Tears of Joy

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
While unaccompanied jazz guitar can quickly become tedious, Tuck Andress funk-inspired, footloose approach was immediately arresting. Add Patti Cathcart's soul-inflected vocal to the mix, and the result is a disc that very quickly became something of a classic in modern jazz vocal records. While many jazz discs can boast fine musicianship, few have this much personality. Few could take two songs from the Bob Dorough canon ("I've Got Just About Everything" and "Better Than Anything") and make them their own. But that is the secret of this disc--the winning combination of instrumental chops and a personal, individual stamp on the tunes themselves. --Skip Heller --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Tears Of Joy
Takes My Breath Away
I've Got Just About Everything
Time After Time
Everything's Gonna Be All Right
Better Than Anything
My Romance
Up And At It
Mad Mad Me
Love Is The Key

Amazon.com

While unaccompanied jazz guitar can quickly become tedious, Tuck Andress funk-inspired, footloose approach was immediately arresting. Add Patti Cathcart's soul-inflected vocal to the mix, and the result is a disc that very quickly became something of a classic in modern jazz vocal records. While many jazz discs can boast fine musicianship, few have this much personality. Few could take two songs from the Bob Dorough canon ("I've Got Just About Everything" and "Better Than Anything") and make them their own. But that is the secret of this disc--the winning combination of instrumental chops and a personal, individual stamp on the tunes themselves. --Skip Heller

Customer Reviews:

A must-have for any lover, singer, guitarist.......2005-01-24

I found this album from listened to the original VH-1 late at night. There was a video of the Cyndi Lauper tune "Time After Time" that was captivating. I had to rush out and buy this album and became amazed at its depth.

Patty is not your typical jazz singer; she has much more gospel in her soul. A deep, throaty voice that has warmth and is still flexible. When she sings, her delivery is honest. Still, she has the ability to skitter about and improv as she sings.

Tuck is unbelievable. He has developed this style that combines walking bass, chordal changes and lead playing at the same time. Even better, he varies his arrangement chorus by chorus, so the accompaniment never gets stale.

Put them together and you have music that is overtly romantic, improvised, florid without being busy and real. Incredible.

This is their best album, in my opinion.

I learned a lot about how to play bass from listening to Tuck's line on "I've Got Just about Everything" as he plays it on guitar.

Patty's version of "My Romance" is definitive, even if she has to change the lyric ("I must have one soft guitar" provides the clue to the romance shared between Tuck and Patty.)

But the best tune remains "Time After Time." Tuck and Patty change this from a pop song to a gospel anthem, every bit as significant as "Bridge Over Troubled Water" or "You've Got A Friend."

I'll echo the comments of others...get a date and see Tuck and Patty live. I've been twice. Tuck continues to make the impossible seem normal, while Patty sings her heart out, and tears yours up at the same time. I've seen her sing this entire Tears of Joy album WITHOUT stopping, just scatting her way from one tune to set up the tempo of the next.

Overwhelmed.......2003-10-11

I am overwhelmed by this album. It is not just music, it is an experience! They have a way of letting their music resonate within one's being. I find myself not just listening but participating, as if the music was a part of me. Patti's voice is such an awesome instrument brilliantly caressing notes with deep emotion. Tuck's guitar playing leaves me speechless.
I was once asked a hypothetical question: if you were stranded on an island and could only have one CD which would it be? - this was the first that came to mind.

Awesome Duo.......2003-06-25

In the early 90s I attended a free T&P concert at the Central Park Zoo (I am not making this up). I had never heard of them before. It was one of those moments you remember all your life. The evening was one of those rare ones in NYC during summer - cool and fresh. It was a small crowd, unlike the crazed fests that big-name stars draw. Everyone was relaxed, just enjoying the moment. Lying on the grass, staring at the Fifth Avenue skyline, watching the seals bop abt in their pool, and listening to some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard. And "laughing with the band" when a NYC killer wasp went after Tuck. I've never done drugs, but that evening, I was high. On T&P. Wonderful experience. Thanks to both for something beautiful. I've since bought all of their CDs, and there isn't one that doesn't have four songs you want to hear forever.

amazing!.......2003-04-28

The moment I heard this CD,I got very relaxed. And this also makes me feel alive.This is a song of love.This CD will surely light up your life. These two musicians are really talented!!

Intimate Jazz-Inflected Guitar and THAT Voice.......2003-04-15

Growing up in Palo Alto in the 70's and early 80's, I saw Tuck and Patti frequently perform their set on the mezzanine of the Varsity Theatre, a wonderful venue now sadly closed. Being a kid in the age of the Power Guitar, I wasn't very musically sophisticated, but they were absolutely arresting. If you could muscle your way into the room, and find a place to sit down in the usually standing-room-only crowd, you'd be drawn into the twin arms of Tuck Andress' playful guitar and Patti's low, rich voice. It was an awful lot like being kissed.

I didn't actually own a Tuck and Patti record until college. After all, they were right down the street! This was the first one I bought. Listening to it all these years later, it's like coming home.

Standouts for me were the title track "Tears of Joy", because it showcases Tuck's virtuosity--he's rhythm, brass and guitar all at once--and their lovely cover of the Rogers and Hart favorite "My Romance", which is like having Patti sing you to dreamland.

Tracks:

Tears of Joy
5/4 Getaway
Bulgarian Bulge
Get It Together
Quiet Longing
Blues in Elf
Loss

Tracks:

How's This for Openers?
Samba Bajada
Strawberry Soup
Euphoric Acid

Customer Reviews:

Ellis' best.......2007-05-13

Don Ellis was a jazz musician who was never satisfied with making just another album. He was originally a typical "modern" jazz trumpter in several big bands, but got involved in the "Third Stream" movement in the early 60's. The later 60's introduced Ellis to "Eastern" music and from there, he created the most interesting and complicated big band ever. Tears of Joy is the high point of this band.

Ellis experimented with everything! In this band, he introduces the amplified string quartet. The sax section doubles on clarinet and oboe, and with the French horn that the band featured, sounds like a woodwind quintet. The band had three drummers and a percussionist. The trumpet section had 4-valve, quarter tone trumpets. And to top it all off, Ellis had the crazy Bulgarian pianist, Milcho Leviev to whom playing in 33/16 was natural!

There are several high points to this album. In "Tears of Joy" Ellis plays his trumpet through a ring modulator so that he played chords, all in 5/4, of course. In "Blues in Elf" (elf is German for 11), Leviev starts by playing Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" with the last triplet in each measure taken off, playing it in 11/8. This morphs into a slow blues featuring the string quartet and Ellis playing in quarter tones!

The best piece is "Strawberry Soup" which is in 9/8. Ellis subdivides the 9 beats per measure in several different ways, which is a gas. This is an extended piece (18 minutes) which gives everybody in the band a chance to solo.

This album incorporates so many different ideas about time, harmony and instrumentation, and yet it's not just a collection of gimmicks - it is great music and really swings. It's a lot of fun, and yet very interesting to listen to at the same time. I really recommend this album to anyone with open ears and an open mind.

An Underground Classic Surfaces.......2006-02-14

Coming on the heels of his often over-the-top (but frequently exciting) "Live at The Fillmore" album, "Tears of Joy" marks a likely highpoint in Ellis's multifaceted career as a bandleader. With the possible exception of his final band (well-caught on the Koch Records re-issue of "Live at Montreux") this particular lineup is one of most beloved by Ellis's fans, as it marks the US debut of Bulagarian pianist extraordinaire Milcho Leviev (whose "Bulgarian Bulge" in a nearly uncountable 33 and 36/16 meter is nonetheless played with devil take the hindmost enthusiasm by the band). The charts, particularly the epic "Strawberry Soup" show Ellis's most sophisticated pallette to date, as he augments the band with a string section and frequently uses mini-concertante groupings against big unisons. Besides the leader's pyrotechnical trumpeting, there's plenty of solo space given to the rest of the band, especially Leviev, trombonist Jim Sawyer and sax player Fred Seldon and the rhythm section of Ralph Humphrey, Ron Dunn and Lee Pastora always propel the charts with a surprisingly subtle swing (given that almost nothing on the two CDs is in 4/4).
I saw Ellis live many times between 1972 and 1975; it's still a shame that this most unique of American big band leaders still has not recieved the acclaim which he deserved for making music as heard on this CD.

don ellis left us to soon..........2005-12-16

My opinion: this is the bands best...don goes from trumpet to drums and joins in fours with 2 other drummers, it's awesome!
If your in to odd time signatures, every tune is different. Highly recommend this one!

A Joyful Noise.......2005-11-15

We are all fortunate that this has been reissued. The post-war era was rough on big bands. Ellis was one of a handful of innovators who dragged the format into the next epoch, with spectacular success. Known for time signatures which require complex algorithms to decipher, there is much more here to enjoy than mere cleverness. This music takes you through the entire emotional spectrum, weaving smoothly from point to point. It is smart, complex, and dense - truly extraordinary music. And those drummers!

Fine CD mastering.......2005-07-19

Everybody else has told you how great the album is, and they are absolutely right. It's a shame there are only 5 stars available! I just wanted to comment that the CD mastering is very faithful to the original album. Bravo to Wounded Bird, and it's great to see that Fillmore is next!

The Essential Hyperion (Label Highlight Compilation)

Average customer rating:

A MUST BUY!!!
Great music, Excellent Value!
This truly is essential!

The Essential Hyperion (Label Highlight Compilation)
Henry Purcell , Charles Villiers Stanford , Sheppard, John , Haydn, Joseph , Satie, Erik , Schumann, Robert , and Shostakovich, Dmitri
Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Essential Hyperion, Vol. 2
Essential Purcell

ASIN: B000002ZDX
Release Date: 1995-02-13

Tracks:

Concerto For Two Trumpets, 1687: Allegro
Abdelazer: Rondeau
Who Can From Joy Refrain?: A Prince Of Glorious Race
The Morning: The Glitt'ring Sun
The Ephesian Matron, Or The Widow's Tears: Vaudeville
Magnificat In G
Libera Nos
Cantigas de amigo: My Love's Coming Home
My Lady, You Do Great Wrong
Locus iste
Symphony No 14 In A: Tempo di Minuetto
Symphony No 94 In G (The 'Surprise' Symphony): Finale
Gymnopedie No. 1: Gymnopedie No. 1 (Orchestrated By Debussy)
Liederkreis op. 39: Waldesgesprach
Album Leaf In Waltz Form
Prelude And Fugue In A, Op. 87, No. 7
Phil The Fluter's Ball
Piano Concerto In C Sharp Minor, Op. 30: Allegro
O salutaris hostia
Da quel sembiante, D. 688, No. 3
Sonata In G Minor, Op. 5, No. 5: Vivace
Clarinet Quartet No 1 In E Flat, Op. 2: Rondo
String Sextet In A, Op. 48: Furiant
Sherzo In A minor, Op. 81, No. 2
Come You, Mary, Op. 21, No. 2
Chorale Prelude 'Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g' mein'
Deus in adiutorium
Sortie In E Flat

Customer Reviews:

A MUST BUY!!!.......2001-03-03

If I had to choose one CD to spend a month locked in isolation with, this would be the one. Its varied but it flows well together. It's restive and soothing. The quality is beyond excellent!!! At the price, anyone is a fool not to own it, and give it lavishly as gifts. Its gorgeous, lush and fabulous! Everyone that hears it in our home, falls in love with it!

Great music, Excellent Value!.......2000-07-26

Rarely can one buy so much good music for so little. This compilation features almost 80 minutes of high quality music.

This truly is essential!.......1999-10-23

What a brilliant idea from one of our leading record companies! On this disc, they have assembled a programme of highlights from their vast collection of choral, vocal, orchestral, and solo instrumental music that is very satisfying. As with most CDs of this sort, it is a case of some tracks not appealing as much as others- I for instance am a lover of choral music so the gorgeous renditions of Stanford's "Magnificat" by St. Paul's Cathedral Choir or John Sheppard's divine motet "Libera Nos" by the Sixteen are obvious preferences of mine. However, whether you seek dyed-in-the-wool orchestral classics as Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony, less familiar works performed by period artists (such as "'E irei Madr'a Vigo" by ancient Spanish composer Martin Codax), or snippets of breathtaking instrumental solos (such as the rousing performance of Lefebure-Wely's "Sortie in E flat" which is sadly only an excerpt), this disc is bound to have something on it for you. And all of it is finely recorded.

Average customer rating:

Handel: The Masterworks (Box Set)

Manufacturer: Brilliant Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Trios | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

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Haydn: The Masterworks [Box Set]
Vivaldi: The Masterworks (Box Set)
Mendelssohn: The Masterworks [Box Set]
Schubert: The Masterworks [Box Set]
Dvorák: The Masterworks [Box Set]

ASIN: B00062FLI8
Release Date: 2004-11-30

Average customer rating:

Great Hits from Sigmund Romberg

Great Hits from Sigmund Romberg

Manufacturer: Pearl
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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Music of Sigmund Romberg
Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: The Songs of Victor Herbert
A Victor Herbert Showcase: The Greatest Hits of the Father of American Popular Song
The Desert Song / The New Moon
The Student Prince (1952 Studio Cast)

ASIN: B000000X26
Release Date: 1992-06-12

Tracks:

The Desert Song: It
Maytime: Waltz Medley
Girl Of The Golden West: Who Are We To Say?
The New Moon: Introduction - Stout Hearted Men - Lover Come Back To Me - Girl On The Prow - Try Her Out At Dances - Wanting You - Softly As In A Morning Sunrise - One Kiss - Finale
Nina Rosa: The Gaucho March
The Desert Song: Waltz
Viennese Nights: Introduction - I Bring You A Love Song - Here We Are - You Will Remember Vienna - Regimental March
Blossom Time: Song Of Love
My Maryland: Introduction - Dixie - Boys In Grey - Mother - Silver Moon - Your Land Is My Land
Bimbo: In Old Granada
The Desert Song: Introduction - Riff Song - One Flower In Your Garden - Waltz - The Foreign Legion - Romance - One Alone
Maytime: Farewell To Dreams
Nina Rosa: Your Smiles, Your Tears
The New Moon: Marienne
The New Moon: Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
Nina Rosa: My First Love, My Last Love
Viennese Nights: I Bring A Love Song
The Night Is Young: When I Grow Too Old To Dream
The Student Prince: Intorduction - Arrival Of The Prince - Serenade - Deep In My Heart, Dear - Drinking Song - Just We Two - Students' March Song

Customer Reviews:

Great Hits from Sigmund Romberg.......2007-01-04

Excellent audio product, especially considering its age and the state of technology.

Average customer rating:

Great Classical Spectrum

Classic Chillout, Vol. 2
Various Artists
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Classical Chillout
Euphoric Classics: A Classical High
Jazz Chillout
Reel Chill: The Cinematic Chillout Album
Classic Chillout Album

ASIN: B00005Y49H
Release Date: 2004-03-09

Tracks:

Any Other Name - Nikolaj Bloch
Vision - Richard Souther
Song Of Tears - London Philharmonic Orchestra
Largo - Reginald Kilbey And His Strings
Hedwig's Theme - Nic Raine
Sheep May Safely Graze - Sir Neville Marriner
II. Adagio Un Poco Mosso - Philharmonia Orchestra
Cavatina - Manuel Barrueco
Eddie - Michael Nyman
Espiritu - Thomas Otten
Cinema Paradiso Love Theme - Ennio Morricone & His Orchestra
Pavane - New Philharmonia Orchestra
Pie Jesu - Choir Of King's College, Cambridge
Goldberg Variations - Maria Tipo
Agnus Dei - David Hill
II. Adagio Sostenuto - Dame Moura Lympany
Canzonetta Sull'Aria - Gianna Rolandi

Tracks:

Time To Say Goodbye - Orchestra
Aquarium - Katia & Marielle Labeque
Barcarolle (Les Contes D'Hoffman) - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Jean De Florette Theme - Toots Thielemans
La Valse D'Amelie - Yann Tiersen
Love In Slow Motion - The Planets
Heart Of The Volunteer - David Temple
II. Adagio - Ton Koopman
Nimrod ('Enigma' Variations) - London Symphony Orchestra
Going Home (Largo) - Izzy
Sarabande - Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields
Facades - John Harle
Panis Angelicus - Halle Choir
Teleplene And Rubber Band - Simon Jeffes
Agnus Dei - National Youth Choir Of Great Britain
II. Romance - Garrick Ohlsson
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring - Choir Of King's College, Cambridge
II: Andantino - James Galway
Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini - Cecile Ousset
An Ending - Brian Eno

Album Details

Instrumental Chill Out of the Classical Variety, Not of the Dancefloor. Chill Baby!

Customer Reviews:

Great Classical Spectrum .......2005-03-21

These cd's are a great set of varied classical music. Pavane is my favorite. Additionally, Classical Chillout 2 offers theme music from Harry Potter and it is very well done.

Average customer rating:

Hymns in the Anglican Tradition Beautifully Performed
Very inspiring music
Great English Hymns
Buy this CD!
English Choirs

Best Loved Hymns
Anonymous , James Bain , Louis Bourgeois , Edmond Budry , Orlando Gibbons , John [composer] Goss , William H. Harris , Herbert Howells , John Ireland , Stephen Jackson , Martin Luther , Edward Miller , Sir Charles H.H. Parry , Clement Cotterill Scholefield , Cyril Taylor , German Traditional , Irish Traditional , Ralph Vaughan Williams , Wallace Collection , Sioned Williams , Benjamin Bayl , Tom Williamson , Choir of King's College at Cambridge , and Stephen Cleobury
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

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Abide With Me
Praise to the Lord - Hymns From St. Paul's Cathedral
Hymns Through the Centuries

ASIN: B000058BGQ
Release Date: 2001-03-27

Tracks:

Michael: A Fanfare Setting: All My Hope On God Is Founded
Praise, My Soul: Praise, My Soul, The King Of Heaven
Bunessan: Morning Has Broken
Down Ampney: Come Down, O Love Divine
Ein' Feste Burg: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Regnator Orbis: O What Their Joy And Their Glory Must Be
Rockingham: When I Survey The Wondrous Cross
Repton: Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind
Slane: Be Thou My Vision
St. Clement: The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended
Picardy: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Hast Du Denn, Jesu: Praise To The Lord, The Almighty, The King Of Creation
Love Unknown: My Song Is Love Unknown
Brother James' Air: The Lord's My Shepherd
Maccabaeus: Thine Be The Glory
Song 46: Drop, Drop, Slow Tears
Abbot's Leigh: Glorious Things Of Thee Are Spoken
The Old Hundredth: All People That On Earth Do Dwell

Customer Reviews:

Hymns in the Anglican Tradition Beautifully Performed.......2007-01-24

This is one more example of hymns in the Anglican Tradition, sung by the always excellent choir of King's College, Cambridge. It is a splendid example of the sonorous sound of men and boys, accompanied by a classic English organ and, for the quieter hymns, the gentle sound of harp. All the familiar hymns and hymn tunes are here. You will not regret adding this CD to your collection.

Very inspiring music.......2005-07-06

I always enjoy listening to this Cd and particularly because of the orchestra and mellifluous choir. I especially enjoy: A Mighty Fortress, Come Down, O Love Divine, Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, and Thine Be The Glory. Some of the selections are soft such as "The Lord's My Shepherd" and "Drop, Drop, Slow Tears." Still, it is a fabulous selection and one of my favorites.

Great English Hymns.......2005-02-10

This was one of my Christmas gifts and I really looked forward to listening to it. I had just visited King's College, Cambridge back in August and really liked it--you should try to make it out there if possible.

Anyway, this CD was great to listen to. Some hymns are scored for orchestral accompaniment, choir and organ, while the majority of tracks are just for choir and organ.

Recorded in the King's College Chapel (the front cover has a great shot of the ceiling's trademark "fan" stone carving), the hymns are pure English sound--boys' treble voices along with men's changed voices singing with a pure, clean, straight tone. It's very sweet-sounding.

The hymns chosen are also great; "Be Thou My Vision," an Irish classic, appears along with "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," "All People That on Earth Do Dwell," and "Morning Has Broken" (later recorded by Cat Stevens).

The singing isn't especially elaborate--they're just simple hymns. They're orchestrated very well, however, and they sound great.

Religious people may prefer these recordings more in general--these are Christian hymns after all--but I think it's a great recording and is worth listening too, especially if you enjoy that English sound!

Buy this CD!.......2004-09-20

Having heard Kings College Choir twice, in the flesh, at Kings, this CD is a wonderful example of what you might hear. If you can't make it to Cambridge, buy this CD. It contains many of the old favorites and also some hymns that are not found on other English hymn CD's.

English Choirs.......2002-12-18

Having visited many Cathedrals throughout the UK and listened to the enchanting voices of the boys choirs, I was disappointed with this particular rendering from Kings. Perhaps I am biased in that I enjoy the organ background or no background but the use of a full blown orchestra, in my opinion, tended to overwhelm and was totally unnecessary and somewhat grandoise choice on the part of Stephen Cleobury. Apart from that, much of the music was excellent. In comparison with other CD's from Kings, this was disappointing.

Average customer rating:

This is a feel good CD
Inspiring and lovable
In Memory
In Memory

Tears of Joy
Watson & Company , and Watson & Edge
Manufacturer: Xcentric Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Catharsis Infinity
Holographic Projections
Christmas with Watson and Edge

ASIN: B00004Z4K8
Release Date: 2000-09-14

Tracks:

Fun in D
tears of joy
K-HI Tune
Inspired by Kathy
Matteo
Fernando's Theme
Opus
Love for a Woman Child
Wilson's Wilde
Romance
Rejoice
Stephanie's Song
Promenade
Adelita
Cosmic Bop

Album Description

tears of joy

Our most romantic recording. Fifteen tracks: A mix of passionate jazzy, new age and classical pieces that will touch your soul. Includes works by the masters Tarrega, Carcassi, Dowland and Sor, plus nine great originals and a traditional piece - Romance.

Customer Reviews:

This is a feel good CD.......2004-08-25

I purchased this CD from the artistd themselves at the Rochester Hills, Michigan, Arts and Apples Festival. Everytime I listen to it is if they are both in front of me playing live and it brings a smile to my face. You can't help tap your toes to this wonderful collection of music. The emotion that goes into each piece can really be heard coming out of your speakers. I recommend all of their albums.

Inspiring and lovable.......2002-10-06

This music has an essence that gets deep within you soul and brings out emotions that you were not aware you were capable of feeling. My brother introduced me to these music and I became an immediate fan, these guys are remarkable!. Some pieces, like Tears of Joy and Romance are masterpieces, the best music I have ever heard and felt in this genere. I highly recomend this album to anyone who enjoys great music and specially for those of us who love music for what is capable of making you feel. Even a hard man like myself, who cries for nothing, not even the loss of a loved one, shed a tear of two when I "feel" excellent pieces of music.

Inspiring.

In Memory.......2002-05-28

Jeffrey Edge was a musician with the ability to transcend reality's borders and touch the very soul with his music. Although Jeffrey is no longer with us, I was one of the lucky few who knew him. Although one can speak volumes about Jeffrey the person, his music, accompanied by Malcolm Watson, speaks louder than i ever could. As is the philosophy behind the title track, it is better to shed "tears of joy" while reflecting upon what once was rather than crying over the loss. I highly remommend this album as its raw emotion is unparalleled by any other i have ever heard. The world is a better place for knowing the genious of Watson and Edge.

In Memory.......2002-05-28

British Choral Music of the 20th Century

Average customer rating:

Spend your money elsewhere

British Choral Music of the 20th Century

Manufacturer: Nimbus Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Anthems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Choruses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Magnificats | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Noels | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Psalms | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Te Deum | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Box Sets | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00005QX6V
Release Date: 2001-11-13

Customer Reviews:

Spend your money elsewhere.......2006-01-26

I haven't even listened through the entire CD. I don't think I can bring myself to spend my time doing so. Where to begin. From the selections I've heard, the chorus sounds incredibly thin and weak, the organ overpowering them on numerous occasions. Part of the blame in that, however, goes to the mix...the choir not getting enough mic to balance out the instruments. That happens too often in chorus/instrument recordings and it drives me batty. The music selections aren't so inspiring either. You would do much better devoting your hard-earned dollars to Eric Whitacre's acappella choral works, or any of his contemporaries.

Average customer rating:

Great renditions
excellent representation of an unknown 20th century master

Rebecca Clarke: The Cloths of Heaven

Manufacturer: Guild
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Rebecca Clarke: The Complete Choral Music
Rebecca Clarke: Chamber Music
Rebecca Clarke: Midsummer Moon, Passacaglia, Rhapsody etc.

ASIN: B0000542IP
Release Date: 2005-01-17

Customer Reviews:

Great renditions.......2004-11-10

The execution on this CD is excellent from all participants. Extremely musical, well thought out, just gorgeous, understandable from all perspectives.

excellent representation of an unknown 20th century master.......2004-02-24

From www.rebeccaclarke.org
The songs on this disk represent a wide range of Clarke's output, from the earliest mature songs ("Tears," "The Cloths of Heaven," ca. 1912) to her last completed work ("God Made a Tree," 1954, according to the catalogue by her estate manager, Christopher Johnson), and music both published (some from the 1994 collection reprinted by Boosey & Hawkes) and still unpublished ("Tears," "Tiger, Tiger" and "The Donkey"). 53 songs by Clarke survive (mostly for solo voice and piano, and also several other combinations including the songs arranged for voice and violin).

John Masefield was not yet Poet Laureate of Great Britain when Clarke met him in 1925 to discuss her settings of his writings. "June Twilight" and "The Seal Man" both evoke undulating scenes of nature, but there the similarities end. "June Twilight" is rapturous in its joy of a country scene, wistful only at the temporal finiteness of that beauty. A prose text from Masefield's A Mainsail Haul, Clarke set "The Seal Man" in 1922. Based on the Celtic myth of the seal who takes on the form of a man in order to lure women to their death in the sea, the legend reverses the genders of the Greek myth of the Siren. This declamatory prose setting is one of which she always spoke of as being one of her favorites.

W. B. Yeats was a favorite poet of composers of Clarke's generation. She dedicated "Shy One" "The Cloths of Heaven" to the famous English tenor Gervase Elwes, who was one of the first to champion her music, and who sang her music in New York City just days before his 1921 death in a Boston train accident. Clarke's setting of "Shy One" is warmly tinged with modal flavor and a strongly profiled melody; yet the Musical Times attacked its use of dissonance.

With its imagery of flowers and romance, Anna Wickham's poem "The Cherry Blossom Wand" might at first glance seem to be cheerful, but closer reading reveals a dark cynicism. The poem was widely read when it was first published in 1915, but although labeled "To be set to music" (Wickham herself trained as a singer), Clarke's is the only setting. Clarke knew the poet through their mutual friend, cellist May Mukle.

Clarke would go on to set three more works by women poets to music, the resulting songs a small but distinct part of her output. Ella Young, an Irish poet and novelist, settled in California in 1925. Clarke's setting of Young's "Greeting" is a small but strongly chiseled lyrical expression. Starting with rolling waves and buoyant melody, the mention of a lost love darkens the mood and leads to harmonic twists and shifts of texture.

The poet of "God Made a Tree," Katherine Kendall, is unknown in literature and was a British friend of Clarke, and a devout Catholic. Rebecca and her siblings were raised "in the strictest irreligion," as one of her nieces recalls, but did gain an informal interest in western religion and Christianity as shown by her Psalm settings of the early 1920s, and this setting of the Kendall text, and also the setting of Chesterton's wry but profound Palm Sunday text, "The Donkey"; interestingly, none of these religious-themed works were published. Clarke dedicated "The Donkey" to the Danish dramatic soprano Povla Frijsch in 1941. Frijsch had long championed Clarke's songs, naming her in a Musical America interview as among her favorite American composers. Frijsch's release of "Shy One" on a recording, the first of Clarke's music, may have motivated the dedication.

Clarke's setting of Psalm 63 was one of the works she showed to Gustav Holst in 1921 in order to receive his opinion and advice. It reveals the influence of Ernst Bloch, as well as Clarke's exposure to Jewish chanting through her London friends the Bentwiches.
While many of Clarke's British contemporaries set texts from A. E. Housman's early publication A Shropshire Lad, Clarke was the first to turn to his Late Poems, from which "Eight O'Clock" is drawn. Clarke illustrates the concise text in a work of devastating impact.

The anonymous poem "Tears" (labeled by Clarke as "Old Chinese Words") reveals Clarke's fascination with the Far East, which had grown since encountering a Javanese Gamelan at the World Exposition in Paris in 1900. The spacious span of its opening, and its use of wholetone scales create an austere and exotic atmosphere.

"Come, O Come my Life's Delight" offers a rapturous view of love. Based on words set by the seventh-century Thomas Campion, Clarke based this 1924 song on her own earlier choral setting. Claude Flight, author of "The Aspidistra," was an artist and friend of Clarke's. Parodying the conventions of the Victorian Parlour, "The Aspidistra" is a bold statement in its outrageous humour.

The Blake settings "Cradle Song" and "Infant Joy," evoke the traditional maternal position. Since Clarke had no children, these works might be understood as a musical expression of her perceived feminine role. "Cradle Song" employs clarity of structure and rhythm, and accessible poetic scansion; these are enriched by the impressionist vocabulary of chordal parallelism. Also a Blake setting, "Infant Joy" is a gem, a radiant outburst of devotion. Clarke also wrote several instrumental lullabies, with one for violin and voice included here.

"Tiger, Tiger" also sets Blake, a text that Benjamin Britten would turn to in the 1960s in his much more reserved setting. Clarke's work is her darkest song, with swirling chromaticism bordering on the expressionist, matching the text's evocation of the erotic and the unknowable subconscious realm. Clarke probably wrote "Tiger, Tiger" with John Goss in mind, as she relentlessly revised it during her romantic entanglement with him (ca. 1929-1933); she was also discouraged by a publisher's rejection of the work; they no doubt preferred lighter fare, especially from women. The disturbing power of "Tiger, Tiger" suggests that Clarke deserves consideration as a major composer of twentieth century song.

Like most violists, Clarke started on the violin as a child, switching to the viola while at the Royal College, and at the suggestion of Stanford. Yet, she sometimes still played the violin, in family or informal settings, or in her role as a versatile freelance musician. A former teacher and suitor, Percy Miles, died in 1922 leaving Clarke a Stradivarius violin, which she occasionally played in subsequent years.

"Midsummer Moon" was dedicated to Adila Fachiri, with whom Clarke often performed in ensemble concerts in England. "Starting a fiddle piece using some old scraps," she wrote of the work in February of 1924, a vivid description reflecting Clarke's hobby as an avid sewer. The Musical Times noted the brilliance of the work, while determined to consider it only as representative of the "'new' woman composer."

The arrangements of Old English Songs, and Irish Folk Songs for voice and violin were among Clarke's most popular pieces, which she sometimes played for pleasure as well as in concert settings. Their folk and traditional themes remind us that Clarke should be squarely placed in the mainstream of the English Musical Renaissance, since they both suggest her influence by Holst's settings of the same unusual combination, and her possible influence on Vaughan Williams who would write for voice and violin in 1928.

Liane Curtis

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