Songs of Our Fathers

Amazon.com
Another cross-cultural, acoustic-music synthesis is achieved on this collaboration between Grisman, the bluegrass/swing virtuoso who opens for Allison Krauss Thursday at Wolf Trap, and klezmer star Statman. Both are mandolinists, and on this album of seven traditional klezmer tunes, four Shlomo Carlebach compositions, and one Statman original, Statman challenges Grisman to play up to the tradition's standards, while Grisman challenges Statman to push the tradition's envelope. The result is a creative tension that keeps the music exciting. The two leaders are backed by a band that includes Meyer, classical guitarist Enrique Coria, and Phil Spector drummer Hal Blaine. For Grisman and Blaine, who are ethnically but not musically Jewish, this project is an emotional homecoming and those feelings can be heard in the playing. --Geoffrey Himes

Songs of Our Fathers,Andy Statman & David Grisman,Acoustic Disc,Int'l & World Music,Israel,Jewish: Trad. & Klezmer,Pop,Traditional Bluegrass,World Music

Jazz

Music

jazz

music

Average customer rating: Boring Smokin' Klezmer An almost lost world Pleasant Listening The saddest joy

Songs of Our Fathers Andy Statman & David Grisman Manufacturer: Acoustic Disc ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Folk | Styles | Music Jewish & Yiddish Music | Folk | Styles | Music Klezmer | Folk | Styles | Music General | International | Styles | Music Israel | Middle East | International | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music Traditional | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music Bluegrass | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music General | International | Indie Music | Stores | Music General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: New Shabbos Waltz Between Heaven And Earth: Music Of The Jewish Mystics Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge The Hidden Light East Flatbush Blues ASIN: B000003919 Release Date: 1995-05-10

Tracks:

1. Shalom Aleichem
2. Chassidic Medley: Adir Hu/Moshe Emes
3. Shomer Yisrael
4. Toska
5. Bashie's Bounce
6. Dovid Melech Yisrael
7. Shabbos Waltz
8. For The Sake Of My Brothers And Friends
9. Der Rebbe
10. Adon Olam
11. Kazatski
12. Shalom Aleichem

Amazon.com

Another cross-cultural, acoustic-music synthesis is achieved on this collaboration between Grisman, the bluegrass/swing virtuoso who opens for Allison Krauss Thursday at Wolf Trap, and klezmer star Statman. Both are mandolinists, and on this album of seven traditional klezmer tunes, four Shlomo Carlebach compositions, and one Statman original, Statman challenges Grisman to play up to the tradition's standards, while Grisman challenges Statman to push the tradition's envelope. The result is a creative tension that keeps the music exciting. The two leaders are backed by a band that includes Meyer, classical guitarist Enrique Coria, and Phil Spector drummer Hal Blaine. For Grisman and Blaine, who are ethnically but not musically Jewish, this project is an emotional homecoming and those feelings can be heard in the playing. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews:

Boring.......2006-10-07

I love mandolin, I love clarinet, and I love klezmir music. Most of the songs on this album, while beautifully played by great musicians are BORING. They sound like background music to dull scenes in "The Godfather". One Mandolin duet is brilliant and a couple of other cuts are very good but, my advice: listen to the entire CD before buying. Not just the snippets that Amazon allows you to hear. I did that and was still disapointed.

Smokin' Klezmer.......2006-03-17

If you like Klezmer, if you appreciate smokin' fun music, buy this and turn it up. Wow. I tried to borrow my father's copy, but he bought me my own instead. This is one of my favorite CD's. Buy it!

An almost lost world.......2005-05-05

I picked up this CD the local library. Listened once, and liked it, listened a second time and knew for certain I had to have my own copy. Grab a cup, or glass, of your favorite beverage, get comfortable, turn the lights low and listen. You will be transported back in time to an era that's not lost, just hiding for the moment. You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy this music, though it may well add a little extra to the experience, you just have to listen. Buy it. You won't begrudge the few dollars, I promise you.

Pleasant Listening.......2002-12-09

Relaxing music. Some familiar melodies, some original.

The saddest joy.......2001-11-27

While I was writing my review for Grisman's newest wonderful release (Traversata, with Carlo Aonzo and Beppe Gambetta) it struck me that I never wrote a review for the great Songs Of Our Fathers.

For me, this cd displays both sides of the coin, the mourning of those who are gone, as well as the celebration of the joy and beauty in life. There is just no denying that Shalom Aleichem is one of the saddest and most beautiful melodies ever written, or that the Chassidic Medley (track #2) is all-out dance music!

Andy Statman is a true musical marvel. If he only played clarinet as well as he does then he'd be legendary, and if he only played mandolin as well as he does he'd be legendary. Instead, he just plays both instruments as well as he does (and composes and arranges too).

I've had this cd for 5 or 6 years and had I reviewed it when I first got connected to the internet I would have given it 5 stars. The only reason I'm only giving it 4 stars now is because Acoustic Disc releases (Grisman's label) have even crisper, fuller, richer sound now than they did back when Songs Of Our Fathers was released.

This recording is one of the crown-jewel's of the Acoustic Disc label.

Average customer rating: A European modernist embraces Ives Great Performances, but the Star of this CD is Charles Ives works grow and transform themselves a fresh take on sonata no. 2 It takes a Frenchman to capture an American masterpiece!

Ives: Concord Sonata; Songs Pierre-Laurent Aimard , Susan Graham , and Charles Ives Manufacturer: Warner Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Ives, Charles | ( I ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Sonatas | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Ives, Charles | Composers | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Sonatas | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Similar Items: Ives: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-4 Ives: An American Journey Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit; Carter: Night Fantasies; Two Diversions; 90+ Charles Ives: Songs Charles Ives: Symphony No. 2 / The Gong on the Hook & Ladder, or Firemen's Parade on Main Street / Tone Roads No. 1 / Hymn: Largo Cantabile, for String Orchestra / Hallowe'en / Central Park in the Dark / The Unanswered Question - Leonard Bernstein / New York Philharmonic ASIN: B0001HZ6MO Release Date: 2004-05-11

Tracks:

1. The Things Our Fathers Loved
2. The Housatonic At Stockbridge
3. From The Swimmers
4. Memories (A - Very Pleasant, B - Rather Sad
5. Ann Street
6. Serenity (A Unison Chant)
7. 1, 2, 3
8. Songs My Mother Taught Me
9. The Circus Band
10. The Cage
11. The Indians
12. Like A Sick Eagle
13. A Sound Of A Distant Horn
14. September
15. Soliloquy (Or A Study In 7ths And Other Things)
16. A Farewell To Land
17. Thoreau
18. Emerson
19. Hawthorne
20. The Alcotts
21. Thoreau

Amazon.com

Ives' Second Sonata is one of the toughest, but it holds no fears for Aimard, a noted interpreter of Messiaen, Ligetti, and other moderns who require virtuoso technique and idiomatic expertise. Each of its four movements is titled for New England luminaries: Emerson, Hawthorne, the Alcotts, and Thoreau. The longest, "Emerson," is knotty and energetic, bristling with a minefield of cluster chords. "Hawthorne" is a genial scherzo exhibiting a wider palette, while "The Alcotts" is a lyrical paean to domestic tranquility. "Thoreau" embraces the mysteries of nature, played with intensity by Aimard. There's an abundance of power in his playing, but also ravishing effects like the startling diminuendo in "Thoreau" and the array of marches, hymns, and parlor songs Ives threw into the mix. His terrific "Concord" Sonata is matched by the survey of Ives' inventive songs, 17 of them superbly sung by Susan Graham with Aimard superb as her piano partner. Graham captures every nuance of a mind-boggling variety of idioms, from nostalgia, tenderness, and hilarious miniatures like "Ann Street" and the sendup of opera in "Memories - A," among many other highlights. This one's a must for Ivesians, fans of musical eccentricity, modern music enthusiasts, and anyone in search of musical surprises, which abound on almost every track. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

A European modernist embraces Ives.......2007-01-08

Chalres Ives was 46 when he published his "Concord"Sonata, and as the liner notes tell us, its sprawling shape and diverse styles are the result of gathering a lot of music previously composed (none of it for solo piano) and needing a single dwelling. Ives always had his own ideas about how music is held together or flies apart. He wasn't afraid to have it fly apart, and often his notion of coherence was so private, rooted in personal memories, that an outside listener can't be expected to penetrate the associations.

Aimard goes a long way in erasing the ecdentricity, privacy, and quirkiness of Ives's idiom bydrawing the sonata into the mainstream of European modernism, giving it the same clean, detailed, accurate, and impressionistic style that he might give to other individualists like Ligeti and Messiaen. (It's also nice to have the viola addition to the first movement and the flute in the fourth.) The "Concord" Sonata becomes a virtuosic event in his hands, no longer a purely "American" sport. I do find that listening to this vast work is better in concert, where its appearance is always a special occasion. But one has to be grateful for Aimard's quantum leap in execution compared to earlier recordings.

Ives gathered his huge output of 114 songs into a collection two years after the sonata. Susan Graham picks 15 of them, adding two more that folowed after 1922. These songs ask for a vocal chameleon who can shift instantly from Victorian parlor style to patriotic exuberance, folk song, whimsy, rapt nostaliga, and more. No one to date has been able to encompass this enormous range of expression, but Susan Graham comes as close as any. I would rank her with Jan De Gaetani, Thomas Hampson, and William Sharp among the singers I know who excel in Ives, and above the too-classical, somewhat congested renditions by Marilyn Horne and Jennifer Lamore. Aimard's accompaniment misses the Yankee flavor of the marches and patriotic snatches, but in its modernist way his style is as effective as in the sonata. Highly recommended for lovers of this music.

Great Performances, but the Star of this CD is Charles Ives.......2005-08-10

The uniquely atypical music of Charles Ives continues to mature and embed itself in the minds of larger and larger audiences every year. Practically every major orchestra in this country (and in Europe) now includes at least his symphonies in the standard repertoire. His music is probably as 'American' as any composed, so conjoined with literature and history and folksongs and all manner of Americana. This superb recording takes us one step further in appreciating Ives' gifts: his breathtaking Concord Sonata is coupled with one of the finest selections of his many songs and both sonata and songs are performed with consummate skill by pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and mezzo soprano Susan Graham.

Aimard's approach to this big piano work is one of direct approach to the complexities of line and mood and in that approach he doesn't allow his own personality to blur Ives' message. Aimard can tackle the impossibly difficult passages and keep them transparent: he can also find the inner quiet beauty as well as any other pianist. The result is a Concord Sonata of majesty and honest simplicity.

Susan Graham has long included Ives' songs in her recitals and that experience shows in her approach to this varied selection. Graham is an immensely intelligent musician, one who can find the meaning of even a brief song in an instant. She is in fine vocal form here, and her collaboration with Aimard completes a presentation that will be difficult to match. This is a fine recording and an excellent entry point for music lovers who may have been wary of Ives' challenges. Relax and enjoy this recital. Grady Harp, August 05

works grow and transform themselves.......2005-04-07

First off this is an Ives cornocopia of songs, all sung here with the reserve that is needed, I've heard too many American art Songs, Copland, Rorem and Ives with that wrongheaded "sing-songin" delivery, it is arrogant if nothing else, and the "cutsy-ness" of it does reach the audience,unless you simply want to be entertained and you checked your brain with your cash at the box office. Straightforward Ives is I think to most effective way of playing his music,that's why I still prefer the Kalish, he brings a gritti-ness to the Concord. Aimard (and all of us) has had time since the Seventies to think and re-think this piece, and there something should be said for the way music grows, transforms itself for different time periods, isn't that why music develops itself it is striongly constituted in the first place, it is well thought through, et cetra, construction all the obvious, Copland's "Piano Variations" is a similar example, the music simply changes with time, well we change, the music is fixed.So I guess there are simply different readings.

Aimard does bring some nice clarity,like to "Hawthorne", the blazing quickness searching until the "forearm" clusters stop the flow, the onward rush of the imagination, words can change the meaning of themselves this quickly which I think is what Ives saw in Hawthorne the writer.

For the "Alcotts" any kind of nostalgia is OK with me,the simple Bb triad timbres capturing the informed naivtivitee of the little home with Bronson Alcott the speaker public man of speaking (there is a difference between public speaking and lecturer,someone who teaches as opposed to simply speaking something Bush II knows quite well.Better simply to speak without saying anything.) This is not here however for Ives loved the Utopian aspect of Danbury existential renderings, the reflections back and forth of the lifeworld, the richness of culture of the complexity of the word,place, song, timbre,all in forms of strength all mixed blending together. Aimard simply brings things out I;ve never heard before, but then that is his approach always to clarify,and that is not always the best approach in Ives where his music does ask questions, his music we have learned should be opaque, and unexplanable,terse yet convoluted; it should not lead you by the nose at each and every moment.And Aimard I;m afraid does want to lead here. I think he thinks the opaqueness will happen by itself, its already in the music, he lets this occur in the fast sections,making it a pure texture,like Debussy, I guess Ives was an existential impressionist with transcendental content.

a fresh take on sonata no. 2.......2004-07-28

I have a slightly different view than with the previous review, as well as the Davis review. If you are a fan of Ives (you probably are if you are interested in this cd), then you may not need to bother with half of this cd. Messo Susan Graham is quite out of touch with the character studies of these wonderful songs. When she isn't yodelling many times louder than she ought to on some high notes to demonstrate her vocal command, she becomes the epitomy of boredom and banality. I imagine Ben Stein could give a more lifelike reading of 'The Circus Band'. The jovial cheer "hear the trombones!" sounds more akin to a yawn on this version. Since when did shear vocal power and sonic richness take such high precedence over interpretive skills? Have you really forgotten Jan de Gaetani's wonderous versions? I feel Graham has done a disservice to this music, and should probably go back to singing French arias which apparently she is quite good at.

The Concord Sonata is definetly the reason you may want to own this disc. Aimard is outstanding as per usual. Emerson does really come alive here, as does Hawthorne with it's dramtic tempo shifts. My main concern lies in the 3rd movement 'the Alcotts'. It is clearly a pastorale movement with a touch of sweet nostalgia. Aimard plays a little too deliberately here- not loose enough with the tempo or lively enough with the rhythms. That really is the only disadvantage. I don't think Aimard played the folk elements strongly enough.
I guess the main question is: if I own the Kalish recording of the Sonata, do I need this one too? Probably again, you are an Ives believer and this version has great insights- why not. Like the Kalish version, this one includes the optional viola line on Emerson and the flute part of Thoreau. They appear better realised with more dramatic impact on the Kalish recording- a minor point. Movement for movement Aimard has the first and seccond, but I prefer 3 and 4 on the Kalish. The 3rd mentioned above, and the fourth seems to have more gravity with Kalish, bringing more of a closure to the tempestuous nature of the work. Aimard shows a more whispy, impressionistic take as he also does at the start of Hawthorne, reminding of Debussy. Not inappropriate stylistically speaking, but definetly a matter of taste. Aimard is a winner and I love what he does for Ligeti and Messiaen. Overall a very successful Ives sonata, and a questionably performed set of songs, well-chosen as they might be. If you are new to Ives this should be enough to get you into further explorations.

It takes a Frenchman to capture an American masterpiece!.......2004-05-19

The "Concord Sonata" of Charles Ives has been described as "the greatest work written by an American." It's a big sprawling, glorious mess of a thing, inspired by the Transcendental writers Emerson, Hawthorne, Alcott and Thoreau. I first heard the ground-breaking version by John Kirkpatrick, and have long cherished the powerful account by Gilbert Kalish (recorded in the '70s). But hearing Pierre-Laurent Aimard play this piece makes me forget all about those earlier recordings. A specialist in Messian and Ligeti, Aimard plays Ives like one to the manner born. Forget any preconceived notions of what it means to be a "French pianist," and let this astonishing performance carry you away. The Alcotts movement has never felt so tender, and the Thoreau movement is likewise exquisitely balanced. Perhaps most enthralling is how he manages to give shape and sense to Emerson, and Hawthorne, the fiendishly hard scherzo, has never had a reading like this. I'd have been content with the sonata, but the disk also holds the gorgeous mezzo Susan Graham singing 17 Ives songs, with Aimard's brilliant accompaniments. A fabulous recording no serious American music collection should be without!

Average customer rating: Great CD

Amazing Grace: The Songs Of The Reagan Memorial Manufacturer: Martingale ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dvorák, Antonín | ( D ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Monk, William Henry | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Schubert | Schubert, Franz | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Sibelius | Sibelius, Jean | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Christian & Gospel | Styles | Music Gospel | Christian & Gospel | Styles | Music Christian Contemporary Music | Christian & Gospel | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Hymns | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music Solo Instrumental | New Age | Styles | Music Similar Items: Chariots of Fire (Two-Disc Special Edition) More Than 50 Most Loved Hymns James Taylor at Christmas Wintersong Love ASIN: B000679MWO Release Date: 2006-07-25

Tracks:

1. Amazing Grace - United States Air Force Band
2. America the Beautiful - United States Army Band
3. God Bless America - United States Marine Band
4. Battle Hymn of the Republic - United States Air Force Band
5. Be Still, My Soul
6. Jerusalem - Eric Wyse
7. Faire Is the Heaven
8. Ave Maria
9. Going Home - United States Air Force Band
10. Navy Hymn (Eternal Father) - United States Marine Band
11. National Hymn (God of Our Fathers) - United States Marine Band
12. Abide with Me - Eric Wyse
13. Nearer, My God, To Thee - United States Air Force Band
14. Amazing Grace
15. Taps - United States Marine Band

Customer Reviews:

Great CD.......2007-03-19

Great CD - Even if you are not ex military you will enjoy it.

Average customer rating: Moving CD with a message Awesome - A Great Surprise For any Serviceman/Servicewoman Keni Thomas Review A true tribute to those who have served.

Flags Of Our Fathers: A Soldier's Story Keni Thomas Manufacturer: Moraine Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music Similar Items: American by God's Amazing Grace Patriotic Country, Vol. 2 Songs About Me Off To Join The World Mark Wills - Greatest Hits ASIN: B0006ZOV8G Release Date: 2005-01-25

Tracks:

1. Flags Of Our Fathers
2. Hero
3. Not Me (with Vince Gill & Emmylou Harris)
4. Send Me (with Shawn Mullins)
5. Gloryland (with Blackhawk)
6. 7 Days (with Michael McDonald)
7. Prove Them Wrong
8. Fight I Couldn't Win
9. Circle On The Cross (with Kenny Rogers)
10. Last Band Of Brothers

Amazon.com

At a time when the fighting in Iraq brings out more pain than patriotism in a majority of vocal Americans, Keni Thomas--a smooth-voiced Georgia musician and former Army member of Task Force Ranger, sent into the Mogadishu of Black Hawk Down--steps forward with a collection of songs that restore the poignancy and eloquence of the good fight. Never bombastic in the vein of Toby Keith nor rabble-rousing à la Darryl Worley, Thomas--who wrote or cowrote all 10 tracks with an ear for classic country and rock--simply tells the stories of the men and women in uniform. "Not Me," which boasts no less than Vince Gill and Emmylou Harris on harmony vocals, is an eloquent and understated paean to leadership and courage, while "Circle on the Cross," featuring a spoken introduction by Kenny Rogers, spotlights a military marking worth remembering. Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Michael McDonald, Blackhawk, and Shawn Mullins also lend their efforts to this surprising, affecting project. (Proceeds partly benefit the Hero Fund and the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provide college tuition to the children of Special Ops personnel who die in training or combat.) --Alanna Nash

Album Description

Flags Of Our Fathers is a collection of songs wirtten by Thomas that tell stories inspired by life in the military and those who serve our nation. Working with producers Brent Maher and Mark Selby he uses his unique insight to bring these memorable songs to life and tell a story as only someone who has experienced them can. It's a remarkable album from an equally remarkable artist.

Customer Reviews:

Moving CD with a message.......2007-05-12

I had the good fortune of listening to Keni around Memorial Day. In case you didn't know, Keni was involved in Task Force RANGER that was elegantly presented in "Black Hawk Down" Book and Movie. He is a great story teller and that's reflected in his songs....moving, poignant, and relevant. Great story teller and a great singer/performer.

Awesome - A Great Surprise.......2007-01-08

An awesome album from start to finish. I have already purchased another copy for a friend. Extremely well written songs especially if you have even a single patriotic bone in your body.

For any Serviceman/Servicewoman.......2006-04-15

Having been in the military and served with the Rangers plus being a musician now, anyone who has ever had to go to combat can relate to this CD.
A soldiers story combines mom's apple pie c rations and MRE's all rolled up into one. Keni's voice draws one to listen to the lyrics more so than most singers.

If you have ever been in combat anywhere, anytime...this CD will bring tears to your eyes and make your chest swell with pride. Keni T's been there and done that. And this CD is living proof of the enourmous patriotism our country holds for our Troops in harms way. It's a gut wrenching story and those who have been there........must hear it! RLTW

Joey "Brasso" Welsh
Castroville, TX

Keni Thomas Review.......2006-03-24

Great CD. I saw this performer with an USO tour in Iraq and had to buy the cd. A patriotic must!

A true tribute to those who have served........2006-01-16

This complete CD is a great tribute to all that have served and put country before self. There is not a song on this CD that you will not listen to over and over. To know what Keni Thomas has been through and hear it in his music is great. Everyone should own this, CD even if it only gets played a few times a year on the 4th of July, Veterans Day and Memorial Day. BUY BUY BUY

Average customer rating: Superb

The Best of Organ & Brass Manufacturer: Summit(Classical) ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Beethoven | Beethoven, Ludwig van | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Copland | Copland, Aaron | ( C ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Gabrieli, Giovanni | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Handel | Handel, George Frideric | ( H ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Monk, William Henry | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Monteverdi | Monteverdi, Claudio | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Strauss | Strauss, Richard | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Romantic | Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Tone Poems | Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Classic Big Band | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music Similar Items: Classic Hymns ASIN: B0002T2QDS Release Date: 2004-09-07

Tracks:

1. Also Sprach Zarathustra
2. Fanfare And Flourishes
3. And Can It Be No. 2
4. All Glory, Loud, And Honor
5. All Hail The Power No. 1
6. Abide With Me
7. Monteverdi-Vespers
8. Thine Is The Glory
9. For Unto Us A Child Is Born
10. Simple Gifts
11. Come, Thou Fount
12. America The Beautiful
13. Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
14. Canzon Septimi Toni No. 2
15. All Hail The Power No. 2
16. Crown Him With Many Crowns
17. A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
18. Holy, Holy, Holy
19. God Of Our Fathers

Album Description

This CD contains 20 transcriptions including: "Also sprach Zarathustra," "Fanfare and Flourishes," "All Hail the Power," "Abide with Me, Monteverdi Vespers," "For Unto Us a Child Is Born," "Simple Gifts," "America the Beautiful," "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," "Holy Holy Holy," "God of Our Fathers," "Crown Him with Many Crowns," "Gabrieli Sacrae Symphoniae," and more. Tim Zimmerman and The King's Brass provide the "best in sacred brass music." These Christian professionals from around the U.S. perform their own arrangements. For more than 20 years, The King's Brass have performed over 100 concerts each season. Playing a wide variety of music from Gabrieli to hymn classics, The King's Brass uses all corners of the concert hall to lift hearts and spirits.

Tim Zimmerman, director of The King's Brass, has been a member of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and Chairman of the Music Department at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. Rebecca Kleintop plays the Ruffatti pipe organ at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Customer Reviews:

Superb.......2004-09-23

Outstanding!! This recording features original arrangements of well known music. The arrangements, performance, and recording are all excellent.

Average customer rating:

The Complete Songs of Charles Ives, Vol. 3 Manufacturer: Albany Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Ives, Charles | ( I ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Ives, Charles | Composers | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Contemporary | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Similar Items: The Complete Songs of Charles Ives, Vol. 2 The Complete Songs of Charles Ives, Vol. 1 The Complete Songs, Vol. 4 Charles Ives: Three Quarter-Tone Pieces; Five Take-offs; Hallowe'en; Sunrise Charles Ives: Songs ASIN: B0000049MM Release Date: 1995-02-16

Tracks:

1. He Is There!
2. Weil' auf mir
3. The Cage
4. My Native Land
5. The Childrens' Hour
6. Old Home Day
7. Soliloquy
8. Illmenau
9. The See
10. Autumn
11. Pictures
12. Walt Whitman
13. Mists
14. Walking
15. A Farewell To Land
16. Luck And Work
17. Camp Meeting
18. Charlie Rutlage
19. His Exaltation
20. Watchman!
21. Vote For Names
22. From 'Lincoln The Great Commoner'
23. Lick A Sick Eagle
24. From 'The Swimmers'
25. At The River
26. Requiem
27. Afterglow
28. General William Booth Enters Into Heaven
29. To Edith
30. Religion
31. The New River
32. Down East
33. The Things Our Fathers Loved
34. In Flanders Fields
35. Tom Sails Away
36. They Are There

Average customer rating: Connecting with Ives AN OLD FRIEND THE consummate Ives song specialist. beyond words . . . Great music to great lyrics

Charles Ives: Songs Manufacturer: Nonesuch ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Ives, Charles | ( I ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Ives, Charles | Composers | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Similar Items: A Song - For Anything: Songs by Charles Ives The Complete Songs, Vol. 4 The Complete Songs of Charles Ives, Vol. 3 Ives: When The Moon, Songs Set for Orchestra The Complete Songs of Charles Ives, Vol. 1 ASIN: B000005IVT Release Date: 1992-05-07

Tracks:

1. The Housatonic at Stockbridge (1921)
2. Memories (1897) A - Very Pleasant; B - Rather Sad
3. From
4. The Things Our Fathers Loved (1917)
5. Ann Street (1921)
6. The Innate (1916)
7. The Circus Band (1894)
8. In the Mornin' (1929)
9. Serenity (1919)
10. Majority (1921)
11. Thoreau (1915)
12. At the River (1916)
13. The Indians (1921)
14. The Cage (ca. 1906)
15. Like a Sick Eagle (ca. 1920)
16. A Christmas Carol (1897)
17. A Farewell to Land (1925)

Customer Reviews:

Connecting with Ives.......2005-12-22

For years I was fascinated with the legend (eccentric, brilliant, rich, cantankerous, possibly crazy) of Charles Ives, but I found his music a little elusive. I admired it but never felt much connection. Until I bought this recording and finally "got" Ives.

Other reviewers go into admirable detail and explain just why this disc is so good. I agree with all of them and say that if you have any interest in this great American composer you should check this one out.

AN OLD FRIEND.......2005-07-15

I bought this on vinyl before the advent of CD's It was wonderful then. It still is.

THE consummate Ives song specialist........2004-08-17

There I was recently, in a recording studio with a small but select number of Ives experts. (I was just an invited guest, hardly an expert.) We were spending the day listening to tapes of an Ives centennial celebration concert whose 30th anniversary, coincidentally, just happens to be today, August 17.

Of the works performed in that concert, I was quite taken by the soprano's rendition of "Memories," a 2-part song Ives wrote in 1897 while a Yale undergraduate. I thought it a "magic" moment when, in the first ("Very Pleasant") part of the song, one can bust one's gut laughing, while, in the second ("Rather Sad") part, the soprano had the seeming ability to "rip your heart out"with her ability to capture a sense of nostalgia.

Noted Ives scholar and biographer Jan Swafford describes these two songs as typical of the "Victorian parlor songs" of their era, after the model set by Stephen Foster. Stuart Feder, another Ives scholar and biographer, suggests, in his "The Live of Charles Ives," that the "rather sad" part might allude to Ives's mother. But it is a fact that Ives had barely recovered from the shock of his father's death that had sent him reeling just a few years before. Speaking strictly for myself, I can envision the image of George Edward Ives in the words

"I can see him shuffling down
"To the barn or to the town
"A-humming."

So, perhaps in light of that "read" of mine regarding George Edward Ives, my reaction is understandable. And the soprano's rendition was indeed superb. Regardless, and in any event, one of the Ives experts present at the session said to me, "Aren't you forgetting Jan DeGaetani's recording of the song?"

Well, d'oh! Sure enough, I had forgotten about it. For all the many months I've had this album listed as one of the "essential" Ives recordings, I've managed to fail to comment on it beyond a brief Listmania description. So it's not inappropriate that I use the 30th anniversary of the above-noted Ives concert as a "take-off" for finally commenting on what is unquestionably the finest album of Ives songs ever.

Jan DeGaetani had an illustrious career (regrettably cut short by an all-too-early death from leukemia). A singer of great versatility who essayed works from John Dowland to George Crumb, including a personal favorite that includes song cycles by Hector Berlioz and Gustav Mahler, she will nonetheless always be identified with the songs of Charles Ives, thanks to this album.

This collection contains as wide a variety of Ives songs over his song-writing career as one could imagine in a single-CD album, from the early "The Circus Band" (1894) to "In the Mornin'" (1929, Ives's final essay in the genre).

A few of the songs ("The Housatonic at Stockbridge" [1921], "The Cage" [1906]) represent "Ives the recycler" at his best; they are vocal settings of larger-scale works that Ives had originally written for chamber (or theater) orchestra forces. In fact, "The Housatonic at Stockbridge" (from "Three Places in New England") is a tour de force for vocalist and pianist, endeavoring as it does to capture the impressionism of the orchestral version. DeGaetani and Gilbert Kalish, her superb accompanist who has performed many Ives keyboard works on his own, do indeed turn in a bravura performance in this difficult-to-capture sense of impressionism.

Elsewhere, DeGaetani makes the singing of songs that are by turns atonal, full of awkward interval leaps and of difficult meters seem like child's play, with totally secure vocal technique and intonation. And she perfectly captures the sentimentality of the "easier" songs that, in the hands of a lesser artist, would come across as "vocal marginalia." There is little of Ives that I consider to be such marginalia; it is simply a matter of infusing the songs with the spirit that Ives had endowed them with. And DeGaetani nails every one of them.

Which brings me full circle to "Memories." DeGaetani, like the unnamed soloist of 30 years ago today who reminded me that I had this unfinished business to attend to, will make you laugh until you bust a gut. And then she'll rip your heart out. Just as I believe these two song parts were meant to do.

Needless to say, a keeper!

Bob Zeidler

beyond words . . ........2003-03-24

Wonderful. I could give many technical and musical reasons why this recording is so good but . . . These songs are amongst the best of Ives' works and this presentation is a benchmark in quality.

Great music to great lyrics.......2001-10-13

Like Schubert and Schumann, Ives chose to set the words of fine poets to music -- music of real distinction. Fischer-Dieskau recorded an lp of Ives' songs years ago, but I don't think DG has reissued it. Meanwhile, this is an excellent collection of very approachable Ives. Fischer-Dieskau or not, I wouldn't be without this cd. DeGaetani-Kalish are unbeatable in this music.

Average customer rating: One of the best recitals of 2005 Near Definitive Ives Songbook Handled with Dexterity and Subtlety by Finley and Drake 31 of 114... (please do them all!) The Finest Charles Ives Song Collection Available!

A Song - For Anything: Songs by Charles Ives Manufacturer: Hyperion UK ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Ives, Charles | ( I ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Ives, Charles | Composers | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Contemporary | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Classical | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: Charles Ives: Songs Songs of Travel Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs The Complete Songs of Charles Ives, Vol. 3 The Complete Songs of Charles Ives, Vol. 1 ASIN: B000A7XJI8 Release Date: 2005-10-11

Customer Reviews:

One of the best recitals of 2005.......2006-06-09

Over the years, the sparkling, quirky, haunting songs of Charles Ives have been interpreted by many of the world's great singers. I first encountered many of them through Jan DeGaetani's still-moving recording with Gilbert Kalish, which remains one of the best ever of some of these gems.

But now we have a stunning new collection from baritone Gerald Finley, with his fine pianist Julius Drake. They have created not only one of the most definitive readings of Ives' songs to date, but one of the finest recitals of the year, period. The pleasures and surprises are almost too many to list, beginning with Finley's mellifluous voice, immaculate diction, and theatricality that helps shape these songs with unusual clarity. As just one example, consider the first part of "Memories" called "Very Pleasant," evoking the anticipation of sitting in the audience, waiting for a performance to begin. As the final word, the singer blurts out, "Curtain!" and Finley is the only one I've heard who throws his voice far away, as if the shout is coming from one of the stagehands, waiting in the wings. Not only does this make the ending more prototypically "Ives-ian," but the song makes more sense with the unexpected change in point of view.

Some of the quieter songs are just ravishing, such as "Ich Grolle Nicht" and "When stars are in the quiet skies," both with intimacy and control to spare. One of my personal favorites, "Like a sick eagle" (text by Keats), shows Finley's exquisite precision in navigating quarter-tones, creating a languid image of a dying bird slowly circling in the air. Drake is more than just an accompanist in all of these, in piano parts that are often fiendishly complex, such as "General William Booth Enters into Heaven" or the marvelous "The Cage."

The winsome "Ann Street" and poignant "The Greatest Man" both end abruptly, with tiny offhand phrases that Finley nails perfectly. And there are treasures such as the rarely recorded "Slugging a Vampire" -- as swift as the title might indicate -- and the equally delightful "1,2,3."

One could go on and on in endless detail about the entire array of 31 songs (chosen from the 114 available), but the best thing is just to get to the most pleasant part: listening. If I have a small quibble (and make no mistake, it is very small), it is that Hyperion's gorgeous, rather tranquil cover art gives no clue to Ives' wild imagination, and to the blazing work by his two outstanding interpreters here. (It looks more like a cover for something by Delius.) But it hardly matters, when both of these artists are in such rapturous form -- and captured so effectively by Hyperion's engineers. The sound, recorded in All Saints Church, East Finchley (London) is a model for projects of this kind. A release that is sure to go down as one of the finest Ives recordings ever.

Near Definitive Ives Songbook Handled with Dexterity and Subtlety by Finley and Drake.......2006-04-21

I have to admit I've had exposure to relatively unheralded American composer Charles Ives' work only twice in the past - the first was baritone Nathan Gunn's vibrant sampling of three Ives compositions on his 1999 debut recital CD, "American Anthem", and the second was soprano Deborah Voigt's recent recital disc, "All My Heart", in which she impressively opens the recording with seven hymn-like selections. With his acute dramatic sense and unobtrusive masculine tone, Canadian baritone Gerald Finley manages to bring his own impressive vocal shadings and consequently turns out to be the ideal muse for Ives' eclectic and unique song selection. Thirty-one of the composer's over 100 songs are covered here, some as short as 28 seconds ("Slugging the Vampire"), but each very individual in feeling and character.

Expertly accompanied by the accomplished Julius Drake on piano, Finley deftly performs an immensely diverse range of material from the traditional lied format of "Feldeinsamkeit" and "Ich grolle nicht" to the haunting pastoral images of "The Housatonic at Stockbridge" to the youthful zeal of "The Greatest Man" to the swooning romanticism of "When Stars are in the Quiet Skies" to the funereal dirge of "Thoreau". The adventurous sequencing of the tracks also provides the right dynamic to the program. For example, a Brahms-inspired lullaby ("Berceuse") is followed by a passionate diatribe against poverty ("West London"), which is then followed by a sentimental war ballad ("Tom Sails Away"). In one selection, the tonal change occurs midway through the song - the aptly titled "Memories (A) Very Pleasant; (B) Rather Sad" starts out as a jaunty account of an exciting night at the opera, while the second half becomes a wistful piece of nostalgia using the same tune.

My favorite performances on the disc are the stunning evocation of a French chanson, "Elegie"; the highly dramatic poem, "General William Booth Enters Into Heaven", full of jarring of rhythms and shouts of "Hallelujah!" to evoke the religion-fueled stanzas; "Charlie Rutledge", in which Finley evokes a bit over-the-top Texas twang to bring a blackly comic touch to an oddly tragic story; and the touching title song which closes the disc - a moving ballad consisting of three verses from three different sources - a love poem, a psalm and a Yale song - yet together quite compatible. I was quite impressed with Finley's portrayal of Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams' "Doctor Atomic", staged by the San Francisco Opera last fall, and also his moving performance as the title character in Benjamin Britten's "Owen Wingrave" (a 2001 cinematic production on DVD). This recording shows that he is able to translate his dramatic skills with dexterous ease into a recital setting.

31 of 114... (please do them all!).......2005-11-20

I have always wondered why there aren't a few readily-available recordings of the complete 114 songs of Charles Ives. Not just that it would be cheap to produce (piano and vocal only, filling up about 3 CDs), and not just that this is one of the most significant collections of American songs ever written (along with Gershwin's), and not just that these songs loom large in the overall Ives canon along with the Symphonies and Piano Sonatas.... It's mostly that they are just plain enjoyable to listen to and some of the most "accessible" Ives there is. Interestingly, it's a Canadian baritone and a British pianist coming through here with a great selection of 31 Ives songs covering the wide range of moods -- nostalgic, experimental, free-wheeling, silly, profound -- found in these miniature masterpieces. Let's hope they keep going and record the entire 114 (and that Hyperion survives the absurd legal trouble they find themselves in -- help them out by buying some of their CDs this month!)

The Finest Charles Ives Song Collection Available!.......2005-10-17

Charles Ives, that wondrous American iconoclast, wrote 114 songs, songs that vary in content from comedic to nostalgic to patriotic to German lieder (!) to operatic. Here brilliant baritone Gerald Finley and his gifted piano collaborator Julius Drake have selected a fine range of that output in 31 songs that not only demonstrate the spectrum of Ives' creativity, but also give notice that Canadian Gerald Finley may just be the foremost authority on how Ives' songs should be performed.

Included in no particular order (except thoughtful programming!) are such very familiar songs as 'General William Booth Enters into Heaven', 'When stars are in the quiet skies', 'Serenity', 'Tolerance', and 'Ann Street' along with the lesser known early German lieder composed in his early formative years. One of the revelations on this elegant recital is 'The Housatonic at Stockbridge' which lends text to the extraordinary last movement of Ives' orchestral 'Three Places in New England'.

Finley's diction is impeccable and his baritone voice is pliant throughout his wide range. He conveys the essence of these texts as well as any interpreter ever has. Julius Drake provides exemplary piano accompaniment. This is one of the finest recordings released this year. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, October 05

Average customer rating:

Songs of America from Another American Manufacturer: Guild ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Ellington | Ellington, Edward Duke | ( E ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Gershwin | Gershwin, George | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Weill | Weill, Kurt | ( W ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Folk | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Folk Songs | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Noels | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music General Christmas | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General Christmas | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music ASIN: B00008NGGU Release Date: 2005-01-17

Tracks:

1. Go Tell It on the Mountain
2. This Little Light O'Mine
3. Kum Ba Yah
4. America the Beautiful
5. Let Us Break Breat Together
6. We Shall Overcome
7. God Bless America
8. Amen!
9. Battle Hymn of the Republic
10. God of Our Fathers
11. Without a Song
12. Lift Every Voice, And Sing
13. Unforgettable
14. He's Got the Whole World
15. Come Sunday
16. Smile (Theme from Modern Times)
17. Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
18. Love Is Here to Stay
19. Where or When
20. September Song
21. Lord's Prayer

Average customer rating:

Faith of Our Fathers Celebrating Our American Heritage Manufacturer: PsalmSinger Music ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B000I9SHY4

Product Description

1. my country 'tis of thee, 2. this land is your land, 3. pledge of allegiance, 4. god of strength, 5. hear our prayer, 6. god of our fathers, 7. doxology , 8. no greater love, 9. faith of our fathers, 10. this is my country

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1. Sonny Rollins With the Modern Jazz Quartet
2. Sound of Surprise [Import]
3. Steamin' [Original recording remastered]
4. Step on The Gas
5. Strut'n Get Up
6. Sure Thing [Original recording remastered] [Import]
7. Takin' Off
8. That High Lonesome Sound [Live]
9. The Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Tour [Live]
10. The New Miles Davis Quintet

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