On the follow-up to her landmark debut, Happy Come Home (1987), Victoria Williams' skills as a multi-faceted songwriter become increasingly stronger and more distinct. The lack of aural opulence – such as Van Dyke Parks' string arrangements – reveal a less-forced approach, resulting in a giant leap forward in terms of the development of Williams' own voice. Likewise, her rich Louisiana bayou roots increasingly influence her music and act as a strong motif throughout not only Swing the Statue, but her future releases as well – most notably her contributions to the Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers. Perhaps drawing upon her own experiences, Swing the Statue has an air of melancholia wafting throughout much of the album. Both "Boogieman" and "I Can't Cry Hard Enough" – while divergent in terms of musical style – speak directly to the feelings of loss and abandonment. These aptly juxtapose against the innocence and youthful awe of "Look at That Moon" and "Wobbling" as well as the spiritual guidance found in "Lift Him Up" and "Weeds." Unlike Happy Come Home, Swing the Statue is exceedingly more reserved and somewhat stark – with an emphasis on acoustic instrumentation. These aptly inhabit Williams' remarkably jazzy arrangements.
The works of Tomás Luis de Victoria are today an international paradigm of the Spanish Renaissance heritage. This master, born in Avila, rises like a standard-bearer from the huge spectrum of Spanish composers who carried the art of polyphony to its highest musical and liturgical significance.
Tenebrae return to the sublime music of Tomás Luis de Victoria on Signum with this recording of his timeless Tenebrae Responsories. The works mix the words of the Gospels with other texts commenting on collective suffering written around the 4th century, and would traditionally have been performed as part of a moving service in which candles are slowly extinguished to mark the progress and suffering of Christ that forms the Passion story.
Although Alberta Hunter, who had briefly come out of retirement, gets first billing on this CD reissue, in reality she shares the spotlight with two other veterans of the 1920s: Lucille Hegamin and Victoria Spivey. Each of the singers is featured on four songs apiece while backed by such top players as clarinetist Buster Bailey, trombonist J.C. Higginbottham, and Cliff Jackson or Willie "The Lion" Smith on piano. Hunter is in superior form on such numbers as "You Gotta Reap Just What You Sow" and "I Got a Mind to Ramble," although she would soon be out of music for another 15 years, continuing her work as a nurse. Hegamin (who had not recorded since 1932) was having a brief last hurrah, despite sounding good, and Spivey, reviving her "Black Snake Blues," would soon be launching her own Spivey label. This is a historic and enjoyable set recommended to both classic jazz and blues collectors.
Victoria de los Angeles was one of the finest lyric sopranos in the decades after World War II. She was born Victoria Gómez Cima. She learned to sing and play piano and guitar while still in school. She entered the Conservatorio de Liceo in Barcelona to study piano and singing, completing the six-year program in three, and graduating with full honors at the age of 18. Her membership in the Conservatory's Ars Musicae gave her wide exposure to the art song repertory and Baroque and Renaissance music.
Victoria was the greatest Spanish composer of the late Renaissance. Compared with the prolific Palestrina the number of his works is not great; compared with Byrd, Victoria’s music is not so varied or wide ranging. Indeed, placed beside the enormous output of Lassus, Victoria’s achievement seems to be very restricted; there is none of the dazzling virtuosity and broad culture, none of the extraordinary diversity. Yet, in its narrow specialization in strictly liturgical or devotional function, Victoria’s music is not only the most perfectly suited to its purpose, but the most perfectly styled and fashioned of its kind, its emotional heart perfectly in accord with Roman Catholic liturgical ceremony in the Tridentine Rite. Even more than Palestrina’s, Victoria’s art is an expression of Catholicism as defined by the Council of Trent.
Et Jesum presents motets, antiphons, and mass sections by the Spanish Renaissance composer Tomás Luis de Victoria, arranged for countertenor voice and accompanying stringed instrument. Both the laud (the Spanish version of the lute) and the more guitar-like vihuela are used by accompanist Juan Carlos Rivera. Rivera and countertenor Carlos Mena, a youthful alumnus of the Savall school, augment arrangements of Victoria's day with efforts of their own in a similar vein, and it would take a deep specialist indeed to pick out the 400-year-old ones.
On this new recording by Leslie Craven, he is joined by the wonderful Victoria String Quartet. This CD features clarinet quintets by Brahms, Weber and, as a bonus, Arnold Cooke.
Celebrating 10 years of concerts, Victoria Baroque has released a new CD of ravishing Baroque concertos for multiple instruments. The concerti on the recording represent innovative baroque works by both famous composers - Vivaldi and Telemann, and less known composers Dall'Abaco and Heinichen working during the same period. They are influenced by the operas and sacred cantatas of the period. The Victoria Baroque is a leading ensemble specializing in the concerti of the baroque era.