"the Fruit of Silence"

The music chosen for this recording is strangely and poignantly relevant, I believe, for each of us. We all now understand “The Fruit of Silence,” a motet that reminds us to visit those beliefs which are most sacred in the work by Cortlandt Matthews, or now, a deeply personal Requiem by Peter Relph that in reflection, remembers the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in this pandemic. And then there is the LaVoy work “O Great Beyond.” While all great texts speak to the universality of the human condition and, if are truthful, are timeless. Particularly the George Fox text set by Jackson Hill and the Tagore text set by LaVoy give us messages to reinforce the humanness of each of us for hope. Two works on this disc poignantly remind us of the passing of life in the Relph Requiem and especially the final movement of “O Great Beyond.” May these words give comfort to all those who endured the deepest of Life’s losses during our shared Pandemic journey. For, so many loved ones, goodbyes were said in silence, and alone.

While it can't hope to compete with the impressive box sets of her work or even more specialized single-disc collections, 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Billie Holiday still manages to present a fair amount of her most definitive work from the '40s, even though it's only 12 tracks long. "Strange Fruit," "Lover Man," "Lady Sings the Blues," and "My Man" are all here, along with "Fine and Mellow," "'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do," and "I Loves You Porgy." Not surprisingly since its track listing is so small, this collection is somewhat unfocused and definitely incomplete, but it offers a tantalizing taste of Billie Holiday's most musically fruitful period.

The World Heritage is a Japanese supergroup gathered and guided by master drummer Yoshida Tatsuya. The group is Kido Natsuki (Bondage Fruit) and Yamamoto Seiichi (Boredoms) on guitar, Nasuno Mitsuri (Altered States) on bass, Katsui Yuji (Bondage Fruit, etc) on violin, and Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins, Koenjihyakkei, Korekyojinn, etc) on drums. Tatsuya, Mitsuri and Natsuki had previously played together as Korekyojinn, the mammoth power trio. This group performs mostly high-energy improvised rock with some jazzy tinges, as well as some pieces composed by Tatsuya. All of the music is very energetic and often chaotic. Almost all of the band's material has been recorded live, with only a small handful of tracks being recorded in studio. The band would appeal to fans of other Tatsuya bands, in particular fans of Korekyojinn, Daimonji or Ruins.

The World Heritage is a Japanese supergroup gathered and guided by master drummer Yoshida Tatsuya. The group is Kido Natsuki (Bondage Fruit) and Yamamoto Seiichi (Boredoms) on guitar, Nasuno Mitsuri (Altered States) on bass, Katsui Yuji (Bondage Fruit, etc) on violin, and Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins, Koenjihyakkei, Korekyojinn, etc) on drums. Tatsuya, Mitsuri and Natsuki had previously played together as Korekyojinn, the mammoth power trio. This group performs mostly high-energy improvised rock with some jazzy tinges, as well as some pieces composed by Tatsuya. All of the music is very energetic and often chaotic. Almost all of the band's material has been recorded live, with only a small handful of tracks being recorded in studio. The band would appeal to fans of other Tatsuya bands, in particular fans of Korekyojinn, Daimonji or Ruins.

Jordi Savall - Anthony Holborne - The Teares of the Muses, 1599 - Elizabethan Consort Music, Vol. II (2000) {Alia Vox AV9813}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 338 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 158 Mb
Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2000 Alia Vox | AV 9813
Classical / Renaissance / Chamber Music

This release is titled as Elizebathan Consort Music, Vol II and we have already savoured the flavours of that previously immensely successful release which reads like a roll-call from the 'greats' of English 16th century music. This time Jordi Savall and his splendid Hesperion XXI have devoted a whole CD to the talents of Anthony Holborne, a rather obscure figure but one who evidently was held in great esteem in those days.

If jazz is a body, then Edward Vesala is its ligament of fascination. Flexing and creaking with the passage of emotion into life and life into silence, the drummer’s disarming soundscapes never fail to intrigue, to say something potent and new. In spite of its tongue-in-cheek title, Ode To The Death Of Jazz is, strangely, one of his more uplifting exercises in sonic production.
The title of “Sylvan Swizzle” sets the bar in both tone and sentiment, opening in a smooth and winding road of flute, woodwinds, percussion, and harp. Textural possibilities bear the fruit of the ensemble’s explorations in somatic sound: an exercise in pathos, to be sure, if only through the eyes of something not human. The space here is dark yet flecked with iridescence, sporting yet bogged down by infirmity, vivacious yet weak in the eyes…

Rose Consort of Viols - Ah, Dear Heart…: Songs, Dances and Laments from the Age of Elizabeth I (1993) {Woodmansterne}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 348 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 158 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 155 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1993 Woodmansterne | WOODM 002-2
Classical / Early Music / Renaissance

Much care has gone into the production and presentation of this disc from a warm and immediate recorded sound to the quality of the graphic design. The Rose Consort of Viols seem to play confidently in the knowledge that their subtle textural and dynamic contrasts are being keenly captured. And so they are. Their discreet and gentle accompaniments to the soprano soloist, Annabella Tysall, are founded on suppleness of articulation and sustained, luscious blending rather than expressive melodic nuance. This approach provides a pleasing back-cloth for Tysall's pure and bright-toned singing.