Friedrich August Kummer March 28, 2008
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If Friedrich August Kummer is not a household word in your home, no reason for concern - he is one of the prolific Kleinmeistern of the post-Beethoven generation, a generation for which the cost of printing had dropped so much that it was financially possible for a composer to produce hundreds of published opuses. Friedrich August was a cellist, a student of Dotzauer; another member of the family was Kaspar (or Gaspar), a prolific composer for the flute.
The disc of selected duets from Friedrich August (items from op. 22, op. 103, and 0p. 156) recorded by cellists Phoebe Carrai and Tanya Tomkins, on period instruments, is simply lovely. The sound is rich and warm, without being strident, and the music is lyrical, romantic, while retaining some of the restraint of the classical era. Such attractive works for duo are rare (another example might be the Offenbach duos for the same combination), and the performances are top-notch (not surprising, given that Carrai played for years with Reinhard Goebel). Not just for string-players, but for all music-lovers.
CD 15720
Sonny Rollins March 28, 2008
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Saxophonist Sonny Rollins (b. 1930) is one of the greats of American music, with a long and active career dating back to the fifties, when he worked with such luminaries as Max Roach, Clifford Brown and Thelonious Monk. Rollins took two well-known sabbaticals and recording, the second of coincided with the early passing of John Coltrane in 1967 (Rollins had recorded with Elvin Jones in 1966). The end of this retreat was marked by the issue of the Next Album in 1972, a lovely and lyrical recording that stands up to the decades. It is notable just exactly how much the late music of Coltrane, with its extremities of religious expression, and the contemporary music of Mile Davis, with its emphasis on finding the beauty in the ugliness of pop, rock and fusion, are not present. Rollins and his sidemen are mellow, the mood is laid-back from the very start, with warm tones from the leader’s tenor on the funky Playin’ in the Yard, and soprano on Poinciana, both with George Cables on Fender Rhodes, the sound of the early seventies. Delicious is the three-minute solo sax cadenza which closes the ballad Skylark, and the album.
Horn Culture, which followed in 1973, is a little closer to the funky sound of the era, opening with the conga of percussionist Mtume, who was part of Miles’ bands of the mid-seventies, on a modal vamp which also includes electric guitar in the brew. Tempos are up, and the emotional temperature is as well. Both albums are mixed in a way which softens a bit of the aggressiveness from the percussion, with the sax well forward.
If you don’t yet know the music of Sonny Rollins, these two discs are a good place to start.
Next Album CD 15622 Horn Culture CD 15621
Hermeto Pascoal March 6, 2008
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What can be said about Hermeto Pascoal? He is one of the great originals, not just in Brazil, but worldwide. From an American perspective his music may seem to belong to or draw on jazz (he worked with many jazz greats during his stay in the USA in the 1970’s, including Miles Davis) but it is more experimental, more wide-ranging, more inclusive. The Music Library has five LPs and one CD by this master. The volume Calendario do Som contains scores written, one each day, between Jan. 23, 1996 and Jan. 23, 1997, in the form of melody plus changes, reproducing Hermeto’s own manuscript.
M1366 P34 C35 2000
Brazilian music for piano (1950-1988) March 6, 2008
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Professor Salomea Gandelman of the University of Rio de Janeiro is the author of a very important guide to the Brazilian repertoire for piano (36 compositores brasileiros : obras para piano (1950-1988)), which identifies and describes works for piano, piano four hands and two pianos by 36 leading composers, with considerable detail, including duration and estimated technical level. A fundamental tool for any pianist planning a program including music from Brazil.
ML 128 P3 G33 1997
Taruskin’s History March 4, 2008
Posted by Tom Moore in : Uncategorized , add a commentFor those of you who have been putting off reading it, now there are no more excuses. The Music Library now has a circulating copy of Taruskin’s Oxford History of Western Music.
ML160 .T18 2005
