Reference Vocal

There are clearly a few soul points of reference on Sweetest Thing, a ten-track album from Nova Scotia-born artist Katherine Penfold. There are notes of '90s neo-soul, the classic R&B of a couple decades prior and slices of funk and jazz sprinkled in between. Penfold's bright vocals have a clear quality and maintain integrity through the various vocal runs she lands over the course of the proceedings. Penfold has a hands-on approach to music making: she co-produced the project with David Sikula, literally built her recording studio from scratch and brings along the expertise of folks like soprano Amber Navran of Moonchild, and producers like Eye 3 Brandon and Chin Injeti to ensure a savoury feel to Sweetest Thing.

ELO songs were always coming on the radio when I was growing up. They were a reliable source of pleasure and fascination (except for “Fire On High” which scared the heck out of me). With this album of covers I wanted to get my hands deep into some of the massive ‘70’s hits but I am also shining a light on some of the later work (“Ordinary Dream” from 2001’s “Zoom” album, “Secret Messages” and “’From The End Of The World”, both from the ‘80’s).

Where Are You? is perfect in every sense. Recorded when Frank Sinatra was 42, the torch album finds him in impeccable voice and spirit. The dozen tracks fit together as a unified whole; it’s difficult to imagine one song missing, or another added. Arranger Gordon Jenkins reads Sinatra’s mind, affording him with lush arrangements that break hearts and underscore deliberation. Topping it off, Sinatra’s interpretive skills utterly astonish. Genres aside, this 1957 Capitol classic is inarguably one of the ten-best vocal pop efforts made in the 1950s.
While not as known as Only the Lonely, Where Are You? is its creative equivalent, a poignant masterwork on which Sinatra reflects on what could have been, ponders life’s deep questions, elicits sympathy via romantic distress, and does whatever it takes to get through the night…

In 1587, when the Cremona native Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) offered his first book of madrigals for printing, the popularity of the genre of little vocal pieces had just reached its pinnacle. Such great madrigalists as Luca Marenzio or Philippe de Monte where among the most distinguished composers of the day, and Palestrina, the great master of counterpoint, he just published his second book of madrigals a year earlier. Three years later, Monteverdi was employed as a singer and violist at the court of Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua, and the compositions published in his second volume of madrigals immediately made him a rising star among the Italian masters. Without exaggeration, we can call madrigals like Non si levava ancor or Ecco mormorar l’onde the hits of their day. In them, Monteverdi exhibits a highly advanced use of imitation and counterpoint by Italian standards, and he is innovative in his treatment of tone painting and in his a keen feeling for sustaining a dramatic arch extending above the individual compositions.

The incomparable richness of medieval repertory in the harmonia mundi catalogue makes this compilation an indispensable reference for a first taste of music from the earliest times. In a programme lasting nearly two hours, listeners are guided from ancient Greek music to the first appearances of Gregorian chant, followed by an interlude with the music of the troubadours and the Carmina Burana. After this they can explore the inventions of the Ars Nova and Ars Subtilior, which will introduce them, finally, to the Franco-Flemish musical empire of the Renaissance. A unique itinerary, entirely devoted to thrilling discoveries and musical passions!

Volume 2 of EMI's comprehensive Herbert von Karajan centenary edition gathers virtually all of the conductor's operatic and vocal output for the label in one place, taking up 71 CDs (Disc 72 contains complete librettos in the form of PDF files). I use the word "virtually" because the package omits four posthumously issued archival items taped live during the 1957-60 Salzburg Festivals (Beethoven's Missa solemnis, Brahms' German Requiem, Bruckner's Te Deum, and Verdi's Requiem). Otherwise, it's all here.

Eva Alcaide, in addition to having collaborated with a large number of artists over time and having great live experience, has a remarkable academic record to her credit, consolidating her training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland by completing a master's degree in Jazz Guitar Performance.

This album features three dazzling but previously only little-known compositions for royals from Telemann’s immense trove of vocal music. The selections have been chosen from the field of commissioned and occasional compositions written for special occasions such as acts of homage, funerary ceremonies, weddings, birthdays, and inaugurations. Two works from Telemann’s primary creative field, that of church music, round off the program. The three works featured on this recording have in common points of reference to the particular English kings during whose reigns they were written; these monarchs were also in personal union the Prince Electors of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (for short: “Electors of Hanover”).

As regards the quick and complex evolution of Lieder within the timeframe of a few decades, the relationship between poetic text (lyrics) and musical composition undergoes some variations which are worth underscoring. The term Lied indicates primarily a literary genre, a strophic composition (leit means precisely “stanza” in German), whose translation as “song” should not be intended literally; it is similar to our speaking of “canto” in Homer or Dante, i.e. to indicate poetic texts which “only putatively could be accompanied by music” (G. Bevilacqua).