Stories » The playing on Avi Avital's new J.S Bach album is outstanding / CD HotList

Stories for November 26, 2020

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    Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax perform 'Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major' for 'The New Yorker Radio Hour'
     
    Posted At : November 26, 2020 12:00 AM

    Between the two of them, Jerry Seinfeld and Steve Martin have nearly a century of experience in the delicate art of telling jokes. In a conversation with Susan Morrison during the 2020 New Yorker Festival, they discussed their long careers, learning how to adjust to new cultural forces, and the process of aging. Plus, Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax perform a piece of music that they have both been playing for more than forty years: Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major. "This is such open, hopeful music," Ax said. Yet Beethoven signed one manuscript of the music, "amid tears and sorrow." "I thought this was a good piece for this moment," Ma told The New Yorker's music critic Alex Ross. "Because people are suffering, and we do think that music can give comfort." LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

  • Robin Spielberg's 'Re-Inventions' racking up big #'s on Amazon, Spotify & Pandora
     
    Posted At : November 26, 2020 12:00 AM

    Created during the pandemic, Robin Spielberg reached into her treasure trove of music and discovered long lost friends--classical piano scores that always offered her comfort, companionship and piece. On RE-INVENTIONS, Spielberg presents celebrated composers of the past often held soirees where they concocted new ways to play one another's pieces. Mozart himself said that he strove to never play his pieces the same way twice.On this collection of 15 great masterworks, Robin honors the spirit of the great masters by re-inventing and re-imagining their works on an 1898 Steinway. Composers include: Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, Rubinstein and more. The project is racking up big numbers with a #1 on Amazon Hot New Releases in New Age Relaxation category, Spotify monthly listeners jumping to 247k, Pandora Streams hitting 203 million, and the initial lead track 'Skater's Waltz' now up to 24,300 listens on Spotify.

  • Take some Time Out to celebrate 100 years of Dave Brubeck with 90.1WRTI
     
    Posted At : November 25, 2020 12:00 AM

    It was 1959-a pivotal year for jazz as a whole, but for Dave Brubeck it was utterly life changing. After years of college tours he had a smash hit album, Time Out, with his quartet and has been a household name ever since. Join us starting on Monday, November 30th for a week-long celebration of the centennial anniversary of the birth of Dave Brubeck. We'll have special programming leading up to his birthday on Sunday, December 6th. During jazz hours, we'll bring you the music of Brubeck through the years, including collaborations and live recordings. You'll also hear selections from our Jazz Album of the Week, which is a never-before released set of music from the Time Out sessions, called Time Out Takes. Our hosts will also present different interpretations of the music of Brubeck and his quartet. Our Classical Album of the Week, Sharon Isbin's Affinity, connects with Brubeck as well. The title track is a guitar concerto composed by Chris Brubeck. It has a slow movement that orchestrates his father's song "Autumn." Sharon says this tribute to Dave Brubeck, "forms the heart and soul of the piece, surrounded by all of these wonderful virtuosic Middle Eastern and jazz, and waltz-like elements…" You will hear selections from Affinity during classical shifts throughout the week. You'll also get to see and hear from members of our jazz department with their favorite Dave Bruebeck tunes and why they love them so much.   GETTY IMAGES/METRONOME READ THE FULL WRTI: Philadelphia ARTICLE

  • Chloe Flower sits down with Celeb Secrets to discuss 'Carol of the Bells' cover for the holiday season
     
    Posted At : November 25, 2020 12:00 AM

    Chloe Flower is ready for the holidays! The dynamic pianist, producer and activist just dropped the music video for her eloquent twist on the ultimate holiday classic "Carol of the Bells" and we can't get enough of it. Once again teaming up with Asian-American female director Deb Tam who shot the music video on film, "Carol of the Bells" delivers a cinematic visual that evokes old Hollywood glamour as it switches from black-and-white to color vignettes.  Taking place in the iconic Grand Prospect Hall in Brooklyn with Great Gatsby glee and high-fashion elegance, Chloe performs with palpable passion at a Steinway & Sons piano as a choir carries the heavenly chorus and ballroom dancers joyfully launch stunning routines.  "I think the part where I dance is my favorite memory because of how scary it was for me.  Every dancer on set was INCREDIBLE, so I felt embarrassed dancing in front of them.  But there was no time to think about it, so I just went into Chloeyonce mode and got it done,"  READ THE Celeb Secrets Q&A & WATCH THE VIDEO

  • Ilan Eshkeri creates original score for BBC One - natural history series 'A Perfect Planet' / About Manchester
     
    Posted At : November 24, 2020 12:00 AM

    Sir David Attenborough's distinctive voice and an original score by award-winning composer Ilan Eshkeri feature in a new four-minute prequel, set against breath-taking scenery from the forthcoming new BBC One blue chip natural history series A Perfect Planet. The ‘sneak peek' prequel will be released globally on TV, social and digital platforms on 23 November at 2pm GMT ahead of the series, which will premiere next year around the world. This brand new series explores the great forces of nature that support, drive and enable life on earth. The first four episodes explore the power of volcanoes, sunlight, weather and oceans. The final episode in the series looks at the dramatic impact of the world's newest force of nature: humans – and what can be done to restore our planet's perfect balance. Award-winning composer Ilan Eshkeri created the music for A Perfect Planet, joining the ranks of Hans Zimmer and Steven Price who have previously created scores for other BBC natural history landmarks. Eshkeri's body of work includes collaborations with Annie Lennox, David Gilmour, Sinead O'Connor and KT Tunstall. Commenting on the project, Eshkeri said: "Creating the music for A Perfect Planet has been a hugely rewarding experience. The series celebrates the extraordinary world we are a part of as well as showing the delicate balance of the systems that support life, and what we need to do to ensure its future stability. It's a message that's very important to me and one that I believe we have a responsibility to engage with – in a way that not only educates but inspires the next generation. This influenced my approach to the music, and set me on an unconventional path. Composing the music for A Perfect Planet has also been enormously challenging – not least because of the unprecedented logistical issues of trying to record an orchestra during the lockdown! I'm grateful to everyone at the BBC and Silverback who supported me and the ideas I threw at them and I hope my music can play a small part in helping to inspire change." READ THE FULL About Manchester ARTICLE

  • KCRW - Rhythm Planet: Autumn Harvest features; The Kanneh-Masons, Ofra Harnoy, and the new Yo-Yo Ma - Kathryn Stott album
     
    Posted At : November 24, 2020 12:00 AM

    This week, we sample a new crop of recent releases along with a few classic sides mixed in. A few new albums starring the cello make the playlist – there's a cello version of Bob Marley's classic "Redemption Song" from the talented family group The Kanneh-Masons; "She's Like the Swallow" from Ofra Harnoy's new album On the Rock; and Yo-Yo Ma's new version of "Over the Rainbow" recorded with pianist Kathryn Stott. SEE THE 89.9KCRW - LOS ANGELES 'Rhythm Planet' PAGE

  • Listen to Bettye LaVette on the Talkhouse Podcast
     
    Posted At : November 24, 2020 12:00 AM

    The soul legend and the indie wunderkind talk releasing music during the pandemic, privilege in the industry, and making Pete Townshend cry. On this week's show, we pair in conversation the artists behind two of 2020's best albums: soul and blues legend Bettye LaVette and indie wunderkind Phoebe Bridgers. Though separated by five decades in age, when the two met backstage at a Tibet House US benefit at Carnegie Hall earlier this year, they immediately developed a mutual friend crush. Now that we've gotten them reconnected here, it appears something very dope is on the horizon… but more on that in the talk! Their warm, freewheeling convo takes in a lot, including: a wonderful overview of a career Bettye calls "tenuous at best"; the unexpected benefits of promoting a new album during the pandemic; and privilege in the music industry. We also get to hear about making Pete Townshend cry, quirky Little Stevie Wonder, and learn the answer to Bettye's query "What is a Princess Nokia?"  (Photo Credit: left, Frank Ockenfels; right, Carol Friedman; Edited by: Keenan Kush) Phoebe Bridgers Talks with Bettye LaVette on the Talkhouse Podcast. LISTEN

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The playing on Avi Avital's new J.S Bach album is outstanding / CD HotList

Posted: May 6, 2019 12:00 AM | By: Admin
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The mandolin has never gotten the respect it deserves in the context of classical music; these days in Europe it's most commonly associated with syrupy Neapolitan love songs, and in the US it's most widely known as a bluegrass instrument. But the repertoire of classical music featuring the mandolin is, if not vast, at least considerable, and one of the most notable composers to have used that instrument as a solo vehicle is Antonio Vivaldi, two of whose concerti (along with one trio sonata) are presented on this album by Julien Martineau. As lovely as these pieces are, though, what's really striking on his album are the more contemporary mandolin concertos of Raffaele Calace (written in 1925) and another by the relatively obscure baroque composer Domenico Caudioso. The Bach album is a very different sort of program. This one consists of concertos, a sonata, a partita, and a suite all originally written for different instruments and presented here in arrangements (by Avital himself) for mandolin as the solo instrument. The package is actually a reissue of an album originally issued in 2012, augmented by significant bonus material including a DVD of Avital playing two of the pieces from the original album with a different ensemble. The playing on both of these albums is outstanding, and the tonal contrast between the two instruments is worth noting–Martineau's mandolin is brighter and more silvery, whereas Avital's has a darker and woodier tone. Both releases are highly recommended to all libraries.

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Crossover Media Projects with Avi Avital

  • Avi Avital

    Art of the Mandolin

    Backed by years of study and critically acclaimed performances, Avi Avital's latest album for Deutsche Grammophon presents a survey of the finest works ever written for mandolin. The pioneering Israeli musician's first full recording of original compositions for his instrument reflects the quality and breadth of its classical repertoire. Art of the Mandolin, released today internationally, also charts the artistic journey of a performer whose inspired new commissions and arrangements of virtuoso works have introduced the solo mandolin to the world's leading concert halls.

    Art of the Mandolin, on which Avital is joined by the Venice Baroque Orchestra, harpist Anneleen Lenaerts, guitarist Sean Shibe, harpsichordist Yizhar Karshon and theorbo player Ophira Zakai, includes a concerto by Vivaldi, a sonata by Domenico Scarlatti, Beethoven's exquisite yet little-known Adagio ma non troppo for mandolin and harpsichord (or harp), and more recent chamber and solo works by Paul Ben-Haim, Hans Werner Henze, Giovanni Sollima and David Bruce. The programme not only reveals the versatility of this instrument but allows glimpses of its fascinating history over the last three centuries. Avital has specifically chosen music by composers not known for their mandolin works: "I wanted to explore what the instrument meant, and means, in the wider world – to composers who are, as it were, coming to it from the outside rather than the inside." 

  • Avi Avital

    J.S. Bach

    Deutsche Grammophon presents the extended, limited edition of Avi Avital's "spellbinding" (Newark Star-Ledger) DG debut, Bach. The album features several tracks of newly recorded Bach, all arranged by Avital for the mandolin, including the famous Prélude from Cello Suite No. 1, BWV 1007.

  • Avi Avital

    Vivaldi

    The GRAMMY-nominated Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital has been praised as a both an "enthralling and sensitive soloist" (Boston Globe) and a "convincing advocate for his instrument" (Wall Street Journal).  As the first mandolinist signed to Deutsche Grammophon, he has brought the instrument to entirely new audiences, building a fresh legacy for the mandolin through virtuosic performance and a commitment to commissioning new works and arrangements in a range of genres. Avital has now released - Vivaldi, his third album on DG that returns the instrument to its origins-the Venetian Baroque and master composer Antonio Vivaldi. On this CD Avital captures the mystical spirit of Venice, shedding new light on Vivaldi's musical genius by performing his own transcriptions of the composer's works. He is joined on the album by the Venice Baroque Orchestra on this, the ensemble's twelfth recording on Deutsche Grammophon. Avital and the VBO are also about to embark on a major North American tour this spring, stopping in Southern California, Miami, Boston and Carnegie Hall as well as Calgary and Montreal.

    16 New 'ON'  116 TOTAL
    SYND:     Classical 24, Classical Guitar Alive, Sunday Baroque, CBC
    Direct: SiriusXM, Music Choice, MOOD, Spafax
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Cleveland, Houston, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Denver, Portland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Detroit, Austin, Memphis, Albuquerque, Louisville, Buffalo, Honolulu, Canada
    Online: ClassicallyHip, Tainradio

  • Avi Avital

    Between Worlds

    Reflecting a blend of genres, Between Worlds is Grammy-nominated mandolin player Avi Avital's second album for Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music Classics, slated for release on January 14, 2014.  Avital embraces both improvisational and traditional music with this new record, combining elements of classical and traditional folk resulting in a rich and adventurous musical journey. 

    25 New 'ON'  77 TOTAL
    SYND:     PRI/Classical 24, The Romantic Hours
    Direct: SiriusXM, Music Choice, MOOD
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Denver, Portland, Baltimore, Portland, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Austin, Memphis, Madison WI, Buffalo, Louisville, Columbus OH, Honolulu
    Online: RadioIO, Taintradio, MusiClassical, WGOE