Word 2010 Summary

Lakefront (2010). M. Ostermeier’s solo debut "Percolate" (2010) featured fragile Rhodes and acoustic piano melodies atop minimal downtempo electronics and Labradford-esque guitar tones. Here on the seven-track mini-album "Lakefront" (2010), the skeletal acoustic piano remains, but the minimal beats have evaporated and we are left with something more organic, more haunting. Harold Budd is still an apt reference for the piano fragments, but the infusion of acoustic recordings and darker guitar and electronics bring to mind Deaf Center and Library Tapes. The melancholic mood that builds throughout Lakefront evokes feelings of nostalgia and regret. The songs remind us that the passing of time necessarily brings uncertainty to one’s recollection of the past - an uncertainty that has its own poignancy…

Giuseppe Sinopoli was a conductor quite versed in Mahler’s music. He left recordings of all the Mahler symphonies made for Deutsche Grammophon (DGG). It is well known that each of these performances is on the highest level. So it is natural that most listeners think these Mahler recordings are the last word of Sinopoli’s interpretation.

Georg Friedrich Händels großes Chor-Oratorium "Israel in Egypt" ist das wertvollste Geschenk, das der Komponist der Chormusik machen konnte: Der Chor fungiert als Protagonist in diesem klangmächtigen Werk, das in bildhafter Dramatik vom alttestamentarischen Exodus erzählt. Viel zu lange war das Oratorium nach seiner wenig erfolgreichen Uraufführung im Londoner King’s Theatre in Vergessenheit geraten, bis es im Zuge der Barock-Renaissance unter Felix Mendelssohn im 19. Jahrhundert wiederentdeckt wurde.

Friedrich Cerha (b. 1926) is revealed by this great 2-disc Kairos set to be one of the great composers of the late 20th Century, who deserves to be recognized alongside Xenakis, Ligeti, Nono, Stockhausen, and Boulez. Cerha was the 2012 recipient of the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, the "Nobel Prize of music," and so his reputation and stature outside of Austria are belatedly coming to more closely match the esteem he enjoys in his own country. Cerha's own music has only been extensively documented recently, with a series of discs on Austrian neuemusik label Kairos, as well as recordings on the ECM, Col Legno, and Neos labels.

Hamish Milne makes a welcome return to the Romantic Piano Concerto series with two recherché delights from the nineteenth century.
Józef, ‘the other Wieniawski’ is the brother of the more famous violinist, Henryk. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and had a wide-ranging and successful performing and composing career. His highly attractive Piano Concerto in G minor is in the mould of those by Chopin and Liszt, with the piano very much in the foreground. The Rondo finale demands a spectacular display of technique, living proof of Wieniawski’s own brand of virtuosity.

A stunning collection of some of the greatest sacred music ever written. From the great Lamentations of Byrd, Tallis and Palestrina, the listener is taken on a remarkable spiritual journey through Bach’s great St Matthew Passion, Purcell’s moving and bleak funeral music for Queen Mary, and Handel radiant Messiah. Pergolesi’s masterful setting of the Stabat Mater and Telemann’s Passions-Oratorium are also to be found here, along with Haydn’s Stabat Mater and his dark and intense masterpiece Die sieben letzen Worte, or The Seven Last Words of our Saviour from the Cross. Finally, Allegri’s hauntingly beautiful Miserere opens this collection – a work that was copied from memory after one hearing by the child Mozart. Prior to that moment the work had only been heard in the Vatican.

Intense, is a word that comes to mind when listen to this YES-influenced classic from the seventies. The band simply doesn't slow down for a minute as they rush through the multiple sections in each song. My only complaint is that they should have considered releasing an Italian version (like the MAXOPHONE album) of the album. The English vocals are okay (the accents are fine), but the music is really screaming for some Italian. If you're in the mood for YES-influenced music done with the energy, and optimism, of the 70's Italian prog scene then you will love this CD. ~ Steve Hegede