Arvo Pärt: Da Pacem

CML call number: CD CLASSICAL Pärt
Allan Kozinn wrote in the New York Times: "Composers' inner worlds usually seem less mysterious as you hear more of their work. Not so with the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. … In the nine choral works here, all on religious texts, Mr. Pärt preaches from what has become his accustomed perch in a stylistic space most notable for its temporal rootlessness. Medieval techniques and approaches to text setting are plentiful, even dominant. But glimmers of Renaissance polyphony and modern harmonic touches are also part of this elusive composer's arsenal. On the surface these are slow-moving, meditative scores. 'Da Pacem Domine' (2004), a prayer for peace, is cast in sustained tones with little harmonic growth and hardly any momentum, yet a listener is drawn inexorably into its hynotic four-part unaccompanied vocal texture. … Paul Hillier is an eloquent interpreter of Mr. Pärt's idiosyncratic style, and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, abetted by resonant church acoustics, contributes the right balance of beauty and austerity" ("Elusive Preaching, and a Beatle's Conservative Classicism," 10/8/06).

The Who: Endless Wire

CML call number: CD ROCK Who
Alan Light wrote in the New York Times: "A sprawling work, it ranges from the first songs [Pete] Townshend and [Roger] Daltrey have ever recorded as an acoustic duo to some that hold their own next to the band's finest stadium rockers. At its heart is 'Wire & Glass,' a 10-song 'mini-opera' that is Mr. Townshend's latest foray into extended musical narrative, an approach he pioneered with the rock operas 'Tommy' and 'Quadrophenia.' 'The stripped-down acoustic-vocal stuff is what slays me,' Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam's lead singer and a longtime champion of the older band, wrote. … Mr. Daltrey, 62, and Mr. Townshend, 61, are the two surviving members of the founding lineup, after the deaths of their incendiary drummer, Keith Moon, in 1978 and [bassist] John Entwistle in 2002. … 'The Boy Who Heard Music' (posted at www.petetownshend.co.uk/projects/tbwhm) is a tightly knit, hallucinatory tale of the rise and fall of a band made up of three teenagers from different ethnic groups, and an aging rock star observing them from a mental institution. … [Townshend] reworked the novella into 'Wire and Glass' — some songs that 'had some teeth.' …"

Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1; Spohr: Violin Concerto No. 8

CML call number: CD/CLASSICAL/Paganini
Vivien Schweitzer wrote in the New York Times: "Hilary Hahn, the young American violinist, lists the human voice among her greatest inspirations. It was also the voice, of early-19th-century bel canto opera, that inspired Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1 and Spohr's Concerto No. 8. Ms. Hahn plays both works on a new recording with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by Eije [i.e., Eiji] Oue. Paganini's concerto, which opens the disc, is a virtuoso showpiece filled with ricochet bowing, double-stopped thirds and spiraling runs, which Ms. Hahn plays with agile and effortless athleticism, particularly in the fiendishly difficult cadenza, written by Émile Sauret, the French virtuoso. But while bel canto opera is full of coloratura flourishes, ornamentation and runs, it also requires long legato lines and emotional commitment. In his concerto, written in 1816, Paganini (a great admirer of Rossini) alternates his trademark technical fireworks with lush cantabile phrasing, which Ms. Hahn shapes beautifully. … [The work by Spohr] is less showy and more serious in tone than the Paganini concerto but even more richly lyrical" (10/29/06).

Lukas Foss: Complete Works for Solo Piano

CML call number: CD/CLASSICAL/Foss
Performer: Scott Dunn.
Contents: Scherzo Ricercato (1954); Passacaglia (1940); Grotesque Dance (1938); Prelude in D (1951); Fantasy Rondo (1944); Four Two-Part Inventions (1938); For Lenny, Variation on "New York, New York" (1987); Solo (1981). Recorded March 22 and 23, 2003.
Daniel Felsenfeld wrote in the liner notes: "1953 brought the Scherzo Ricercato, a spry, swagger of a piece. … In 1947, writing something so strikingly tonal and beautiful as the Prelude in D was no doubt something at which many would have turned up their nose. … A year earlier Foss composed his Fantasy Rondo, which is in and of itself an interesting title: 'fantasy' as the freest of all forms, pitted against 'rondo,' which is perhaps the most highly structured. Foss allows himself a restricted space in which he can let his imagination run wild, and that he does, with easy, beautiful jazz harmonies floating above (and at times below) Bach-like motoric figures, and wild spastic chordal interjections serving as the constantly returning figure, although there are few exact repeats."

Bob Seger: Face the Promise

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Seger
Contents: Wreck This Heart, Wait for Me, Face the Promise, No Matter Who You Are, Are You, Simplicity, No More, Real Mean Bottle (duet with Kid Rock), Won't Stop, Between, The Answer's in the Question (duet with Patty Loveless), The Long Goodbye.
Eric R. Danton wrote in his Hartford Courant blog, Sound Check: "Call it a guilty pleasure, but I've always had a soft spot for Bob Seger's ballads. … [H]is songs are honest, and he's such an unassuming, low-key guy that I can't help but root for him. It's no coincidence that his biggest hits have been the slower tunes. … I've always liked 'Night Moves' or 'Mainstreet' or 'Against the Wind.' Who hasn't felt the burn of young, stupid love? Who hasn't looked back on it half-fondly, half-ruefully? 'Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then,' he sings on 'Against the Wind.' Who hasn't felt that way once or twice? Seger's new album, 'Face The Promise,' is his first in 11 years. It's a solid record — workmanlike, in Seger's earnest, blue-collar, Heartland way. And I wasn't at all su[r]prised to find I liked the ballads best" ("The Ballads of Bob Seger," 9/12/06).

Thomas Adès: Piano Quintet; Schubert: "Trout" Quintet

CML call number: CD/CLASSICAL/Adès
Russell Platt wrote in the New Yorker: "As a fan once said, 'We always return to Schubert.' The music's tuneful appeal and its miraculous balance of Romantic melancholy and Classical discipline never wear thin. … [T]he Schubert of EMI's new album, featuring the pianist Thomas Adès and members of the Belcea Quartet, is a young composer still clamoring to be heard. The forms are dynamic and unpredictable, the fast movements go like the wind, and the intense Belcea string players, with their grainy tone colors, dig into every line for meaning. It's no surprise that Adès, one of the world's major modernist composers, gives the piano part a strikingly independent profile, but it's even more gratifying to hear him play his own Piano Quintet at the top of the album. In twenty minutes, Adès reinvents Classical sonata form, developing wistful melodies reminiscent of Schubert and Berg into a structure girded by the rhythmic complexity of Ferneyhough and the iron logic of Ligeti. The Arditti Quartet, fearless explorers of the new and strange, are with him all the way" ("Classical Notes: Gone Fishin'," 8/8-15/2006, p. 24).

Branford Marsalis Quartet: Braggtown

CML call number: CD/JAZZ/Marsalis
Ben Ratliff wrote in the New York Times: "Mr. Marsalis, 46, the saxophonist and bandleader, is the eldest of the six Marsalis brothers; three others are also in jazz: Wynton, the trumpeter and major domo of Jazz at Lincoln Center; Delfeayo, the trombonist and record producer; and Jason, the drummer. … His own band, the Branford Marsalis Quartet, is in an exciting phase. In the late 1990's, getting its bearings after the death of its previous pianist, Kenny Kirkland, it had the potential to be one of the best small groups in jazz; more recently it has truly become that. Formed in 1997, its lineup has stayed intact for the last seven years, with the pianist Joey Calderazzo, the bassist Eric Revis and the drummer Jeff (Tain) Watts. Its new record, 'Braggtown,' accommodates hurtling, physical Coltrane-ish music, slow and mournful ballads and a version of 'O Solitude,' a song written by the 17th-century English composer Henry Purcell. Mr. Marsalis is fascinated by slow music … and also by classical music, and seems to be working toward a way that a jazz quartet can use classical material more flexibly" ("Listening with Branford Marsalis," 10/6/06).

Weird Al Yankovic: Straight Outta Lynwood

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Yankovic
Ben Greenman wrote in the New Yorker: "Weird Al's loopy pop comedy persists and even flourishes. Much of the reason for Weird Al's lean years had to do with the explosion of boy bands and gangsta rap, highly formulaic genres that resisted his approach. The new album's lead single, 'White and Nerdy,' ends the jinx. Reworking Chamillionaire's 'Ridin'' as an ode to socially awkward, technologically obsessed white guys is more than a chance for Weird Al to spit out rapid-fire jokes about Wikipedia and 'Star Trek': it's a canny reminder that the uncool make up much of the audience for hard-core rap. … 'Canadian Idiot,' derived from Green Day's 'American Idiot,' is a good one-liner. … 'Trapped in the Drive-Thru' can't top its inspiration, R. Kelly's epically ridiculous 'Trapped in the Closet.' … 'Pancreas' is a sweetly gross tribute to 'Smile'-era Beach Boys. 'I'll Sue Ya' co-opts the fiery agitprop of Rage Against the Machine. And 'Don't Download This Song,' the album's closer, is a sweeping ballad à la 'We Are the World' that details the evils of music piracy. It is, of course, offered as a free download on Weird Al's Web site" (10/16/06, p. 30).

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Sings Handel

CML call number: CD/CLASSICAL/Handel
Alex Ross wrote in the New Yorker: "On the day before the Fourth of July, the mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson died. … The voice was primally beautiful, rich in tone and true in pitch, warm and deep and wine-dark. It had a wonderful way of materializing from the instrumental background, as if from the ether. In 'Ombra mai fù,' from Handel’s 'Xerxes,' the first note begins like an extra resonance around the strings. There was something calming and consoling about the mere fact of that sound. 'Time itself stopped to listen,' Richard Dyer wrote in his obituary for the Boston Globe. Central to the singer’s repertory was a group of arias that I think of as her benedictions, her laying on of hands: 'Ombra mai fù,' with which she made an overpowering first impression on New York operagoers in City Opera’s 1997 production of 'Xerxes'; 'As with rosy steps the morn,' from 'Theodora,' which she made into an anthem of beatitude. … Listening closely, you could hear how immaculately crafted these performances were. Their emotional transparency was rooted in the fact that each expressive inflection was joined seamlessly to the next."

Stevie Wonder: A Time to Love

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Wonder
Ben Greenman wrote in the New Yorker: "'A Time to Love' (Motown), his first collection of new material in a decade, starts off with the darkly powerful 'If Your Love Cannot Be Moved,' a duet with Kim Burrell that also includes human beat-boxing and ominous strings. From there, the album rarely slows down — or rather, it slows down plenty, but in the best way possible. There are … sophisticated rhythmic workouts like 'My Love Is on Fire,' which features the great flutist Hubert Laws, part of a long, ecumenical guest list that includes Wonder's daughter Aisha, who supplies two delicate duet vocals. Wonder has always insisted, with the bravery and naivete of a great artist, on engaging every aspect of the world around him, both politically and emotionally. This can expose his flaws … but his gaudiest excesses are kept in check this time out. 'Please Don't Hurt My Baby' wraps a snaky, viciously funky synth line around a sharply sung tale of infidelity and tattling. … 'Positivity,' goofy, upbeat, and highly prolix, takes its song title from Prince, just minutes after Prince donates a guitar part on 'So What the Fuss'" ("Pop Notes," 10/17/05, p. 32).

Cream: Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6 2005

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Cream
Personnel: Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton.
Contents: I'm So Glad (Skip James), Spoonful (Willie Dixon), Outside Woman Blues (Arthur Reynolds), Pressed Rat & Warthog (Ginger Baker/ Mike Taylor), Sleepy Time Time (Jack Bruce), N.S.U. (Bruce), Badge (Eric Clapton/ George Harrison), Politician (Bruce/ Pete Brown), Sweet Wine (Baker/ Janet Godfrey), Rollin' and Tumblin' (Muddy Waters), Stormy Monday (Aaron "T-Bone" Walker), Deserted Cities of the Heart (Bruce/ Brown), Born under a Bad Sign (Booker T. Jones), We're Going Wrong (Bruce), Crossroads (Robert Johnson), White Room (Bruce/ Brown), Toad (Baker), Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/ Brown/ Clapton); bonus track: Sleepy Time Time (alternate).
Rolling Stone wrote: "Taped during Cream's reunion shows in London this May, this two-disc set contains all the expected hits including an awesome 'Badge' with a sick Clapton solo" ("Fall's Hottest Live Discs," 10/20/05, p. 26).

The Fray: How to Save a Life

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Fray
Elysa Gardner wrote in USA Today: "With its debut album, How to Save a Life, this band from Denver has taken flight on radio and online. The CD has gone gold and is No. 5 on iTunes, and single Over My Head (Cable Car) holds the No. 7 and No. 5 spots on the mainstream and adult Top 40 airplay charts, respectively. Another single, Life's title track, has been featured on ABC's Grey's Anatomy and in HBO's Summer Image campaign. … The Fray was formed in 2002 by singer/pianist Isaac Slade and guitarist/singer Joe King, who remain the principal songwriters. Drummer Ben Wysocki and guitarist Dave Welsh, both of whom had worked with King, joined a year later. Slade, 25, 'wasn't allowed to listen to secular music' as a child. … 'My parents wanted me to listen to Christian music, and I wanted pop, so we settled on jazz as a happy medium. Then my parents started easing up a bit, and we got into Counting Crows and Better Than Ezra.' … Faith continues to be an important factor for the members of the Fray, who 'grew up middle-of-the-road Protestant,' Slade says. But 'we don't call ourselves a Christian band. …'" (7/12/06).

John Mayer: Heavier Things

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Mayer
Contents: Clarity, Bigger than My Body, Something's Missing, New Deep, Come Back to Bed, Home Life, Split Screen Sadness, Daughters, Only Heart, Wheel.
Artist website: http://www.johnmayer.com/
"Daughters" won Grammy awards for song of the year and best male pop vocal performance in 2004. According to Wikipedia, "The song topped the American Adult Top 40 chart in the summer of 2005, and reached number 19 on the US Pop charts."
Local angle: Wikipedia's article on Mayer states, "Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Mayer grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, the second of three sons. There, he became friends with future tennis star James Blake. Mayer attended Fairfield High School (now Fairfield Warde High School) for his freshman, sophomore, and senior years, but attended Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk, Connecticut for his junior year, where he was enrolled in the Center for Global Studies. …"
Released 2003, newly added to our collection at a patron's request.

Aerosmith: Rockin' the Joint

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Aerosmith
Personnel: Steven Tyler, lead vocals, background vocals, harmonica; Joe Perry, guitar; Brad Whitford, guitar; Tom Hamilton, bass guitar; Joey Kramer, drums. Credited in smaller type: Russ Irwin, keyboards, background vocals.
Contents: Good Evening Las Vegas (a brief spoken intro), Beyond Beautiful (Tyler-Perry- Frederiksen), Same Old Song and Dance (Tyler-Perry), No More No More (Tyler-Perry), Seasons of Wither (Tyler), Light Inside (Tyler-Perry-Frederiksen), Draw the Line (Tyler-Perry), I Don't Want to Miss a Thing (D. Warren), Big Ten Inch Record (F. Weismantel), Rattlesnake Shake (P. Green), Walk This Way (Tyler-Perry), Train Kept a Rollin' (T. Bradshaw-L. Mann-H. Kay).
Rolling Stone wrote: "Recorded at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas during a rare club stop in 2002 on Aerosmith's Just Push Play tour, Rockin' the Joint mixes the hits with overlooked classics like 'Seasons of Wither' and 'Same Old Song and Dance'" ("Fall's Hottest Live Discs," 10/20/05, p. 26).

Rod Stewart: As Time Goes By … The Great American Songbook Vol. IV

CML call number: CD/POPULAR/Stewart
Ian Whitcomb wrote in Rock Odyssey (1983; 784.54/W): "Then into the Flamingo sauntered one Rod (the Mod) Stewart and he was a sight for eyes used to the monochrome drabness of male fashions of the fifties. Men were in color again for the first time since Queen Victoria! The peacock struts, the hair back-combed and teased into a look of electric shock, the leer from a fully painted but hollow-cheeked and slightly skeletal face. … [H]is style was just the start of an androgynous strain in pop which was to be puzzling to outsiders. There was no sexual substance to the outward appearance. Inside, beneath the powder and paint, lay a boy who fancied women just as much as his mates. Second to soccer, of course. When he gave out with that Scotch-whisky voice, he hit those girls at bull's-eye and he sounded very soulful in the best modern American manner. Modern — that was important. None of this old fuddy-duddy cottonfield stuff. Rod and the Mods were up-to-date, were Modern, and music was only a part of their sixties life-style. …" (pp. 29-30).

Songs & Dances: Nationalism in Music

CML call number: CD/CLASSICAL/Songs
Contents: Smetana: "The Moldau" (Cleveland Orch., George Szell); Weber: "Huntsmen's Chorus" from Der Freischütz (Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Philadelphia Orch., Eugene Ormandy); Chopin: Polonaise in A-flat Major (Alexander Brailowsky, piano); Dvorák: "Songs My Mother Taught Me" (Yo-Yo Ma, cello, Patricia Zander, piano), Dance No. 1 from Slavonic Dances (Cleveland Orch., Szell); Verdi: Slave Chorus from Nabucco (Choeur de la Radio Suisse Romande, Choeur Pro Arte de Lausanne d'André Charlet, Orch. Phil. de Monte Carlo, Lorin Maazel); Wagner: Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger (Cleveland Orch., Szell); Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Overture (Israel Phil., Zubin Mehta); Kodály: Kozjatek / Intermezzo from Háry János Suite (Toni Koves-Steiner, cimbalom, Cleveland Orch., Szell); Sibelius: Finlandia (Swedish Radio Symphony, Esa-Pekka Salonen); Copland: "Hoe-Down" (New York Phil., Leonard Bernstein); Ives: "The Fourth of July" (Fred Spector, jew's harp, Chicago Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas).
Released in 1999, newly added to our collection. Our thanks to the anonymous donor!

Roy Acuff Sings the Songs of Hank Williams

CML call number: CD/COUNTRY/Acuff
Contents: Your Cheatin' Heart, Jambalaya (On the Bayou), Hey Good Lookin', Take These Chains from My Heart, Cold Cold Heart, I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You), Lonesome Whistle, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight, You Win Again.
Robert Shelton and Burt Goldblatt wrote in The Country Music Story (1966; 784.4/Sh): "About the closest thing to a father-figure in country music is a thin, wispy man with a warm smile, a deeply lined face, and a yo-yo which he plays with on stage. If something good happens for country music in Nashville, more than a handful of musicians might remark, 'Roy would like that' or 'That would please Roy.' The Roy invoked is Roy Acuff, who bears his title of 'The King of Country Music' with a humility rare to most royalty. Since 1938, Acuff has held a peculiar position of eminence in this field, conditioned by his perennial popularity with audiences as much as by the kindly concern he shows toward most everyone in the field, as if they were his children. Acuff is a millionaire several times over. He has been performer, song writer, band leader, publisher. …" (p. 79).