The Death of Simone Weil
ASIN: B000088ECC
Editorial Reviews
Product Description
A Big Band soundtrack on a theme of war and suffering?
Simone Weil was a Jew obsessed with Christian and Buddhist worldviews, a mystic who claimed to have visions of a realm beyond reality, and a reclusive philosopher who starved herself to death in 1941.
"The Death of Simone Weil", composed by Darrell Katz, with text by Paula Tatarunis, deals with the imagination, grace, bombings, invasions, desire, fishing, and the Pope. Weil's story unfolds in a surreal, improvisatory jazz cantata that seamlessly mixes modern composition and the jazz legacy into a mature and personal style.
The alto voice of Rebecca Shrimpton effortlessly captures the subtle shadings of the starkly beautiful text. Boston's powerfully virtuosic Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra accompanies with fistfuls of fire.
"The Death of Simone Weil" stands out in the jazz vocal tradition in terms of both scale and ambition, and whose depth and economy of expression are worthy of the subject. All in all, it's an exciting soirée with the far-out, the insane, and the beautifully strange.
The Death of Simone Weil,Darrell Katz,Innova Records,Jazz,Jazz Music,Pop
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DEATH OF SIMONE WEIL
Darrell Katz Manufacturer: INNOVA ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD  General
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ASIN: B000088ECC Release Date: 2003-02-04 |
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Album Description
A Big Band soundtrack on a theme of war and suffering?Simone Weil was a Jew obsessed with Christian and Buddhist worldviews, a mystic who claimed to have visions of a realm beyond reality, and a reclusive philosopher who starved herself to death in 1941.
"The Death of Simone Weil", composed by Darrell Katz, with text by Paula Tatarunis, deals with the imagination, grace, bombings, invasions, desire, fishing, and the Pope. Weil's story unfolds in a surreal, improvisatory jazz cantata that seamlessly mixes modern composition and the jazz legacy into a mature and personal style.
The alto voice of Rebecca Shrimpton effortlessly captures the subtle shadings of the starkly beautiful text. Boston's powerfully virtuosic Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra accompanies with fistfuls of fire.
"The Death of Simone Weil" stands out in the jazz vocal tradition in terms of both scale and ambition, and whose depth and economy of expression are worthy of the subject. All in all, it's an exciting soirée with the far-out, the insane, and the beautifully strange.
Customer Reviews:
Tragedy in Jazz?.......2003-11-21
I remember the sad years of the Holocaust, I saw in Simone Weil the saddest detritus of all -- a great soul and a great mind destroyed cy the callow indifference that followed that calamity.
I had a strange question to ask: how could a jazz style describe the tragedy of Simone Weil's life. The answer is in the text and music itself.
A touching portrayal of Simone's journey into self-destruction, of scenes and experiences of the journey, gives rise to music of unexpected sobriety -- unexpected because the jazz idiom, usually up-beat, proved elastic enough to comprise the sense of tragedy without abandonment of the jazz idiom. How Katz does thisthis is a wonder to behold.
Essentially a cantata, "The Death of Simone Weil" recalls the Bach cantatas: introduction, narrative, aria, orchestral interludes, summation -- -- this all in this work.
I recommend this CD highly to anyone with an ear for "serious" jazz of a high order.
A Most Adventurous Jazz Cantata.......2003-11-19
Jazz for intellegent people or A Real Review.......2003-11-14
If you want "moon, June, tune" or "let's dance" jazz, forget it. But if you want to explore something unique, strange, new but not so off the wall as to be incomprehensible, give it a try.
Something Smells and It Isn't Simon Weil's Rotting Corpse.......2003-11-11
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