Shaun le Mouton

Charles Mouton’s music is rarely heard on CD, this being the only recording devoted exclusively to him. Stylistically Mouton was heir to the well-established Parisian tradition of Francois Dufaut, Denis Gaultier, and his cousin Ennemond (all of whom Smith has featured in full-length CD programs for Astrée–all unfortunately deleted), where lute composition and performance first attempted to mirror or at least programmatically allude to extra-musical subject matter. Hence, selections here such as “La belle homicide”, “Le Dialogue des graces sur Iris”, “La Bizare”, and the brief self-portrait selection “Le Mouton; Canarie” imply that the composer not only wished to enchant the ear, but also invited listeners to muse over the sources of his inspiration. Whether or not these intended allusions are made, Mouton’s pieces here are always well-crafted, quintessentially elegant, and ceaselessly nostalgic–the anachronistic epitome of late-17th century French style.

Born in New York in 1946, Swiss-American lutenist Hopkinson Smith graduated from Harvard with Honors in Music in 1972. His instrumental studies took him to Europe where he worked with Emilio Pujol, a great pedagogue in the highest Catalan artistic tradition, and with the Swiss lutenist, Eugen Dombois, whose sense of organic unity between performer, instrument, and historical period has had lasting effects on him. He has been involved in numerous chamber music projects and was one of the founding members of the ensemble Hespèrion XX. Since the mid-80’s, he has focused almost exclusively on the solo repertoires for early plucked instrument, producing a series of prize-winning recordings for Astrée and Naïve, which feature Spanish music for vihuela and baroque guitar, French lute music of the Renaissance and baroque, English and Italian music of the 16th early 17th century and music from the German high baroque.

This album offers delightful chamber music of Giya Kancheli, regarded as one of Georgia’s greatest composers.

Jean Mouton was a Renaissance French composer and choirmaster, much acknowledged but more rarely recorded, who wrote a body of music that’s both technically inventive and immediately appealing. Here Stephen Rice and The Brabant Ensemble—renowned exponents of sixteenth-century Franco-Flemish repertoire—perform all Mouton’s eight-part music, two four-part motets, and his only five-part Mass setting, the Missa Tu es Petrus. The latter is characterized by light, clear textures and a soaring cantus firmus, while the double-choir Nesciens mater is rightly famous for its ingenious canon. Sheer compositional skill aside, all these works demonstrate Mouton’s vivid and original imagination—one that has the ability to speak directly to our time.

Light years removed from the expansive psychedelia of his work with the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Shaun Harris' lone solo LP remains a compelling curio of the singer/songwriter boom of the early '70s – while its lush country-pop sensibility sits squarely in the mainstream, the record's melodies and arrangements are atypically complex and its lyrics are profoundly introspective, exploring themes of melancholy, self-doubt, and even suicide with uncommon candor. Recorded with members of L.A.'s famed studio team the Wrecking Crew and featuring string arrangements by the artist's father, the esteemed symphonic composer Roy Harris, Shaun Harris captures the fear and resignation of an artist in the twilight of his career – "Nothing to write that hasn't been written/What's the real point of livin'?" Harris asks in the record's emotional centerpiece, "Today's the Day," his most direct confrontation of the despair that spreads like cancer across otherwise slick, sun-kissed productions like "Empty Without You" and "I'll Cry Out".

Unless you are lucky enough to be able to escape to a tropical island at the drop of a hat, learning how to deal with stress in a positive way is more important than ever. Zen can help with the stressful gap between wanting things and how things actually are in our life. Zen is about living in the present with complete awareness. Zen can teach us how to live without too much attachment to the outcome of our actions. This does not mean that we are uncaring or do not plan for our life, or that we don't have some general intention or goal in mind. Contrary to this misconception, it actually means that we become very interested in the quality and state of our mind when we do things.