- "The performance on the CD, happily combines both acoustic and electronic realms which makes for fascinating listening from start to finish. From the moment the recording begins, the listener is instantly transported into a strange new world that is unlike anything else in the history of opera: The first track begins with heavy breathing that morphs into a sea of voices chattering in a large room, which then gradually builds into what sounds like a riot before the music proper begins, almost two minutes in, with the crashing of various gongs. The slow, almost dirge-like chorales in the nearly half-hour-long third track come across as a bizarre marriage of Bach and Cage number pieces. One of the most striking passages is the mostly electronic mad scene, The Committee of Vigilance, which recounts Nortons quelling of a riot. By the end of this crazy opera, if you can keep up with it, Norton emerges as something of a tragic hero whose crusades for justice were ultimately more sincere than todays media posturings. - Wiki . . .
Joshua Norton: - "In any era where phenomena such as the Tea Party movement seem more like a circus than a bonafide political call to action, the story of a 19th-century San Franciscan man who dressed in regal garb and claimed he was the Emperor of the United States feels more timely than ever. Originally from London, Joshua Norton settled in the Bay Area in 1849 and in 1859 (one year before the election of Abraham Lincoln) declared himself Emperor in a series of proclamations and letters distributed to various newspapers (which actually reprinted them!). Although some of the edicts he made during his reign were inconsequential, such as the abolition of the Democratic and Republican parties as well as the U.S. Congress, the more-than-likely mentally unstable Norton was a local celebrity who remained popular within the community and the press throughout his life. He succeeded in peacefully quelling an anti-Chinese riot, was saluted by the police whenever he walked by, and the monetary currency he issued was actually honored in restaurants and other establishments he frequented. But in 1880, Americas first and only emperor collapsed on a street corner and died before a carriage could arrive to take him to a hospital. His funeral was attended by approximately 30,000 people, more than 10 percent of the population of San Francisco at that time." Newmusicbox - http://www.ginorobair.com
Comments
Jordi Savall - Marin Marais : 5 Livres pour Viole. 264 minutes of music, $5.10. Excellent value, excellent music.
* * * * * - >>>
Some muscular Jazz from the Seattle scene (and, surprisingly, from high school kids)
ETA: Fixed link.
- "The performance on the CD, happily combines both acoustic and electronic realms which makes for fascinating listening from start to finish. From the moment the recording begins, the listener is instantly transported into a strange new world that is unlike anything else in the history of opera: The first track begins with heavy breathing that morphs into a sea of voices chattering in a large room, which then gradually builds into what sounds like a riot before the music proper begins, almost two minutes in, with the crashing of various gongs. The slow, almost dirge-like chorales in the nearly half-hour-long third track come across as a bizarre marriage of Bach and Cage number pieces. One of the most striking passages is the mostly electronic mad scene, The Committee of Vigilance, which recounts Nortons quelling of a riot. By the end of this crazy opera, if you can keep up with it, Norton emerges as something of a tragic hero whose crusades for justice were ultimately more sincere than todays media posturings.
Joshua Norton:
- "In any era where phenomena such as the Tea Party movement seem more like a circus than a bonafide political call to action, the story of a 19th-century San Franciscan man who dressed in regal garb and claimed he was the Emperor of the United States feels more timely than ever. Originally from London, Joshua Norton settled in the Bay Area in 1849 and in 1859 (one year before the election of Abraham Lincoln) declared himself Emperor in a series of proclamations and letters distributed to various newspapers (which actually reprinted them!). Although some of the edicts he made during his reign were inconsequential, such as the abolition of the Democratic and Republican parties as well as the U.S. Congress, the more-than-likely mentally unstable Norton was a local celebrity who remained popular within the community and the press throughout his life. He succeeded in peacefully quelling an anti-Chinese riot, was saluted by the police whenever he walked by, and the monetary currency he issued was actually honored in restaurants and other establishments he frequented. But in 1880, Americas first and only emperor collapsed on a street corner and died before a carriage could arrive to take him to a hospital. His funeral was attended by approximately 30,000 people, more than 10 percent of the population of San Francisco at that time."
Newmusicbox - http://www.ginorobair.com
Brad Mehldau - "Highway Rider"
-Very late to this one, very deeply in love with it.
Ketil Bjornstad & David Darling - "The River"
Jerker Kluge's Deep Jazz - "The Meeting"
-Lovely old school spiritual jazz
On bandcamp - http://deepjazz.bandcamp.com/album/the-meeting
Laurel Halo - Hour Logic
- From this album:
Bill Frisell - "In Line"
Colin Vallon - "Rruga"
Lynna Arriale - "Solo"
-This is why god invented piano solos.