New and Notable CD/DVD Acquisitions
Oct.-Nov. 2005

Early music

Mozart: The Supreme Decorator (CD 13859) is an album of arias by Mozart and J.C. Bach, with written-out embellishments and cadenzas by Mozart and Domenico Corri. The performances by Diana Montague, Majella Cullagh, and others are predictably excellent, as is the accompaniment by Sir Charles Mackerras and the Hanover Band. At times the vocals seem a bit far back in the mix, but Mozart’s brilliant trills and roulades come through clearly. Fifty-five pages of program notes, texts, and translations accompany the CD.

G. Soly and Les Idees heureuses. Christmas in Darmstadt : music by Christoph Graupner. (CD 13849) This excellent Canadian ensemble performs a varied program of early-18 th century German baroque music for voices, strings, recorder, and continuo. The playing is crisp and stylish, which is to be expected from Soly, and the vocals are well recorded. This disc forms the third in a projected cycle of Graupner’s works from Analekta.

Other recent early music acquisitions include the ongoing Monteverdi madrigal cycle performed by the innovative ensemble La Venexiana, a Ferrabosco collection by Paul van Nevel and the Huelgas Ensemble (CD 13887), and Biber’s Missa Christi resurgentis performed by the English Concert with Andrew Manze (CD 13888) Recordings of Orlando Gibbons’ viol music by critically-acclaimed consort Phantasm (CD 13908) and a selection of C.P.E. Bach’s pièces de caractère performed on the clavichord by Cornell alum Tom Beghin (CD 13907) round out our recent early music purchases.

Contemporary music

We continue to develop our collection of 20th and 21st century composers. Recent acquisitions include albums by Pärt (Lamentate, CD 13924), Gordon Mumma (Electronic music of theatre and public activity, CD 13930), Lucier (Wind Shadows, CD 13929), Lutoslawski (Works for Orchestra, CD 13315), and Guillermo Gregorio (Coplanar, CD 13919). We also have three new Philip Glass albums: Glass Cuts (CD 13922), an album of remixes of various pieces by the “father of trance,” Orion (CD 13923), and the Cocteau-based Les enfants terribles (CD 13921).

Jazz/Blues

Charlie Haden and Liberation Music Orchestra. Liberation Music Orchestra (CD 13880) and Not in Our Name (CD 13881)

Charlie Haden’s “Liberation Music Orchestra” project was a defining moment for progressive jazz, in both the musical and political senses. Motivated by bassist Haden’s disgust over the Vietnam conflict, it draws on Spanish, folk, free jazz, quotations, and sound collage effects. Highlights include a searing cover of Ornette Coleman’s “War Orphans” and Haden’s “Circus ‘68 ’69,” which divides the large band into two competing parts to depict the chaos on the floor of the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Haden’s bass playing throughout is a revelation, combining startling virtuosity, innovative use of drones, and a deep, woody, rumbling tone. Carla Bley’s arrangements are excellent.

Not in Our Name updates the political conflict to the present day, with many noticeable nods to “Liberation Music Orchestra.” The Spanish guitar introduction to “Not in Our Name” immediately invokes the Spanish Civil War medley of side 1 of the original. The use of medley and quotation for ironic effect is present as well, most noticeably in a startling and often unsettling medley of “America the Beautiful,” “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and Ornette Coleman’s “Skies of America.” Bley’s arrangements are excellent, combining satisfying structures with enough freedom for soloists to stretch out in unexpected, sometimes coruscating ways. Haden’s bass still buzzes and thunders with complete authority. The production is considerably more slick and careful than that of “Liberation Music Orchestra,” but the rage and powerful musicianship of the original remain intact.

Other jazz and blues acquisitions include the recently released “Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall” (CD 13879), which gives a taste of the legendary Monk/Coltrane collaboration that was vital to Coltrane’s later development in a well-recorded live date at a benefit concert in Carnegie Hall. We also recently found “Big Mama Thornton in Europe” (CD 13883), featuring the original singer of “Hound Dog” backed by an excellent band including a young Buddy Guy.

World/Folk music

Nigerian Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti died in 1997, but there have been several projects to bring together his massive musical output and keep his global reputation alive. Singer/saxophonist/keyboardist Kuti’s “Afrobeat” music (he coined the term) is characterized by a combination of interlocking bass, percussion, and guitar lines supporting big-band style horn breaks that invoke “soul jazz” and R&B, along with native Nigerian music. Each of Kuti’s tracks tends to be quite long (twelve minutes is about average), with vocal and instrumental sections. Kuti’s vocals, backed up by a choir of his twenty-seven wives, almost always concern the difficulties and pain of working-class life in Nigeria. The best of Fela Kuti (CD 13878 box) brings together two CDs and a DVD of an early-eighties French television program, “Music is the weapon,” which gives a glimpse into Fela’s life and documents his spectacular stage performances.

Katia B. Katia B. (CD 13825) Funky Brazilian electronica, heavy beats, and sinuous vocal lines with Middle Eastern and samba influences.

Os Piratas do Karnak. Os Piratas do Karnak ao vivo. (CD 13832) By turns whimsical and menacing, Os Piratas incorporate heavy rock and Brazilian folk influences. They incorporate whimsical and parodistic elements, sometimes sounding a bit like a Portuguese version of Frank Zappa.

Various artists. Guitarras do Cerrado, vol.1. (CD 13845) Although this collection of Brazilian mostly-hard rock is somewhat uneven, a few cuts stand out. Marcello Barbosa’s “Mandatory Punch” shows that there’s a lot of good music to be drawn from fuzz-tones and eighties-style electric guitar shredding yet, and Haroldinho Mattos’ “Esperando a chuva” is both hard-edged and lyrical, displaying at times an almost Allmanesque eloquence. “19 de Abril” and “Samba Funk II” draw upon Brazilian pop music for inspiration.

Hobart Smith. In sacred trust. (CD 13712) Recordings selected from tapes made during a concert tour of Chicago near the end of Smith’s life. Smith was still in top form when these tapes were made, giving blistering performances on clawhammer banjo, fiddle, guitar, and piano. A master of Appalachian clawhammer and fingerpicking banjo styles, Smith was not only a virtuoso showman but also a musician of considerable depth and character with a great appreciation for the traditions he represented.

The Mighty Sparrow. First flight: early calypsos from the Emory Cook collection. (CD 13876) The Mighty Sparrow used calypsos in much the same way rappers manipulate their material, to brag about sexual prowess (“Country Girl”), sling jibes at other musicians (“Sparrow vs. Melody Picong”), and document violence in society (“Gun Slinger”). Also like some rap musicians, Sparrow commented on contemporary politics in his calypsos (“No, Doctor, No,” “Russian Satellite”). This compilation covers live and studio recordings made between 1957 and 1959, at the beginning of Sparrow’s career.

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Updated: 15 Nov. 2005