Archipelago

Editorial Reviews
About the Artist
James Hardman
BAND MEMBERS:
DNA

Album Description
Solo piano Romantic, thoughtful, intimate, tranquil

Tracks:

Quotation Of Dream: Day Signal
Quotation Of Dream
Quotation Of Dream: How Slow The Wind
Quotation Of Dream: Twill By Twilight
Quotation Of Dream: Archipelago S.
Quotation Of Dream: Dream-Window
Quotation Of Dream: Night Signal

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Sometimes, even while you are listening, it can be very difficult to understand how Takemitsu created such exquisitely beautiful music using so much dissonance. As the brief Day Signal opens the disc, for example, you're more likely to think of the glory of sunrise than of the discords. And Quotation of Dream, which quotes freely from Debussy's La Mer, is nearly as beautiful as its source. Rather than waste time figuring out how Takemitsu's spacing of notes and imaginative scoring influences our perceptions, it's much more rewarding just to relax and let the music wash over you. Knussen, who leads amazing performances here, has programmed the disc for a continuous listening experience, although the novice should probably listen only to a couple of pieces at one sitting. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

More of the bland stagnance of Takemitsu's later symphonic work.......2007-06-03

It's inexplicable that so little of Takemitsu's extraordinary film music has been released in affordable editions outside Japan, while compilations of his boring, overtly derivative late orchestral output have enjoyed inclusion on releases by the likes of DG. Then again, DG hasn't had a good string of releases since the late '70s, so I don't expect too much from that fallen giant.

"Quotation of Dream" is easily one of Takemitsu's worst compositions and an absolute waste of time: a meandering exercise that tediously quotes Debussy's "La Mer" and recycles portions of Takemitsu's own "Dream/Window." Technically, this piece is as expertly constructed as all of Takemitsu's work, but that doesn't make it any less counterfeit of its' source material, or any less embarrassing for it. Why should I listen to this tiresome pablum when the compositions it borrows from are readily available?

"How Slow the Wind," "Twill by Twilight" and "Archipelago S." are typical examples of Takemitsu's late orchestral works: they assume a lovely sound and were composed with ingenious design, but that doesn't make them even remotely interesting or memorable.

There are a few works on this disc that are worth hearing. The aforementioned "Dream/Window" is a brilliant, beautiful twelve-tone composition that's infused with the drifting, dreamlike sonority common of his works - an aesthetic which is almost anathema to the rigorous character of most serialist compositions.
Also notable are "Day Signal" and "Night Signal," a pair of dissonant, evocative fanfares that bookend the album's content. These brass-voiced compositions seem almost facile to the ear at first listen, but repeated plays distinguish the cleverness of these little pieces as antiphonal movements.

None of the negative comments of this review should obscure the fact that Takemitsu was a truly gifted and intuitive composer. But it's inexplicable that so much of his best (and in many cases, most accessible) works of film, piano, chamber and electronic/tape music remain either out of print (often since being released on LP) or entirely unavailable for domestic consumption of his North American and European listeners when the least of his orchestral oeuvre is readily on hand.

There's nothing that I can say against these performances by Knussen conducting the LS. They're excellent, informed executions of mostly mediocre compositions. However, I'd much rather hear Knussen performing the best of his own small (but distinguished) oeuvre!

The production is decent: as transparent and pristine as most of the best digital recordings. These compositions don't demand any venture into extreme registers, but the soft passages are capably, audibly reproduced without any loss of their inherent subtlety.

Really enjoying this one.......2006-04-29

I have only recently begun listening to Takemitsu. Was introduced at a guitar recital. I have been slowly accumulating more of his compositions. For me, this is possibly the best.

Composition intrigues me perhaps more than any other aspect of music, and this fellow was clearly inspired. I would liken his music to that of Alan Hovhaness, but without some of the more brash moments of that composer. I can also hear the influence of Debussy, but Takemitsu takes the listener in many enjoyable directions throughout this CD.

The playing and recording are also top-notch.

A fine collection of late works and an ideal introduction.......2004-12-11

QUOTATION OF DREAM is the first of Deutsche Grammophon's several collections of pieces by late Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, who thankfully has been getting ever-more attention since his untimely death in 1996. Takemitsu was a mainly self-taught composer, and because of this there seems to be little that connects him to his serialism- or minimalism-inspired colleagues. Nevertheless, Takemitsu's own path is fascinating, exploring Japanese and Western compositional principles in isolation and in combination and striving to transcend them both. These pieces, several of them related by shared thematic materials. are lovingly performed by the London Sinfonietta conducted by Oliver Knussen, who was a friend and admirer of Takemitsu.

The disc is framed by two antiphonal fanfares written in 1987, "Day Signal" and "Night Signal", together called "Signals from Heaven". They are closely related, both using dissonance to suggest the changing of the skies, but with one inverted from the other to suggest an opposite tone.

A quip of Takemitsu was "I am self-taught, but I consider Debussy my teacher." The first major work here, "Quotation of Dream - Say sea, take me!" (1991), is a tribute to Debussy using quotations from his "La Mer" as if the composer was trying to recreate the piece he had just woken up from dreaming. The title also refers to its use of some material from "Dream/Window", an earlier composition present on this disc. "Quotation of Dream" is a lovely tribute to the composer's greatest inspiration, but the majority of the work comes only from Takemitsu. His use of a zig-zag of harmony, of orchestral colour that comes forth and recedes like waves is nothing you have ever heard before in orchestral music.

"How Slow the Wind" (1991), inspired by a poem by Emily Dickinson, is rather more brooding. It's most interesting moments occur toward the end, when cascading woodwind sounds and the faintly mechanical notes of two Swiss cowbells transform the work into something different. This is one of Takemitsu's most impressive works,

"Twill by Twillight (in memory of Morton Feldman)" (1988) is an experiment with a musical "tapestry", where a theme "weaves" through the piece. The piece is pretty music, but does little to make itself memorable and for me remains the low point of this collection.

The title of "Archipelago S." for twenty-one players (1993) refers to the landscapes of Seattle, Stockholm, and the islands of the Sato Inland Sea . The piece has an innovative stage layout, with the players grouped into five "islands": a five-person brass group, two mixed seven-piece groups, a clarinet sitting to the right, and a clarinet sitting to the left. The effect is indeed somewhat nautical and this recording exploits the space well.

"Dream/Window" (1985) is probably the most important composition on this disc. Every note of this piece is of the greatest delicacy, and the work as a whole is so crystalline and fragile that one feels one will break it just by listening to it. Though Takemitsu's later works are impressive, they have never seemed to me to acheive the perfection of "Dream/Window". What is surprising is that this work is true twelve-tone music, yet with Takemitsu's skill it does not sound dull or scientific.

If you ever think that modern-classical music is written only by dispassionate ivory-tower robots like Pierre Boulez, the works of Takemitsu will show you that contemporary techniques can, under the right hands, touch the emotions as much as the intellect. While it takes some time to get used to (nearly six months for me), this is probably the single best introduction to the music of Toru Takemitsu. And one should certainly listen to this before getting the other DG "20/21" discs, which are rather more specialised (with, for example, one having traditional Japanese pieces and the other flute and guitar works).

Another world.......2003-10-18

Toru Takemitsu was one of the late 20th century's most individual composers whose scores use primarily the traditional instruments of western classical music. Perhaps in part because he wrote film scores in addition to concert pieces, his art is highly communicative and un-academic. It has the double merit of being about as far as you can get both from gnarly, dissonant modernism and from pretty-pretty New Age ear candy.

Quotation of Dream includes seven pieces from the last decade of Takemitsu's life (he died in 1996), including the premiere recording of the title piece. The disc begins and ends with fanfares that, while perhaps effective as aural bookends, are to my ears undistinguished. The music that lies in between, however, is extraordinarily compelling.

Takemitsu's style in these works is generally meditative, with frequent slow, quiet passages, strings predominating. But there are dramatic incidents and color as well: flaring brass, rising like a mountainous island from a tropical sea; raindrops of chimes; drawn-out woodwind lines weaving sinuously through swirls of massed violins. The music sometimes pivots around silent pauses, like the empty spaces in Zen painting. In Quotation of Dream, twin pianos (played by Paul Crossley and Peter Serkin, respectively) dominate the foreground with gentle cascades of notes while orchestral clouds form in the background.

The musical language is often reminiscent of Debussy and Ravel; in mood (though not in technique) it can resemble the slowest and most mysterious moments in music of the second Viennese school (Schoenberg, Berg, Webern et al.). The subtlety and elusiveness probably owe something to the composer's Japanese heritage. But this is no cut-and-paste job; the overall impression is startlingly original.

I have not read the liner notes, and have no idea of what Takemitsu is trying to "say," or what these scores "mean." I would also suggest that those considerations are pretty irrelevant: the important thing is the sound world that he has created, which is both other-worldly and bracing.

Oliver Knussen, a contemporary British composer and a friend of Takemitsu, conducted the London Sinfonietta in these recordings. It is apparent that that he helped the players, who sound expert, get "inside" the music.

Anyone who already knows and appreciates Takemitsu's sensibility need not hesitate to acquire this disc. It can also be recommended for all but the most determinedly "mostly Mozart" classical devotees.

The presentation is not ideal. Deutsche Grammophon has never excelled at digital recordings, and the sound of this disc, while detailed and transparent, is a bit bright and clinical. The disc is contained in one of those cardboard containers that some labels are now trying to get you to accept in lieu of the standard jewel case because it's cheaper to produce (but not cheaper for you to buy). The atmospheric sepia-toned photo on the cover has a fat round sticker on it that shouts "World Premiere Recording"; if you try to peel off the sticker, it leaves ineradicable shreds. The plastic tray with the central claw ring is glued to the cardboard. Take care not to break the plastic, because there is no way you can replace it.

Takemitsu draws you into his dream world.......2002-04-07

These pieces from Takemitsu's maturity represent the pinnacle of achievement for this gifted composer. Without regard to trends and fashion in contemporary music has has created his own sound universe. A peaceful, yet oddly non-somnolent, serenity informs virtually every bar of these wonderful pieces. The music is beautiful, lush and imaginative at every turn and despite strong ties to the French impressionists it is creative and unique and infused with Takemitsu's personal stamp and his nature-mystical aesthetic. The sound and the performances are first rate and Oliver Knussen must be congratulated on doing such a fine job in bringing these excellent pieces to life. If you love Takemitsu, you will love this CD. If you are new to Takemitsu, this is a wonderful introduction to one of the 20th century's finest composers.
Recommended without reservation.

Average customer rating:

Early and late Antheil - a significant addition to the ongoing rediscovery of this major American composer
Two Must Hear Symphonies
Bad Boy just had Bad Rep

George Antheil: Symphonies 1 & 6

Manufacturer: Cpo Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
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George Antheil: Symphonies 4 & 5
George Antheil: Symphony No. 3 "American"
George Antheil: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; a Jazz Symphony; Jazz Sonata
Antheil: Ballet Mecanique
Kurt Atterberg: The Symphonies (Box Set)

ASIN: B00004SYHF
Release Date: 2000-05-16

Tracks:

Symphony No. 1 - Zingareska: Innocente
Symphony No. 1 - Zingareska: Vivo, all zingaresco, poi 'ragtime'
Symphony No. 1 - Zingareska: Doloroso Elevato
Symphony No. 1 - Zingareska: Ragtime
Symphony No. 6 - After Delacroix: Allegro molto marcato
Symphony No. 6 - After Delacroix: Larghetto
Symphony No. 6 - After Delacroix: Allegro
Archipelago: Rhumba

Customer Reviews:

Early and late Antheil - a significant addition to the ongoing rediscovery of this major American composer.......2007-04-19

In his (in)famous autobiography "Bad Boy of Music", written in 1945, George Antheil has a lot to say about his first Symphony. No wonder: a "first" will always have a special significance to its author, and it was also the first big symphonic piece of Antheil to get a performance - and by a major symphony orchestra to boot. Completed in the early months of 1922, prior to Antheil's departure to Europe (rather than in 1923 as indicated on the back cover), under the tutelage of his composition teacher Ernest Bloch, it was programmed by no less than Stokowski for his new Philadelphia season, but ultimately was premiered by the Berlin Philharmonic (not bad either!) under the German conductor Rudolph Schulz-Dornburg (and not "Schultz von Dornberg", as Antheil approximately reminisces in 1945). Antheil writes endearing pages (Chap. 6) about how it feels for a young composer to hear HIS own orchestral composition rehearsed and performed for the first time: "even though I live to be a thousand years old I ill never forget the first morning's rehearsal of my First symphony!" I was, then, curious to hear it and see if I would recognize the passage he had orchestrated "one day after canoeing on the Delaware River", the part where the odor of blooming honeysuckled got entwined into the orchestration, the parts which he now felt, on hearing the music, sounded too much like Bloch.

Indeed, Bloch and "Schelomo" are very much the driving influence in the first movement, integral with the somber, brooding cello melody (0:12 and again 0:49). The idiom is a late-Romanticism verging on impressionism, with sensuous and sinuous melodies and lush orchestration; composers like Loeffler, D'Indy, Ibert ("Ports of Call"), Suk ("Azraël") also come to mind. The moods alternate between the starkly menacing and the flute-driven pastoral (3:06 - a good candidate for the honeysuckle odor, and for the Delaware River I would elect the passage starting at 2:32). One of Antheil's favorite compositional devices (and not only in the first movement) is to establish a certain mood, merry or pastoral, only to suddenly interrupt it with brutal onslaughts of sinister chords played on low brass (try 0:33, 3:33 and again 6:05 in the 1st movement, 1:25 in the 2nd, 1:51 and 5:17 in the 3rd) - a harbinger of the Antheil soon to come, adept of the "Collage technique" and construction by block juxtaposition.

It is in the 2nd movement "Scherzo" and the Finale "Ragtime" that Antheil's Collage technique and jarring interruptions of one section by another are most in evidence. Of the "Scherzo", Antheil wrote that he composed it "on a number of July nights, with the memory of skyrockets in the sky above and patriot airs sounding dimly over the river waters". One does hear that (along with some whiffs of Debussy's Iberia or Ravel's Rhapsodie Espagnole, and more Bloch - try the viola melody at 2:03), but Antheil's 4th of July sounds very much like Stravinsky's Petrushka's fair, especially at 3:23 (Antheil played by heart the 3 movements for piano in those years), at one point leading directly into "Le Sacre" (5:47). The finale recapitulates and brings to extremes of pounding themes from the earlier movements, but also develops on a new theme of somewhat "Chinese" contour, which also forms the basic motive of the First Piano Concerto (see my review of Piano Concertos of the Twenties) - not surprising, as both pieces were composed at the same time. The movement has an abrupt and explosive ending, as "Le Sacre" (and the Piano Concerto).

Again both the Stravinsky influence and this block construction technique announce the Antheil soon-to-come, who would so often make direct quotations of the Russian composer (his compositional God in those years), but also strike his own personal and inimitable mark by bringing Stravinsky's compositional traits to outlandish extremes of barbaric pounding and block-construction-without-development (see my reviews of the Piano Concerto and of George Antheil: Violin Sonatas 1, 2 & 4). Indeed, Antheil's mischievously biting and sometimes hammering tunes in these two movements point to the savage piano music he will start composing immediately thereafter - and I'll bet that the passage at 4:20 is where the Berlin Philharmonic clarinetist, finding his slightly "jazzy" part "unspeakably funny", burst into laughter, to the young composer's initial dismay. The same kind of pointer to the "mechanistic" Antheil can also be found in 3rd movement's celesta 4-note ostinato that underpins the wistful and sensuous melody of Blochian contour first played by cor anglais (or is it a sweet-sounding oboe?); these wistful melodies ("old sad tunes with heart-breaking memories" Antheil said of them) over various ostinatos circulate throughout the movement, interrupted by sinister and brassy onslaughts.

With all its references and influences the First is not an entirely mature work (how could it?) but it is so full of surprises as to make for a highly rewarding listening.

The Sixth "after Delacroix" and his famous painting "Liberty Leading the People" is Antheil's own "1905" Symphony (Shostakovich's 11th, a tribute to the first attempt at a revolution in Russia). Its three movements depict the Revolutionary Battle, the Mourning, the Victory. The simple and sparse textures of the middle movement (flute and oboe, soon with celesta punctuations, hovering over slow waltz chords on the strings) recall similar movements by Shostakovich. The outer movements are dramatic, urgent, mischievous, even angry - but also pretty bombastic. Even more than Shostakovich, it is here Myaskovsky that comes to mind. There his a passage in his bio in which Antheil pretends to be astounded that composers set so much store on finding a personal "style", rather than expressing "the form". So perhaps the Sixth is a fine realization of Antheil's idea of form, but it is rather impersonal and could not in itself lay any claim on a place in posterity, if it wasn't as an example of the "later" style of the composer whose "style" and peculiar and outlandish sense of form in the 1920s were so inimitably unique.

Two Must Hear Symphonies.......2000-11-21

George Anthiel could be called the fourth American composer. During his life, he was the fourth most hear composer, after Gershwin, Copland and Barber. The First and Sixth are exgaging works of this talented man. The First is original on concept and orchestration. Anthiel keeps you on the edge of your seat with the unpredicatable turns his music takes. One has no trouble believing it was great fun to write this work. The Sixth reminded me of Shostakovich and Prokofiev. It is a symphony inspired by Delacroix rather than meant to depict his paintings.

Anthiel set out to become the bad boy of music, and he succeeded. However, it is the musician and not the bad bod that comes out in these two symphonies. Since this is Anthiel's centenary (July 8) we should become acquainted with his music for it is rich and rewarding, and as entertaining as his life is to read.

Bad Boy just had Bad Rep.......2000-08-23

The self-styled "bad boy of music", George Antheil, turns out to have had the famous attribute of the bad girl- namely, when he was good, he was very VERY good. At least, that's my feeling after listening to the first in the Hugh Wolff/cpo series of his complete symphonies. It's an eye (or ear-) opener, especially after the Ensemble Modern (RCA) recording of the Ballet Mechanique and other bits and pieces. The Symphonies 1 & 6 show Antheil to have been a deft hand with an orchestra and, while not giving himself over completely to "quirkiness", retains enough of that boisterous quality to bring the well-worn symphonic form to life, especially in the 1st. I look forward to the rest of the series. Wolff and his Frankfurt Orchestra play superbly and reveal the detail of Antheil's inspiration with greater clarity (in No.6) than Kuchar on a new Naxos release, although the Naxos is still a good buy. Who said everything worth hearing had already been recorded? This issue (like so much else in the cpo catalogue) proves them wrong.

Average customer rating:

McKay Brothers - Truly Bandera Style
Viva McKays!

McKay Brothers
McKay Brothers
Manufacturer: Texas Archipelago
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0001F7USO
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When I Reached The Colorado
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Customer Reviews:

McKay Brothers - Truly Bandera Style.......2006-09-16

Their cd's are great, but nothing beats watching them perform in person. Log on to their website and subscribe to keep up with them. They are playing all over!
A very refreshing twist to country music!

Very talented!

Viva McKays!.......2004-11-20

A refreshing, and highly entertaining, blend of alt-country, country, Tejano/conjunto -- the best of all of them. Great
sound, great lyrics. A second album, please! (actually the joint opinion of Tom and Lynda)

Antheil: Capital of the World/Symphony 5/Archipelago

Average customer rating:

Flashy brilliance but little depth
Great Stuff!
Wasted Effort
Fascinating example of mid-century American symphonic music!

Antheil: Capital of the World/Symphony 5/Archipelago

Manufacturer: Centaur
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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George Antheil: The Complete Works for String Quartet

ASIN: B0000057ZJ
Release Date: 1996-05-21

Tracks:

Capital Of The World (Complete Ballet): The Street, Paco Into Shop, Imaginary Bullfight, Owner, Enrique, The Seanstresses
Capital Of The World (Complete Ballet): The Pompous Bullfighter, Tubercular Bullfighter, The Bullfighter Assistant...
Capital Of The World (Complete Ballet): Paco Back In Shop, Paco Practices Bullfighting, The Knives Fight & Paco's Death
Fifth Symphony ('Joyous'): Allegro
Fifth Symphony ('Joyous'): Adagio molto
Fifth Symphony ('Joyous'): Allegretto maestoso - Allegro giocoso
Archipelago

Customer Reviews:

Flashy brilliance but little depth.......2007-05-05

I am afraid I cannot muster much enthusiasm for the late symphonies of George Antheil.

In the last pages of his autobiography "Bad Boy of Music", written in 1945, Antheil announces that he is composing a 5th Symphony (his fourth had recently been successfully premiered by Stokowski, signalling a positive turn of fortunes for the composer) that is planned as a memorial for his younger brother "and all those who, too young, have had to die in this great war" - "a requiemlike symphony", he calls it. "In this symphony I have put, without shame, all of my tears, my anger. It is the best music of which I have been, so far, capable".

But apparently he finally wasn't satisfied with the result, and went on to compose another symphony, which he numbered again the "Fifth", subtitling it "The Joyous" - and this is the one we get on this Centaur disc, recorded in 1995.

Antheil's fine craftsmanship is undeniable. The outer movements are two dazzling orchestral etudes, displaying relentless forward momentum, colorful orchestration and a "joy" that is really boisterously sardonic humor, bringing to mind the early works of Shostakovich. They frame an "Adagio molto" mostly couched in a nostalgic Coplandesque prairie-style.

The problem to me lies not only in the fact that the language of Antheil's late symphonies (the same holds true with the 3rd, 4th and 6th - see my reviews of George Antheil: Symphony No. 3 "American", George Antheil: Symphonies 1 & 6 and George Antheil ~ Symphony 4 / Morton Gould ~ Spirituals for Orchestra) has become so conservative (in those years Schuman had written his sixth Symphony, Sessions his second and Carter his first) and that they recall so much the style of other composers, to the point sometimes of direct borrowings (indeed the finale of this one is an elaboration on a characteristic theme consisting of four alternatively rising and descending intervals, in which I hear a transformation of the opening theme of Shostakovich's 5th Symphony). After all Antheil had done that with Stravinsky in his early years, but integrated these quotations in a language and approach to form that was uniquely his own (see my reviews of Piano Concertos of the Twenties, George Antheil: Violin Sonatas 1, 2 & 4 and of the first symphony mentioned above). In the same vein, Harold Shapero composed in the same 1948 a "Symphony for Classical Orchestra" which sounds like the symphony Stravinsky could have written just then, and it is still as enjoyable as the symphony Stravinsky could have written (see my review of Modern Masters). The problem with Antheil is here that his model is the early Shostakovich: brash, brilliant, but not much under that surface. Furthermore, for all his agonizing concern with mastering "the form", what Antheil does not have which all the other symphonic writers of the era (Copland, Barber, Piston, Schuman, Mennin, Sessions, Carter...) do, is a sense of the architecture of tension and repose. With Antheil, the two "fast" movements are just tension: in the character of symphonic etudes rather than symphony movements, they just dash forward, brilliant, but ultimately hollow. In that sense, the young braggadocio Antheil still lurks close to the surface of the more "mature" one. I can see how the Fifth Symphony would have attracted audience claps and critics approval when it was premiered by the Eugene Ormandy in the Philadelphia back in December 1948 (at least, Antheil stood out from about all the other major symphonies composed in those years; remember: Bernstein's 2nd Symphony "The Age of Anxiety" dates from 1949, and the subtitle says it all), but today? The composers mentioned here above have offered so many better works! For what Antheil has to offer that is uniquely his own, go to his early works, those composed between 1919 and 1925.

The 1953 ballet "Capital of the World" is set after a Hemingway sarcastically sinister short story about a failed bull fighter in Madrid. When it doesn't directly recall Manuel de Falla's "El Amor Brujo" or "The Three-Cornered Hat", the music evokes what Auric or Sauguet or Milhaud might have (and for all I know may have) composed for some "Spanish Ballet" commissioned by Diaghilev in the 1920s. I find again that the pleasure it elicits is rather hollow and short-lived. I rather prefer the complete ballet played here to the suite played by Hugh Wolff (on the same disc with the 3rd Symphony), which is not just a collection of excerpts but an elaboration of some of the ballet's material into a fast-slow-fast symphonic shape. The complete thing is more descriptive, episodic and rambling, but at least single ideas aren't harped upon to the point where their triteness becomes obtrusive.

"Archipelago", "a folio of South American and Antilles music", was composed in Cagnes (French Riviera) in 1933, after the rumba rhythm had begun to strike Antheil's fancy. Some of it sounds so much like Milhaud's "Boeuf sur le toît" as to be embarrassing. Here Kolman's reading (which is otherwise fittingly dynamic) is more heavy-handed than Wolff's (with Symphony 1 & 6) but he makes more of the more "young Antheil" dissonant passages (4:45).

As useful as it is to get a complete picture of the "Bad Boy of Music", I'd recommend this disc only to Antheil completists such as myself, and to those who revel in flashy, hollow orchestral showpieces such as Khachaturian's Sabre Dance.

Great Stuff!.......2004-12-26

If Antheil infrequently sounds like Shostakovich or Prokofiev it's because he's consciously quoting. Otherwise, in fact, and after a long conversation with a certain conductor who was doing the Ballet Mechanique at Tanglewood, it might be that those Soviet composers instead may well have been influenced by Antheil--he was after all the "Bad Boy" during the Twenties. If one wanted to sound progressive (and not like Schoenberg or Stravinsky) George from New Jersey was your man. People tend to forget that. Listening to any of his major works I often wonder how this bizarre idea of his lack of originality ever came into being. It's like saying Berlioz was ripping off Schubert and Schumann.

Anyway, this is all posh. This music, and the symphony especially, sounds like Antheil and no one else, and why this stuff is not better known is anybody's guess. Maybe the world's just gone stupid. Antheil occupies a very unique sound world--I think for example of the weird Scherzo of the Fourth. Imagine something as unlikely as Kurt Weill and Richard Rodgers (in "Victory at Sea" mode) trying to rewrite the Bewegung movement from Mahler's Second.

Antheil's later style is uniquely kaleidoscopic, evolving as it did from his fragmented and almost minimalist approach to composition from his early radical years. He shouldn't be sitting on the sidelines--instead he should be getting serious attention. The Fourth Symphony, a phenomenal work, in particular still needs that perfect performance to get itself across to listeners. I've loved it since I was a kid and I'm still not the least bit tired of it--it's kind of the very American answer to the "Leningrad" symphony. The Fifth is an absolute hoot from top to bottom. It's loads of fun and really upbeat in the outer movements and often the writing is dazzling. Antheil never seems to run out of great ideas.

The ballet and Archipelago are not the strongest bits of Antheil I've known but they aren't pale copies of someone elses work either. I still enjoy them and perhaps better than equivalent pieces by Milhaud and Ibert. Antheil's jazziness is more sincere.

To touch on the "controversy" one more time, if anyone can find anything "Russkie" about the Fifth then they're hallucinating. The finale does interpolate the ending of Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony. There are probably a few other subtle quotations. This piece was written to celebrate the end of the Second World War. Just put two and two together--Antheil and the Russians were the only ones on this side of the conflict writing war symphonies.

Wasted Effort.......2004-11-10

I can't fault the playing of the musicians or the production of this album. But I can fault the music itself, which is little short of plagarism: Capital of the World is a pale imitation of Ibert (Ports of Call), The Fifth Symphony shamelessly rips off Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony (with just a smidgen of Shostakovich), and Archipelago is a blatant copy of Milhaud's Le Bouef sur le Toit. Save your money for the originals.

Fascinating example of mid-century American symphonic music!.......1999-11-20

I came to know and appreciate Antheil's music while a student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. "Capital of the World" was once extremely popular and this recording demonstrates why with catchy Spanish-flavored music. The Fifth Symphony "Joyous" contains infectious melodies and a strong "boogie-woogie" beat and was a favorite of critic and fellow composer Virgil Thompson. This is my personal favorite on the CD. The early "Archipelago" is Antheil's take on the "rhumba" and is very interesting. "Hats off" to Barry Kolman and the Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra. Their obvious enthusiasm for Antheil's music results in an excellent sonic treat from this rarely-heard (and undeservedly so) composer.

Average customer rating:

Music in the Right Era of Manipulated Sound
the leading edge, too far out ahead for most to see

Roger Reynolds: The Paris Pieces

Manufacturer: Neuma
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Personae/Vanity of Words

ASIN: B000005VXE
Release Date: 1996-08-01

Tracks:

Odyssey: I. Others
Odyssey: They Come/Different And The Same...
Odyssey: II. Self
Odyssey: What Would I Do Without This World...
Odyssey: III. Inquiry
Odyssey: If I Said, There's A Way Out There,...
Odyssey: Set Listening Level (Softest Moment Here)
Odyssey: IV. Credo
Odyssey: My Way Is In The Sand...

Tracks:

Summer Island
Archipelago
Autumn Island
Fantasy For Pianist

Customer Reviews:

Music in the Right Era of Manipulated Sound.......2006-05-11

Roger Reynolds states 'I believe in as wide a range of musical involvements as is feasible given the reality of life.' Hearing his works requires a lot of preparation on the part of the audience: walking into the pieces cold might otherwise cause such mental confusion, trying to make the whole seem worth its parts, that it is easy to become aurally lost. His musical compositions or amalgams often include text and electronic elements (some critics praise him as an innovator in the use of multi-channel spatial explorations). Born in 1934 in Detroit, MI he is an important American composer whose roots seem to be found in the works of Ives, Varese, and Cage

The problem with Reynolds' works, finely composed though they be, is that they often include texts that really must be comfortably well known to the listener in order to hear the music. And he is in need of editing his longer works to remain within the concentration pattern of even the most sophisticated classical music lover. Point of reference is the first CD of this 2 CD set, an entire CD is devoted to 'Odyssey, an opera in the mind, for soloists, ensemble & computer processed sound' in which the complex texts are both sung and spoken in real time as well as with prerecorded excerpts. The work is performed by the always superb InterContemporain Ensemble with soloists Marie Kobayashi and Philip Larson conducted by David Robertson.

At a recent LA Philharmonic concert Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted the World Premiere of 'Illusion', a work commissioned by the orchestra and one meant to explore all of the sound possibilities of this acoustic wonder of a Hall. The piece begins with sounds on speakers in the foyer and steps of the hall and when the audience is seated prerecorded tapes of speakers bounce around the hall giving the text about Agamemnon, Iphigenia and Cassandra and the Greek history of Troy. Then the small ensemble on stage included Agamemnon with three voices (speaker, baritone and cellist!), along with female speaker and clarinet as Iphigenia, and soprano and piccolo as Cassandra! It is an hour-long quasi-opera and mixes acoustical manipulations of spoken word and computer sounds with the whole piece. Complex, mind-boggling, and in desperate need of editing!

The remaining pieces on this recording fit comfortably onto the second CD and are brief and well conceived: 'Summer Island, for oboe & computer generated sound', 'Archipelago, for 32 instruments & computer generated sound', 'Autumn Island for marimba', and 'Fantasy for pianist', each with David Robertson conducting the soloists and the InterContemporain Ensemble.

Stating that Roger Reynolds' music requires work on the part of the audience is in no way a negative statement. Too often we enter a concert or play a recording to be entertained. Reynolds demands we be participants and would that that were the case for all classical music listening, there would be no threat of the extinction of CDs! Food for the soul and the ear is food for the mind. Grady Harp, May 06

the leading edge, too far out ahead for most to see.......2002-01-21

This is invaluable documentation of the electro-acoustic works of Roger Reynolds. The product of time spent at IRCAM, Pierre Boulez' Paris institute, some of the pieces bear a strong resemblance to "Repons," the highest-profile Boulez composition using the state-of-the-art IRCAM technology. This is even less surprising since they were recorded by Boulez' Ensemble Intercontemporain! "Archipelago" was composed in 1982-3, for 32 instruments and 8 tracks of computer generated sound. On hearing a performance, John Cage said to Reynolds "[t]his should keep you busy for the rest of your life," because of its rich complexity. "Summer Island" and "Autumn Island" are spin-offs of "Archipelago," featuring oboe and marimba respectively. "Summer Island" is stunningly beautiful, the easiest piece on the disc to appreciate on first hearing.

"Odyssey, an opera in the mind" (1989-93) is a difficult work, to say the least. I will be listening to it alongside Nono's "Prometeo" for years, I'm sure, plumbing its depths. Featuring text from a poem by Samuel Beckett, Reynolds, believe it or not, uses equations from chaos theory to organize the computer-manupulated vocals, using the lyrical pitch structures of the voices as the basis for sound reorganization. Some pieces, such as Reynolds' string quartets ("Coconino," recorded by the Arditti Quartet), I find engaging and compelling despite my patent failure to completely understand the compositions' structures. With "Odyssey" I am not as compelled, and hence the 4 stars instead of 5. I remain convinced that Roger Reynolds is one of our most under-recognized contemporary composers. I only wish that all those who think Glass or Gorecki is the epitome of the current composer could hear Reynolds' work!

Cape Verde: An Archipelago of Music
Average customer rating:

only the magic of the music takes u faster to the dreamland

All Traditional!! Brings you closer to Cabo Verde

Cape Verde: An Archipelago of Music
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Ocora
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Cape Verde | Africa | International | Styles | Music
General | Africa | International | Styles | Music
General | International | Styles | Music
Africa | Compilations | International | Styles | Music
Nostalgia | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
General | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music
General | International | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Africa | International | Indie Music | Stores | Music
International | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00003Z9UK
Release Date: 2000-01-11

Tracks:

Tabanka de Varzea - Nha Sabadu
Ma N'Ka Ta Ba Rub Ki TAgu Tx
Rapazinho Bo Tentadu - Nacia Gomi
Minina Si Bu Dan N'Ta Cor - Tchota Suari
Lena - Ano Nobo
Toque de PilCom Mihlo
Mino
Pripe de Ximento
Mino de Mama - Mino de Mama
O Galo Ki Tem Se Raz
Bombena
Pretu Cor Di N Coladeras da freguesia Nossa Senhora de monte
N'Kru Fora Di Marka
Lindinha - Xote
Cascabullho Tem Baleia - Loussik Totchian

Tracks:

Nhguel Pulnor - Nha Sabina
Nha Deosa - Renascimento
Nhnt' Andr - Nha Sabina
Coli - Corda do Sol
Coli - Frederik da Luz
Coli - Porto Grande
Dia 15 Grog Tab
Chuva de 83 - Porto Grande
Ana Mata Tchuk
Boas Festas - Grupo de Ribeira Prata
Contradan
Maria Qzui Bu Tem
Compadre Jos Mateus Band
Solo de Viol- Isidro Gomes Lima
Rabilona - Os Rabilenses
Maria Barba - Djalunga

Amazon.com

Cape Verde has attained a fame far beyond what its small geographic stature would seem to justify, in great measure due to the work of morna diva Cesaria Evora. This small group of islands was uninhabited until Portugal settled it with its unwanted poor, its opportunistic pirates, clever business people, and slaves brought from the nearby African coast. Thus the archipelago has a unique, almost artificial culture. It's a true example of how people create culture as much as they are created by it.

This two-CD set is broken into two regional collections. Sotavento ("leeward") covers the islands of Fogo, Santiago, Maio, and Brava, where the majority of blacks still live. It features social satire called tabanka, women's social music (batuque), the accordion-driven funana, and work and play songs. Barlavento ("windward") shows the more diverse European elements (not exclusively Portuguese) that mixed with the African to create the roots of the most famous of Cape Verde's musical traditions, the morna of Boa Vista island. Also featured are wedding and festival music, and more formal styles that work with European instruments such as the violin.

Much of this music has been covered in individual discs on the Ocora label, but this collection is one of the best overviews of the region available, with good notes, marvelous pictures, and well-recorded, outstanding performances. --Louis Gibson

Customer Reviews:

only the magic of the music takes u faster to the dreamland.......2001-07-10

if listening to the music that will grab your heart, bring tears of joy, and make you think of the melancoly that every day of our lifes brings to us is your thing then this is it. tiered of organized vacations. book your next trip to the archipelago of music (no i'm not a travel agent).

All Traditional!! Brings you closer to Cabo Verde.......2000-10-26

The music is wonderful and traditional. I enjoyed the funanna played. It reminded me of Santiago Island. It is a must to bring you to the traditions of rural Cape Verde.

Average customer rating:

New Band: Dance of the Seven Veils

Manufacturer: Music & Arts Program
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00004RCZK
Release Date: 2000-05-23

Average customer rating:

Takemitsu: How Slow the Wind

Manufacturer: Bis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00005ALI5
Release Date: 2001-03-27

Average customer rating:

powerfully spellbinding ; a pleasure for the listening soul
powerfully spellbinding ; a pleasure for the listening soul

Angel Archipelago
Johan Hedin
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | International | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000AEEG
Release Date: 1998-09-29

Tracks:

Kusten
Skar
Falt
Brant Land
Staden
Oppet Hav
Angel Archipelago
Stenen
Frid
Vita Marrn
Tu

Amazon.com

Angel Archipelago would be highly recommended just for its cast. Hedin, the nyckelharpa (keyed fiddle) innovator, is joined by Scandinavian music luminaries like multi-instrumentalist Ale Möller, accordionist Maria Kalaniemi, electronics man Frode Fjellheim, and horn player Jonas Knutsson. Together they have created a neo-classical album of grace and quiet energy, befitting the glassine nature of Hedin's fiddle. The compositions are mostly gentle, with echoes of 18th-century classical and ecclesiastical music, but they do have occasional bursts of remarkable energy, utilizing baroque lines and heavy percussion to push the music outside the quietude of the bulk of the record. There will be a tendency to place this music into the new age realm, and some of Hedin's other recorded output certainly belongs there, but Angel Archipelago succeeds because there is no category for it. --Louis Gibson

Customer Reviews:

powerfully spellbinding ; a pleasure for the listening soul.......1999-05-26

archaic yet entincingly new , this is music that makes dreams of ancient times dance in the present

powerfully spellbinding ; a pleasure for the listening soul.......1999-05-26

archaic yet entincingly new , this is music that makes dreams of ancient times dance in the present

Average customer rating:

Archipelago

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000025537
Release Date: 1997-07-01

Tracks:

Deep
Motility
Quake
Stream
Hill
Kata
Frame
Tell

Album Description

The second album by this ambient/improv band combining the solo electronic sounds of keyboardist Jeff Greinke with musicians including trumpet player Lesli Dalaba, guitarist Dennis Rea, stick player George Soler, and percussionists Greg Gilmore, Bill Moyer, and Ed Pias.

Band members are... keyboardist Jeff Greinke trumpet player Lesli Dalaba, guitarist Dennis Rea, stick player George Soler, percussionists Greg Gilmore, Bill Moyer, and Ed Pias.

Music:

Music

music

Music

Visionary Complex

Dein ist meine ganzes Herz

Danish Music

Ernest Tubb at the Spanish Castle Live 1965

The Greatest Hit [Import]

Columbus & the Age of Discovery [Soundtrack]

Classic Sinatra

Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5

Broke

Born to Dance

Best Of R.E.M. [Import]

Big Brother Brasil [Import]

British Hustle: The Sound of British Jazz-Funk from 1974-1982

Rare Piano Encores

Blessings of Liberty