Great collection of Beefheart from Revenant Records. Little else need be said.
Download
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Shirim Klezmer Orchestra - Pincus And The Pig: A Klezmer Tale (2004)
The Klezmer version of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf", written and narrated by Where the Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak. I've been on a big Tzadik kick recently and I'm trying to get my hands on more of their "Radical Jewish Culture" series. John Zorn is the man.
Maurice Sendak, narration
Glenn Dickson, clarinet
David Harris, trombone
Brandon Seabrook, banjo, mandolin
Michael McLaughlin, piano, accordion
Jim Gray, tuba
Eric Rosenthal, drums
Suddenly someone remembers an old melody; it rises in him as if from nowhere and breaks out from his lips. Involuntarily he puts a new feeling into it - ths is, a new soul; it is almost as if a new melody has been born.
- Y.L. Peretz as retold by Maurice Samuel.
Download
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Paul Bunyan - Benjamin Britten (1988)
One night he dreamt he was to be
The greatest logger in history.
He woke to feel something stroking his brow,
And found it was the tongue of an enormous cow...
This, one of Britten's more accessible if still quirky Operas. Britten finished it more than thirty years after a failed run in the beginning of his career, only returning to it after an open-heart surgery which left him physically and psychologically frustrated. The book was written by the impossibly masterful poet W.H. Auden, who died in 1973, three years before the eventual stage production of the revived opera was pulled off. Auden's flexible verse tells the story of the great American folk hero, the lumberjack Paul Bunyan. The music wanders through an eclectic mix of operatic and folk styles in an unmistakeably Britten way. The whole thing is sometimes goofy, sometimes fantastic, sometimes moving and always magical.
This recording is by the soloists, chorus and orchestra of the Plymouth Music Series, the London Philharmonic Choir and the English Chamber Orchestra. Philip Brunelle. 1988.
Tracklist:
Act 1:
1. Introduction and Prologue
2. Since the Birth of the Earth
3. No. No. We Don't Want Life To Be Slow
4. Ooh! Ooh! O How Terrible To Be As Old Fashioned As A Tree
5. You Are All To Leave Here
6. It Isn't very Often The Conservatives ARe Wrong
7. First Ballad Interlude: The Cold Wind Blew Through The Crooked Thorn
8. Act 1, Scene 1. Bunyan's Greeting
9. Call of Lumberjacks
10. Lumberjack's Chorus: My Birthplace was in Sweden
11. Bunyan's Welcome
12. Quartet of Swedes: Swedish Born and Swedish Bred
13. Western Union Boy's Song: A Telegram from Oversea
14. Cooks' Duet: Sam for Soups, Ben for Beans
15. Animal Trio: Ah! Miaow! The Single Creature Leads a Partial Life
16. Bunyan's goodnight (I)
17. Exit of Lumberjacks: Down the Line.... Timberrrr
18. The Blue: Gold In the North Came the Blizzard To Stay
19. Bunyan's Goodnight (II)
20. Second Ballad Interlude: The Spring Came and The Summer and Fall
21. Act 2, Scene 2. Food Chorus: Do I Look Like The Sort of Fellow?
22. Chorus Accusation: There, Now Look What You Have Done!
23. Slim's Song: In Fair Days and Foul
24. Bunyan's Return: Look, The Chief Is Back
25. Inkslinger's Song: It Was Out In the Sticks
26. Entrance of Chorus
27. Tiny's entrance
28. Tiny's Song: Ah! Whether the Sun Shine Upon Children Playing
29. Inkslinger's Regret: All the Little Brooks of Love
30. Bunyan's Goodnight (III)
Act 2:
1. Act 2, Scene 1. Bunyan's Good Morning
2. Shears' Song: It Has Always been MY Dream
3. Bunyan's Warning
4. Farmers' Song: The Shanty Boy Invades the Wood
5. Farmers' Exit
6. The Mocking of Hel Helson: Heron, Heron, Winging By
7. Fido's Sympathy: Won't You Tell Me What's the Matter
8. Cat's Creed: Let Man the Romantic In Vision Espy
9. The Fight: What Is It? What's Happening?
10. Love Duet: Move, Move from the Trysting Stone
11. Mock Funeral March: Take away the Body and Lay It On Ice
12. Hymn: O Great Day of Discovery
13. Third Ballad Interlude: So Helson Smiled and Bunyan Smiled
14. Act 2, Scene 2. (The Christmas Party). Rah! Another Slice of Turkey
15. Dear Friends, With Your Leave
16. Carry Her Over The Water
17. Where We Are Is Not Very Far
18. A Telegram From Hollywood
19. We Always Knew That One DAy You
20. Bunyan's Farewell
21. Litany: The Campfire Embers are Black and Gold
22. Appendix: Overture
23. Inkslinger's Love Song
24. Lullaby of Dream Shadows
Download Act 1
Download Act 2
The greatest logger in history.
He woke to feel something stroking his brow,
And found it was the tongue of an enormous cow...
This, one of Britten's more accessible if still quirky Operas. Britten finished it more than thirty years after a failed run in the beginning of his career, only returning to it after an open-heart surgery which left him physically and psychologically frustrated. The book was written by the impossibly masterful poet W.H. Auden, who died in 1973, three years before the eventual stage production of the revived opera was pulled off. Auden's flexible verse tells the story of the great American folk hero, the lumberjack Paul Bunyan. The music wanders through an eclectic mix of operatic and folk styles in an unmistakeably Britten way. The whole thing is sometimes goofy, sometimes fantastic, sometimes moving and always magical.
This recording is by the soloists, chorus and orchestra of the Plymouth Music Series, the London Philharmonic Choir and the English Chamber Orchestra. Philip Brunelle. 1988.
Tracklist:
Act 1:
1. Introduction and Prologue
2. Since the Birth of the Earth
3. No. No. We Don't Want Life To Be Slow
4. Ooh! Ooh! O How Terrible To Be As Old Fashioned As A Tree
5. You Are All To Leave Here
6. It Isn't very Often The Conservatives ARe Wrong
7. First Ballad Interlude: The Cold Wind Blew Through The Crooked Thorn
8. Act 1, Scene 1. Bunyan's Greeting
9. Call of Lumberjacks
10. Lumberjack's Chorus: My Birthplace was in Sweden
11. Bunyan's Welcome
12. Quartet of Swedes: Swedish Born and Swedish Bred
13. Western Union Boy's Song: A Telegram from Oversea
14. Cooks' Duet: Sam for Soups, Ben for Beans
15. Animal Trio: Ah! Miaow! The Single Creature Leads a Partial Life
16. Bunyan's goodnight (I)
17. Exit of Lumberjacks: Down the Line.... Timberrrr
18. The Blue: Gold In the North Came the Blizzard To Stay
19. Bunyan's Goodnight (II)
20. Second Ballad Interlude: The Spring Came and The Summer and Fall
21. Act 2, Scene 2. Food Chorus: Do I Look Like The Sort of Fellow?
22. Chorus Accusation: There, Now Look What You Have Done!
23. Slim's Song: In Fair Days and Foul
24. Bunyan's Return: Look, The Chief Is Back
25. Inkslinger's Song: It Was Out In the Sticks
26. Entrance of Chorus
27. Tiny's entrance
28. Tiny's Song: Ah! Whether the Sun Shine Upon Children Playing
29. Inkslinger's Regret: All the Little Brooks of Love
30. Bunyan's Goodnight (III)
Act 2:
1. Act 2, Scene 1. Bunyan's Good Morning
2. Shears' Song: It Has Always been MY Dream
3. Bunyan's Warning
4. Farmers' Song: The Shanty Boy Invades the Wood
5. Farmers' Exit
6. The Mocking of Hel Helson: Heron, Heron, Winging By
7. Fido's Sympathy: Won't You Tell Me What's the Matter
8. Cat's Creed: Let Man the Romantic In Vision Espy
9. The Fight: What Is It? What's Happening?
10. Love Duet: Move, Move from the Trysting Stone
11. Mock Funeral March: Take away the Body and Lay It On Ice
12. Hymn: O Great Day of Discovery
13. Third Ballad Interlude: So Helson Smiled and Bunyan Smiled
14. Act 2, Scene 2. (The Christmas Party). Rah! Another Slice of Turkey
15. Dear Friends, With Your Leave
16. Carry Her Over The Water
17. Where We Are Is Not Very Far
18. A Telegram From Hollywood
19. We Always Knew That One DAy You
20. Bunyan's Farewell
21. Litany: The Campfire Embers are Black and Gold
22. Appendix: Overture
23. Inkslinger's Love Song
24. Lullaby of Dream Shadows
Download Act 1
Download Act 2
Bill Evans Trio - Portrait in Jazz
The classic Bill Evans trio recording featuring Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums, from Orrin Keepnews' Riverside Records. For those unfamiliar with Bill Evans, you'd never expect the clean-cut square staring at you on the cover to have some of the best jazz chops. Evans had just recorded Kind of Blue with Miles, and here we have two trio versions of Miles' composition "Blue in Green" from that album. I see Evans' style of soloing as so clean and precise but able to avoid being mechanical. Scott LaFaro, who died 2 years later at the age of 25, has some fantastic solos, moving liberally into the instrument's high register. The epitome of the era's piano trios.
1. Come Rain Or Come Shine
2. Autumn Leaves [Take 1]
3. Autumn Leaves [Take 2]
4. Witchcraft
5. When I Fall In Love
6. Peri's Scope
7. What Is This Thing Called Love?
8. Spring Is Here
9. Someday My Prince Will Come
10. Blue In Green [Take 3]
11. Blue In Green [Take 2]
Bill Evans, piano
Scott LaFaro, bass
Paul Motian, drums
Produced by Orrin Keepnews
Recorded in New York; December 28, 1959
Digital remastering, 1987 - David Luke (Fantasy Studios, Berkeley)
Download
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)