Vol. 1 & 2: 24 Fantasy Pieces after the Zodiac for Amplified Piano
Average customer rating:

Ehh...

Makrokosmos Vol. 1 & 2

Makrokosmos Vol. 1 & 2: 24 Fantasy Pieces after the Zodiac for Amplified Piano
George Crumb , and Laurie Hudicek
Manufacturer: Furious Artisans
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000649NI
Release Date: 2002-04-30

Tracks:

Primeval Sounds (Genesis I) Cancer
Proteus Pisces
Pastorale (from the Kingdom of Atlantis, ca.10,000 B.C.) Taurus
Crucifixus [Symbol] Capricorn
The Phantom Gondolier Scorpio
Night-Spell I Sagittarius
Music of Shadows (for Aeolian Harp) Libra
The Magic Circle of Infinity (Moto perpetuo) [Symbol] Leo
The Abyss of Time Virgo
Spring-Fire Aries
Dream Images (Love-Death Music) Gemini
Spiral Galaxy [Symbol] Aquarius
Morning Music (Genesis II) Cancer
The Mystic Chord Sagittarius
Rain-Death Variations Pisces
Twin Suns (Doppleger aus der Ewigkeit) [Symbol] Gemeni
Ghost-Nocturne: for the Druids of Stonehenge (Night-Spell II) Virgo
Gargoyles Taurus
Tora! Tora! Tora! (Cadenza Apocalittica) Scorpio
A Prophecy of Nostradamus [Symbol] Aries
Cosmic Wind Libra
Voices from Corona Borealis Aquarius
Litany of the Galactic Bells Leo
Agnus Dei [Symbol] Capricorn

Album Description

In 1971, George Crumb set out to compose a set of piano pieces; the preludes of Debussy and Chopin as well as Well Tempered Klavier of J.S. Bach come to mind as prototypes. What emerged after two years of painstaking distillation, Crumb's Makrokosmos Vol. 1 & 2 for amplified piano, has proved a worthy heir to its 18th and 19th century analogs. Makrokosmos is a multi-dimensional odyssey through a universe of metaphysical timbres created via a compendium of extended piano techniques. These include the use of metal chains, paper on the strings, wire brush, paper clip, metal thimbles, whistling and Latin incantations. Crumb closes the `magic circle of infinity' with these exceptional works, fusing performer with instrument, music with timbre, primitive with modern, terror with romance, lyricism with violence.

Taking advantage of state-of-the-art digital recording technology, producer Marc Wolf & Engineer Jeremy Tressler have captured George Crumb's timeless Makrokosmos in stunning detail, clarity and dynamic range. Furious Artisans newest release promises to take the listener literally inside the guts of a 9 foot Steinway. If you need to own one version of Makrokosmos, this is the one!

Customer Reviews:

Ehh..........2005-06-15

I did not find this recording very inspiring. George Crumb is an excellent composer, and the Makrokosmos cycles are excellent. However, as a pianist, I found that this recording is not really true to the music itself. The performer ignores some of Crumb's essential markings that sometimes make the pieces special. I have to admit that this recording is nearly alone in the world, so to have this recording is a blessing. It could be better, though.

Makrokosmos Vol. 1 & 2.......2002-06-04

I have listened to all of the major Makrokosmos recordings including the David Burge and Christiane Mathe version... I thought I knew this music! Laurie Hudicek is outrageous!! I mean, this is a flat out mind-numbing performance that runs finely scribed circles around those other versions. I must also mention the sound quality; normally this is something that I don't think about unless it is bad. On the contrary, this recording has the most amazing piano sound that I have heard short of the real thing. What an excellent find.

Soul Music:

Soul Music

soul music

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