Domino Challenge

Noëlle Spieth (Solstice, record 1990-2003): the inescapable reference, with recordings that have matured over 13 years, thanks to a courageous independent label. Under the agile fingers of Noëlle Spieth, an incessant kaleidoscope of multicolored images unfolds, as the artist approaches Couperin as a painter. Never the enigmatic titles of each piece will have borne their names as well, real sketches on the spot, affectionate or ironic, without ever malice. The key word of Noëlle Spieth is movement and contrast. Alternately capable of brushing teeming storms, of approaching movements in the luthed style with emotion and modesty, the harpsichordist moves and surprises each note.

Danish-German composer Dietrich Buxtehude has an extensive output of vocal music in addition to his far better known canon of organ music. The vocal music is more obscure in that it is such a mixed bag. The oratorios he wrote have gone lost, many pieces relate directly to the organ music in a way that is difficult to divine now and some of the sacred concertos he composed are less than compelling, written for afternoon lunch concerts and not meant as "serious" music.

Ton Koopman is not only one of the great fathers of the Baroque-Renaissance revival in the 1970’s, but a true pioneer of our time. After completing the Bach Cantatas survey, was he awarded the Bach Prize 2014 by the Royal Academy of Music. The prize is awarded to outstanding individuals in the performance and scholarship of Bach’s music and none could be more worthy than Koopman, who has been noted as doing ”remarkable work promoting Bach’s music in the last thirty or so years.”

Over 100 country, blues, pop and gospel titles covering all facets of the war featuring: The Louvin Brothers, Fats Domino, Jean Shephard, B.B. King, Gene Autry and dozens of other artists (even old Douglas MacArthur returns for a cameo!). Rarely heard documentary material including patriotic Public Service Announcements, field news reports and even a plea for blood donations from Howdy Doody! A heavily illustrated, full-color book containing extensive artist and song notes plus a Korean War history.

The Belgian early music group Vox Luminis has made several wonderful recordings of lesser-known Baroque repertory. They cultivate a distinctive sound with ten or 15 singers (here there are ten) and a small instrumental group, diverging completely from the general Italianate-operatic trend toward brisk tempos, sharp accents, and dramatic conceptions. Here they take on two very familiar works and meet the challenge of creating unique interpretations. Even in the splendid Bach Magnificat in D major, BWV 243 (sample one of the big choruses, perhaps "Fecit potentiam"), they are smooth and even delicate. The sound is all the more impressive in that leader Lionel Meunier does not really conduct; he sings in the choir itself. Yet the carefully burnished sound is extremely coherent. The effect is to deliver a personal aspect even to these highly public works. In this kind of reading there is the necessity for the performers to deliver text intelligibility and for the instrumentalists to deliver balance, and all succeed nicely, as do Alpha Classics' engineers, working in a pair of churches (Belgian for the Handel, Dutch for the Bach). This is a beautifully rendered representation of standard repertory that draws you into entirely new ways of looking at the music.