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- Review count31
- Helpfulness votes2
- First reviewAugust 18, 2009
- Last reviewFebruary 20, 2013
- Featured reviews2
- Average rating4.6
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![Canto [CD]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/2090/20906455_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
4
Beguiling Brazilian
on February 20, 2013
Posted by: dbrierly
from Studio City, CA
On her latest recording, Brazil’s Tania Maria serves up another batch of get-under-your-skin tunes, infectiously joyous vocals and warm, funky piano. She effortlessly blends bossa nova, samba, jazz and funk into a softly swinging collection of mostly up-tempo numbers, with a couple of intimate and affecting ballads tossed into the mix. The arrangements are elegant and simple, and never get in the way of the groove that Maria lays down. Although “Canto” follows on the heels of her 2011 release, “Tempo,” the tracks here were actually recorded back in 2005 and 2008. It’s not clear why this music wasn’t released at that time, but better late than never. Rhythmically compelling and emotionally affecting, this is music to fit any mood, whether you’re in high spirits or need them raised up.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Górecki: Concerto-Cantata; Little Requiem for a Certain Polka; Three Dances [CD]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/2021/20214964_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
5
Spiritual modernism
on August 14, 2012
Posted by: dbrierly
from Studio City, CA
Everyone knows Gorecki’s “Third Symphony” which, though written in 1976, brought him worldwide fame in the 1990s. Much less familiar (though undeservedly so) are the four works on this CD, yet they resound with all the particular genius that the late Polish composer brought to his medium: hypnotic lyricism, intense tonal contrasts, forbidding blocks of sound, and glorious spiritual and emotional release. The compositions range from 1973 to 1993, and present a broad stylistic and thematic range. Highlights for this listener are the “Little Requiem for a Certain Polka,” stunning in its economy of means and power of expression; and the by turns haunting and disconcerting “Concerto-Cantata,” which contrasts dirge-like passages with Stravinskyian outbursts of orchestral rhythm and color. Gorecki’s “Harpsichord Concerto” (piano and orchestra version) and “Three Dances” are scarcely less compelling: Both are notable for their rhythmic tension and melodic luminosity. The appearance of Gorecki’s daughter Anna on piano lends a nice personal touch, and she and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra deliver assured and inspired performances of these essential additions to the composer’s canon.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Electronic Music Produced at DIEM, 1987-2012 [CD]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/2042/20427702_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
5
Music from the electronic gods
on July 25, 2012
Posted by: dbrierly
from Studio City, CA
This is an absolutely essential compilation of music created over two+ decades at the Danish Institute of Electronic Music. The works were written between 1987 and 2012, a period that witnessed a gradual transition from analog to digital in terms of recording, editing and playback. But no matter how this music was made, it lives up to the highest standards of the genre. Fans of electronic music will have no trouble connecting with these brilliant and diverse excursions into sound worlds of strange and wonderful sonorities, textures, rhythms and patterns. I suspect even those unfamiliar with music produced on machines will find this set fascinating and fulfilling. Eclecticism is the keynote: the 20 pieces spread over two discs range from pure abstraction to surprising bursts of tonality, and encompass just about every emotional mood across the spectrum. Each is characterized by a spirit of compositional enquiry and experimentalism. Each will take you on a trip that will challenge and entertain and leave you wanting more. Mention should also be made of the beautiful packaging, which showcases images of analog tape machines and synthesizers and vividly evokes the changing era during which this music was created.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Mauricio Kagel: Das Konzert; Phantasiestück; Pan [CD]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/2007/20073412_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
5
Modernist sound poet
on May 12, 2012
Posted by: dbrierly
from Studio City, CA
Kagel’s music is often referenced in terms of its theatricality and absurdist edge, but this reading tends to overshadow his very significant musical gifts. Kagel was one of the masters of the postwar avant-garde, and deserves to be ranked with more well-known names like Berio, Boulez, Ligeti, Stockhausen. Kagel’s music was experimental, audacious and uncompromising, but rarely inaccessible, especially from the 1980s until his death in 2008. The works for flute collected here are especially lyrical and inviting, synthesizing traditional harmonic and melodic impulses within a modernist, personal vernacular. The music is extraordinarily affecting, and rewards the attentive listener with a kaleidoscopic array of moods and textures. Highly recommended.
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Customer Rating
5
Feeling the Spirit
on March 4, 2012
Posted by: dbrierly
from Studio City, CA
Oscar Peterson is justly celebrated as one of jazz’s greatest pianists, but he’s less well known for his compositional achievements. Happily, we now have this DVD of the premiere recording of one of his signature works, the Easter Suite. The nine-movement composition was commissioned by the BBC’s South Bank Show and broadcast throughout Britain on Good Friday in 1984. Accompanied by his longtime drummer Martin Drew and the great Danish bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Peterson delivers his interpretation of the Easter story through the basic language of jazz, embellished with blues, classical and gospel elements. Although the music is inspired by the passion and resurrection of Jesus, one can set aside the spiritual connotations and focus solely on the music itself, which is straight-ahead, swinging, soulful Oscar Peterson jazz. Filmed in the intimate confines of a BBC television studio, it’s like having a front-row seat at one of the pianist’s gigs. Icing on the cake is a fascinating interview with South Bank Show host Melvyn Bragg, in which Peterson breaks down his approach to writing the suite as well as his musical interaction with Drew and Pedersen. It’s a fascinating discussion, and a perfect complement to an enthralling and inspiring performance.
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![Kinshasa Symphony [DVD] [2010]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/1971/19711133_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
5
Inspiration Beyond Words
on February 22, 2012
Posted by: dbrierly
from Studio City, CA
This truly remarkable documentary about the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s sole symphony orchestra powerfully depicts the collective challenges facing the 16-year-old organization of amateur, mostly self-taught musicians, including: internal and external wars, poverty, disease and famine. The filmmakers balance this overall perspective with a sharp focus on a half-dozen individual musicians whose dedicated efforts to sustain and improve their artistry while struggling to make a living are representative of all 200 members. What the film does best, however, is capture the pure, transforming joy of creating music, no matter the circumstances or setting. To their credit, the filmmakers never preach or try to manipulate the viewer’s emotions; they simply let the strength and resilience and ambition of the musicians speak for itself. Their collective story is heartbreaking, eye-opening, surreal, often funny and profoundly uplifting.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Tempo [CD]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/1986/19865327_sa.jpg)
Posted by: dbrierly
from Studio City, CA
Simplicity of means often translates to profound emotional and lyrical fulfillment. This recording by Tania Maria is a prime example of that tenet, as the Brazilian composer, singer and pianist teams with bassist Eddie Gomez in a set of spare, intimate performances. The minimal instrumentation underscores the strength of the material, which includes four originals by Maria and Correa Rei alongside songs attached to names like Roberto Carlos, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luis Bonfa. Maria and Gomez prove ideal collaborators as they range from beguiling ballads to lightly swinging instrumentals. Her percussive piano improvisations mesh seamlessly with his quicksilver responses and rhythmic support. And Maria’s unique voice sounds as good as ever: soulful, buoyant and uplifting.
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![Philip Glass, Michael Nyman: Works for Saxophone Quartet [CD]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/1983/19830986_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
4
New Wave Rave
on February 18, 2012
Posted by: dbrierly
from Studio City, CA
Fans of modern music looking for something new should give a listen to the Sonic Art Saxophone Quartet, which sounds like nothing else on the alt-classical landscape. The four members of this tight little outfit conjure an amazing range of tonalities and timbres, far beyond what one might consider possible on the saxophone. The unusual instrumentation proves particularly apt for adventurous composers like Philip Glass and Michael Nyman, who are featured on this disc. The group’s powerful yet supple sound perfectly evokes Nyman’s poignant lyricism and the nervous intensity of Glass’ passive-aggressive sonic structures. Intricate, beautiful and hypnotic, this music will take the listener on unexpected and joyous journeys.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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![Passage Through a Dream [CD]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/1940/19407873_sa.jpg)
Posted by: dbrierly
from Studio City, CA
Phillip Schroeder’s latest recording is aptly named, as it does have a pronounced dreamlike quality. Most will probably label this music ambient for its minimalist orientation, and while the five compositions are introspective and contemplative, they are also surprisingly complex and expansive. Schroeder, who plays piano and electric bass throughout, makes considerable use of digital delay to stretch notes and build lush, layered sound textures. He also applies the delay process to the supporting instrumentation of clarinet, euphonium, flute, vibraphone and harp. One is never conscious of the digital manipulation, however, as the music always sounds natural and unforced. The overall feeling is autumnal, pitched between haunting and uplifting. This is beautiful, emotionally satisfying music that will likely keep it near the top of your playlist.
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![The Sesjun Radio Shows [CD]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/1932/19324574_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
5
Transfigured man
on July 19, 2011
Posted by: dbrierly
from Studio City, CA
Few jazz artists end up profoundly changing the way subsequent musicians approach their particular instrument. Bill Evans was one. Miles Davis recognized this fact when he hired Evans to play on the seminal recording “Kind of Blue.” But even if that historic encounter had never occurred, Evans would still have been known as a pianist’s pianist, a man whose unique phrasing, rhythmic sense and emotional color put him in an exclusive category of one. Like most great musicians, Evans was at his best in live settings, as his early 1960s and 1980 Village Vanguard recordings attest. Now, with this Sesjun Radio Shows two-disc set, fans have further opportunity to appreciate the deepened levels of his art throughout the 1970s. The pianist, who was to tragically die in 1980 at the age of 51, is featured in concerts from 1973 (a duo setting with bassist Eddie Gomez); 1975 (with Gomez and drummer Eliot Zigmund); and 1979 (with bassist Marc Johnson, drummer Joe LaBarbera and harmonica legend Toots Thielemans). Each of these concerts is distinct in character while remaining true to Evans’ sound. The 1973 interplay between Evans and Gomez might be my favorite. Gomez matches Evans note for inventive note, and the minimalism of the setting really seems to inspire both men to greater heights. Evans’ music has been described in lots of different ways, but I always think of him in terms of transfiguration. You can hear in his playing a continual attempt to keep setting the bar higher for himself, to say something new and profound each time his fingers touched the keyboard. And from a listener’s perspective, one nearly always comes away from an Evans performance feeling a tangible sense of renewal and optimism. You can’t ask more from music or a musician.
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