Voice Within

Voices Deep Within
$16.98
It is hard to think of a classier musician in jazz than Cedar Walton. The pianist has a wonderful knowledge of the piano and compositional technique, and the music he makes is both thoughtful and accessible. Joining him on this album are Vincent Herring on tenor saxophone, Buster Williams on bass and Willie Jones III on drums. These musicians have played together for years in one context or another and the experience shows as the music is deeply in the pocked and swinging from the first note. It is interesting to listen to Herring switch to tenor from his usual alto saxophone, and he sounds good, with a deep vibrant tone and fluid improvising. He gets extended solos on Stevie Wonder's "Another Star" and Sonny Rollins' hard bop standard "No Moe" and makes the best of them. Wlaton's lyricism and respect for the melodic nature of jazz comes through very well on this recording especially on his original "Dear Ruth" and a slow and pointed version of John Coltrane's "Naima." The only soft spot for me was their version of "Over the Rainbow," a song I've never really cared for and the arrangement seemed unnecessarily florid. But that is just the nature of the song and a minor quibble. Williams and Jones are integral to the success of this album, they are locked in throughout and provide an excellent foundation for the music. It is hard to imagine any fan of mainstream jazz not enjoying this album, the music is swinging, subtle and characterized by careful thought and consideration.

Ai-Logix - 910-0303-002 - SmartDSP VR3209 Voice Resource card General purpose DSP voice resource card. 32 resources, full-time, on-demand, event-driven recording.- Please note that Items ship within 3-5 days, sometimes 24 hours depending on current stock.

SMARTDSP VR3209 VOICE RESOURCE CARD GENERAL PURPOSE DSP VOICE RESOURCE CARD. 32 RESOURCES, FULL-TIME, ON-DEMAND, EVENT-DRIVEN RECORDING.- PLEASE NOTE THAT ITEMS SHIP WITHIN 3-5 DAYS, SOMETIMES 24 HOURS DEPENDING ON CURRENT STOCK.

The Voice Within
$0.99

I Follow a Voice Within Me: A Portrait of the Singer Waltraud Meier (Das Lied von der Erde: Gustav Mahler)
$24.99
This DVD is mostly excellent in my view. The portrait film on Meier is very well done covering her career with many excerpts from live performances mainly from Wagner but also Mahler Lieder, Berlioz, Verdi. It shows her thought process on how she approaches a role, how she expresses the emotions of the charactor and sing fully engaged in the role. I have other DVD's with her in Tristan & Islode and Parsifal and can agree with her total commitent to what she is singing. She puts Wagner above all other opera composers saying that the others while having great music and melodies, the roles are one deminsional compared to Wagner's characters.

It's somewhat strange that she doesn't mention Mahler at all in the portrait section of the film since the concert section is Das Lied von der Erde. The performance I think is very good, better than the CD with Maazel vocally and musically. The Maazel had Meier, Heppner and the BRSO.
Visually the DVD is crystal clear and the sound is excellent. Bychkov and the WDR Cologne are wonderfull, Bychkov seems to feel this music with a deep understanding. Only a few negative comments musically: The horse galloping section in Von der Schoenheit could have been more exciting and faster. The tam-tam could have been louder at the end of the extended orchestral passage in Der Abschied. The mandolin could have been louder at the end during the Ewig, Ewig. Terston Kerl the tenor sang very well but lacked a little in involvment, needing to look at the score frequently.
Waltraud Meier sang wonderfully and did not look at the score. She knows very well how to sing this music and had just the right amount of visual expression and vocal emoting. A couple of comments on the camera work: I thought there were too many close ups of faces of the orchestra and instruments and not enough of the whole orchestra. Also the camera only should the tam-tam once and not even once for the mandolin.
As a note to the previous reviewer I did not notice any edit error in Von der Schoenheit and watched that movement twice.