Overwater / Claassen / Various - Faces of China - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Composer Frederic D'Haene creates a remarkable musical world in Music With Silent Aitake's. When he was 25 years old, D'Haene began his life-long fascination with gagaku music, or traditional Japanese court music, that has informed his compositional style throughout his career. This study of a musical style different from that of his own culture resulted in what the composer calls InchparadoxophonyInch or Inchparadoxical coexistence.Inch Exploring deeper territory than standard cultural crossover music might, Music With Silent Aitake's offers a splendid introduction to this distinctive style. On the one hand, he combines the sound of a Western instrumental ensemble with that of a traditional Japanese gagaku orchestra. On the other, he has invented musical material and designed a pitch structure starting from the points of tangency between the two worlds. D'Haene also composes with drones, contributing to the overall coherent impression of these compositions. The music on the album is performed by the internationally esteemed Reigakusha Ensemble and by Ensemble Modern, one of the premier new music ensembles in the world. The orchestras are conducted by Kasper de Roo, an internationally renowned interpreter of 20th and 21st-century music. Music With Silent Aitake's clearly exemplifies paradoxophony, in that the listener tends to forget that there were two separate musical worlds at the beginning of the composition. The western ensemble and the gagaku not only coexist, but they enhance one another, opening new sonic and expressive possibilities and guiding the audience into an exciting new musical universe.

Listeners are given a rare glimpse into the rich tradition of Cantonese Opera in this album, performed by blind street musicians in Macao. The talented performers demonstrate technical skill as they sing complicated vocal melodies while accompanying one another with a myriad of Chinese traditional wind and string instruments. As is customary with Cantonese Opera, several of the female roles are performed by men, singing in a distinct, nasal falsetto. The musician's voices soar over the strong tones of the instruments, recalling tales of love, war, and national pride, translated from Cantonese to English in the liner notes.

Honing / Overwater / Khcheich / Various - Orient express [COMPACT DISCS] date 01/01/2002