Egberto Gismonti - Saudações

MP3 320 kbps / 2 CD / 270 MB / Scans

Egberto Gismonti’s first new ECM recording in 14 years is a double-album that indicates the range of his artistry. Disc one features Gismonti the composer on a 70-minute journey through Brazil: “Sertões Veredas – tribute to miscegenation”. It is a work that takes account of Brazil’s culture and history, landscapes and cityscapes, vividly evoked by Cuba’s all-women orchestra the Camerta Romeu, under the leadership of Zenaida Romeu. Disc two features Gismonti the guitarist in an exciting duo recital with his similarly-gifted son Alexandre, romping through a programme that includes such well-known pieces as “Zig Zag”, “Lundú” and “Dança dos Escravos”. (ECM Records)

Camerata Romeu
Zenaida Romeu conductor
Alexandre Gismonti guitar
Egberto Gismonti guitar

Tracklist:

CD 1: SERTÕES VEREDAS I-VII –
Tributo à miscigenação

CD 2: DUETOS DE VIOLÕES – Guitar Duets

Recorded August 2006 and April/May 2007

ECM 2082

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András Schiff - Leos Janáček "A Recollection"

MP3 320 kbps / 168 Mb / Scans

The peerless András Schiff in his first recital recording of Janacek's piano music. The "story-telling " piano pieces chosen by Schiff can be closely related to Bartók's "Mikrokosmos" and have a similarly timeless appeal. As writer Rob Cowan notes, "No matter how many times you listen to these gems, the sum effect of emotional engagement, wonderment and love of life is as lasting as one's admiration for the music's miniaturist construction. They are truly 'the world in a grain of sand'." (ECM Records)

Tracklist:

1. In the Mist
2. Sonata 1.X.1905
3. On an overgrown path I
4. On an overgrown path II
5. On an overgrown path (Paralipomena), A recollection

Recorded January 2000

ECM New Series 1736

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Vassilis Tsabropoulos - Akroasis

FLAC / 130 Mb / Scans

Greek pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos in his first solo album, with a fascinating programme of adaptations of Byzantine hymns and improvisations inspired by this ancient material. The hymns here - played with great respect as well as a poetic freedom - are pieces traditionally sung during the Easter period in Orthodox churches. (ECM Records)

Tracklist:

1. Hymn I, Axion Esti
2. Hymn II, Zoi en tafo
3. Hymn III, Ek nyktos
4. The Secret Garden
5. Hymn IV, Nymphios
6. Interlude
7. Hymn V
8. Anastasis
9. Prayer

Recorded March 2002

ECM 1737

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Tigran Mansurian - Ars Poetica

MP3 320 kbps / 110 Mb / Scans

In ECM's Ars Poetica, Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian pays tribute to poet Yeghishe Charents, a major Armenian versifier of the early twentieth century whose life was extinguished early in the "Great Terror" under Stalin. The ECM disc of Ars Poetica makes an even better case for Charents as poet than one is likely to find in an English-language bookstore; the notes contain texts in English for the 10 poems included in Mansurian's vocal concerto in addition to a concise, but appreciative biographical sketch for the poet -- none is provided for the composer.

However, it is the music that makes or breaks the release, and in this respect Ars Poetica ranks very highly, as it is gorgeous, emotive, and very deeply felt a cappella choral music. Mansurian states that while he had known Charents' poetry since its publication after Stalin's death, he had not considered setting it to music until "the music itself yearned to be composed." This is the aspect of Ars Poetica that comes through; the music is fully the product of inspiration, and it flows very naturally from Charents' texts to the voices of the Armenian Chamber Choir as led by Robert Mlkeyan. The recording, made live at the Saghmosavank Monastery in Armenia, is beautifully engineered and does not allow the choir to get lost in the ambience of the hall. In this instance, Mansurian's compositional style is a little closer to that of Hugo Distler than that of, say, Arvo Pärt, and Mansurian does not shy away from representing conflict in his music when the texts, for example "Anxiety," call for it. Nonetheless, the pieces "Night" and "And Silence Descends" are very moving and compositionally assured settings -- the nut is fully cracked here, and those who appreciate choral music will find the whole of Ars Poetica very rewarding listening. Those who insist on "music by the yard" might find its 47-minute running time a tad stingy, but the idea of limiting the disc to this single, very long unaccompanied choral work seems sensible -- what could you add to it to make it more meaningful? (Uncle Dave Lewis - All Music Guide)

Armenian Chamber Choir
Robert Mlkeyan conductor

Tracklist:

Part I
Three Night Songs
Night
Insomnia
Anxiety

Part II
Three Portraits of Women
Your Enamel Profile
The Rainbow
Manon Lescaut

Part III
Three Autumn Songs
The Wind
Japanes Tankas
Song of Autumn

Part IV
And Silence Descends

Recorded June 2003

ECM New Series 1895

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Keith Jarrett & Jan Garbarek - Personal Mountains

In the late 1970s, Keith Jarrett was leading both an American quartet and a European one, though the designations referred strictly to the makeup of the groups, not to the venues they played. These 1979 recordings by the European band were made during a tour of Japan. On five of the pianist's tunes, there's exceptional group interaction between Jarrett and Scandinavians Jan Garbarek, on tenor and soprano sax, Palle Danielsson on bass, and Jon Christensen on drums. That interplay shows to best advantage in the extended performances here, the turbulent title tune and the moody, dissonant "Oasis," the group's individual voices coming together in tense, vibrant dialogue. The funky "Late Night Willie" takes full advantage of Garbarek's R&B sound, while Jarrett shines on the luminous ballad "Prism" and the hymnlike simplicity of "Innocence." Personal Mountains is as well sustained as the group's studio set, My Song, or the contemporaneous Nude Ants from the Village Vanguard. (Stuart Broomer - Amazon.com)

Keith Jarrett piano, percussion
Jan Garbarek tenor and soprano saxophones
Palle Danielsson bass
Jon Christensen drums

Tracklist:

1. Personal Mountains
2. Prism
3. Oasis
4. Innocence
5. Late Night Willie

Recorded April 1979

ECM 1382

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Steve Kuhn Trio - Mostly Coltrane

MP3 320 Mbps / 150 Mb / Scans
A recording that pays tribute to a musician of towering importance – and for Steve Kuhn an album of powerful memories. For two months in 1960, Kuhn, then just 21 years old, was the pianist in John Coltrane’s quartet: an unforgettable experience for a young musician, to embark each night into jazz of such torrential emotional intensity. Half-a-century later, joined by a team of gifted collaborators playing at the top of their form, Kuhn rechannels the energies of the era in an album of astonishing invention and wild beauty. Kuhn and Joe Lovano improvise gloriously together, riding the surging waves of Joey Baron’s polyrhythms, in a programme of tunes written by or strongly associated with Coltrane. Tracks include “Welcome”, “Song of Praise”, “Central Park West”, “Spiritual” and more. Recorded December 2008 at New York’s Avatar Studio. (ECM Records)

Joe Lovano tenor saxophone, tarogato
Steve Kuhn piano
David Finck double-bass
Joey Baron drums

Tracklist:

1. Welcome
2. Song of Praise
3. Crescent
4. I Want To Talk About You
5. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes
6. Living Space
7. Central Park West
8. Like Sonny
9. With Gratitude
10. Configuration
11. Jimmy’s Mode
12. Spiritual
13. Trance

Recorded December 2008

ECM 2099

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Arvo Pärt - In Principio

FLAC / 282 Mb / Scans (booklet)

In principio (2003) for mixed choir and orchestra:

"His music makes the basic human need for a link between aesthetics, ethics and spirituality clear and perceivable – a need so often subordinated to politics and economics in our society." Thus the words with which Arvo Pärt was awarded the International Bridge Prize of the twin cities Görlitz and Zgorzelec in 2007. His new CD, ‘In Principio’, demonstrates the extent to which his more recent music manifests this very link. Twenty-five years ago ECM launched its New Series with Pärt’s Tabula Rasa. Now its twelfth Pärt album, again produced by Manfred Eicher, presents six compositions of various lengths spanning a period of almost ten years. Four of the pieces appear here for the first time on disc. The meticulous performances were recorded by Estonian ensembles under the baton of Tōnu Kaljuste, a conductor well-versed in Pärt’s music for many years, and accompanied by the composer every step of the way.

The range is wide: Pärt creates masterly syntheses of the expressive resources he has pursued ever since his personal style emerged in the mid-1970s. The intimate and the monumental co-exist; streams of chords flow towards dramatic eruptions. The inflection of his pieces is always based on their underlying emotive significance. In Principio is a five-movement setting of the opening verses of the Gospel of John: "In the beginning was the Word". The elegiac orchestral piece "La Sindone" conjures up the image of Christ on the Shroud of Turin. "Cecilia, vergine romana", written to celebrate the sacred year 2000 in Rome, is devoted to the martyrdom of the patron saint of music. A serene plea for peace, memories of a deceased friend and contemplation of the ‘peaks and troughs’ of life: these are the emotional way-stations of the three relatively short pieces here, encapsulating the magic of Pärt’s music. (ECM Records)

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
Tõnu Kaljuste conductor

Tracklist:

1. I. In principio erat Verbum (John 1:1–5)
2. II. Fuit homo missus a Deo (John 1:6–8)
3. III. Erat lux vera (John 1:9–11)
4. IV. Quotquot autem acceperunt sum (John 1:12–13)
5. V. Et Verbum caro factum est (John 1:14)
6. La Sindone (2006) for orchestra
7. Cecilia, vergine romana (2000, rev. 2002) for mixed choir and orchestra
8. Da Pacem Domine (2004/07) for mixed choir and orchestra
9. Mein Weg (1989/99, rev. 2000) for 14 strings and percussion
10. Für Lennart in memoriam (2006) for string orchestra

ECMPlayer for "In Principio"

Recorded June 2008 and May 2007

ECM New Series 2050

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