Cunningham / Prague Radio Orchestra / Winstin - Gallery: Three Ballets & the Gastein Masterwork - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Longtime Navona Records artist Michael G. Cunningham showcases his penchant for storytelling on THREE THEATER PIECES AND CHOPIN, an album rife with theatrical wonders that delight both the ears and the imagination. THREE THEATRE PIECES AND CHOPIN opens with The Real Alice, a spoken narrative that tells the tale of the titular character from Lewis Carroll's surrealistic masterpiece Alice in Wonderland. Rather than simply rehashing the well-known story, Cunningham draws us into the imagination of a real-life Alice, whose observations of her own day-to-day life inform whimsical daydreams represented by musical interludes. On My Name is Pinocchio, Cunningham presents another tale with narrative and interludes, this time musically illustrating the classic tale of the puppet who became a real boy. At the center of the album is Post Meridian, a jazzy, seven-movement ballet that whisks listeners away to a sweltering night in a 1930s Manhattan tenement district. Throughout each movement, a smooth saxophone captures the romantic struggles of late-night blazing heat, from residents seeking cooler air on fire escapes to the murmurings of sidewalk night owls to a full-blown skirmish with the police. On the final track, The Triumph of Chopin, Cunningham introduces his own take on Chopin's Fantasie in F minor, Op. 49 by expanding the master's piece for solo piano into a fanciful work for wind harmonia. This arrangement further highlights Fantasie's free-flowing form and Romantic expression, and retains the structure of a self-contained movement that creates an imaginative, dramatic progression.

In Mezzanine Seat, Michael Cunningham exhibits a mastery over all aspects of the orchestra, filling out every bit of space with breathtaking melody and harmony. The arrangements emote a sophistication that echoes J.S. Bach, one of Cunningham's greatest inspirations. In the three-part composition Bach Diadem, Cunningham pays tribute to the famed composer and incorporates 18th-century orchestral influence in his compositions. Backed by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Cunningham uses his compositions to create stories that intertwine darkness and beauty. The instruments interact at the forefront of the pieces as though they are characters in an opera, singing with backdrop of the chamber orchestra. A classic example occurs in the second work, Clarinet Concerto. The composer highlights the clarinet as the protagonist in a fantastic narrative carried by the orchestra. Throughout the three movements, the clarinet creates a conversation which moves the production forward. The somber melodies form a dramatic dialogue with the rest of the orchestra, presenting a chain of events that captures the listener's attention immediately. The captivating compositions in Mezzanine Seat will ensure to listeners that anywhere they listen to the album, they will feel as though they are sitting in the best seats in the concert hall.

For the first time since the Analord series released through 2003-2005 on his own Rephlex Records imprint, Richard D. James revises his legendary AFX guise with a collection of tracks for the alien dancefloor. Inchorphaned deejay selek 2006-2008Inch appears in an initial run of special spot-glossed and die-cut packaging in both CD & 12Inch formats made in the Designers Republic.Previous AFX releases include Analogue Bubblebath (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Smojphace and Hangable Auto Bulb. Hang able Auto Bulb is the only previous standalone AFX on Warp, originally released on 2x12Inchs and compiled to CD with new artwork in 2005.