May 3, 2015

Sundaze 1518

Hello, ok so the Windsors extended their family today, yet another mouth to feed... meanwhile the world has come to take note what an inadequate government Nepal has, oh deer if only they could join the EU.. Two unexpected players in the worldchampionship snooker final, Bingham won his place in the final 33rd frame after heaving led from the start. Hawkins didn't get over his grewling quarterfinal match and got outplayed right from the start by Sean Murphy who cruzed 16-9 to his place in the final. My money is one him for the title..


Once again today's scene is set for an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. Since the 1960s, she has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recording extensively for ECM Records.... N'joy

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Meredith Monk (b. November 20, 1942, New York, NY) is a composer, singer, director/choreographer and creator of new opera, music-theater works, films and installations. A pioneer in what is now called "extended vocal technique" and "interdisciplinary performance," Monk creates works that thrive at the intersection of music and movement, image and object, light and sound in an effort to discover and weave together new modes of perception. Her groundbreaking exploration of the voice as an instrument, as an eloquent language in and of itself, expands the boundaries of musical composition, creating landscapes of sound that unearth feelings, energies, and memories for which there are no words. Over the last fifty years, she has been hailed as "a magician of the voice" and "one of America’s coolest composers". Celebrated internationally, Monk’s work has been presented by BAM, Lincoln Center Festival, Houston Grand Opera, London’s Barbican Centre, and at major venues in countries from Brazil to Syria. Among her many accolades, she was recently named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Republic of France, and the 2012 Composer of the Year by Musical America. Monk is also one of NPR’s 50 Great Voices, and has received a 2012 Doris Duke Artist Award and a 2011 Yoko Ono Lennon Courage Award for the Arts.

In 1968 Ms. Monk founded The House, a company dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to performance. In 1978 she founded Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble to expand her musical textures and forms. As a pioneer in site-specific performance, she has created such works as Juice: A Theatre Cantata In 3 Installments (1969) and Ascension Variations (2009) for the Guggenheim Museum, and American Archeology #1: Roosevelt Island (1994). Monk’s award-winning films, including Ellis Island (1981) and her first feature, Book of Days (1988), have been seen throughout the world. Her music can also be heard in films by such directors as Jean-Luc Godard and the Coen Brothers, and in the recent HBO series, True Detective. In addition to her numerous vocal pieces, music-theater works and operas, Monk has created vital new repertoire for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments, with commissions from Michael Tilson Thomas/San Francisco Symphony and New World Symphony, Kronos Quartet, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Master Chorale, among others.

Since graduating Sarah Lawrence College in 1964, Monk has received numerous honors including the prestigious MacArthur "Genius" Award, two Guggenheim Fellowships, three "Obies" (including an award for Sustained Achievement), and two "Bessie" awards for Sustained Creative Achievement. She holds honorary Doctor of Arts degrees from Bard College, the University of the Arts, The Juilliard School, the San Francisco Art Institute and the Boston Conservatory. Monk has made more than a dozen recordings, most of which are on the ECM New Series label, including the 2008 Grammy-nominated impermanence and the highly acclaimed Songs of Ascension. She has also been working with the publisher Boosey & Hawkes since 2001.

In October 1999 Monk performed A Vocal Offering for His Holiness, the Dalai Lama as part of the World Festival of Sacred Music in Los Angeles. Her 40th year of performing and creating new music was celebrated in 2005 by a four-hour marathon at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, with additional performances throughout New York City. In February 2012 she was honored with a remix and interpretations cd, MONK MIX, featuring 25 artists from the jazz, pop, dj and new music worlds. In March 2012, she premiered Realm Variations for six voices and small ensemble, commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, and performed in John Cage’s Song Books as part of the Symphony’s American Mavericks Festival. Monk’s newest music-theater piece, On Behalf of Nature, premiered in January 2013 at UCLA and is currently touring internationally. This fall, Meredith Monk will mark her 50th season as a creator and performer. Recognized as one of the most unique and influential artists of her generation, she has been appointed the 2014-2015 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall.


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This is in many ways (but not completely) the soundtrack to the Meredith Monk film of the same title. Many of the pieces from the film which are little more than fleeting musical passages are fleshed out here into fuller, more composition-oriented pieces. Very limited accompaniment here; pieces are primarily vocal compositions augmented with the occasional dulcimer, hurdy gurdy, or cello. The music has a medieval quality to it -- not surprising considering the subject nature of the film -- and unlike many soundtracks, this recording stands up well on its own as a body of recorded work. First-time listeners who have not seen the film will be compelled to see the film. A satisfying work.



Meredith Monk - Book Of Days (flac 207mb)

01 Early Morning Melody 1:28
02 Travelers 1, 2, 3 2:31
03 Dawn 3:18
04 Travelers 4/Churchyard Entertainment 6:34
05 Afternoon Melodies 4:46
06 Fields/Clouds 2:21
07 Dusk 2:31
08 Eva's Song0:48
09 Evening 2:51
10 Travelers 5 1:55
11 Jewish Storyteller/Dance/Dream 4:54
12 Plague 3:10
13 Madwoman's Vision 7:40
14 Cave Song 3:48

Meredith Monk - Book Of Days  (ogg 95mb)

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The soundtrack to Monk's 1993 opera Atlas does sound incomplete without the performance. And yes, it is long and difficult. And, in terms of Monk's self-professed ambition to make this release stand alone on the strength of the music only. But with knowledge of the libretto (luckily summarized in the CD booklet), this recording can easily be considered one of Monk's greatest works. Portraying the story of Alexandra, an adolescent girl/adult woman with dreams of exploration, the opera portrays her travels and experiences using very few actual words -- mostly assonant syllables. Dreamy and emotive for the first "Personal Climate" section, the mood of the piece becomes at times shrill, and at other times chaotic as Alexandra travels the world in the second "Night Travel" portion of the opera. The third and final part, "Invisible Light," closes the opera with a somewhat "celestial" sounding cadence. High points include "Ice Demons," "Choosing Companions," and "Airport."



Meredith Monk - Atlas  (flac 529mb)

Part I: Personal Climate
101 Overture (Out Of Body 1) 3:07
102 Travel Dream Song 5:07
103 Home Scene 2:38
104 Future Quest (The Call) 11:15
105 Rite Of Passage A 0:57
106 Choosing Companions 7:44
107 Airport 9:19
 Part Il: Night Travel
201 Night Travel 3:15
202 Guides' Dance 1:51
203 Agricultural Community 14:36
204 Loss Song 4:15
205 Campfire / Hungry Ghost 7:43
206 Father's Hope 1:14
207 Ice Demons 6:21
208 Explorer #5 / Lesson / Explorers' Procession 6:05
209 Lonely Spirit 3:34
210 Forest Questions 10:20
211 Desert Tango 7:53
212 Treachery (Temptation) 2:12
213 Possibility Of Destruction 2:46
 Part Ill: Invisible Light
301 Out Of Body 2 2:59
302 Other Worlds Revealed 1:29
303 Explorers' Junctures 2:43
304 Earth Seen From Above 7:35
305 Rite Of Passage B 1:43

Meredith Monk - Atlas  (ogg 244mb)

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Monk and The Abbess starts with four compositions by the medieval German mystic Hildegard von Bingen: O Quam Mirabilis (Antiphon for the Creator), O Ecclesia (Sequence for St. Ursula), O Clarissima Mater (Responsory for the Virgin) and Tu Illustrata (Antiphon for the Virgin), while the second part contains a selection of Meredith Monk’s compositions from her earlier albums like Chacon, Quarry, The Book of Days and The Games. Both Monk’s own music and the interpretations of Hildegard’s songs are deeply spiritual, radiating a ritualistic feel unbound by any particular type of belief system. The sound sculptures often seem to evoke an unknown ancient culture with its mixture of non-Western vocalising and pure-toned medieval chanting. The vocal style is non-vibrato, with austere intervals, similar to medieval poliphony. The structures unfold with exquisite subtlety and repetition is used to incantatory effect with a deeply spiritual resonance. Unlike the gothic weirdness of Dolmen Music, Monk and the Abbess is highly accessible and should appeal to those who appreciate vocal medieval and classical



Meredith Monk, Hildegard von Bingen - Monk and The Abbess  (flac  256mb)

Hildegard von Bingen
01 O Quam Mirabilis 2:50
02 O Ecclesia 6:57
03 O Clarissima Mater 7:10
04 O Tu Illustrata 6:01
Meredith Monk
05 Dawn 5:26
06 Quarry Weave 14:49
07 Quarry Lullaby 3:26
08 Quarry Weave 2 5:05
09 Farmer's Song 5:06
10 Astronaut Anthem 4:41
11 Nightfall 9:39

Meredith Monk, Hildegard von Bingen - Monk and The Abbess  (ogg 123mb)

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Rho

Your blog is a gateway to avenues of music I had no idea of. Could you please re-up these Meredith Monk albums?

Thank you