New Album Releases Project 2021-1-26

And then there were … Liner Notes

This week’s Re-Issues, Re-Masters & Miscellany is a true history lesson in so many ways.

Dawn Upshaw – Caroline Shaw: Narrow Sea. If you don’t know me by now, well, I’m such a fanboy of Caroline Shaw, and no recordings with which she’s involved will ever miss my notice. This album, a collection of folk songs and hymns from The Sacred Harp (19^th century). So Percussion, Dawn Upshaw (soprano) and Gilbert Kalish (pianist) combine with Shaw to make me so thankful that I started NARP and share such performances with you all.

Taylor Swift – the dropped your hand while dancing- chapter. So, Taylor has been keeping really busy as of late dropping albums and ep’s and in turn keeping me in my toes. This latest with EXPLICIT lyrics may just be my favourite collection of her tracks. Working with the right team in and out of the studio, I knew if I waited long enough, Swift’s music would speak to me. It took longer than I would have hoped, but then neither Taylor nor I am growing any younger.

Lastly. Rhye’s Home and Steve Hackett’s Under a Mediterranean Sky deserve listens for separately glorious reasons. Let these be a surprise.

And here’s some both new to me and YOU:

Chouchane Siranossian & Capriccio Barockorchester – Romberg: Violin Concertos
Christian Bischof – Sounds of the Centuries. Die große Orgel der Pfarrkirche St. Margaret München
Duo Consono – The Smell of Childhood
Elinor Frey – Antonio Vandini: Complete Works
Jean-Marie Leclair – A Portrait, Sonatas and Dances
Leon Lee Dorsey – Thank You Mr Mabern
Marina Rebeka – Credo
Umbra – KristínÞóraHaraldsdóttirBlóðhófnir

I do enjoy being able to introduce new composers and artists here on NARP. It is all about broadening our shared musical horizons. In hindsight I didn’t have the Foursight, that is Ron Carter’s eluded me for a bit, but this 2-disc set comprises the entire Stockholm tapes. Ron Carter’s Foursight: The Complete Stockholm Tapes captures one magical night in 2018 and here’s who and what took place:

Ron Carter – bass, Renee Rosnes – pianos, Jimmy Greene – tenor sax and Payton Crossley – drums. That does it for the who and now the what, the tracks: Cominando • Joshua • Little Waltz • Seguaro • Cominando, Reprise • Nearly • You And The Night And The Music • My Funny Valentine • Mr Bow Tie

Marian McPartland’s Sweet and Lovely. I got hooked on McPartland from her radio show and interview series. I must admit that her time spent with the late Walter Becker and Steely Dan was something, as well as Bruce Hornsby. You learn a lot about folks when they’re made to feel comfortable in the presence of a legend who can speak their language. If this recording serves no other purpose than for me to introduce you to Marian and have you search out her series of interviews, then SUCCESS! Btw, the album Sweet and Lovely a good spin.

Friedrich Gulda’s GuldaWorks dates back to 1971 and really got me to thinking about just how versatile the man. Yes, he was a pianist and a composer, but he straddled both the Classical and Jazz worlds in such a fluid manner. At home in both genres, as evidenced in the 3^rd movement of his Symphony in G, the Adagio- Allegro Assai. Think of Gershwin’s melding of Jazz and Classical elements, and then marvel at how Gulda takes the fusion to the next level. This is not your father’s symphony.

Richard Hell & The Voidoids’ Destiny Street Complete is a long time coming. It followed the release of Richard and the band’s 1977’s Blank Generation. Originally recorded in 1981, Hell pretty much refers to the quality of the release as hell: “The final mix was a morass of trebly multi-guitar blare. 40 years onward, and it’s not what I expected at all. The sound far more intimate, and that’s saying something for any Richard Hell & The Voidoids’ performance. The backstory of how this all came together makes the liner notes a ripping-good read. So what you get here are 3 versions of Destiny Street in various incarnations and a slew of demos and unheard studio versions of materials penned in the period between Blank Generation and Destiny Street. Richard Hell was as important as just about anyone else in New York City’s punk scene of the ’70s and CBGB’s would not have been the same without him. The ultimate six degrees of Richard Hell is a who’s who of that era.

And here’s some on the list well worth a listen. (They were new to me.)

Mahogany – Mahogany
Sugarcane Harris – Sugarcane
Willie Hutch – Season for Love

New Releases

Adam Goździewski – Szymanowski, Klecki & Bargielski Works for Violin & Piano
Benjamin Alard – Bach – The Complete Works for Keyboard Vol. 4 – Alla Veneziana
Boris Giltburg – Beethoven 32, Vol. 7 Piano Sonatas Nos. 23-26
Brian Eno – Film Music Interior
Chouchane Siranossian & Capriccio Barockorchester – Romberg: Violin Concertos
Christian Bischof – Sounds of the Centuries. Die große Orgel der Pfarrkirche St. Margaret München
Corinne Morris & Petr Limonov – Belle Époque
Dawn Upshaw – Caroline Shaw: Narrow Sea
Duo Brüggen-Plank – Beethoven, Voříšek, Archduke & Rudolph of Austria Sonatas for Violin and Piano Hi-Res
Duo Consono – The Smell of Childhood
Elinor Frey – Antonio Vandini: Complete Works
Estelle Revaz, L’Orchestre de Chambre de Geneve & Arie van Beek – Journey to Geneva
Hai-Kyung Suh – Rachmaninoff Sonata No. 2, Preludes, Etude Tableaux
Jean-Marie Leclair – A Portrait, Sonatas and Dances
Leon Lee Dorsey – Thank You Mr Mabern
Marina Rebeka – Credo
Michael Brown – Noctuelles
Nicholas Angelich – Prokofiev_Visions fugitives, Piano Sonata No. 8, Romeo & Juliet
Orchestra Of The Swan – Timelapse
Rhye – Home
Steve Hackett – Under a Mediterranean Sky
Stockholm Jazz Quartet – Beautiful Relaxing Jazz Session
Stu Hunter – The Beautiful Things
Susanne Hartwich-Düfel – Goldberg-Variationen
Taylor Swift – the dropped your hand while dancing- chapter
Umbra – KristínÞóraHaraldsdóttirBlóðhófnir
Violins of Hope (Live)