Hahahahahhaha....blue wrote:First thoughts - 14 tracks not 244 as per the last few records
I was amazed as well, but then .... she is a classically trained musician, and this does appear to be a chamber music record. There's no indication at all that there's any sort of amplified instrument on it, not even the other keyboards that she would normally use on her albums. It's a bona fide chamber affair.sound world wrote:She's on DG?!??
Stone the crows, when did they start lowering their sights? Very strange, considering DG is just the classical imprint of Polydor, and there must be thousands of other labels that they could have put her on. I wonder why?
Is she going to get the famous yellow strapline, then?
I seem to recall you quite liked The Beekeeper, although perhaps that's changed? You didn't miss a lot by not getting the next two, although both contain tracks I really like. You should check out Midwinter Graces though, something of a return of 'old Tori' and a really lovely seasonal album.Angie wrote:Hahahahahhaha....blue wrote:First thoughts - 14 tracks not 244 as per the last few records
Honestly, I have not bought a Tori album since, uh, the one after Scarlet's Walk. But from the little bit I've hear about this one I'm very interested!
I've never heard of Hayley thingy; maybe just as well. But I do note this kind of weird phenomenon of a kind of alternative world of 'classical' music, the Russell Watsons and Katherine Jenkins etc, who seem to have a massive following but have nothing to do with a whole other section of the normal classical world. Strange. Katherine Jenkins is kind of pretty, but her voice is nowt special. I suppose it's a bit like Kenny G's relationship to jazz .blue wrote:
Incidentally Dave, I think the classical music labels started 'lowering their sights' when they began churning out all that crossover dross, Hayley Westenra et al and those groups of goodlooking young men singing banal arrangements of 'classical' choons for elderly ladies to feel a bit frisky over. That's been going on for years.
Oh I agree, I'm just surprised that DG even contemplate people in the 'popular' world. They used to be so stuffy; they had a branch devoted to contemporary music, but mainly Second Viennese School, otherwise they were like Viennese audiences, never daring to go beyond Brahms or at the very most, Mahler and Sibelius.blue wrote: Tori is NOT of that ilk, whatever you may think of her music. Neither is Elvis Costello, who has also released an album on DG with the Brodsky Quartet. Personally I don't think DG is lowering their sights by getting involved with projects by musicians of that calibre.
Yeah, that's another whole stratum of the crossover thing, I think - it's amazing the market there is for that stuff, I guess it's inevitable that even big classical labels would go in for it given the money to be made. And that money is probably subsidising the serious stuff, so ..... I guess it's a necessary evil.sound world wrote:
I've never heard of Hayley thingy; maybe just as well. But I do note this kind of weird phenomenon of a kind of alternative world of 'classical' music, the Russell Watsons and Katherine Jenkins etc, who seem to have a massive following but have nothing to do with a whole other section of the normal classical world. Strange. Katherine Jenkins is kind of pretty, but her voice is nowt special. I suppose it's a bit like Kenny G's relationship to jazz .
Ok, got you - well I think DG has been changing for a good few years now, it started with some of their 'serious' artists releasing CDs of lighter work which obviously went down well, so they've been becoming less stuffy for a while. That said, I'm assuming they wouldn't get involved with just any pop or rock musician for the sake of it (or for financial reasons). They presumably recognise that people like Tori and Elvis Costello are a different breed. In Tori's case she's a Conservatoire trained pianist so she has a provenance if you like, she started off in the world of classical music.sound world wrote:Oh I agree, I'm just surprised that DG even contemplate people in the 'popular' world. They used to be so stuffy; they had a branch devoted to contemporary music, but mainly Second Viennese School, otherwise they were like Viennese audiences, never daring to go beyond Brahms or at the very most, Mahler and Sibelius.
Costello has done some really interesting collaborations over the years. The album he did with the Brodsky Quartet was The Juliet Letters, worth checking out if you haven't heard it.sound world wrote:The best album I heard last year was a collaboration between Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach, quality. It was made in 1999 but I only heard it last year.
The first thing that popped into my head when I read this was, "Did Erik call, by the way?" Is that from a b-side? I'm sure it's not too obscure for you, anyway.blue wrote:I guess Satie's piano music was probably a given
I know it referenced her boyfriend at the time, but my two years of majoring in music ed hasn't completely gone away. I remember really liking Satie, but overall I know next to nothing about classical music. Still, this new album is so intriguing.Uh, I barely remember a thing from it! Except for hating the song about ribbons! Scarlet's Walk OTOH really grew on me eventually, and part of me wishes I had kept up with her. I saw her on her last tour and it was awesome, but I was a little sad that I didn't know every single word to every single song anymore.blue wrote:I seem to recall you quite liked The Beekeeper, although perhaps that's changed?
Yes, it's from 'Black Swan', one of the UTP b-sides, a lovely solo piano song which for me has a definite Scriabin influence - I often think Tori and Scriabin have a lot in common as musical personalities. Both gifted, away with pixies and full of their own self-importance to the point where it borders on parody.Angie wrote:
The first thing that popped into my head when I read this was, "Did Erik call, by the way?" Is that from a b-side? I'm sure it's not too obscure for you, anyway.
I love the Gnossiennes and Gymnopedies, but a lot of Satie's piano music is too abstract for me. I'm intrigued to know which piece she's drawn from.angie wrote: I remember really liking Satie, but overall I know next to nothing about classical music. Still, this new album is so intriguing.
Ah well that's more than I did Angie, I didn't bother with the last tour because her live vocals seemed to have gone downhill a lot since '05. That said, some dates on the last tour she really seemed to come back to something like her old self and I kind of regretted not seeing her in London. You obviously got her on a good night.angie wrote: I saw her on her last tour and it was awesome, but I was a little sad that I didn't know every single word to every single song anymore.
