MediaMedia
The Legendary Pianist Menahem Pressler
- Written by Jason Victor Serinus
- Published on 02 September 2009
For over 50 years, pianist Menahem Pressler’s name has been indelibly associated with the Beaux Arts Trio. As the founder of the trio, it is Pressler’s pianism that is the constant in the trio’s over 50 benchmark recordings of Schubert, Brahms, Beethoven, and other great composers.
A Collection of New Vinyl Releases - August, 2009
- Written by Jason Crawford
- Published on 12 August 2009
At this point, I'm not expecting Son Volt to release any experimental electro-pop or klezmer-inflected jam funk. Son Volt makes straight ahead country tinged rock and roll music. Almost exclusively. Jay Farrar has the voice for it. He's good at it. He's known how to do it for decades, and he doesn't seem to have any interest in changing his ways this late in the game. Besides, Farrar got a little risky with some alternate tunings and unorthodox song structures on some solo releases a while back, and no one was buying.
Movie Renter's Guide - July, 2009
- Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
- Published on 01 July 2009
Friday the 13th: Part 3 in 3-D (Blu-ray), Knowing (Blu-ray), The International (Blu-ray), The Pink Panther 2 (Blu-ray), Push (Blu-ray), Echelon Conspiracy (Blu-ray)
Movie Renter's Guide - August, 2009
- Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
- Published on 12 August 2009
Coraline (Blu-ray), The Soloist (Blu-ray), Fast & Furious (Blu-ray), 12 Rounds (Blu-ray)
A Collection of New Vinyl Releases - June, 2009
- Written by Jason Crawford
- Published on 10 June 2009
There are few popular recording artists that have their very own genre of music. I mean, you can probably count them on one hand. Tom Waits comes to mind. That's about it, really. There are probably others, but even someone like Neil Young can't be said to have his own genre. His music is instantly recognizable, and derivative of no one's work, but it's still rock and roll at the end of the day. Junior Kimbrough played the blues. But he didn't play the blues like anyone else played the blues. He played his own style of Hill Country Blues, and it varied so severely from his neighbors' styles that you could almost say he created something new. He created something new that sounds like it pre-dates time. It's a sound that's as complex as the region that spawned the artist. It's a place and a sound that time seems to have forgotten in a lot of ways.
CD Reviews - August, 2009
- Written by Jason Victor Serinus
- Published on 05 August 2009
Why did we have to wait until after Lorraine Hunt Lieberson’s passing to receive so many live, un-doctored documents of her greatness? The live 2004 Ravinia performance of her husband Peter Lieberson’s Rilke Songs (Bridge) was the first to arrive after the San Francisco-born mezzo died of cancer on July 3, 2006 at age 52. Then came her November 2005 live performance of Lieberson’s Neruda Songs (Nonesuch).
Movie Renter's Guide - June, 2009
- Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
- Published on 02 June 2009
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (Blu-ray), Direct Contact (Blu-ray), Ronin (Blu-ray), Defiance (Blu-ray), Confessions of a Shopaholic (Blu-ray), The Code (Blu-ray)
A Collection of New Vinyl Releases - July, 2009
- Written by Jason Crawford
- Published on 13 July 2009
I came to the Iron and Wine game late. I bought 2007's "The Shepherd's Dog," amongst the disapproving howls of his audience who seemed to think he'd abandoned his sound. You'd have thought he'd started rapping or something. "Around the Well" is a collection of B-sides and rarities that span the length of his career, and I can kind of see his fans' point in retrospect.
Guitarist David Russell Chats About Music and Recording Techniques
- Written by Jason Victor Serinus
- Published on 27 May 2009
Classical guitarist David Russell was born in Glasgow in 1953, and raised in the town of Minorca. Upon studying the guitar at the Royal Academy of Music, he twice won the Julian Bream Guitar Prize. Wins at the Andrés Segovia Competition, the José RamÃrez Competition, and Spain's Francisco Tárrega Competition helped to further propel him to an international career, which continues strong.
The British Choral Group Stile Antico Talks About its U.S. Debut
- Written by Jason Victor Serinus
- Published on 09 July 2009
On June 12, 2009, the English early music choral ensemble Stile Antico made its much-anticipated U.S. debut at the Boston Early Music Festival. The entire concert debut was recorded by NPR, and can be heard online.
After Stile Antico won the 2005 Early Music Network International Young Artists’ Competition, the young ensemble’s debut disc for Harmonia Mundi, Music for Compline, won the Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, and a Grammy Award nomination. Their second disc, Heavenly Harmonies, received the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik and another Diapason d’Or. Attention from NPR, and a tour with Sting in Europe and the Far East in support of his Dowland lute song project, Songs from the Labyrinth, elevated them into company rare for an early music ensemble, and helped project their most recent CD, Song of Songs, into the Top 15 of the Billboard Classical Chart.
In anticipation of Stile Antico’s U.S. debut, I spoke by phone with one of the group’s founding members, towering bass Olly Hunt. Chief among my queries was the genesis of the group’s marvelously fresh, oft-sensual sound.
CD Reviews - May, 2009
- Written by Jason Serinus
- Published on 21 May 2009
In 2004, Grammy winning producer/engineer Mark Johnson was strolling down the streets of Santa Monica when he heard musician Roger Ridley singing “Stand by Me†from afar. Six years after he and a small, dedicated team of videographers began traveling the world to find ways to connect the world through music, Johnson heard the voice whose passion and conviction transformed his vision. He soon combined Ridley’s rendition with others from around the world, creating the extraordinary YouTube world journey video of “Stand by Me†that has generated over seven million hits.
