Camerata Mediterranea Captivate with their Realization of Troubadour Songs From the Middle Ages

A revolution in early music practice took place beginning some time in the later '60s. A renewed attention to the character of the instruments used and in what numbers and combinations in any era became increasingly of concern. Similarly greater attention began to be paid to reconstructing more accurate and/or more adventurous realizations of what posterity left for us to bring back to life.

The three-CD set of Troubadour Songs (Warner Classics and Jazz/Erato 256467986-4) from the middle ages as performed by Camerata Mediterranea is a product of that performance revolution. The psaltery, recorder, medieval fiddle and harp are used to create an atmosphere far removed from the Romantic Era's sound and outlook.

The body of Troubadour Songs that survive are a treasure trove and a high point of the repertoire available to us today. These were the sophisticated pop songs of the day and give us a valuable glimpse into the outside-the-church aspect of medieval music making. As with anything from those ages, the secularity of secularism was thoroughly shot through with a religious cosmology that pervaded all. It is in part this kind of dualistic outlook that provides much of the wonder and feeling of "otherness" you may get when experiencing a great performance of those surviving masterpieces of the age. When done properly the Troubadour Songs have a charm that transcends time and space.

The three disks recorded by Camerata Mediterranea in the '90s on Erato and now available to us again in this box set certainly bring out the melodic lyricism of the vocal parts vividly and, as I've implied, bring that together with a very sonorous and otherworldly instrumental realization of the accompaniment. To fall under the spell of this music and the excellent performances here is to enter a world you find is not one as familiar as you may have thought.

This is music to while away an afternoon, lost in the magic of a past that we are no longer so sure we understand completely, but we resonate with its mysterious beauty. It's a very captivating set of performances. Heartily recommended.

George Enescu's Solo Piano Music

Music lovers of my generation, mostly, came across the music of Romanian composer George Enescu (1881-1955) as the B-side of the highly acclaimed Ravi Shankar-Yehudi Menuhin album East Meets West. On the second side was a marvelous performance of Enescu's "Sonata for Violin and Piano," a work that reveled in an Eastern European tonality that made it a fitting example of the eastern-western half of the equation (the raga side of the record exemplifying the western-eastern, as it were). That record encouraged me to seek out more music by Enescu, and I found some wonderful recordings. The end of the LP era marked the end of further Enescu collecting for me. No reason, except perhaps there was less of it around on CD for a time.

With the Naxos (8.572120) release of Piano Music, performed in lovely fashion by Matei Varga, we get another side of the composer. This is more the Enescu as international stylist than it is Enescu the nationalist composer. The "Piano Sonata No. 1," "Pieces Impromptues, Op. 18," and the "Suite No. 2, Op. 10" are worthy examples of Enescu's art. There is a Ravellian glimmer in much of this music. It is delightful, as are the performances by Matei Varga.

Enescu needs to be heard more often. You can do that with this one and be assured that it is good Enescu music, not just any old Enescu music.

Michael Pagan's Preludes and Fugues for Saxophone Quartet

Michael Pagan is a prolific composer. That's what I read. Before hearing his new recording of the 12 Preludes and Fugues (Tapestry 76014-2) I was not aware of him at all, I must admit. However a number of listens to this one makes me want to hear more of his oeuvre.

It's a lengthy work, well performed by the Colorado Saxophone Quartet. This is not exactly the sort of music you may have become familiar with via the Rova and World Saxophone Quartets, but no less interesting.

It's written, modern classical music that skillfully and appealingly combines neo-baroque counterpoint, jazz inflected lines and contemporary classical from the more conservative to the more advanced garde.

The point though is that the music has appealing memorability. And it is lovingly performed. Very much recommended.

Erosonic is David Mott and Joseph Petric; "Mystery Theatre" is an Aural Example of Why That Matters

We backtrack again today, so-called Black Friday (don't get me started on that boondoggle), to an earlier album by the duo Erosonic (David Mott, baritone, and Joseph Petric, accordion), Mystery Theatre (Victo 085).

This is what used to be known as "Third Stream" music, a combination of modern classical and jazz elements. The former comes out with the set of weighty and lucid compositions on the disk, most by David Mott, two by both musicians, and one by David Keane. These are harmonic-rhythmic workouts and the jazz element comes out in the drive and sound of the music, especially in David's baritone sound with its timbral and improvisational originality (see the other reviews of David's music on these pages), and in the places allocated for improvisation.

I'll admit I am not always an accordion fan, but what Joseph Petric does on Mystery Theatre makes me forget all of that. He is a real virtuoso and interacts with David on a high level.

This is music that has compositional thrust and brilliant performances.

Irene Nachreiner Sings Some Very Old Christmas Songs with a Laid Back-Latin Flavor

If you are the sort of person who needs a decent pile of Christmas music to hear over the holidays, yet balk at the same old songs done the usual way, there are alternatives. I have been listening to a review copy of something that might just be the thing.

It's singer Irene Nachreiner and her CD A Hot and Spicy Christmas (Turquoise Water 3657). The arrangements have a Latin flavor--nylon-stringed guitar, marimba, light Latin percussion, etc. I especially like the violinist-fiddler here. The arrangements are quite simple, earnestly lively and non-cliche. Irene has a kind of deadpan vocal delivery, unpretentious, artless. That works on Hot and Spicy for the songs are some of the older ones out of the European corpus. For a few she has altered the melody lines, there are a few originals, and otherwise you get some of the venerable carols like "Fum, Fum, Fum," "Patapan," "What Child is This?"

It's so straightforward and direct that it put me in a good mindset, which for the holidays is so important. This is music to counteract the revulsion you may be experiencing with all the goody-grabbing greed that a Black Friday promotion blast encourages. And we need to get through that. Irene's music helps. Very much so.

A New One From Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra

I have little doubt that Chicago is resurging as an important center for the new improvised music (known as jazz or simply improvisation). It never disappeared from the world scene, of course, but there is so much great new jazz coming out of there lately that there is a special feeling I get after listening to what's been forthcoming and when I weigh it mentally-musically as a whole.

One of those wonderful things that has emerged is cornetist-composer-bandleader Rob Mazurek and his avant big band, Exploding Star Orchestra. Their new CD/LP Stars Have Shapes (Delmark 595) illustrates all that's good in Chicagoland. It's a Chicago all-star lineup--14 stellar improvisers in Rob, Nicole Mitchell, Jeb Bishop, Jason Stein, Greg Ward, Jason Adasiewicz, Mike Reed, and so on.

The compositions have flow and density. And Maestro Mazurek makes use of electronics at certain points to alter the sounds and add to the color of the performance. The band improvises collectively in a beautiful way, the compositions give contrast between drone, avant smear, sound poetry and full-blast-off power in ways that further distinguish this effort.

Stars Have Shapes is a fruitful meeting of Chicago titans, and Mazurek's compositional and conceptual direction puts them in a very attractive and important place in the new jazz today. Yes, it's that good, I think.

Bobby Zankel, "Many in Body, One in Mind"

Bobby Zankel is older than I am. A little. Just a few years. This may not seem especially important to you, the reader, but it does have some effect on how I view him and his music. It means that his history encompasses a few years that mine has not, and from a musical point of view that formative period seems like a very critical one, culturally and developmentally.

I'll admit that heretofore I have not heard him. The liner notes to his Many in Body, One in Mind (CIMP 365) notes that Bob Rusch first recorded him in 1992 for the Cadence release Seeking Spirit (Cadence 1050). Where have I been? That's a long story. Suffice to say that where I was (and it wasn't jail, unless you think of particularly demanding work situations in that sense), I am there no longer and so have the chance to catch up on what I missed in the '90s.

And it turns out that Bobby Zankel is someplace that I am glad to have visited via this CD. It's a trio date with Mr. Zankel on alto, Dylan Taylor on bass (and cello) and Edgar Bateman on the drums. This is the advanced sort of free-improv kind of music and my first impression is that it comes out of and goes beyond the sort of thing Ornette and his followers were doing a while ago. Yet that is only a reference point. Zankel plays his own tune(s), both literally and figuratively. And once things get rolling, he sounds like he is footed firmly in the new age we live in, in a way that shows a fully developed improviser excelling at his art for our appreciation.

In the CIMP tradition of recording procedures, all of this is done live with two mikes placed strategically to capture the group in the full acoustic flush of their organicism. It works and works well, especially here, where all three seem to find a natural balance.

The compositional part of the date is filled with good blowing vehicles. As vehicles go these set up the improvisations to come with the right mood, the right rhythmic feel, the proper melodic-harmonic universe. Needless to say that's critical with a trio that does not include a piano or other harmonically oriented instrument.

What you have on Many in Body is a generous set of performances that highlight the three players in a relaxed yet intensive form. Zankel is a personal singularity. Now I know. You should check this one out too if you want to experience a lucid and eloquent voice in the music.