Category Archives: CK - Listening 2011

First-time listening for December, 2011

(Zin­ka Milanov, sopra­no & Boži­dar Kunc, piano) A Milanov Recital:
. . . . . 22793. (Giuseppe Gior­dani) “Caro mio ben”
. . . . . 22794. (Robert Schu­mann) Lei­derkreis: “Mond­nacht”, Op.39 #5
. . . . . 22795. (Robert Schu­mann) song from “Myrten”: “Wid­mung [Ded­i­ca­tion]”, Op.25 #1 Read more »

First-time listening for November, 2011

22786. (Richard Wag­n­er) Der Fliegende Hol­län­der [The Fly­ing Dutch­man] [high­lights;
. . . . . d.Kon­witschny; Frick, Schech, Schock]
22787. (King Crim­son) Three of a Per­fect Pair
22788. (Robert Plant) The Prin­ci­ple of Moments Read more »

First-time listening for October, 2011

22780. (John Lee Hook­er) House of the Blues
22781. (A Split Sec­ond) Bal­lis­tic Statues
22782. (Fripp & Eno) Evening Star Read more »

First-time listening for September, 2011

22769. (George Fred­er­ick Hän­del) Dank sei dir, Herr!
22770. (Wolf­gang Amadeus Mozart) Ves­per­ae solemnnes de con­fes­sore, K.339: “Lau­date Dominum
22771. (Giuseppe Gior­dani) Caro mio ben Read more »

First-time listening for August, 2011

22763. (Fall Out Boy) Split EP
22764. (Elliott Brood) Moun­tain Meadows
22765. (Big Mac­ceo Mer­ri­weath­er) Wor­ried Life Blues [The Blues Col­lec­tion #38] Read more »

Fake Shark — Real Zombie!

I did­n’t know about this appeal­ing­ly scruffy Van­cou­ver punk band until just now. Lis­ten­ing to their 2008 debut album Zebra! Zebra!, I can hear a log­i­cal descen­dant of old Van­cou­ver punk bands like Skin­ny Pup­py, which I was very fond of in the 1980’s. There’s a sub­stan­tial tech­no influ­ence, and much more rhyth­mic and struc­tur­al com­plex­i­ty, but the mood they pro­duce is as punky as any­thing done in the Archa­ic Punkal Age. The drum­ming is to the click, the vocals harsh, but not irritating.

First-time listening for July, 2011

22756. (7 Sec­onds) Out The Shizzy
22757. (Junior Boys) Begone Dull Care
22758. (Jor­dan Rudess) Notes on a Dream Read more »

First-time listening for June, 2011

22753. (Fake Shark-Real Zom­bie!) Zebra! Zebra!
22754. (Jiten­dra Abhishe­ki) Raga Shiv­mat Bhairav
22755. (Jiten­dra Abhishe­ki) Raga Puriya
Read more »

Augustín Barrios, the Great Paraguayan

11-06-05 LISTN The Great ParaguayanIf you are bored with the famil­iar reper­toire for clas­si­cal gui­tar (what you might call the Segov­ian Canon), then you might try the com­po­si­tions of the Paraguayan poly­math Augustín Bar­rios (1885–1944). Gui­tarist John Williams has led the revival of his work. A poet, math­e­mati­cian and jour­nal­ist, as well as a per­former and com­pos­er, Bar­rios was a Paraguayan mes­ti­zo, flu­ent in the Guaraní Indi­an lan­guage as well as Span­ish. His com­po­si­tions are warm, imag­i­na­tive, and vir­tu­osic enough to chal­lenge and excite any gui­tarist. Yet under­neath they have a sol­id archi­tec­ture. For exam­ple, the piece called La Cat­e­dral seems as del­i­cate as a snowflake, but it’s struc­ture is as strong and dis­ci­plined as a Bach par­ti­ta. Most of the pieces that I heard have this “float like a but­ter­fly, sting like a bee” qual­i­ty. Oth­er pieces that espe­cial­ly move me are Una Limosna Por el Amor de Dios, Acon­qui­ja, Max­ixe, and Chôro da Saudade. But, they are not excep­tions: every piece I’ve heard is worth lis­ten­ing to sev­er­al times. Paraguayan folk music influ­enced his work as much as the famil­iar baroque and clas­si­cal sources, giv­ing it a flavour you won’t find else­where. Williams offers sev­er­al record­ings. I’m lis­ten­ing to The Great Paraguayan, which offers sev­en­teen rep­re­sen­ta­tive pieces.

First-time listening for May, 2011

22747. (Kinks) Kinks
22748. (Rose­buds) The Rose­buds Make Out
22749. (Jim­my Smith) Jim­my Smith [Verve Jazz Mas­ters #29]
Read more »