Orf Radiosymphonie-Orchester Wien - Symphony No. 1 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Symphony No. 1 - Symphony No. 1 [COMPACT DISCS] date 02/27/2008

Mirage [Remastered] by Awakening - VINYL LP - The only 'group' on the Black Jazz roster, The Awakening today should be heralded as one of the great bands in early '70s jazz. That they're not is the result of the Black Jazz tag's distribution woes; witness the fact that original copies of both of their records for the imprint command prices in the hundreds of dollars if you can find them at all. Mirage is their second (1973) album, the last one they made together; it boasts the same Chicago-based, AACM-centric line-up as the first, with the notable addition of bassist Rufus Reid on a couple of tracks. Spiritual jazz, free jazz, soul jazz, fusion jazz, you name it'The Awakening take all those threads common to early '70s African-American music and, like any great ensemble, weave them into a beautiful sonic garment that's greater than the sum of it's parts. The Mirage is a bit less political/pan-African than Hear, Sense and Feel, it's predecessor, which definitely owed some of it's feel to the band's Art Ensemble of Chicago/AACM roots; this record is a little more abstract, a little more varied in it's moods and textural coloring, yet no less powerful and transporting. Our Real Gone represents the first time Mirage has been reissued on LP; the CD and LP come newly remastered (by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision) and with new liner notes by Pat Thomas. A record to discover, savor, and treasure. REAL GONE MUSIC

Hans Werner Henze was initially an avant-garde composer but Nachtstücke und Arien symbolised his departure from dodecaphonic writing, to the annoyance of his contemporaries Boulez, Nono and Stockhausen at Darmstadt. With this new direction Henze's music became highly rhapsodic, as heard in the challenging but lyrical solo cello that suggests the intimate texts of the Englische Liebeslieder. Referring to Goya, Los Caprichos captures the strangeness of this artist's visions with long-breathed melodic lines and fleeting changes of texture, from military-sounding bustle to moments of profound stillness. Marin Alsop is chief conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, which she leads at Vienna's Konzerthaus and Musikverein, and on recordings, broadcasts and tours. Her discography includes acclaimed Naxos recordings of symphonies by Brahms with the London Philharmonic, Dvor?ák with the Baltimore Symphony, and Prokofiev with the São Paulo Symphony. The first and only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, Alsop received the World Economic Forum's Crystal Award and was the first woman to conduct the BBC's Last Night of the Proms. She is director of graduate conducting at the Peabody Institute and holds honorary doctorates from Yale University and The Juilliard School.