Daughters Of The Sun

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Blend Greek, Middle Eastern and US music together, and you'll have a vague idea of what Nana is capable of.

Product Description
#1 Radio Hit album heard on over 500 stations playing world fusion and new age music nationwide. Evocative, expansive and enchanting yet accessible to everyone, this beautiful music blends sounds from around the world to create something unique and magical.

Daughters Of The Sun

Customer Reviews:

LITTLE STURM AND LESS DRANG.......2007-03-17

Mendelssohn's songs with words are bound to invite comparison with his Songs Without. Those 48 elegant piano pieces have often been viewed as being a little lacking in variety and as being a walk on the mild side. This disc contains 24 songs carolled by Margaret Price to a tasteful accompaniment from Graham Johnson, so it's unlikely that we are going to be given any renderings that misrepresent them. Nor are we. The performers take us back to the familiar world of the Lieder Ohne Worte, and rightly so. The songs range from the composer's teens to late in his brief career, and to my ears the numbers selected improve in general as they go along, and the performances improve along with them.

With the ultra-precocious Mendelssohn of all composers we would not be entitled to make excuses for shortcomings in early works on grounds of youth. This is, after all, the composer of the Rondo Capriccioso for piano at age 16 and of the octet and the overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream very shortly afterwards. When it comes to the early songs it may be that he had to stay within the rules imposed by his conservative teacher. However even if he was trifling with his great genius for reasons of enforced discipline, he was still trifling with his genius, and that is how the first few songs here come across to me. There are glimpses of what he could really do, all the same. The liner-note writer gets rather excited about the Hexenlied (Witches Song), but what I find in it is not the `frenzied goings-on' that he detects, but more a neat and effective musical equivalent of a story about witches for young children - graphic but not too frightening. Its mood and style remind me more of the Midsummer Night's Dream, I'm glad to say, than of Mendelssohn's truly deplorable and misconceived music for Goethe's Walpurgisnacht. What is interesting is how the performers go about this first departure from the tone of the previous selections. Margaret Price makes what seems to me a slightly nervous attempt at witchiness, as if afraid of overdoing it, as well she might be. I think they could have taken a little more of a risk without guying the song. The next two numbers more or less revert to the manner of the earlier efforts, but the beloved melody of On Wings of Song bursts through like a ray of sunshine on track 8 - simple and unambitious still, but fresh forever.

As the recital progresses and the composer's opus-numbers get higher we start to encounter the greater Mendelssohn. One that made an impression on me was the so-called Folk Song on track 14. Now at last we are within striking distance of Schubert and Schumann, and I was surprised that this is the only song out of the 24 in which Mendelssohn adopts Schubert's favourite device of echoing the vocal cadences in the accompaniment. This simple trick can produce expressive wonders, and it's not as if Schubert had some copyright on it - you will find Beethoven using this device in one of the songs from Egmont. Margaret Price deepens her tone here in a way I like, and Graham Johnson in parallel dares to lean on the bass a little more, something I wish he had done in some of the earlier songs. Matters then keep improving. Das Waldschloss on track 21 is a splendid spooky effort, splendidly realised with real atmosphere to it. The last two songs have genuine stature to them, particularly the Nachtlied. Here the performers rise to the occasion, with power in Price's voice and depth in Johnson's playing.

It may well be, of course, that they were restraining themselves in the earlier numbers so as to achieve this sense of climax, and there would have been nothing wrong with that. All the same, I can't escape a slight sense of regret at what seems to me a rather pallid impression early on. Johnson in particular, while technically immaculate and showing a fine sense of proportion, could have done a little more near the start to remind us that Mendelssohn was one of the foremost piano players of his time by showing us more of the resourcefulness in the piano part.

A fine disc for all that, and one I recommend. The recording seems good by and large, although there was a slight sense of strain on a few of the singer's high notes. The liner-note is quite helpful in general too, if rather overdoing its emphasis on such wonders as a `magical shift from D to B major' somewhere, which is rather the equivalent of complimenting an author on his spelling and punctuation. The Wings of Song wafted me into the ether not infrequently, and I hope they will do the same for you.

Average customer rating:

Mendelssohn: Songs and Duets, Vol. 3

Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
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As Steals the Morn: Handel Arias & Scenes for Tenor
Mendelssohn: The Piano Trios

ASIN: B0000DJENA
Release Date: 2004-01-13

Average customer rating:

Let the Sun Shine In...
valuble re-issue material...

Let the Sun Shine In
Sons and Daughters of Lite
Manufacturer: Luv N Haight
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000040OCK
Release Date: 2000-01-18

Tracks:

Let The Sun Shine In
Fly Away
Operation Feed Yourself
A Real Thing
Ju Ju's Door
Darkuman Junktion

Customer Reviews:

Let the Sun Shine In..........2000-09-29

I remember this vintage group from the 70s, and to run across a CD by them was like finding a forgotten keepsake in the bottom of a drawer. The virtuosity of the lead soprano on the title cut still knocks my socks off. These folks knew how to blend the mixed sounds of the 70s - new age, reggae, jazz improvisation - yet, never resorted to electronically enhancing their unique tones. Their stylized vocals coupled with the rich instrumentation is a stand-alone kind of musical genre. Wow! Are there any more releases pending...

valuble re-issue material..........2000-03-10

When this first became available, it was a classic, to those of my parents age at least. But now it has been lovingly re-released by Ubiquity records off-shoot Luv'n'Haight, it must surely take up its rightful position in every dj's and rare groover's record collection as possibly one of the finest records of its' genre!

Whether you're a soulboy or a hipster, dancer or listener, I challenge anyone to find a tune like the eponymous one at the beginning. With its gentle intro on this extended version, leading on to the furious rhythm to follow, trumpets ablasting, oboe meandering and the simple almost etheral nature of the vocals--this has to be heard to be believed. It is just beautiful to listen to, and indeed beautiful to loose yourself in the whole production!

Tracks:

Ishe O Wa
Vin Yo Mai
Siva's Moon Dance
Aphrodite's Star
Seduction
Eyebrows
Alluring Waltz
Come Now
True To The Land

Album Description

#1 Radio Hit album heard on over 500 stations playing world fusion and new age music nationwide. Evocative, expansive and enchanting yet accessible to everyone, this beautiful music blends sounds from around the world to create something unique and magical.

Customer Reviews:

Who writes these reviews?.......2004-04-11

This tripe is not even in the same ball park as Loreena McKennitt. Lame production, lame recording, terrible composition, mediocre performances, but other than that it.....well, stinks frankly. I can't think of anything good to say about this pathetic immitation of a wonderful genre of music. I bought it based on favorable reviews. People who like this stuff should not be trying to influence others, rather go back to their Yanni and pretend to be enlightened while they sip weak green tea and burn toxic cheap incense and candles from Pier One.

Eclectic, original and fun!.......2004-01-01

Nana [Simopoulos], minus her last name and plus a number of new musical friends, returns for another foray down the misty, musical pathways of her fertile imagination. Her exotic, contemplative compositions for strings, winds, voice and percussion are rooted in ethnic traditions from around the world, but are enhanced by modern jazzy flavors and improvisational flourish. The fusion of eastern and western musical styles is apparent simply by the noting the variety of instruments contributing to this album: sitar, bouzouki, tanpura, fretless guitar, sarangi, bansuri flutes, clarinet, pan flute, Apache spirit flute, Chinese flute, bass flute, hammered dulcimer, violin, cello, bass, tablas, glass armonica, udu, digeridu, toms and other world percussion, with vocals, chants and spoken Greek rounding out the soundscape. Guest artists include Ustad Sultan Khan on sarangi and vocals, Steve Gorn on flutes, and percussionist Arto Tuncboyacian. Nana and friends can also be heard in her previous release, "After the Moon", and if you enjoy their work, you might also like that of the innovative Persian group, Axiom of Choice.

nexus of worlds.......2002-05-17

From the shining, delighted music of the first song to other songs with percussion so extremely meditative in such a gorgeous way it becomes almost sullen, Nina Simopoulos takes instruments & sounds from all over the world to create an impressive melange. The music is very spicy. Cobras would dance to it. There are distinctly Persian sequences, & an array of flutes including Apache spirit flutes & pan flutes. There are didgeridoos & tanpuras, classic droning instruments from Aboriginal & Indian [of India] cultures. Tablas, violin, keyboard. There are many more, used to create something marvelous. I can't honestly say it's the MOST talented or brilliant album I have from this loose genre of music, but it is very interesting, & that is reflected in how well it sells.

nexus of worlds.......2002-05-17

From the shining, delighted music of the first song to other songs with percussion so extremely meditative in such a gorgeous way it becomes almost sullen, Nina Simopoulos takes instruments & sounds from all over the world to create an impressive melange. The music is very spicy. Cobras would dance to it. There are distinctly Persian sequences, & an array of flutes including Apache spirit flutes & pan flutes. There are didgeridoos & tanpuras, classic droning instruments from Aboriginal & Indian [of India] cultures. Tablas, violin, keyboard. I can't honestly say it's the MOST talented or brilliant album I have from this loose genre of music, but it is very interesting, & that is reflected in how well it sells.

Evocative and Enchanting.......2001-10-30

Nana's music ... evocative and enchanting. Tunnels us into magical realms.