Legends of Light

Artist: Friedemann
Label: Narada
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio Cassette

UPC: 083616303345
EAN: 0083616303345
ASIN: B000005P46

Release Date: 1995-08-29

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Tracks:

Fairies of Sternsea
Mount Belenos
Joy of Beltane
Seven Silver Stars
Spring Has Come to Wiensental
Sunday in Alsace
Memories of Lugnasad
Black Cherries - White Wine
Lament of the White Goddess
Sun at Midnight

Similar Items:

Aquamarine
Indian Summer

Customer Reviews:

A great stand alone CD.......2005-02-05

Like other folks, I got interested in Friedemann after hearing "Indian Summer." After reading the only other review in here on this album, I felt I had to write something to give Legends of Light a fair shake. While not as consistent in delivering spellbinding melodies like his first album, Friedmann shows a maturity and sophistication in this well-constructed assortment of tracks, some of which reach the almost euphoric peaks of Indian Summer. The best track on the album, in my opinion, is Sunday in Alsace, which to me is the best melody to come out of the region since "Is Paris Burning?" There are no real disappointments on the whole disc, and the rich assortment of instruments blend well into some deep and mystical musical journeys. Several songs move through multiple phases, providing the listener with a feast of musical transitions, not a style not so different from the master of this method, Chris Spheeris. I simply loved the exotic blend of instruments, comparable to something Andreas Vollenweider might do, with everything from saxophone to accordian to congas. Cloudy and mystical introductions give way to catchy rythms and haunting melodies. This disc is definitely not money wasted, and I'd prefer it to a number of better selling performances by musicians churning out redundant performances that fail to live up to early accomplishments. Take this one home, and if you don't like it, email me and I'll buy it back from you! No, just kidding. But pop this in right before you sit down and pour the wine and light the candles, and you'll get your full value out of this wonderful recording.

The final flop of a sad career.......2005-01-02

It's probably way too late, and the shelf life of this CD has expired, but I want to note (for the record) that this CD was one of the most embarrassingly awful productions I ever had the privilege of previewing and then not buying. And as such, an occasion for sorrow and bewilderment.

Sorrow, because Friedemann Wojtecka is a gifted guy, yet could only prove to be a one-disc wonder. And bewilderment because "Indian Summer" (the one-disc wonder) was SO good, one stands in shock that the composer-arranger of that masterpiece seemingly had nothing else in him after that!

The setting: It was in the early 90s. I was a thrilled owner-listener of "Indian Summer" which even now, in 2005, knocks me out, and I was a somewhat bemusedly disappointed owner-listener of "Aquamarine", when this CD popped up. Having noticed a huge drop-off in quality (meaning "uninspired") from "Indian Summer" to "Aquamarine", followed by a huge gap in time to this one, I thought (wisely) "Uh-oh. How long does it take to go really far down hill?" Answer: about four years.

If it takes someone four years to come up with something like this, their fifteen minutes of musical fame is surely over.

This poor ol' CD shows the poverty of our Herr Vojtecka and his musical imagination. There's no there there. Nothing melodically or harmonically or instrumentally or inspirationally going on. The melancholic uplift of "Indian Summer" stayed with that disc, and the inspiration dried up thereafter. And I don't get it. Friedemann is a great recording engineer and producer; he's worked on the CDs of a lot of good artists, and he's got a good ear. Why did he put this out?

Well, you probably either ducked and ran when this came out, or you bought it and either feel protective or ripped off. It's too late to warn you, but if nothing else, you can see that one quasi-fan of Friedemann is still listening to the best, and lamenting the fallout.

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