Mark Feldman - Music for Violin Alone - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The New York violin virtuoso Mark Feldman presents a new solo album, a portrait of the artist now, some twenty-six years after his first solo album. Sounding Point contains six of his own compositions as well as one piece each by Sylvie Courvoisier and Ornette Coleman. Coleman's 1987 Peace Warriors is one of three pieces in which Feldman skillfully employs overdubs. The American jazz critic Kevin Whitehead writes in the liner notes InchIn my 30+ years following violinist Mark Feldman, no record I know shows him off better than Sounding Point. He's made much great music in groups, but solo play gives him maximum elbow room, fully exposing the richness of his sound, his distinct personal voice, and his sensitivity to sonic texture and pacing, all at the service of musical storytelling. Take for example the shortest piece here, the improvised InchRebound.Inch He starts with a simple gesture, the bow's horsehairs bouncing lightly on the strings, a gesture he periodically returns to (and ends with), between scenic flights high notes and trills, bracing close-interval wailing on adjacent strings, a burst of percussive pizzicato, falling glissandi, whispered notes barely bowed... Fancy stuff. Yet those expansions and contractions, and the contrasting dynamics, sound natural as breathing.Inch

Acapella Hits of the 1980's, Volume 5 takes the most popular world-wide hits of the 1980's decade and delivers spot on acapella versions that are completely true to the original versions in feeling, depth and arrangement. This collection is great for DJ's who want to add their own spin to the classics, or just folks who want to learn the tune or lyrics without the clutter of instrumental backing obscuring the essence of the songs.

The Chopin nocturnes constitute 21 short pieces for solo piano written by Frédéric Chopin between 1827 and 1846. They are generally considered among the finest short solo works for the instrument and hold an important place in contemporary concert repertoire. Although Chopin did not invent the nocturne, he popularized and expanded on it, building on the form developed by Irish composer John Field. The nocturnes numbered 1 to 18 were published during his life, in twos or threes, in the order of composition. Numbers 19 and 20 were actually written first, prior to Chopin's departure from Poland, but published posthumously. Number 20 was not originally entitled InchnocturneInch at all, but since publication in 1870 as such, is generally included with publications and recordings of the set. Chopin composed his most popular Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2 when he was about twenty. This popular nocturne is in rounded binary form (A, A, B, A, B, A) with coda, C. The A and B sections become increasingly ornamented with each recurrence. The penultimate bar utilizes considerable rhythmic freedom, indicated by the instruction, senza tempo (without tempo). Nocturne in E-flat major opens with a legato melody, mostly played piano, containing graceful upward leaps which becomes increasingly wide as the line unfolds. This melody is heard again three times during the piece. With each repetition, it is varied by ever more elaborate decorative tones and trills. The nocturne also includes a subordinate melody, which is played with rubato. A sonorous foundation for the melodic line is provided by the widely spaced notes in the accompaniment, connected by the damper pedal. The waltz-like accompaniment gently emphasizes the 12/8 meter, 12 beats to the measure subdivided into four groups of 3 beats each. The nocturne is reflective in mood until it suddenly becomes passionate near the e