These are indeed times that can try our collective…, and with that, I am taking this special downtime to listen even more critically to the music I list, even if that means not agreeing with critics and public opinion.
Bill Laswell’s music, as well as, the title of his album: Against Empire got me really thinking about not only questioning authority but convention.
Danzig sings Elvis, well nothing surprises me anymore about Danzig and though I reckon I should not be, I found myself inexplicably drawn and overjoyed that this was not some godawful karaoke.
Lorenzo Ghielmi – A Late Medieval Mass on the Rysum Organ is ideally suited for an early Sunday morning. Those who know me, even in the slightest, know that spirituality and I have not been on terms for what seems like an eternity, but there’s something about the counterpoint between the organ and the voice, which set my internal jigsaw puzzle to right.
Rachel Therrien really loves here “horn” and on her album VENA, it clearly shows, not just from the album cover, but how she lovingly caresses each note with her instrument.
Where have you been hiding Marc Almond? “Chaos And A Dancing Star” lifted my spirits, especially seeing how in Lord of Misrule the term “schadenfreude” was worked skillfully into the lyrics. Super extra fabulous points for that. A real sleeper, this one came out of nowhere and I’m so glad it did.
My closing mea culpa — I am a sucker for any recording of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. In this instance, it would be Sa Chen at the piano accompanied by the Ulbenkian Orchestra under the guidance of Lawrence Foster, noted conductor and perhaps even more famous, page-turner. (Fans of Nupen’s: The Trout, will get the reference)
And for those of you who cannot get your fill of David Bowie, there’s the recent ChangesNowBowie which is definitely worth a listen, or two, or three …
New Releases
Arianna Savall – Vergine bella
Bill Laswell – Against Empire
Christian Thielemann – R. Strauss – Die Frau ohne Schatten
Daniel Rowland & Maja Bogdanovic – Pas de deux
Danzig – Sings Elvis
Hazel English – Wake UP!
I Like To Sleep – Daymare
James Ehnes & Andrew Armstrong – Beethoven – Violin Sonatas Nos. 4, 5, 8
Joel Harrison + 18 – America at War
Krzysztof Urbański, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra – R. Strauss – Also sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel
Lorenzo Ghielmi – A Late Medieval Mass on the Rysum Organ
Lucinda Williams – Good Souls Better Angels
Marc Almond – Chaos And A Dancing Star
Marcin Fleszar plays Rameau & Schumann
Pierre Fouchenneret – Schubert – Octet & Merlin – Passage éclair
Rachel Therrien – Vena
Ray Suhy and Lewis Porter – Transcendent
Rob Luft – Life is the Dancer
Rumer – Nashville Tears
Sa Chen – Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 2
Tomas Doncker – Moanin’ at Midnight – The Howlin’ Wolf Project
Various Artists – Ella 100_Live at the Apollo!
Vasily Petrenko, Kathryn Rudge, Royal Liverpool PO – Elgar – Sea Pictures & The Music Makers
ReIssues & ReMasters & Miscellany
David Bowie – ChangesNowBowie
Toto – Hydra
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