Amaryllis

Amaryllis

ASIN: B00005A7CY

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Three-way streets aren't often as alluring as Amaryllis, on which pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Paul Motian intersperse pieces freely improvised in the studio with original compositions from their illustrious pasts. Following up Nothing Ever Was, Anyway, their revelatory album of Annette Peacock compositions, they continue to spring surprises with their heady romanticism and stylistic escapism. Crispell, who built her reputation as a fire-bringing follower of Cecil Taylor and bandmate of Anthony Braxton, here places beauty before complexity, sculpting elliptical ballads and folk-dance-style tunes into shimmering meditations. Even during its quietest moments, the music is rhythmically alive, propelled by Peacock's seductive pulse and Motian's ever-active, airily aggressive strokes. The album, named after a rare flower, flags a bit around the halfway point, but quickly rallies. This is lovely, stirring, enrapturing music, performed by artists having one of the best conversations of their lives. --Lloyd Sachs

Customer Reviews:

Great Sampler of O'Dette's Virtuoso Performances.......2005-11-22

'Ancient Airs and Dances' performed by Paul O'Dette on lutes and guitar, accompanyied by vocals from tenor Rogers Covey-Crump, violinist, John Holloway, lutist, Nigel North, and base viol player Christel Thielmann has all the qualities I like in medieval performances, with the bonus that even I, who has virtually no real training in either stringed instruments or ancient music can appreciate the skill with which these pieces, many by an anonymous composer, are performed.

I would probably not have bought this CD if it were not for the combination of artist O'Dette's reputation plus the recording label, Hyperion, whose relatively pricy works are always superior, especially for performances involving a small ensemble.

I usually listen to all music simply for the visceral punch, or in an attempt to educate my viscera to get more punch from an unfamiliar style of music.

While this recording does not leave my viscera unengaged, it is outstanding in the sense that it successfully involves my higher cognitive functions, which Mick and Keith rarely reach.

Very highly recommended as a sample of old music.

Average customer rating:

Flora Gave Me Fairest Flowers

Manufacturer: Collegium
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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There Is Sweet Music: English Choral Songs, 1890 - 1950
Cambridge Singers a Capella
All At Once Well Met: English Madrigals; The King's Singers
English and Italian Renaissance Madrigals
Beyond Chant: Mysteries Of The Renaissance

ASIN: B0000952VP
Release Date: 2003-08-01

Tracks:

Thomas WEELKES: Hark, all ye lovely saints above
William BYRD: Though Amaryllis dance in green
John BENNET: Round about in a fair ring
Thomas TOMKINS: Adieu, ye city-prisoning towers
Thomas WILBYE: Flora gave me fairest flowers
Thomas VAUTOR: Sweet Suffolk owl
Thomas WEELKES: As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending
William BYRD: Lullaby
William BYRD: This sweet and merry month of May
Thomas MORLEY: Now is the month of maying
John FARMER: A little pretty bonny lass
Thomas MORELY: Fyer, fyer!
Thomas TOMKINS: Too much I once lamented
Thomas MORLEY: My bonny lass she smileth
Thomas WEELKES: Ha ha! this world doth pass
Michael EAST: Quick, quick, away, dispatch
Orlando GIBBONS: Dainty fine bird
John DOWLAND: Come again! Sweet love doth now invite
Thomas VAUTOR: Mother, I will have a husband
Thomas WILBYE: Draw on, sweet night
Robert RAMSEY: Sleep, fleshly birth
Thomas WILBYE: Weep, weep, mine eyes
Thomas WEELKES: Death hath deprived me
Orlando GIBBONS: The silver swan
Thomas WILBYE: Adieu, sweet Amaryllis

Album Description

"an absolute joy" - Music and Musicians Hi-Fi News and Record Review Record of the Month The sixteenth-century madrigal was an Italian form. The term `madrigal' was loosely applied to a wide variety of music, but generally denoted a polyphonic setting for four or more voices of an amorous or pastoral text which was closely depicted in the music. Thomas Morely transplanted the form into England in the 1590s; this marked the beginning of the brief but brilliant flowering of the English madrigal. Between the 1590s and the early 1620s, twenty composers published a total of 36 books of madrigals, after which the form virtually disappeared. Some of these composers, such as Morely and Weelkes, followed the Italian model closely; others, such as Byrd and Gibbons, mostly stayed with the simpler English form of the consort song, where the tune remains in one voice, word-painting is not used, and strophic form is preferred to the continuous structure of the madrigal proper. Among the twenty-one items selected for this recording there are examples of several types of piece,! ranging from true Italianate madrigals such as Too much I once lamented, via more popular `balletts' such as Fyer, fyer!, to the simple part-songs like A little pretty bonny lass. The variety, imagination, and inspired blending of poetry and music characteristic of the best of the `English Madrigal School' afford a particular kind of delight in performance, shared equally by singer and listener

Average customer rating:

Fairest voice for Fairest Isle
Exquisite taste
Miraculous
Splendid Music from a Splendid Singer
Crystalline delight!

Barbara Bonney - Fairest Isle
Barbara Bonney , Christopher Hogwood , and The Academy of Ancient Music
Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Radiant Voice of Barbara Bonney
Exultate, Jubilate
Mozart: Lieder
Songs by Robert & Clara Schumann
Mendelssohn: Lieder

ASIN: B000055XGE
Release Date: 2001-03-13

Tracks:

Come Again: Sweet Love Doth Now Invite
If My Complaints Could Passions Move
Away With These Self-loving Lads
Flow My Tears
Never Weather-beaten Saile
The Sypres Curten Of The Night
It Was A Lover And His Lasse
O Lord, How Vain Are All Frail Delights
Fantasy No.9
Though Amaryllis Dance In Green
If Music Be The Food Of Love
Abdelazer: Air
Abdelazer: Air
The Plaint: O, Let Me Weep
Fairest Isle
She Loves And She Confesses Too
They Hand, Belinda...When I Am Laid In Earth

Amazon.com

Away from the clamor of grand opera and soaring symphonies, Fairest Isle takes us into the quiet, intimate world of English Elizabethan song, and you could hope for no better guide than Barbara Bonney. Her clear, beautifully rounded voice is superbly controlled, making light of a masterful technique; if you want to hear art concealing art, look no further. This is intensely private music, in a program that cleverly sidesteps any risk of listener fatigue by starting with lute accompaniment (infinitely tender playing by Jacob Heringman), moving on to a viol quartet, then finally to the richer sound of the Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood. Leavening the mix are three instrumental interludes. The title piece is a blithe, dancelike song. Better known are some of the classics of English song: Dowland's "Come again" and "Flow, my tears," Morley's "It was a lover and his lass," and Purcell's "If music be the food of love" and "When I am laid in earth," a heart-in-mouth performance that makes time stand still. --Keith Clarke

Customer Reviews:

Fairest voice for Fairest Isle.......2006-07-27

I adore Purcell's songs, and possess many fine recordings of them. I perform them myself and enjoy the experience each and every time. When I listen to a new recording of Purcell songs, then, my expectations are both high and informed.

Barbara Bonney is simply a delight. Her voice on this album is almost incandescent with beauty. She sings with elegant simplicity that contains a great deal of art (the hardest sort of simplicity in the world to convey!). Her tone is pure, limpid as a stream, as delicately and beautifully wielded as a prism irradiating a cavern with colour.

Her vocal colour needs no introduction. Ms Bonney is widely known as "The Radiant Voice", following on from one of her album titles - and it's extremely apposite. She is radiant indeed, and her technique is beautifully sure.

Only in one track was I disappointed - the last track on the CD. "Thy hand, Belinda" seemed to me to have been approached with a more consciously dramatic style in mind, and it results in a couple of vowel distortions and a not quite convincing performance. Yet the voice itself is consistently beautiful, and I have no hesitation in giving this a 5-star rating.

Beautiful. Listen to this while you're stuck in traffic, and you are certain to feel your tension melt away at the sheer loveliness of the singing...

Exquisite taste.......2006-01-02

Barbara Bonney is one of today's most underrated singers. Her voice is always clear, true, and thrilling. She is certainly capable of vocal fireworks, yet she has the artistry and respect for musical period to know when such displays are, and are not, appropriate. In "Fairest Isle", she demonstrates her hallmark excellent taste in approach and choice of material. Too often, these lovely, gentle songs are assigned as exercises for beginning singers, and are then quickly relegated to the dust bin when the singers turn professional and are only interested in the biggest, flashiest operatic parts they can find. Ms. Bonney doesn't fall in that trap. She certainly is capable of bright vocal fire, yet she is artist enough to know gentle understatement can resonate emotionally with the listener long after the flash has faded.I must also say something about Ms. Bonney's beautifully clear diction. Her English is always understandable and perfectly presented, as opposed to Renee Fleming's, which seems to get muddier and more mannered with each successive recording. "Fairest Isle" is highly recommended!

Miraculous.......2004-10-28

I have had this CD for about 3 years, and it instantly became one of my most treasured. I never tire of listening to it.

I am now listening to it yet again, and am constantly astounded at the utter beauty, refined simplicity, and just perfect taste of Bonney's voice.
Her diction, her natural way of singing and letting the emotions melt in her mouth, her articulation always brilliant, round, glowing, 3-dimensional, her timing and instinct perfect.

And the songs... a wonderful collection of love, philosophical, and devotional pieces. All beautiful and universal.

The instrumental accompaniments are graceful, colorful (each in their own hue), and a dignified match for Bonney's musical stature.

I particularly liked "Come Again", "Never Weather-beaten Saile", "Fairest Isle", Dido's lament, and "She loves me and she confesses too". But all tracks are very good.

I own a large collection of "classical" (I hate that word) and early music, as well as opera, lied, vocal, etc.
I am very particular about what I listen to.
This CD is still one of my most cherished... intimate and very refined.

You could say that Keats was right when he wrote "Truth is beauty, beauty truth..."
Bonney's rendition of these songs is beautiful because it is honest and true... and vice-versa.

ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED.

Splendid Music from a Splendid Singer.......2004-01-28

Like most classical music junkies I have my share of "early music" from the 15th and 16th centuries. When I saw that Hogwood and his terrific band from the Academy of Ancient Music were coming out with an Elizabethan selection I expected something interesting, a little exotic and a good listen. (Purcell fans will know what I'm getting at.) Wrong. What struck me is how completely accessible these songs are. All were composed and published and should not be considered "folk" music in a formal sense I suppose. But as performed by the extremely talented Ms. Bonney, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was listening to early Joan Baez singing something like "Tender Maidens." These songs aren't interesting - they're beautiful. This is a terrific alblum.

Crystalline delight!.......2003-08-16

Barbara Bonney has a voice of exquisite beauty. These lovely Elizabethan love songs fit her instrument to the tee! It is too bad that another listener had to give this CD only one star because he considers these 16th century art songs to be "long hair". They were and are nothing of the sort, they are merely very "old fashioned love songs". "Come Again Sweet Love..." is a wonderful sample of this music. I could listen to it day and night.

Average customer rating:

Wonderful
Terrific recording
Christa in her prime
Christa Ludwig is in great shape

Christa Ludwig - Les Introuvables
Johannes Brahms , Gustav Mahler , Robert Schumann , Max Reger , Franz Schubert , Hugo Wolf , Richard Strauss , Maurice Ravel , Camille Saint-Saens , Sergey Rachmaninov , Gioachino Rossini , Richard Wagner , George Frideric Handel , Johann Sebastian Bach , London Philharmonia Orchestra , Berlin Symphony Orchestra , Otto Klemperer , Horst Stein , Karl Forster , Christa Ludwig , Gerald Moore , Geoffrey Parsons , Herbert Downes , Amaryllis Fleming , Douglas Whittaker , Alexander Pushkin , and Mathilde Wesendonk
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Very Best of Christa Ludwig

ASIN: B000002S2Z
Release Date: 1992-04-14

Tracks:

Sapphische Ode, Op. 94 Nr. 4
Liebestreu, Op. 3 Nr. 1
Der Schmied, Op. 19 Nr. 4
Die Mainacht, Op. 43 Nr. 2
8 Zigeunerlieder (d'apres les quatuors vocaux Op. 103): He, Zigeuner
8 Zigeunerlieder (d'apres les quatuors vocaux Op. 103): Hochgeturmte Rimaflut
8 Zigeunerlieder (d'apres les quatuors vocaux Op. 103): Wisst ihr, wann mein Kindchen
8 Zigeunerlieder (d'apres les quatuors vocaux Op. 103): Lieber Gott, du weisst
8 Zigeunerlieder (d'apres les quatuors vocaux Op. 103): Brauner Bursche
8 Zigeunerlieder (d'apres les quatuors vocaux Op. 103): Roslein dreie
8 Zigeunerlieder (d'apres les quatuors vocaux Op. 103): Kommt dir manchmal in den Sinn
8 Zigeunerlieder (d'apres les quatuors vocaux Op. 103): Rote Abendwolken ziehn
2 deutsche Volkslieder: Och mod'r, ich well en Ding han!
2 deutsche Volkslieder: We kumm ich dann de Pooz erenn?
Dein blaues Auge, Op. 59 Nr. 8
Von ewiger Liebe, Op. 43 Nr. 1
Das Madchen spricht, Op. 107 Nr. 3
O wusst ich doch, Op. 63 Nr. 8
Wie Melodien zieht es mir, Op. 105 Nr. 1
Madchenlied, Op. 107 Nr. 5
Vergebliches Standchen
Der Tod, das ist die kuhle Nacht, Op. 96 Nr. 1
Auf dem See, Op. 59 Nr. 2
Feldeinsamkeit, Op. 86 Nr. 2
In stiller Nacht ('Deutsche Volkslieder' Nr. 42)
Schwesterlien ('Deutsche Volkslieder', Nr. 15)
Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer, Op. 105 Nr. 2
Standchen, Op. 106 Nr. 1
Gestillte Sehnsucht, Op. 91 Nr. 2
Geistilches Wiegenlied, Op. 91 Nr. 2

Tracks:

Ich ging mit Lust durch einen grunen Wald ('Des Knaben Wunderhorn')
Hans und Grete
Fruhlingsmoren
Wo die schonen Trompeten blasen ('Des Knaben Wunderhorn')
Der Schildwache Nachtlied ('Des Knaben Wunderhorn')
Um schlimme Kinder ('Des Knaben Wunderhorn')
Ich atmet' einen linden Duft
Liebst du um Schonheit
Um Mitternacht
Das irdische Leben ('Des Knaben Wunderhorn')
Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht ('Des Knaben Wunderhorn')
Lob des hohen Verstandes ('Des Knaben Wunderhorn')
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt ('Des Knaben Wunderhorn')
Rheinlegendchen ('Des Knaben Wunderhorn')
Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42: Seit ich ihn gesehen
Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42: Er, der Herrlichste von allen
Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42: Ich kann's nicht fassen
Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42: Du Ring, an meinem Finger
Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42: Helft mir, ihr Schwestern
Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42: Susser Freund, du blickest
Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42: An meinem Herzen
Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42: Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan
Der Brief, Op. 76 No. 8
Waldeinsamkeit, Op. 76 No. 3

Tracks:

Die Allmacht, D. 852
Fischerweise, D. 881
An die Musik, D. 547
Der Musensohn, D. 764
Ganymed, D. 544
Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D. 774
Ave Maria, D. 839
Die Forelle, D. 550
Gretchen am Spinnrade, D. 118
Fruhlingsglaube, D. 686
Der Tod und das Madchen, D. 531
Lachen und Weinen, D. 777
Litanel auf das Fest 'Aller Seelen', D. 343
Erikonig, D. 328
Der Hirt auf dem Feisen, D. 965
Gesang Weylas
Auf einer Wanderung
Die Nacht, Op. 10 Nr. 3
Allerseelen, Op. 10 Nr. 8
Schlechtes Wetter, Op. 69 Nr. 5

Tracks:

3 Chansons madecasses: Nahandove
3 Chansons madecasses: Aoua! Aoua!
3 Chansons madecasses: Il est doux
Une flute invisible
Chanson georgienne: 'Oh! cesse de chanteer, gentille jeune fille,' Op. 4 No. 4
'Moisson de tristesse'
La regata veneziana: 3 canzonettas en dialecte ventien: Anzoleta avanti la regata
La regata veneziana: 3 canzonettas en dialecte ventien: Anzoleta co passa la regata
La regata veneziana: 3 canzonettas en dialecte ventien: Anzoleta dopo la regata
Wesendonk-Lieder: Der Engel
Wesendonk-Lieder: Stehe still!
Wesendonk-Lieder: Im Treibhaus
Wesendonk-Lieder: Schmerzen
Wesendonk-Lieder: Traume
Julius Caesar: Acte I: 'Es blaut die Nacht' (Cleopatra)
Johannes-Passion, BWV 245: Nr. 58 - Aria: 'Es ist volbracht!'
Tristan und Isolde: III Akt: 'Mild und leise (Isoldes Liebestod)

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful.......2003-07-20

This is a wonderful set. I would like to correct an error below. The climax in the Liebestod is a high A flat not high C. But you have to cut through the dense orchestration. That's why it's hard.

Terrific recording.......2003-07-06

I write this as s service to Christa Ludwig fans. This is a set of Lieder. Christa Ludwig is fabulous - as usual.

But if you want to hear Christa ludwig in a set of operatic recitals that will knock of your socks and blow you to bits. Look for this CD called "Celebrating Christa Ludwig". It has Christa Ludwig singing excerpts from Elektra (as Elektra!!!), Ariadne auf Maxos (as Ariadne!!), Die Frau Ohne Schatten (as the Dyer's Wife), Barber of Serville (as rosina) and the Immolation Scene of Gotterdammerung (as Brunnhilde!!!). She will blow you to bits with her unmatchable dramatic sense, vocal power and beauty of tone - the greatest Brunnhilde that never was and the greatest Elektra that never was. She did sing Ariadne once in Salzburg in 1964, and she sang the Dyer's Wife for 10 years from 1964 (Vienna State Opera) to 1974 (Salzburg Festival). Her complete Ariadne is available under Myto records.

Christa in her prime.......2001-09-19

Being an admirerer of Christa Ludwig, I went into purchasing this recording with great expectations, and it did not disappoint in any way. Ludwig is in her prime and is heard in wonderful interpretations and beautiful singing from among several composers and works. I not only enjoy listening to her personally, but am also able to put it to great use use in my Vocal Literature class here at the college in which I teach.

Christa Ludwig is in great shape.......2000-04-15

She sang all the major mezzo roles, and also some in the dramatic soprano repertory, notably Leonora in Fidelio, Lady Macbeth and the Marschallin.

Her voice is a rich, expressive mezzo capable of dramatic incisiveness and even throughout its considerable range. Her upper register in mezzo music is excintingly projected.

Although this compilation is composed of different recordings in different settings in different years, all of them show a young Ludwig when she had not yet acquired her prime and her status of, arguably, the best mezzo of the world, which would arrive in the years to come.

Ludwig, thirteen years Schwarzkopf's junior, was also a member of the legendary Ensamble of Berlin, which meant that each appearance of hers in any opera produced in Berlin, Munich, Vienna, London, Paris....by this Ensamble was backed by many hours of rehearsals with the same group of musicians. Usually this group comprised Schwarzkopf, Grümmer, Seefried, Berger, Güeden, Dermota, Tauber, and of course Furtwängler. This is how the legendary recording of COSI FAN TUTTE was made, in which she shared credits with Schwarzkopf.

Disc one is devoted to Brahms -not less than 30 Lieder are here. She doesn't sing Brahms with intimacy, rather she attacks each song with open throat. Her diction, her care for words is now proverbial. My favorite Lied in this disc is In stiller Nacht. She sets the melancholic mood of the song with her rich, vibrant contralto-like tones.

Disc two brings us Ludwig singing Mahler, Schumann and Reger. From the melodic lines of Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn to the tortuous inflexions of Max Reger's two songs, she shows an extreme afinity with these composers. Schumann is taken very sensously, one can almost feel her velvety and creamy narrations of the woman-in-love of the song cycle.

Disc three is devoted to Schubert, Wolf and Strauss. Ludwig was not compelled to sing too much Wolf or Strauss (only 5 Lieder by these composers). It is her Schubert that shows her in splendid form. Auf dem Wasser zu singen is sung at such a low speed that her tone can only be described as luxurious. Erlkönig finds in her voice an ideal interpreter for the four characters of the song. In Wolf's Gesang Weylas, Gerald Moore has produced some magical arpeggios in the piano accompaniment, but of course this in only natural in him being the best accompanist ever.

Disc four is a miscellaneous melange of Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Rossini, Wagner, Händel and Bach. Ludwig never tried to sing on stage Isolde, but she recorded it; the Liebestod is taken at an exciting pace and one is only waiting for the climax to see if she can do it (the top c's). Yes, she can do it. Händel's aria from Julius Caesar is, again, sensous and exciting. Händel is another composer with whom she felt communicated. Ravel's Chansons Madécasses can only be described as magical. And of course she was outstanding in Bach oratorios, as is the case of Johannes Passion.

Wagner's Wessendonk Lieder are sung lustrously. I especially enjoyed Träume, which actually is sung, as its title suggests, dreamily.

Praised be the two accompanists for the majority of the recordings, Gerald Moore and Geoffrey Parsons. Both have gone now and the musical world seems so empty without their supreme touch. I do believe that 50% of Christa Ludwig's success as a Lieder Singer was due to them.

Tracks:

It Was A Lover And His Lass, Op. 23 No. 3
Take, O Take Those Lips Away Op. 23 No. 4
O Mistress Mine Op. 6 No. 2
How Should I Your True Love Know Op. 30 No. 3
Orpheus With His Lute Op. 32 No. 1
Hark! Hark! The Lark
Ca' The Yowes To The Knowes
Charlie Is My Darling
Ye Banks And Braes
I Arise From Dreams Of Thee Op. 29
Music When Soft Voices Die Op. 25 No. 5
Love's Philosophy Op. 3 No. 1
Spring Is At The Door Op. 18 No. 4
Passing Dreams Op. 10 No. 2
Autumn Evening Op. 14 No. 1
An Old Carol Op. 25 No. 3
I. I Will Go With My Father A-Plowing
II. Cherry Valley
III. I Wish And I Wish
Go Lovely Rose Op. 24 No. 3
A Last Year's Rose Op. 14 No. 3
Amaryllis At The Fountain Op. 15 No. 2
I Dare Not Ask A Kiss Op. 28 No. 3
Now Sleeps The Crimson Petal Op. 3 No. 2
Prelude
I. The Bracelet
II. The Maiden Blush
III. To Daisies
IV. The Night Piece
V. Julia's Hair
Interlude
VI. Cherry Ripe
Love Calls Through The Summer Night

Average customer rating:

Byrd: Music for Voice & Viols

Manufacturer: Lyrichord Discs Inc.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Dowland: Lute Songs
Troubadour and Trouvère Songs
Las Cantigas de Santa Maria
English Medieval Songs: The 12th and 13th Centuries
Handel Arias

ASIN: B0000022B8
Release Date: 1995-04-18

Tracks:

Prld & Fant
La Virginella
My Sweet Little Darling
Fant
What Pleasure Have Great Princes
Though Amaryllis Dance in Green
In Nomine
Blessed Is He That Fears The Lord
O Lord, How Long Wilt Thou Forget
Fant
The Man Is Blesst That God Doth Fear
Why Do I Use My Paper, Ink, and Pen

Average customer rating:

Exquisite modern jazz piano trio.
Equal measure piano/bass/drums stunningly recorded
Non-dogmatic jazz innovation
Patient Exploration of Inner Space

Amaryllis
Marilyn Crispell , Gary Peacock , and Paul Motian
Manufacturer: Ecm Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Nothing Ever Was, Anyway: The Music of Annette Peacock
Storyteller
Achirana
Rosslyn
It Takes Two!

ASIN: B00005A7CY
Release Date: 2001-05-22

Tracks:

Voice From The Past
Amaryllis
Requiem
Conception Vessel/Circle Dance
Voices
December Greenwings
Silence
M.E.
Rounds
Avatar
Morpion
Prayer

Amazon.com

Three-way streets aren't often as alluring as Amaryllis, on which pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Paul Motian intersperse pieces freely improvised in the studio with original compositions from their illustrious pasts. Following up Nothing Ever Was, Anyway, their revelatory album of Annette Peacock compositions, they continue to spring surprises with their heady romanticism and stylistic escapism. Crispell, who built her reputation as a fire-bringing follower of Cecil Taylor and bandmate of Anthony Braxton, here places beauty before complexity, sculpting elliptical ballads and folk-dance-style tunes into shimmering meditations. Even during its quietest moments, the music is rhythmically alive, propelled by Peacock's seductive pulse and Motian's ever-active, airily aggressive strokes. The album, named after a rare flower, flags a bit around the halfway point, but quickly rallies. This is lovely, stirring, enrapturing music, performed by artists having one of the best conversations of their lives. --Lloyd Sachs

Customer Reviews:

Exquisite modern jazz piano trio........2003-12-16

With so many wonderful albums, I think I may be developing a near fanboyish attitude about ECM. This is a haunting, emotional, and spellbinding work of delicacy, sensitivity, and beauty. With my admittedly limited jazz knowledge, I was familiar with the names Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, having some grasp of what they had done in their careers (especially with piano trios). Marilyn Crispell was a new name to me, and I am inexorably bound to say she is a new favorite. Learning that Crispell is a huge admirer of the avant-jazz titan Cecil Taylor suggested to me that this would be more aggressive and 'wild.' While Crispell does display some of Taylor's percussive, scattershot style, she internalizes it with her own feeling of lyricism and effeminate sensuality. Her use of chords is, dare I say, more 'traditional' (in an "out there" kind of way) and emphasizes great space to paint vast canvases of dramatic, soulful lyrical ideas. This is an album of slow, spacious texture, and mood and harmonic interplay are accentuated above other factors. Yet, while highly emotional and stirring, there is not a single moment that is not highly evolved musically. The best of both worlds. The album consists mostly of compositions from the three players, with four slow, exquisite improvisations: the title track, "Voices", "M.E.", and "Avatar". The improvisations, which, in Crispell's words, brought "the revelation of the session," are astoundingly beautiful with a tender poise and exceptional sympathy that belies their improvisational nature. That is a testament to the closely knit telepathic connection of this trio. The bass and drums are not so much complements to Crispell but partners in a creation that relies on all their acumen. Pay close attention to Gary Peacock and Paul Motian. The musical interaction is arrayed for the trio in a way that makes their interplay very complex, balancing at once a two-way response to both the piano and their rhythmic counterpart. Signals are transmitted through the notes and musicians respond with the optimum choices. Of course you know it is beautifully recorded (ECM, remember), so I can say this is pretty much a perfect album. Not a wasted second, not a wasted note. Very highly recommended.

Equal measure piano/bass/drums stunningly recorded.......2003-05-27

Stunningly recorded music of two elder statesmen of the jazz piano trio, complemented by a younger lioness with an immaculate pedigree of association with Mr Anthony Braxton et al. Ms Crispell usually has a percusssive approach to the instrument but here her touch brings out the lyrical side of her mastery, as well as her impeccable control of space. If anything, and even though this a democratic meeting of equals, I have to say Mr Peacock has never sounded so ravishing. There are four tracks devoted to "free" playing and eight "composed" one by Mitchell Weiss called Prayer. The clarity of every instrument on this recording is amazing, the piano sings, the drums are crisp but not dry, and the bass full and clear. There seems to be no barrier between the music and the listener. Musically and technically a very satisfying CD of contemporary improvised chamber music. Likely to remain a friend for a long time.

Non-dogmatic jazz innovation.......2001-11-12

Marilyn Crispell has a special talent for creating music that is quintessentially jazz yet liberated from many of the preconceptions and clichés that we have all come to associate with the genre. Her approach is refreshingly bereft of the histrionics and testosterone-soaked "coolness" that even the most seminal of jazz exponents has embraced, leaving space for a sonic canvas where less familiar harmonic and rhythmic perspectives are possible and a decidedly intimate listening space is achieved. The resultant mood sits curiously somewhere between that of the classical piano music of the early 20th century and the more spiritual end of the blues scale. Gary Peacock and Paul Motion are perfect foils for Crispell's sombre yet ebullient focus and their support forms less of a traditionally rhythmic role, rather establishing a throbbing melodic interplay with her piano excursions.

Patient Exploration of Inner Space.......2001-05-23

Breaking with free-jazz tradition that equates creativity with velocity, pianist Marilyn Crispell carves chords into silence on this trio session with the patient deliberation of a monk planting stones in a Zen garden. The pedigree of her bandmates is impeccable: drummer Paul Motian embarked on his career playing with Bill Evans, and Gary Peacock has held forth in the influential Keith Jarrett Trio since 1977. Majestic and quietly affirming, "Amaryllis" blends Crispell's interpretations of landmark Peacock and Motian tunes "Conception Vessel" and "Voice from the Past" with group improvisations so telepathic they sound composed. Crispell and her bandmates plumb the sacramental stillness of the classic Evans trios with an angularity and poise that is all their own.

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English Madrigals
Amaryllis Consort
Manufacturer: Allegro Corporation
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00008EV6E
Release Date: 1995-01-01

Jazz Music:

Jazz Music

Jazz Music