Noa Briefe an Bach

Reissue of an obscure underground French album from 1980. Noa features a histrionic female vocalist, piping the French language and enunciating syllables just like another instrument. The music of Noa is of the jazzy Zeuhl variety, with plenty of sax (some shrieking), soaring flute and the expected rhythms of the genre. Although the general mood of the album is Zeuhl-influenced (the dark vibe & the female voice that reminds Eskaton), the main influences claimed by the band are Henry Cow & Art Zoyd. The fact is that the use of the female voice has something to do with HC's Dagmar Krause era. Line-up includes guitar, bass, flute, sax, drums, percussions & female vocals. This album, sadly the sole recording of the band, is a real curiosity, a pretty experimental record that could have only come out in France during this period, at the turn of the 70s.

Reissue of an obscure underground French album from 1980. Noa features a histrionic female vocalist, piping the French language and enunciating syllables just like another instrument. The music of Noa is of the jazzy Zeuhl variety, with plenty of sax (some shrieking), soaring flute and the expected rhythms of the genre. Although the general mood of the album is Zeuhl-influenced (the dark vibe & the female voice that reminds Eskaton), the main influences claimed by the band are Henry Cow & Art Zoyd. The fact is that the use of the female voice has something to do with HC's Dagmar Krause era. Line-up includes guitar, bass, flute, sax, drums, percussions & female vocals. This album, sadly the sole recording of the band, is a real curiosity, a pretty experimental record that could have only come out in France during this period, at the turn of the 70s.

Noa was an obscure Prog band from Japan, led by drummer Ichiro Takesako, a huge fan of Bill Bruford.The other members were Hirofumi Mitoma, who played electric- and synth guitar and bassist/singer Takao Ohzeki.They released one album for the unknown PAM label in 1987, titled ''Tri-logic'', recorded at the Studio Plus One in Setagaya in Feburary 1987…

“Balagan” offers a captivating journey through a diverse array of musical landscapes, showcasing the exquisite interplay between clarinet, violin, and piano. At its heart lies Paul Schoenfield’s Trio, a vibrant and energetic composition that weaves together elements of classical, jazz, and folk music with masterful precision.

“Balagan” offers a captivating journey through a diverse array of musical landscapes, showcasing the exquisite interplay between clarinet, violin, and piano. At its heart lies Paul Schoenfield’s Trio, a vibrant and energetic composition that weaves together elements of classical, jazz, and folk music with masterful precision.

This Bach release by American harpsichordist Elizabeth Farr is unusual in several respects and will be welcomed by listeners with Bach collections of any size. Start with the harpsichord, built by the iconoclastic maker Keith Hill in rural Manchester, MI. It's modeled on the Dutch Ruckers instruments of the 17th century, but it includes a set of 16-foot strings, and it has a truly mighty sound, beautifully captured at what is identified as Ploger Hall in the same locality. It's not clear what this venue is, but it's vast improvement over Naxos' preferred church sites. The booklet (in English only) includes a short note from Hill admitting that such a harpsichord would have been rare in Bach's time, but suggesting that it was a luxury item that its "value cannot be overestimated" when it is used where it makes musical sense. That's definitely the case here. These "concertos for solo harpsichord" are transcriptions Bach made for solo keyboard in the early 1710s, of mostly violin concertos by mostly Italian composers. It is not known for certain why Bach made them; he may simply have liked the music and wanted to study it more closely, but Farr's detailed notes also indicate that the transcriptions might have been done at the behest of Bach's patron at the time, the Duke of Weimar.

Suzuki presents the 1749 version of the St. John Passion, a work that underwent many changes since its first performance in 1724. This fourth version, performed at the end of Bach's life, represents his ultimate vision of this great work. (Suzuki includes in an appendix three arias from the 1725 version that Bach removed from this later version.)