Signal

Editorial Reviews
From the Label
Band members: Christian Erickson
Brad Hanson
Joel Hanson
Richard Werbowenko

About the Artist
Judgement of Paris was formed at a time when the Minneapolis music scene was awakening from its garage-rock-induced stupor in favor of a new, keyboard-based, effects-laden ambient-pop cocktail the local press dubbed "dream pop." However, the band remained one step ahead, or behind, that inaccurate label - depending on one's perspective. Working from rolling tribal beats and stark, mood-inducing sequences that would be an appropriate sonic compliment to the austere, black-and-white images in a... read more

Signal

Average customer rating:

Coming out of the gate as one of the best bands of the decade...
Awesome CD
Best of 2006
Brutal Metal From CANADA?????
Great First Effort

Under Reprisal
Threat Signal
Manufacturer: Nuclear Blast Americ
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000FDFYJ4
Release Date: 2006-08-22

Tracks:

Rational Eyes
As I Destruct
One Last Breath
Seeing Red
A New Beginning
Counterbalance
Inane
Now
Faceless
Haunting
When All Is Said And Done

Customer Reviews:

Coming out of the gate as one of the best bands of the decade..........2007-07-24

I never heard of these guys before until someone told me to just go out and buy the album. Man, am I glad that I did. I am a huge fan of Soilwork and Mnemic and when I heard these guys, they blew both of those bands clean out of the water. Trust me, you will listen to this album easily more than 20 times the first week you get it and even after about the 100th spin, you are still finding new things with it that you didn't hear before. Their talent and intuitiveness is something that I have never really heard before. Sounds similar to some bands, but these guys got it right, dead on, with the first try. Awesome album, I give it 59 stars out of 5!

Awesome CD.......2007-07-23

I bought this CD in March of 2007. Saw them live at a local spot and they rocked! Great new band. This is a must have for fans of the heavy stuff!

Best of 2006.......2006-12-20

This album has been blowing me away since I picked it up shortly after it came out. This album is KILLER!!! This album is my pick for album of the year, followed by All That Remains 'Fall of Ideals' and Killswitch Engage 'As Daylight Ends'. I love the combination of technical, brutal and beauty. I didn't expect anything like this from Canada. Well done boys, looking forward to the next one!

Brutal Metal From CANADA?????.......2006-11-06

Canada is known around the hard rock scene for bands like nickelback and default, not this. I guess THREAT SIGNAL can prove everybody wrong about Canada. This is brutally melodic metal people, and this band is very talented. Their sound is kinda a mixture of SOILWORK,IN FLAMES, with a little FEAR FACTORY thrown in for good measure. These guys also throw in some amazing solos that just add to the greatness of their music. SOLOS ARE NOT EVIL PEOPLE!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I just get tired of people bashing the fine art of soloing. Anyways, this is a great album and if you are a fan of the bands I mentioned, definately check this one out. These guys have the chance to take metal in a new direction along with the other young guns out there, but they need our support. Buy the album people, you won't be sorry.

Great First Effort.......2006-11-04

Sometimes you just have to pick up an album or a book and take a second look at it, this is such an album, the cover art grabbed my eyes and I had to see if the lyrics and music would be such a feast to the senses. This debut album exceeds all expectations.

Joh Howard produces an amazing range of vocals for a Metal album, the most incredible is his counter points on As I Destruct , here he sings counterpoint to each line, and you would swear you were listening to two vocalists.

The powerful guitar work of Kyle McKnight and Rich Howard draw you in and keep you entrapped as Jon Howards vocals coil around you like a Boa constricting you tighter and tighter. The music is intense, powerful and a stunning example of extreme metal.

It's hard to believe but they even have an anti-violence song called One Last Breath, where they are critical of violence in society and how it will affect us all.

All the song's are written by Kyle McKnigt, Jon Howard and occasionally with Rich Howard. The lyrics are to some extent what you would anticipate for a metal album.

The sound is reminiscent of Disturbed or even early Venom, yet even though it sounds familiar it does have it's own unique undertones and over all it does set itself aside as a new sound in a genre that is typically overly anticipatable. The acoustical ending to Counterbalance reminds one of Creed or Nickleback on their softer pieces.

All in all I would have to say that this album is something new and intriguing in a genre that has become stale. This album will not disappoint any metal head in your circle of friends. So give it a try.

(First Published in Imprint 200-11-03 as "Sonic Snippets - Music Reviews".)

Average customer rating:

couple of gems but mainly dull ballads
Richard Marx: Days In Avalon (2000)
Another Marx Album - Par Excellence
Richard's Still Got It!
Always brilliant, beautiful music...

Days in Avalon
Richard Marx
Manufacturer: Signal 21
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Richard Marx

ASIN: B00004Z3QY
Release Date: 2000-10-24

Tracks:

Days In Avalon
Shine
Someone Special
Almost Everything
The Edge Of Forever
Power Of You And Me
One More Time
Waiting On Your Love
More Than A Mystery
Boy Next Door
Too Early To Be Over
Straight From My Heart

Amazon.com

The platinum-selling Richard Marx was a radio staple in the late '80s and early '90s; he's continued to keep his hand in as a songwriter for the likes of 'N Sync ("This I Promise You"). Days in Avalon, his first album since 1997, isn't likely to change anyone's mind about Marx. But anyone who has enjoyed him in the past will appreciate this disc, whose only real surprise is the closing duet with Alison Krauss, "Straight from My Heart." Elsewhere, Marx indulges his passion for melodramatic storytelling (remember "Hazard"?) on "Boy Next Door," the tale of a Midwestern teenager who goes on a shooting spree. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews:

couple of gems but mainly dull ballads.......2005-09-11

Richard Marx is generally known for a few hit singles- and it is rarely true, but in his case, is DEFINITELY true- stick to the greatest hits.
I have listened to the greatest hits of Richard Marx and this contains an awesome collection.
Then I tried to some of his albums. Without exception, they are all really dull and none of the songs stand out. On this collection, there a couple of stand out songs. 'One more time', is an exceptional ballad. Probably one of the most heart wrenching ballads of all time, with a phenomenal arrangement and lovely classical guitar. One of the best things Marx has ever written.
Other highlights are 'waiting on your love' with a really memorable chorus that is melodic and memorable. 'Days in avalon' the title track is also a memorable ballad.
'Staright from my heart' is also a beautiful heart felt ballad, with a touch of country to it. Nice pedal guitar, mixed with acoustic guitar and another pretty melody.
'Shine' is also OK, but can't actually remember the tune now, as I write this.
The rest is utterly disposable, ranging from average stuff, like 'someone special' to utter rubbish, like 'too early to be over', which is a poor rock song, filled with cleches.
I also really dislike the melody in 'boy next door' and can't stand the female singer in 'the edge of forever'. Tries to be a romantic duet and has some nice instrumental backing, but the vocal melodies just spoil it.

Make an EP out of five songs on this album. Ditch the rest. Same story for all of Marx's CDs.

Richard Marx: Days In Avalon (2000).......2005-02-25

In 2000, Richard Marx, after another three year break, came back to release his seventh album entitled, DAYS IN AVALON. This album is a lot different from his first five albums, and greatest hits album. Being that this is the 21s century and that Richard is getting a bit older and wiser, he matures the sound of his music, which is more than okay by me. This album is very enjoyable in every way.

DAYS IN AVALON
The first single from the album. This song, which is the album's title track, the first album to have a title track, is sounds very country to me, but very soothing and relaxing. When I read the title of the song, I was expecting an up-tempo dance tune, but my expectations have proven me wrong once again, and this time I like being wrong because this song is really enjoyable.

SHINE
The music to this song sounds very uplifting and spiritual, a song that Madonna would have done back in 1998, when she released her 11th album, Ray Of Light. That is why I have enjoyed this song since the first time I heard it. I did not only enjoy it because it sounds like a Madonna song from her Ray Of Light era, I also enjoyed it because it was just a ballad in general. You know how much enjoy hearing ballads.

SOMEONE SPECIAL
Sounds like this whole album might be full of ballads. Now, Richard's voice never needed any improvement, and on this track, his voice still does not need any improvement, since his voice is incredible. This song is not that great. Don't get me wrong, this song is okay, but it wasn't what I hoped it would be.

ALMOST EVERYTHING
Since the first three songs on this album were ballads, Richard decided to include an up-tempo tune on the album, which starts with this song. This song is real catchy, but edgy at the same time. A song anyone, including me, can enjoy.

EDGE OF FOREVER (Duet with Chelly Wright)
Another ballad is included here, but this time, Richard did not sing alone. He sang with Chelly Wright. I have never heard of Chelly Wright until I had heard this song. This song is very nicely done, along with both the beautiful voices of Richard and Chelly.

THE POWER OF YOU AND ME
Back to the up-tempo songs, that sound a little like a country song, but only enough to make me enjoy it. Richard has a way throwing in different types of music into his own, which is what I usually like. If you are a country artist, who throws a bit of Pop or Rock into your music, then you have some good songs. Richard Marx is a Pop/Rock artist, who, at times, throws a little country sound into his songs, just like this one, and it makes it sound great. Perfect, in fact.

ONE MORE TIME
Hmm, back to ballads. As much as I love ballads, I kind of wish that there were more up-tempo songs included on the album. But, this song is very haunting and very beautiful, and I must have listened to it a thousand times. A very beautiful song. Richard definitely has a lot of soul.

WAITING ON YOUR LOVE
Not really a ballad, but very close to it. This is a very enjoyable song. I really enjoy hearing the music and the melodies. As usual, Richard's voice is pleasing...as always.

MORE THAN A MYSTERY
Finally! An up-tempo song. I'm all ballads-ed out. The harmonies and sound of Richard's excellent voice are amazing. The music is absolutely perfect. I do not think there is one thing about this song that I would not change. Even the title is great.

BOY NEXT DOOR
Another country-like ballad, but along the same lines as his 1991 hit, Hazard (The River), my favorite Richard Marx hit. This is another haunting sound, with a great sound, hook, and harmony vocals. A song no fan should ever dare skip.

TOO EARLY TO BE OVER
You know, I feel the same way when I'm having a good time. This song is just a way of saying that, "Time flies when you're having fun". This is one of the few up-tempo songs featured on this album and I love it. If you listen to this song, you'll love it too.

STRAIGHT FROM MY HEART (Duet with Alison Krauss)
The second & final single from the album. Back the basic ballads again, but this is the second song on this album where Richard did not sing alone. Joining him this time is Alison Krauss, another artist, whom I had never heard of, but an artist who has a real pleasing voice to fit next to Richard's pleasing voice. When you have these two pleasing voices together, they make up this pleasing ballad, which I enjoy heavily.

This album may not be his greatest work, but the album is certainly great enough for me to enjoy it to the furthest extent. And I tell you all now to buy this album before you lose your one and only chance. So get up off your a** and buy this amazing album.

Another Marx Album - Par Excellence.......2004-12-28

About 2 months ago I purchased Richard's latest, My Own Best Enemy. That enthralled me so much that I just had to have more from Richard. And this work of art is just as good as MOBE. Richard's work has matured so much from the brash 23-year old who conquered the pop music scene in the late 80s. The title song is a beautiful ballad which steals your heart away. Someone Special was.....well, special. Almost Everything is another power ballad (and what a power ballad, with the sweetness of his voice underlaid with grit and gravel).

Edge of Forever is an unforgettable duet with Chely Wright; Boy Next Door is a spine chilling tale of...on second thought, I think I will let you find out for yourself. His whispered warning at the end of the tale "look around" is a fitting finish for this story-song.One More Time is another one that will capture your heart and is probably one of his best ballads ever, joining the exclusive company of Endless Summer Nights, Right Here Waiting, Hold Onto the Nights, and Until I Find You Again. Anyone who has ever heard a Richard Marx song is guaranteed to like "Avalon"

Richard's Still Got It!.......2003-12-04

I have to admit, I hadn't been listening to Richard Marx for awhile, until a friend of mine reintroduced me to his incredible sound by playing his music over and over when I was around. I had almost forgot how amazing a singer/songwriter this guy was! After I got reacquainted I had to get Days In Avalon. This album is just as wonderful, if not more so, than all of his earlier stuff. The songs range from the slow love ballads like "One More Time" to the more upbeat, positive songs like "Too Early to Be Over." The music is good, but the lyrics are even better. I have listened to it over and over since I got it and it just keeps getting better every time. My favorite songs are "Days In Avalon," "Almost Everything," "Someone Special," "Power of You and Me," "The Boy Next Door" (I always was a "Hazard" fan), "Too Early to Be Over," and "Straight from My Heart" (very country!) In conclusion, I recommend this album for anyone looking for good music written by a truly underrated and talented man.

Always brilliant, beautiful music..........2003-03-09

I'm a college student, and Richard Marx is still my favorite singer. His voice is very emotional and pleasing. Same to be said about his lyrics. I find him an exceptional song writer. As for this Album, he does not disappoint or get old. Let's go through the tracks...
Days In Avalon*****- this is a great song and choice for the title track. It has a subtle, but uplifting tone to it. "You were the one thing worth livin' for", how great is that to hear flowing out of his lips?
Shine****- This is a slower track on the album. Not a favorite, but it still works.
Someone Special*****- This is a good song to listen to if you want to stop feeling bad for yourself and start feeling for the character Richard is singing for. It has a moderate tone to it.
Almost Everything*****- I enjoy listening to this song. It is one of the most powerful songs on "Days." He describes gaining everything the world offers, except for his lost love, and he states it by saying, I'd have almost everything. Good message.
Edge of Forever*****- Slow, love song sang with Chely Wright. If you enjoy his duets, i.e. "At the Beginning"- Anastasia, then you'll hold tight to this track.
Power of You and Me*****- Most upbeat song, very fun to sing along with. If you're in a relationship, this song will make you two feel strong enough to beat anything the world throws your way.
One More Time*****- Classic Richard love song. Follows suit of "Riht Here Waiting." That should say it all.

Waiting on Your Love*****- My most listened to track. It has R&B influence, and its own original tone that sets it apart from the Album. It creates a flow that you have to move to.
More Than A Mystery*****- Another good, upbeat chorus. He's telling his lover, straight up that he wants to be their one and only.
Boy Next Door*****- Another fun mystery song, such as "Hazard." I enjoy this track more, has a bit of Sci-Fi sound to it.
To Early to Be Over*****- Can be easily compared to "Power of You and Me." The difference, is that he's singing of a another story.
Straighr From My Heart****- You can feel the country influence as soon as the track starts playing. It has an acoustic feel to it.

Toru Takemitsu: Quotation of Dream (20/21 series) - London Sinfonietta / Oliver Knussen
Average customer rating:

More of the bland stagnance of Takemitsu's later symphonic work

Really enjoying this one

A fine collection of late works and an ideal introduction

Another world

Takemitsu draws you into his dream world

Toru Takemitsu: Quotation of Dream (20/21 series) - London Sinfonietta / Oliver Knussen
Oliver Knussen , Paul Crossley , Peter Serkin , London Sinfonietta , Sebastian Bell , Michael Collins , Andrew Crowley , Gareth Hulse , Joan Atherton , Rebecca Hirsch , and Timothy Lines
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000I0L6
Release Date: 1999-02-09

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

Amazon.com

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.

Howard Hanson: Bold Island Suite; Symphony No. 2 "Romantic"; Suite from Merry Mount

Average customer rating:

Perfection A to Z

Howard Hanson: Bold Island Suite; Symphony No. 2 "Romantic"; Suite from Merry Mount

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000AQKUDG
Release Date: 2005-09-27

Tracks: