What Christmas CD are you playing?

By -

Every year my wife and add a new Christmas CD to our (already huge) collection. We have everything from Renaissance albums by chamber choirs to Classical collections from know and unknown performers. There are also the "pop" collections whether these are by an individual artist (like Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby) to the assorted artists which may or may not help some cause. Some of these CD's fall in the favorite category, such as Vanessa Williams Christmas Collection and are played several times each year. Others don't fare so well and may just fill a space in the collection but not actually get any playtime one year to the next.

With such a large collection you might think it would be impossible to find new CD's to add to it - and sometimes it is. This year, however, we have been blessed with the newest Yo-Yo Ma CD Songs of Joy & Peace. It really is wonderful.

It features Yo-Yo Ma, but also a host of other notable artists, such as Diana Krall, Dave Brubeck, Renée Fleming, Paquito D'Rivera and more. There are some classical pieces, such as the opening Dona Nobis Pacem and Panxoliña: a Galician Carol to jazz tunes like You couldn't be cuter and Dona Nobis Pacem - yes, that's right, an improvised version with Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer - destined to become one of all time favorites.

You can get the CD online from iTunes or at Amazon... or, if you would like a chance to get this great music for free SUBSCRIBE to Interchanging Idioms and comment on one of the posts. You could find the CD Songs of Joy & Peace arriving in your mailbox with still time to enjoy it before the season is over.

For more details and contest rules see the previous post here

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

By -
Image
When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule
Read more