First Places

New Music Box
". . .[Phil James'] playing and compositions are always deeply communicative and highly sensual."

Product Description
Compositions by Phil James for solo shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) plus two traditional Zen pieces. The entire CD was recorded in a cave, in a church, and at a frog pond.

First Places

First Places,Phil James

Average customer rating: This is a must have Some valuable "Critical Edition" performances here. A Well Lit View of Ives My Rosetta stone for Ives

The Orchestral Music of Charles Ives: World Premieres and First Editions Manufacturer: Koch Int'l Classics 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 General Contemporary | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music Similar Items: Ives: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4/Hymns Ives: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-4 Ives: Holidays Symphony Charles Ives: Three Quarter-Tone Pieces; Five Take-offs; Hallowe'en; Sunrise Ives: An American Journey ASIN: B000001SDH Release Date: 1993-03-11

Tracks:

1. 'Country Band' March
2. Set Of Four Ragtime Dances: Ragtime Dance No. 1 (Allegro moderato)
3. Set Of Four Ragtime Dances: Ragtime Dance No. 2 (Allegro moderato)
4. Set Of Four Ragtime Dances: Ragtime Dance No. 3 (Allegro)
5. Set Of Four Ragtime Dances: Ragtime Dance No. 4 (Allegro)
6. Postlude In F
7. Calcium Light Night
8. Yale-Princeton Football Game
9. Set For Theater Orchestra: In The Cage
10. Set For Theater Orchestra: In The Inn
11. Set For Theater Orchestra: In The Night
12. Largo Cantabile: Hymn
13. Three Places In New England: The 'Saint-Gaudens' In Boston Common
14. Three Places In New England: Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut
15. Three Places In New England: The Housatonic At Stockbridge

Customer Reviews:

This is a must have.......2003-03-19

The Ragtime pieces in the beginning are really *very* good and imaginative. I realized while listening that the composer that wrote for the early Loonie Tunes cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny *must* have been thinking of this music when he wrote his. Considering the time period, this thought makes perfect sense. The music manages to capture the zietgeist of Ives' world yet stands as a timeless expression of what it is to live. This is such extraordinary writing and is captured with some of the best playing I have heard of Ives since Bernstein.

Some valuable "Critical Edition" performances here........2003-01-05

James Sinclair, for many years, has been associated with the music of Charles Ives, through both the Charles Ives Society and his work with the Ives Library at Yale University. So it should surprise no one (well, no Ivesian) that any performances of the music of Ives that Sinclair commits to disc will be authoritative.

That is certainly the case for this Koch Classics release, in which Sinclair conducts the Orchestra New England, formerly the Yale Theater Orchestra and a group that understands Ives performance practices as well as any; they've got this music in their blood. Better yet, every Ives piece on this CD is either [a] a world premiere or [b] a first recording of a Charles Ives Society critical edition, prepared either by Sinclair or by Kenneth Singleton, Sinclair's colleague.

To me, the most important piece on this CD is the version-for-small-orchestra performance of a true Ives masterpiece, his "Three Places in New England" (also known as his "First Orchestral Set"). Much of Ive's music was never performed within his lifetime, except for his (largely) private benefit, on those occasions when he would pay the musicians of a small "theater orchestra" out of his own pocket, just so he had some idea of what his compositions would sound like. Fortunately, "Three Places in New England" is one work that was. But not in its original form, for large orchestra. As Sinclair makes clear in his booklet notes, Ives - at the request of Nicolas Slonimsky - rewrote the work for small orchestra (Slonimsky's Boston Chamber Players), who premiered the work in this form in 1931. (Slonimsky then concertized in Europe with the music of Ives and other "moderns - Cowell, Ruggles and Varèse to name three - in a tour that included Slonimsky's conducting of the Berlin Philharmonic, a separate saga unto itself.) This critical edition largely restores the "for Slonimsky" chamber orchestra version at the same time that it cleans up many errors that were the result of Ives's doing the transcription under conditions of time pressures and poor health. Heard in this form, "Three Places" is truly a revelation in terms of how the textures are clarified and cleaned up and thus how the individual instrumental lines are permitted to "sound" without their being submerged in the background of a large symphony orchestra. Nowhere is this more evident than in the final movement of "Three Places": "The Housatonic at Stockbridge." Some call this Ives's very finest work, and I'm not of a mind to argue with them. Its initial quiet impressionism soon overwhelmed by full orchestral dynamics, only to have the full orchestra stop while leaving just soft strings at the very end, is a sublime example of Ives at his transcendental best. And I've never heard it performed (or sound) better than it does in this "Critical Edition" performance for small orchestra, surely in a form very close to its first performances by Slonimsky.

All of the works on this album can be considered "early" works, in that even the newest ("Three Places in New England") almost "makes it" into the first fully-productive decade of Ives's life as a composer. It is actually a canard - and an unfair appraisal of Ives the composer - to state that his music became more complex, both harmonically and rythmically, as he grew older. He wrote complex works as a relatively young man, and simple works as he got older. The "long arc" of his work was not from "the simple to the complex" but from the "commonplace (in terms of its materials, not its complexities, for which rhythmic and harmonic complexities abounded) to the ultimately transcendental, whether simple or complex."

Thus, on this album, we have the near-contemporaneous juxtaposition of a rather "Brahmsian" style of the early "Postlude in F" (but not without its Ivesian harmonic touches) and the riotous "Calcium Night Light." And, over an equivalently short span of time, we have the "Set of Four Ragtime Dances" set against the far more modern-sounding 1906 "Set for Theatre Orchestra," wiith its near-atonal (but very impressionistic) "In the Cage" (at barely a minute and a few seconds, a minor masterpiece). And, from the same period, the lovely "Largo cantibile" Hymn" with a beautiful cello solo.

Aside from my earlier comments on the beauty of "Three Places in New England" in terms of its small-orchestra setting, it can further be said that every work on this album benefits not only from the editorial scrutiny of Messrs. Sinclair and Singleton, but from the superb playing of the Orchestra New England througout. Fine sound, too.

The booklet notes state that Jim Sinclair arrived at Yale in 1972, and that he founded the Yale Theater Orchestra in 1974. This would have been a most propitious time for founding it, inasmuch as it was the year of the Ives centennial. It was also the year in which - on August 17 - Jim Sinclair and Ken Singleton were involved in an Ives centennial celebration concert on the lawn of Charlie's house in West Redding, CT, performing a few Ives premieres on that occasion with a mutual friend, Paul Winter, and his Consort. (Yes, THAT Paul Winter!) Thus, while Leonard Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas were celebrating the Ives centennial in a BIG way (in Danbury, Ives's birthplace but a town which he had largely put behind him when an adult), Jim Sinclair and Ken Singleton and a few surprisingly unusual friends - from a strictly musical standpoint - were having their own Ives centennial on Charlie's lawn, in a manner that I think Charlie would really have liked. I'm one who is fortunate to have a souvenir program from that concert. Charlie would have loved the program, too.

Bob Zeidler

A Well Lit View of Ives.......2002-07-28

I was skeptical about this disc. Since I already owned every work on it, in one way or another, I just kept walking past it. But just like the Ives disc "When the Moon...", this disc offers up a glimpse of many of the Ives minitures that are not to be had elsewhere. Done by a chamber orchestra, which vividly brings out all the quirkiness and crazy-quilt Americana that can be buried with larger ensembles, the music here is brisk, profoundly well detailed and irresistable. Sinclair and the New England Orchestra, do justice to every note, making this CD a perfect adjunct to any Ives collection. In fact, I would consider it an essential for any Ives fan. Don't be put off by the cover you see above. This is a serious disc, and well worth the purchase. You can thank me later.

My Rosetta stone for Ives.......2001-08-26

For years I'd been intrigued by Ives' music but had been stymied and ultimately put off by the knottier passages (which are many!)...Not for lack of trying or wanting to understand - no Rollo I! - I just didn't know what he expected me to make of all that "good strong dissonance." Whereas, say, Stravinsky's (even Schoenberg's) famously "dissonant" music generally communicated to me pretty readily, Ives' didn't. Was it SUPPOSED to feel inscrutable? Or was there something else to get out of it? How was I supposed to parse it? Well, this recording was a sort of Rosetta stone for me. The early pieces here - the 'Country Band' March and the Ragtime Dances particularly - filled in the gap that I'd felt for so long, the missing link between Ives' music and the popular music which hovers in and around almost everything he wrote. These pieces are, essentially, "take-offs" of standard forms (as per the titles): outlandishly adventurous for their time (and thoroughly amusing) but nonetheless relatively down-to-earth compared to Ives' later works. The Ivesian outbursts and distortions are here more clearly etched against their contexts and are therefore, to my ear, far easier to swallow. (An slight case of mixed metaphor, there, but let's move on.) The recording then offers the chance to see how Ives reworked the same material in more elaborate and obscure ways - "Putnam's Camp" incorporates the 'Country Band' March; "In the Inn" recasts one of the Ragtime Dances. Not to mention that the 4 Ragtime Dances are a fascinating chance to hear Ives work over essentially the same materials in four different ways. One can't help but begin to understand Ives' idiosyncracies (how he livens up a dull harmony with some extra dissonance, or a dull rhythm with some unexpected jerks and starts.) I would recommend supplementing these pieces with a recording of the First Piano Sonata, which, again, reuses much of the Ragtime material, but all in all aims for something much loftier. After having heard this recording I found that I was able to listen much 'deeper' into the First Piano Sonata - a profoundly satisfying experience. That in turn led me to a fuller appreciation for the celebrated Second Sonata, and from there the rest of Ives' output suddenly seemed entirely accessible. Well, a lot of it, at any rate. Perhaps I'm making this recording sound as though it's merely some sort of music appreciation tool; let me be entirely clear: this music is terrific in its own right. What I AM saying, in fact, is that even if you've already decided Ives isn't for you, you still ought to give this recording a chance. To the best of my knowledge, most of this material is unavailable on any other recording (this is, incidentally, an interesting smaller orchestration of the "Three Places" than the familiar version), and regardless, these are excellent, thrilling performances. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating: Great set of wartime rarities Cure for the Blues Standard Transcription Collection

(Not) Your Standard Spike Jones Collection Spike Jones Manufacturer: Collector's Choice ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Contemporary Comedy | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Novelty Music | Comedic Music | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Comedic Music | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Similar Items: Strictly for Music Lovers Fonk Spike Jones - Greatest Hits Spiked!: The Music of Spike Jones The Spike Jones Story ASIN: B00007JR3K Release Date: 2003-04-08

Album Description

Holiday blues comin' on? Well, put a spike in `em! Here's the zaniest, wildest and just plain sickest Collectors' Choice Music exclusive yet—79 tracks from Spike Jones and his City Slickers! These represent Spike's complete Standard Transcription sides, but these tunes are anything but standard; Mr. Jones brought his full bag of tricks for these non-commercial recordings (made in Hollywood during the early `40s). Add to that the fact that most of these have never been on CD or even LP, and any lover of Spike's mayhem-filled mixture of laughs and hot licks is going to flip over this set! Notes and great pictures accompany this 3-CD walk on the wacky side from the greatest novelty band of all time.

Customer Reviews:

Great set of wartime rarities.......2003-05-14

Spike Jones was the king of the novelty song performers, with hits like "Der Fuehrer's Face" and the parody version of "Sheik of Araby" becoming huge hits during World War II. This is a swell 3-CD set, gathering a full eighty-one of Jones' best tracks from his 1940s heyday, drawn from an extensive archive of radio broadcasts made for the Standard Transcription service. The tightness of his City Slickers band is amply demonstrated in these manic, kookily orchestrated performances. Toots, squonks, blatts and bleats whiz by at lightning speed, as one daffy song after another will delight devoted fans. Amazingly, Jones had the unusual, almost unique ability to perform a repertoire almost entirely made up of comedic material, and yet still be quite listenable and engaging. His jazz chops were hardly in question, and from time to time Jones would dash off a non-novelty ballad or two, just to give the rubes something to think about. Of course, just as often he would perform a song that *sounded* like a straight ballad, but would turn out to be another goof. (One great example of this is the sultry "Serenade To A Jerk," sung in slinky, burlesque tones by Myrtle Horwin.) This collection may seem a little overwhelming, but like his studio recordings, these radio performances have a certain brilliance and joie de vivre about them that will leave you enchanted. Definitely worth checking out!

Cure for the Blues.......2003-04-25

Here's the zaniest, wildest and just plain sickest Collectors' Choice Music exclusive yet-79 tracks from Spike Jones and his City Slickers! These represent Spike's complete Standard Transcription sides, but these tunes are anything but standard; Mr. Jones brought his full bag of tricks for these non-commercial recordings (made in Hollywood during the early `40s). Add to that the fact that most of these have never been on CD or even LP, and any lover of Spike's mayhem-filled mixture of laughs and hot licks is going to flip over this set! Notes and great pictures accompany this 3-CD walk on the wacky side from the greatest novelty band of all time.

Standard Transcription Collection.......2003-04-12

This collection has remastered material from the large stack of Standard Transcription discs from the early 1940's. There are many songs not recorded on RCA, many on the theme of wartime ("48 Reasons Why"), and the quality is excellent. The packaging is threadbare but this is an essential CD package for true music lovers.

Average customer rating:

Symphony 9: Introduction to Dvorak Dvorak Manufacturer: Naxos ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Instructional | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Similar Items: An Introduction to Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 Classics Explained: Pastoral Symphony An Introduction to Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" Classics Explained: Rite of Spring Classics Explained: Brandenburg Concertos 4 & 5 ASIN: B000069HGK Release Date: 2002-09-17

Average customer rating: From Solo Piano Publications

Secret Places Private Thoughts Lesley Spencer Manufacturer: Gabriella Music ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | New Age | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | New Age | Indie Music | Stores | Music ASIN: B0007DB9KU Release Date: 1999-12-15

Tracks:

1. Song of the Wind
2. Childhood Revisited
3. Affairs of the Heart
4. Reflections of Love
5. Sweet Voice Within
6. The Lost Child
7. Only Yesterday
8. Piano Suite
9. Ballade
10. Serenade
11. Impromptu
12. Spirit Awakening
13. Joie De Vivre

Album Description

SECRET PLACES PRIVATE THOUGHTS combines the most evocative, soulful and thought provoking piano solos from pianist/composer/arranger Lesley Spencer's first three CD's. With her trademark highly expressive and clear writing style, Lesley is able to crystallize an emotion in a melody in a way that few artists can. These memorable melodies are sure to help anyone who is trying to get in touch with their feelings or who just wants to savor the moment. This is piano poetry at its best.

Customer Reviews:

From Solo Piano Publications.......2006-04-04

"Secret Places, Private Thoughts" is a gorgeous collection of original piano solos by multi-talented pianist/composer/arranger Lesley Spencer. As the title suggests, these pieces are mostly reflective and intimate, allowing the listener a glimpse inside of the composer's soul. Often, albums of this type convey feelings of pain and loss, but the thoughts and places reflected upon here are mainly warm and pleasant - not necessarily joyful, but optimistic and soothing. The music is varied enough for repeated active listening, but the tone and mood are fairly consistent, creating a feeling of an easy-going peace that would serve as a lovely backdrop for quiet activities. Lesley Spencer's other recordings have been mostly piano and ensemble works, so this solo piano album is especially welcome.

The CD opens with "Song of the Wind," a piece that sometimes swirls and dances and sometimes just kind of breezes along. This is a gentle, playful wind that catches falling leaves and keeps them from touching the ground. A beautiful beginning! "Childhood Revisited" celebrates innocence and beckons us back to simpler times. "Affairs of the Heart" is poignant and more than a little nostalgic, remembering good times and people who have come and gone from our lives. "Sweet Voice Within" is one of my favorites. Warm and gentle, this piece exudes a quiet joy. "Only Yesterday" is another favorite, with its powerful sense of longing. "Piano Suite" is a five-movement piece that illustrates five different emotions and states of mind. "Nostalgia" delicately conveys the sense of longing for the past; "Empathy" gives a feeling of true understanding and acceptance; "Longing" has a rubato rhythm and the deep bass notes of the piano evoke feelings of passion; "Affection" is light, warm, and sunny; and "Serenity" depicts that sense of perfect inner peace that can often be elusive. "Piano Suite" is a powerful and compelling work. "Ballade" feels especially personal to me. Its gentle flow and deep introspection seem almost naked in their sincerity and honesty. "Impromptu" is probably my favorite piece on this album. Deeply emotional and passionate, the listener is drawn in and held tight by this heartfelt musical tale. "Spirit Awakening" takes us back to the light and joyful side of life, and "Joie De Vivre" closes the album with a bit of musical sunshine.

"Secret Places, Private Thoughts" is an outstanding collection of deeply personal piano solos. The music is soothing and uplifting, but is far more substantial than "ear candy." Recommended!

Average customer rating:

Cup of Kindness Manufacturer: Alisa Fineman ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Folk | Styles | Music ASIN: B000CA7W6S Release Date: 2003-11-18

Average customer rating:

Winds of Change Tim Chauvin Manufacturer: Green Heron Music ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Folk | Styles | Music ASIN: B000CAG336 Release Date: 2003-12-23

Tracks:

1. Winds of Change
2. House in the Country
3. Timber Framer's Song
4. Houghton's Point
5. Make Do
6. New Bedford
7. Last Chapter
8. Bender of the Rules
9. Carpenter
10. Speed River Bridge
11. Louie the Rabbit
12. For the Ride
13. Daughters of China

Average customer rating:

Places Along the Road Manufacturer: Hugo Duarte ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Southern Rock | Classic Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music ASIN: B000B57E08 Release Date: 2002-01-15

Product Description

This is Hugo Duarte's debut CD. Larry Michael Lee, of Ozark Mountain Daredevils and producer of several Alabama CDs, is the producer. The songs are all written or co-written by Hugo (except for Havana Flamingo). Songs on this CD range from country to rock and roll. There are a lot of songs that concern love in its many stages. Hugo Duarte tells you a story with each and every song, and often you'll find yourself laughing, crying and dancing as you listen to his music.

Average customer rating:

The Grumps The Grumps Manufacturer: 2 Dogs Music ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music ASIN: B000CA2LRS Release Date: 2005-02-01

Tracks:

1. Tough Enough
2. Preacherman Song
3. Picture Show
4. Lost Along the Way
5. Fat Cat
6. Stars
7. Walking
8. Natural Feelings
9. Whiskey
10. Rosalie
11. Love Like That
12. Cross the White Mountains

Average customer rating:

Names and Places Eclipse First/Vale of Atholl Manufacturer: Celtic America Llc ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | International | Styles | Music ASIN: B000050STS Release Date: 2002-01-01

Average customer rating: Walk in beauty

Spirit Call Mark Thunderwolf Manufacturer: Artist One-Stop ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | International | Styles | Music Native American | North America | International | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Similar Items: Thru the Eyes...of My Brother ASIN: B0000TAYYI Release Date: 2003-11-04

Tracks:

1. Spirit Call
2. Prayer Of The Canyon
3. Wolf Spirit Song
4. Ceremonies From The Cave
5. Brother Little Wolf
6. Prayer Of Thanks
7. Buffalo Sky
8. Ta Shunke Witko (Honoring Crazy Horse)
9. One Feather's Death Sony
10. The Trail Where They Cried
11. Painted Pony (Riding In The Sweetgrass)
12. Wind Thru The Eagle's Wings
13. Winter's Crossover
14. Sunset Meditation

Customer Reviews:

Walk in beauty.......2003-11-19

The haunting beauty of Mark's music, like a gentle warm breeze on our face, whispers what we most need to remember. It reaches deep within the very core of our being and reminds us that we are never alone, we are all connected. So powerful, so healing!!

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