Now Playing ( NON film / game / tv scores ) - Part ~~~~~

A fine choice too.

Looked into anymore Vaughan Williams yet?

No, though I know what I want to listen to next (Sinfonia Antarctica). I still haven't found it

I have two versions Tom, one by Claudio Abbado and the Chicago symphony but the one I was playing yesterday is the NAXOS release with the Czech-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pinchas Steinberg.

http://sdtom.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/c … 1943rozsa/

This is the last work on the out of print Koch release that is still available as a download from Amazon.com. The four works on one CD represent the Hollywood composers well. The recording is okay.

NP : SEASONS OF MY SOUL - Rumer



A lovely listen, very retro with a Dusty Springfield / Burt Bacharach 60's vibe going on.

A new recording of Herrmann's Sinfonietta for Strings which I want to compare to the previous recording I have.
Tom

Thomas and the Magic Railroad?

This may seem a bit unusual but at the moment I am listening to a selection of hymns and psalms sung by the monks of Simonos Petras Monastery. Simonos Petras Monastery is one of 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries on the peninsula of Mount Athos. It is apparently a self-governing monastic state that comes under the sovereignty of Greece.

I came across their beautiful choral works (I think that they tend to be sung in a Byzantine style) whilst researching for an upcoming review for Reel Music. Clips:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hymnes-du-mont- … mp;sr=1-45

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psaumes-du-mont … mp;sr=1-50

I'm interested Tom, what is on it?

NP: TRANSMISSIONS (Juno Reactor)

Classic Juno.

I am now listening to some Wibi Soerjadi clips on the net, because last night we saw Wibi Soerjadi in concert. It was a really good concert. He started of with Liszt, which is not my cup of tea, so I was worried about the next two hours a bit... Then Bach, the famous piece "Toccata en Fuga", in a special transciption according to Wibi. That was awesome. Then the surprise of the evening for me: a piece Wibi composed for a kur by Anky van Grunsven and her horse for the Olympics. It's called "Dance of Devotion" and I had never heard it before. What Wibi did in this concert was, instead of just playing the music as a kur, he took a theme and played nine variations on that theme. The seconds he started, playing the theme first, I thought... filmmusic! Very very Zimmer & co-like and a great theme and the variations he did were awesome. He could score a movie with that!

After the intermission he played a composition he composed for his mother, also in nine pieces which he introduced first and he explained about how you can hear different things in the music. The final composition was also composed by Wibi himself, "Apuleius' Amor & Psyche". He tells the whole story musicwise in, how suprising, nine chapters and again, he explained first how he tells what's happening with the music. It was a really good piece, a true story which was indeed easy to follow and his piano performance was impressive as always. A standing ovation obviously.

The encore was, I guess (don't remember, excuse me), "Ave Maria" in a very Wibi-way, so you can guess what that was like. Then, suprise surprise, he had one more little piece for us. He told about how he likes to make transciptions of film music (like he did with Gladiator) and then he played his Pirates-transcription for one hand. Fun fun fun!!!

It was a great concert and I immediately started looking for the "Dance of Devotion" music. Unfortunatly the original has some orchestra as well, so on the CD it is piano with strings and stuff... That could be nice of course, but for some reason I really loved his piano version last night. These nine variations of the theme he did were written for concert only and I'm afraid they aren't available on CD (yet?). I will post some clips now:

Well let's start with the fun stuff: Wibi playing Pirates with one hand (and no, he didn't wear that pirate outfit last night)
http://youtu.be/LcsCG6Fgykc

A short piano piece from "Dance of Devotion". The theme can be heard from 1:55 onward
http://youtu.be/ZBUoPPmKEuM

Another short piece from "Dance of Devotion". I prefer this one over the previous one, because it's the finale.
http://youtu.be/Igv4pHgcF4s

Here you can hear "Dance of Devotion" how it was used for the Olympics. It's nice, very heroic. Funny how Maykel and I discussed what it sounded like last night after hearing the piano version. He said Conquest of Paradise, I said The Rock and if you read the comments below you see the same responses. Hearing the strings now I hear some Portman too!
http://youtu.be/Tv_qQQbOTkk


And last but not least, for people who haven't heard it yet, Wibi's transciption of "Gladiator, The Battle". He did three piano transcriptions of "Gladiator", available on the album "Pieces of a Dream" as bonus track.
http://youtu.be/mGxdyM8C-1M

It seems there has been a series of piano solo recordings lately including Young, Edwards, Wiseman, and McCreary. This one also sounds interesting.
Tom

It takes real talent to say his name, I know that much.

A SYMPHONY OF HOPE: THE HAITI PROJECT - a whole list of composers

Wonderful is the word. There's a whole set of emotions and range of musical styles that make it a very worthy listen. And to be listened to a lot after it. I can't believe something written by such a list of different peoples with different styles, came out so consistent and lovely. And this practically listens like a film score. A good one I mean.