5 comments about Baby Dance:Toddler's Jump on the Classics.

1. I bought this for my 5-year old daughter who loves litening to my classical music. She did not like it. It failed to grab her attention.



2. I've bought many CDs for my son (who is now 2), including various classical compilations for babies. However, most of them seem to comprise of the same two dozen or so "favourites" from the Baroque and Classical periods. Also, most of the selections are usually in slow tempo (in order to pass as "lullabies") whereas I find that babies respond better to rhythmic, upbeat tunes. I like this CD because it includes beautiful selections that are less overused, come from different epochs and styles, and are very suitible for small kids. The pieces are brief (babies have a short attention span)and upbeat. They won't put your child or yourself to sleep, but you can listen to them repeatedly without getting tired.



3. My kids love this cd. We kept checking it out from the library, so we finally decided to buy it. The kids like the picture of the baby running on the piano and they pretend they are doing the same thing while we listen to it. I love the music, so much of it is familiar and well loved.



4. As a music educator, preschool teacher, and mother of three young children, I have reviewed many recordings for children. When evaluating a product, I do not necessarily look for songs I like to listen to, but selections that are well received by children. The producers of "Baby dance" did a wonderful job in choosing beautiful pieces with a fast tempo that encourage toddlers as young as 13 months to march, hop, and dance. Not all songs are from the typical classical music sampler tapes, introducing adults to other, lesser-known beautiful masterpieces. Most selections are less then 2 minutes long, wich proved the perfect time span for the attention of a 2-year old. I videotaped my youngest son when he was dancing to this tape as a 2-year old. He interpreted the feelings the music conveyed and moved his body according to these emotions - from wiggling to standing still and tuning in to crawling on all fours. I give workshops to early childhood educators and always recommend this title.



5. We first purchased this CD when my son was 18 months old, and he's really enjoyed it ever since. He's now 3 years old, and still asks for it to be played. The selections are short, but high energy and and lots of fun. This is a GREAT CD to have handy on those rainy days when you can't get out of the house! Incidentally, it's also recommended for preschoolers by Ed Hirsh, of the Core Knowledge series (What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know, What Your First Grader Needs to Know, etc), on his coreknowledge.org site.

3 comments about A Very Classical Christmas.

1. Whoever doesn't like this CD is crazy! Yes, there is a lot of flute (thank goodness). This flutist is the most talented I have ever heard in real life or in recordings. I actually met him, and his playing is even more captivating live! This CD (the only album he would let be recorded of himself) is worth ten times as much as the listed price.



2. Having played the flute, i appreciate it. However, i did NOT buy a selection of music advertized as Hand Bell Ringing to be INUNDATED and OVERPOWERED by flute playing !!! Yes, it is classical, yes it is Seasonal, but in my opinion it crossed the line. It should have been titled Seasonal Flute Music with Hand Bells Every-So-Often in the Background, until you get to cut 17 of the 18 total !!!



3. After a long wait, The Sonos Handbell Ensembles new album is finaly out, and it was worth waiting for. "A Very Classical Christmas" is all I have come to expect from Sonos, and then some. One again recorded in 24 bit HD digital @ Skywalker Sounds' Scoring stage, their incredible sound is captured for our holiday pleasure. Timothy Day's flute blends harmoniously and effortlessly with the bells. What more could you ask for, for your Handbell &/or Christmas collections than Tchaikovsky, Bach, Vivaldi, Motzart & Handel on one CD. You start to feel as if the bells were the instrument they originally wrote for.
   Don't miss this rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus! If you think Handbells aren't musical, you haven't heard this!!!

5 comments about Debussy: Piano Works.

1. Alexis Weissenberg playing Debussy. Exquisite!! What more needs to be said. If you are looking for your first disc of Debussy paino music you would do no better than buy this one!



2. I have heard and admired Rubinstein, Van Cliburn, Vasary, and Entremont playing some of these pieces, among others. Weissenberg plays them with a fresh approach to tempo and rubato. The rhythm is more heavily accentuated than in the other pianists' versions. In addition to several of the more well-known works of Debussy, Weissenberg chose to include "Etude No. IXI pour les Arpeges Composes" in this recording and he makes it into a hypnotic miniature fireworks display of his virtuosity.
   
   The slower pieces, such as "Clair de lune," are played with sensitivity and tenderness, with Weissenberg bringing out the beauty of every note while never losing the forward momentum of the piece, gradually building its level of sound and intensity and then taking it back down; it's a magical performance.
   
   The first three selections, "Pagodes," "La Soiree dans Grenade" and "Jardins sous la pluie" are exotic perfumed slices of musical heaven, with "Pagodes," especially, being exquisitely performed. The "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum" and "L'Isle Joyeuse" are a scintillating cascades of notes, while "Serenade for the Doll" is absolutely charming. Although my sentimental favorite of the different versions of "La Plus que Lente" remains Rubinstein's 1970 recording, this one by Weissenberg is also wonderful; it's different, fresh, with a more pronounced rhythm in the faster passages that evokes the image of dancers in a ballroom.
   
   Perhaps my favorite selection on this CD is "The Snow is Dancing," which Weissenberg plays in such a way that one can practically see the swirling snowflakes dancing in the air. Actually, all of the selections are beautiful small musical gems, played with elegance, grace, charm, and passion. This CD receives my highest recommendation.



3. One of the most infamous discs of Debussy's piano works ever recorded,sealing Weissenberg's controversial reputation.The rather conservative Penguin Record Guide disliked it so much that they awarded no stars and said it was 'totally unacceptable artistically' and 'the most brutal account of Debussy ever committed to disc'.
   That was back in the mid-eighties.Now,his approach seems like a breath of fresh air:woodpecker like staccato in the Passepied from the 'suite bergamasque'and swirling cascades of notes in a double expresso account of 'L'isle Joyeuse'.
   Fast,hurtling tempos and disregard for the softer end of the spectrum are the norm in these performances but that is part of the pleasure in a peculiar sort of way as the charisma of the playing is inescapable.A quick comparison with a young glamorous french pianist in the same works,everything is more flat footed,less visceral.
   While not quite in the same league as the Bach and Rachmaninov Weissenberg also recorded for DG at the end of his career,this is still worth getting to know!



4. This CD, although long out of date, retains a crisp and refreshing air that must be heard to be appreciated. Yes, Weissenberg leaves behind the dreamy melodicism of others, but by contrast, he plays in a way that will keep you awake. This is no opium dream!



5. I find this performance by Alexis Weissenberg to have but one fault; The recording itself. He plays it far too fast. The impressionistic/contemplative style that Debussy's works are written for is totally thrown away. In its place is a work totally devoid of personality, and mechanical. My greatest pet peeve when listening to an artist's rendition of a classic is the seemingly ubiqitous, but subtle need to quicken the tempo, as if speed were the transcending value of a performance. These melodies are almost sacred! Speed freaks should not track mud over them to perhaps, make a name for themselves for acheiving a newer "interpretation" of it.

No comments about Complete Classical Music Library: The Piano, Vol. 1.

1 comments about Ginastera: Complete Piano & Organ.

1. Ginastera died in 1983, but it seems to have taken until 2006 to record his piano and organ works in their entirety. I say cautiously `seems' because I am still trying to understand what Fernando Viani tells us about the various `children's pieces' here in his liner-note. I read therein `His Argentinian Dances...remained unfinished, with just sketches of a Moderato and a Paisaje. The 1934...Children's Pieces...[remain] unpublished, while the 1942 suite makes direct allusions to Argentine dances...' Disregarding the breathtaking swerve away from the topic in that third case, I don't know what to make of the past tense applied to the Dances. There are a Moderato and a Paisaje here, and they don't sound like just sketches to me, so did Ginastera finish them later, or did someone else finish them, or are they actually incomplete to this day?
   
   One way or another, the Moderato and the Paisaje, together with the Variations and Toccata on Aurora Lucis Rutilat for organ, are receiving their `world premiere recordings' here, and very welcome they are. Ginastera has found a very able, sympathetic and understanding advocate in Fernando Viani, whose approach to the music seems to me more or less ideally judged from beginning to end. Ginastera's piano style has moments of inwardness and delicacy certainly, but for the most part tempi are fast. The fast pieces call for a virtuoso technique certainly, but one of a specialised kind. The focus is strongly on dance-rhythms, and the player has to be a virtuoso with big stomping chords - rapid passage-work, scales, thirds, double trills and the rest of the normal panoply of 19th-century transcendental execution are hardly called for at all. What would kill music like this stone-dead would be any sense of inhibition, and Viani gives it with the sense of abandon that is possible only with as big a technique as he has. This amount of swing and verve in the rhythm comes from absolute assurance with the great fistfuls of notes, and he is able to keep the texture clear and the sound free from any suspicion of ugliness while giving the frequent fortissimo effects in the deep bass all the power and volume they need. The quieter episodes are well done nevertheless, and there is some pleasant filigree work in the `scorrevole' section of the slow movement in the second sonata.
   
   The pieces allegedly for children must have been intended for child prodigies, I'd say, because they are difficult in their own right. Viani quotes the composer's own commentary on the second and third sonatas, but I find that composers tend not to be very enlightening when they talk about their own music. Ginastera's remarks remind me of, say, Alan Rawsthorne's - informative up to a point regarding the influences on the style, but otherwise not telling us much that we can't hear for ourselves. Viani himself in his commentary on the other pieces has a certain amount to say about `synthesising a very personal and a universal message', which is the kind of chatter that means nothing to me. That, together with such concepts as `subjective Americanism' and `American neo-expressionism' may be stylistic features that I shall appreciate better in the fullness of time, but what really strikes me about Ginastera's style is that it didn't seem to change much, whatever he and Viani may say. I like it the way I find it, but it may be some time before I fully appreciate exactly how the second sonata `is without doubt one of the most significant and creative pieces ever written for the piano'. It suits me the way it is, and never mind that sort of hype.
   
   The complete organ works come to a grand total of two. The organ sounds to be quite a big one, but Viani seems perfectly at home with it, and his playing has much the same grandiose characteristics as he displays at the piano. The sound of the instrument has been caught and reproduced without strain and without assaulting the ears, and that gives me my cue to compliment the recording engineers also on the fine job they have done with reproducing the powerful piano effects without a hint either of distortion or of artificial restraint.
   
   And once again my closing refrain - Well done Naxos. I never tire of saying it.

5 comments about Chopin: Sonata in B-flat minor, Berceuse, etc..

1. Ivan Moravec (1934) has literally overpowered the musical world, and has gained with well deserved honours, an enviable status among the most important pianist of the planet.
   
   Pupil of Benedetti Michelangeli, Moravec has decided to focus around the romantic repertoire with surprising and effective results.
   
   As a matter of fact, he has been able to express an epic lyricism in these works, creating indeed new atmospheres and aristocratic musicality that equals him to legendary figures of the recent past as Samson Francois, for instance.
   
   This album has been gaining through all these years, a peerless notoriety; not only has overcome the test of time, thanks to his sublime pianism. Since the first bar, in every Nocturne, you are immediately conveyed and persuaded he is in another level of interpretation, providing us of new visions around these transcendental pieces of the keyboard's repertoire
   
   Because Moravec has always kept a low profile and the fact of his Czech nationality, most of audiences in the last sixties and early seventies, dazzled by other fashionable- pianists, by then tended to overlook him, but due the technologic miracle, the new generations have realized about his grandness.
   
   He is a master artist of the keyboard.



2. Though I have a few reservations, this cd contains some of the finest Chopin playing you'll ever hear. To get the grumbles out of the way first, Moravec has a tendency to get a little too fancy at times, to insert pauses between, and sometimes within, phrases, thus fracturing the line. This shows up in the trio of the funeral march and. most particularly, throughout the Fourth Ballade, a work whcih Moravec worries to death. The main theme, which I believe ought to be played simply, is frequently disrupted by these ungainly pauses. The recent performance by Cedric Tiberghien (Harmonia Mundi), though not nearly as well recorded, is much more to my taste. With that cavil out of the way, we can get on to the rest of this cd, which is fabulous. Moravec interprets the sonata (with first movement repeat, by the way) more lyrically than most, finding much more variety than usual in the first movement. The scherzo too is more enigmatic than barnstorming, and the funeral march less oppressive and more consoling. The Berceuse is, as you would expect, exquisite, and the marzurkas are simply incomparable. No other pianist, in my view, unlocks the secrets of these elusive masterpieces the way Moravec does. A great performance of the Fantasie concludes the disc. The recorded sound is fully equal to the performances. If you love Chopin, you can't afford to miss this cd.



3. All of this music has been recorded many times over by musicians ranging from the dire to the sublime. For any Chopin recording to really stand out from the pack nowadays, it has to have some really special qualities. This is one of those recordings, and as someone who has never heard any other Moravec, it has made me eager to explore him further.
   
   The B-flat minor Sonata of Chopin is a four-movement work cut from granite; the third movement is the Funeral March you hear at every memorial service today. The sonata can be shattering, but Moravec plays it with an inward expression I've never heard before in this piece, together with the most rounded tone to be recorded since Rubinstein. His interpretation is dramatic and majestic, not athletic, and certainly not bombastic.
   
   The Berceuse is next, a short and deservedly popular cradle song which uses a gentle, rocking ostinato figure, practically unchanged through the entire piece, underneath what amounts to a kind of chaconne. I do not expect to ever hear it played with a greater inner peace than on this CD.
   
   Following this little bon-bon is the great F minor Ballade, which is deeply tragic. A heavenly opening with subtle bell effects, which returns later in A major to great effect, is followed by a curiously obsessive theme which sounds like a song sung by a child in the wilderness. This theme keeps returning, in varied forms as the child grows into a full-fledged adult, until it returns one last time for the coda, in the form of an intense and furious two-part counterpoint which is among the most difficult passages in Chopin and leaves a strong psychological imprint.
   
   Included in the CD are three Mazurkas, which are delightful. Strict Polish practice would entail prolonging the first beat for so long that it felt like a 4/4, rather than a 3/4 as notated. The usual approach today is to ignore this stylistic trait and play the Mazurkas like Waltzes, but Moravec's solution is to use a pungent rubato which fits the melody and accents its light, dance-like quality. Even if it is not a perfectly accurate mazurka style, Moravec is thoroughly charming.
   
   The disc ends with the Fantaisie in F minor, a brilliant military-themed work which I both love and hate when I play it myself, because it is comfortable for the hand and very rewarding to listen to, but it is not easy to hold together structurally. This recording has gone a long way towards instructing me in how to do that. Without question, this Fantaisie stands head and shoulders over any other recording of this work I've heard, be it from Rubinstein, Pollini, Arrau, or Katchen, all legendary pianists in their own right.
   
   In all, recommended in the strongest possible terms. Don't think twice.



4. It doesn't really seem so long ago that I first heard Ivan Moravec and sat stunned at his superb artistry. But it has been 40 years, and this great master whom I heard play in his early thirties is now 73. And what has he recorded in that span? Three sonatas and five concertos of Mozart, a little Bach and Schumann, six Beethoven sonatas (while other pianists his age are on their second or even third complete cycle), the third and fourth Beethoven concertos, the Ravel Sonatine, some Brahms, some nice Czech music, and a good deal of wonderful Debussy and Chopin. In other words, just a few years' worth of recordings for some of the more famous names on the big labels. However, within his modest output, Ivan Moravec has given some of the greatest performances ever preserved.

   So we are thankful whenever this musician-virtuoso records anything, and this latest release is nothing less than magnificent. Is it possible for a performance of the warhorse B-flat minor sonata of Chopin to sound strikingly fresh and new? Apparently so. This introspective reading is one for the ages. Other pianists (Pollini comes to mind) have certainly recorded unsurpassable renditions of this piece, but Moravec's is unique and incomparable. Moravec is capable of pyrotechnics, but they simply have no place here. Even so, each note is beautifully in place and given its full due, as if it were a human soul.

   It is interesting to compare this performance of the fourth Ballade with the recording Moravec made back in 1966. The 2002 version seems more leisurely, but in fact has a shorter playing time. The earlier version makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. The new version puts you deep into thought. Apply superlatives to the rest of the disc and you have my review.

   This disc is hard to find but certainly available, and at mid-price to boot.

   Please, Ivan. The B minor sonata. The late Beethoven. Some more Mozart and Debussy. Anything you want to play.




5. I will make it very simple to digest:

   Sound Quality, Performance, Selection, Price: 10 out of 10.
   I was so impressed with this album that I decided to write about it for you to enjoy it as well. Even the content selection is a piece of art in itself. The production of this compact is very well done. It sets the "magic" that goes from the Sonata in B flat minor to Berceuse, and from Berceuse to the Ballade, the lingering mazurkas, and, finally, the crown of this outstanding production and performance: The Fantasie in F minor.
   This album is a piece of art in every way...! It's not only Moravec, who is way up there in inspiration and impecable performance. I'm talking about the team that put these pieces together -like jewels- without overwhelming each other, but supporting each other, articulating a mood that is consistent without falling in monotony. And, yes, it will mesmerize your senses as it did with mine. And yes, it will let you craving for more, and you will do what I did: play it again, and again. If you need to grab a defect on this album, THIS IS IT!

   This is the kind of album that will set the mood for intimacy...
   Very moving, very touching. Ideal companion to a good wine or a moment of inner expansion.

No comments about Solos for the Horn Player (Mason Jones Solos).

5 comments about Hickox Conducts Vaughan Williams.

1. No one has ever put Vaughan Williams in the pantheon of great composers with Beethoven. Mozart and Bach. But his best music can be very, very thrilling and emotional. This isn't his best music. But who cares?! It is relaxing and always entertaining. If you know Vaughan Williams. you know that before you hear the music. If you don't, it's a great place to start. Upon absorbibg this music, there is greater possibility that one might move onto the "greater" stuff. But that's not our concern here. Take this music on its own terms. Enjoy it These CDS are great value, filled with good music, played very well and guided by perhaps the best living interpreter of Vaughan Williams music. I have been listening to classical music for alnost fifty years and this is still one of my favorite sets. Listen, smile and relax.



2. Vaughan Williams was one of those prolific composers, Like Saint-Saens, who could curn out music in his personal style on request. Much of the contnets of this bargain Two-fer features second-best efforts, even by Vaughan Williams' loose standards. I love the composer's best music, but my attention wandered during the Poison Kiss Overture and the piffle of a ballet based on the nursery tune, Old King Coe. The Five Mystical Songs is a major work, But Hickox underplays the accompaniments, and the baritone Soloist, Stephen Roberts, isn't up to much. The abbreviated Serenade to Music in its orchestral arrangement sorely misses the singers.
   
   And so it goes. CD 2 contains the Oboe Concerto in a gnelte, appealing reading, along with the Concerto Academico for violin, a rather mousy neo-classical effort marred here by shrill, edgy sonics. There are half a dozen other fillers that amount to an agreeable listen, but we are spoiled for choice in Vaughan Wiliams's music, which the British record over and over, so there's no reason not to pick the vry best. The very best isn't found here by a long shot.



3. What more to say then that this set is a gem all the way. Recording, performances, ensemble all great. A fine way to get to know some lesser-known VW works too. "Old King Cole" is a real find.



4. This ample collection demonstrates that Richard Hickox has to be considered one the leading Vaughan Williams interpreters in the post-Boult world, as he puts forth sparkling performances of many little-known works, including the Concerto accademico and the film music "49th Parallel," among others. Quite a number of these compositions are rarely recorded, if ever; it is quite nice to see them in a very affordable collection such as this.
   
   Like another reviewer, I find the affected style of Stephen Roberts to be distracting & annoying. Also, the orchestral version of the Serenade to Music is a pale imitation of the original version...if you have heard Boult's recording, you will understand that the original version is far superior. It is a shame that it wasn't included here.
   
   These are mere quibbles, however. For a dirt-cheap price, you have the opportunity to fill in the gaps of your Vaughan Williams collection. There is no good reason to pass on this. If you stumble across these CDs (I found mine at BestBuy of all places), grab it.



5. This is a most-welcome CD release, especially since it contains a number of pieces not available on CD until now. It's also excellent value--two discs for the price of one.

   Of particular interest is the curious ballet Old King Cole, written for an outdoor performance at Trinity College, Cambridge. Essentially a light-hearted piece, the music is not of the highest level of inspiration overall, but there are moments of real beauty that make up for any shortcomings in the score. For the convinced Vaughan Williams admirer, this is a must-have (RVW himself recorded some of this music; this early mono recording has been released on CD by Pearl records.)

   Other items of similar interest include the Prelude On An Old Carol Tune, written for a BBC radio play, and a pair of hard-to-find marches. The instrumental version of the Serenade to Music is a gorgeous novelty, but no substitute for the original version for 16 vocalists and orchestra.

   Also included are two important concertos; one for oboe and one for violin, both with string accompaniment. The violin concerto receives the better performance. The rendering of the oboe concerto suffers from too-slow tempi, particularly in the final movement. Neither are major works, but are nonetheless full of interest and deserve to be better known.

   Some well-known RVW works are included, among them The Lark Ascending and Five Mystical Songs. The latter is marred by the soloist's excessive tendency to roll his r's--an almost comical sound sometimes. RVW was known to have disliked this sort of affectation.

   Overall a valuable collection for anyone interested in this composer. The recordings were made in the 1980s.

5 comments about The Art of the Bawdy Song.

1. The dulcet tones of The Merry Companions and The Baltimore Consort create a wonderful contrast to the dirty, scurvy content of these songs. Fart jokes, tributes to drunkenness, and every manner of sexual innuendo are included in this aptly titled collection. This is a delightful album with both artistry and bawdiness in abundance.



2. All ages and musical backgrounds love this CD. The Baltimore Consort are amazing. One really feels one is in a smoky pub in the 14oo's getting plastered with England's best musicians! Don't miss "Pox on You;" my kids absolutely howl with glee at the "bass fartophone." I haven't heard laughter like that come out of my little boy since he was a toddler. "Sweet Sir Walter" features one of the guys singing in a falsetto that sweeps lustily down into a Tim Curry-esque (think Dr. Frank-n-furter)gutteral guffaw of delight. So outrageously fun one forgets one is listening to Renaissance madrigals.



3. NOT TRUE BARROOM SINGING; BUT COMPRENDED NONETHELESS!!!!
   
   These bawdy catches and ballads take us on a journey to the taverns and other social gathering places of the the real 'Merry Old England'. Some of us may be mildly shocked by the directness and earthiness of the text, but everyday life in the 17th century was much more 'down-to'earth- and forward. These texts-some blatant and other euphemistic-fully explore the spectrum of humor from the sly smirk to the back-slapping guffaw.
   
   
   The singing of both ballads and catches belongs to a long and venerable tradition in England. The natural habitat of the catch was the tavern, while the ballad was known in a wider variety of social settings as well as the stage. By the end of the 17th century, ballads were collected by connoisseurs of popular culture and published in anthologies. The main source for this recording, 'The Catch Club, or 'Merry Companions', was printed in 1762.
   
   
   A quote from the catch-philosopher (of 'Come, come let us drink') is offered by the Baltimore Consort: "...wine and good cheer will in spite of our fear inspire our hearts with mirth..the time we live, to wine let us give, since we all must turn to earth...."
   
   
   This is an excellent collection of songs; quite interesting and varied. The instruments are played skillfully, and the voices, for the most part, are good quality. However, as with all 'folk-like' songs, the diction is not always clear, and that is very true of several of these on this disc. The female voices were more difficult to comprehend much of the time. The text is printed out, so ultimately familiararity will make them easier to understand.
   
   I do like the disc, and think that it needed to be done. As to a previous criticism concerning the fact that it wasn't 'true' barroom singing. Of course, it's not!!!If it were, you would not understand any of it!!!!!Enough said.



4. The Baltimore Consort, an ensemble of six players, was founded in 1980 with the purpose of performing 'broken consort' pieces of Elizabethan origin. 'Broken' here refers to the instrumentation - treble viol/violin, flue/recorder, lute, cittern, bandore and bass viol. Their repertoire expanded beyond these beginnings to include broader British fare, as well as French and Italian music of the time. This is a happy expansion, as it made this disc of older, bawdy (for its time) music possible.
   
   The Baltimore Consort play with life and vigour, with a good deal of improvisational flair, not being bound to texts and going through the production of notes as if mechanically. This is true to the spirit and nature of the early music, in which performers often had to 'play by ear', neither being able to read music nor having printed music even if they could. This is particularly true of the songs on this disc, where many are derivative of anonymous jokes and stories, and much of the music is likewise folk-tune and anonymously composed.
   
   Some of the songs can be rather shocking. As Mary Anne Ballard writes in the accompanying notes, 'We must remember that in the days before indoor plumbing and pooper-scooper laws, everyday life was of an earthier flavour than it is today.... The men of the singing clubs and the ladies of stage poked fun at themselves and their companions with wit, pleasantry and contrivance.'
   
   The names of many of the composers of these pieces have been lost to history, particularly the more folk-song oriented ones. However, some well-known composers are represented among the pieces here - Purcell, D'Urfey, Aldridge, and others.
   
   The regular players include Mary Anne Ballard (viols), Mark Cudek (cittern, guitar, recorder and bass viol), Custer LaRue (vocalist/soprano), Larry Lipkis (recorder, viols), Ronn McFarlane (lute), Chris Norman (flutes), Webb Wiggins (tambourine and 'virginals'). Some artists are known from other Dorian productions, such as Ronn McFarlane on the lute in the collection 'Greensleeves'.
   
   Added to the regular consort players are the Merry Companions, including Peter Becker (baritone), Alexander Blachly (baritone), Paul Shipper (bass, belch-canto), and James Weaver (baritone).
   
   One more addition includes a guest artist, Lorenzo Labbrobacio, playing of all things, the 'fartophone', a rather mysterious instrument indeed. Labbrobacio defies identification on the internet other than references to this disc, and so the mystery deepens.
   
   This is music that is interesting, truly fun to listen to, entertaining and has a quality about it that makes it a joy both in musical and humourous tones.



5. This recording is professionally produced - perhaps too much so. I've been in a few taverns and heard my share of bawdy songs. I am used to hearing them sung with gusto, with a wink and a naughty smile, to the raucous and enthusiastic appreciation of the audience. The songs on this CD are performed entirely straight. The results are technically competent but fail utterly in conveying the spirit and fun that make this genre worth listening to.

2 comments about Birds on Fire: Jewish Music for Viols.

1. This is primarily Tudor-era music, and specifically Jewish English music. That is despite Jews having officially been booted from England by Edward III back in 1290; modern scholarship says some Italians of apparent Jewish background were among court musicians.
   
   If you're familiar with Fretwork, you know it's simply great; if you're not familiar with the group, buy both this CD and its recording of Bach's "Art of Fugue."
   
   The period music is sandwiched by a klezmer-like piece by modern composer Orlando Gough, worth a good listen itself. "Birds on Fire" becomes the title for the album as well.



2. I didn't know anyone wrote for viols nowadays. Most of this music is from the Tudor period but it is bracketed by a new composition by Orlando Gough called Birds on Fire. Gough's piece is a bit like the Kronos Quartet CD of The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind (composed by Osvaldo Golijov).
   
   This is a very nice recording. If you like Fretwork or Kronos, you will probably like this.