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  Love & War: Barbara Nissman

  Prokofiev started writing all three of his 'War' Sonatas (Nos. 6, 7, 8) in 1939 after he had returned to the Soviet Union - the year 1939 was responsible for their nickname. These three masterpieces don't necessarily depict war but they certainly suggest conflict and this can be heard in Prokofiev's mammoth Sixth Sonata. It's a symphony written for the piano, and Prokofiev takes us on an arduous journey that runs the gamut of emotions. I call this Sonata- Prokofiev's answer to Beethoven's 'Hammerklavier.' It shows Prokofiev the classicist, coexisting with Prokofiev, the 'modernist. He gives us four movements in perfect classical form with the fourth movement finale linked to the opening theme and the conflict finally resolved on the last page of the coda. The second -movement is pure 'slapstick' (Charlie Chaplin style) done with a straight face. The nostalgic third-movement Waltz is what I call Prokofiev's reply to George Gershwin's 'The man I love' (they met many years before in Paris.) The finale is a pianistic tour-de force and explains why Prokofiev is called 'the Russian Liszt.' This is one of the great works of the entire piano literature. Chopin's Andante Spianiato and Grande Polonaise is the 'love' component in this Love & War saga. Beautiful lyrical pianism followed by a triumphant, majestic Polonaise processional. (Chopin also wrote this piece for piano and orchestra but the solo pianist can easily fill in all the orchestral parts.) Liszt provides us with love, joy and passion with his three Concert Studies- virtuoso pianism but with emotional content as well. Then the American composer, Benjamin Lees takes us on a Odyssey of his own that starts with a sense of foreboding- he explores various places but returns to just where he began the journey, and nothing has changed. Conflict returns fortissimo with Bartók's Allegro Barbaro- a direct reaction to a remark by a French critic who accused him of being 'just another one of those young, Hungarian barbarians.' How this piece, written in 1911, has influenced so many other composers of the twentieth century!! The recital ends with the popular Liebestraum of Liszt- we are back to love again but it is love mixed with regret. Quite a journey! "Prokofiev's longest piano sonata receives an immensely fulfilling performance from the lively Nissman who always was, and still is, one of the world's top Prokofiev pianists. The standout for me is her brilliantly thought-out interpretation of the Prokofiev Sonata which shows such passion and humaneness in her playing." "Magisterial performances of a fine selection of this great pianist's recital favourites. Collectively, Nissman's discography will be collectors' items for many a long year, with her links to the romantic pianism of the past, but recorded to best standards of the 2000's.' 'A tremendous achievement, one which should be far better known and celebrated wherever the 19th-20th piano repertoire is enjoyed."

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  Libera Me

  Libera Me: [latin, líberá mé] 1. deliver me, free me Rhinóceri: the most ponderous and terrifying beast of the primeval forest. Libera Me is the adventurous debut album of the Rhinoceri Trio, who take their name from a ponderous and terrifying beast. Firmly rooted in the jazz tradition, the group's repertoire spans and blends a wide tapestry of influences including Ellington's jungle jazz, Eastern European folk music, Bach, Wagner and minimalism. In a world of musical formulas, honed to marketable perfection, why have the Rhinoceri Trio chosen the path of the ponderous/terrifying/beautiful? Perhaps Glenn Gould provides an answer when he writes, "The purpose of art is not the release of momentary ejection of adrenaline but is, rather, the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity." Certainly there is much about their debut album "Libera Me" which speaks to the patient unfolding of a serene concept. Sophisticated through-composed pieces unfold over long arcs. Jungly-latin grooves open seamlessly into minimalist vamps, inverted Serbian grooves morph into Turkish rhythms, free-form improvisation erupts in the midst of disciplined counter-point. In fact, few albums combine such a wide variety of compositional structures. But Mr. Gould would be wrong if he were to imply that Libera Me was void of adrenaline rushes. After all, the Rhino is a wild beast living in the wilds of West Philly. After all "Libera Me", latin for "deliver me" or "liberate me", is the timeless spiritual/political cry of desperation/rage/resistance. This album percolates from start to finish with a constantly shifting terrain of emotional potency. Take drummer Gregg Mervine for instance. A seasoned player, leader of Philly's famous Balkan project the West Philadelphia Orchestra, Gregg came up in Philly admiring local jazz drumming legends such as Edgar Bateman and Mickey Roker. His playing is fiery, innovative and nurtures a deep sense of groove. At the same time there is a constant attention to compositional detail and a responsibility to the long arc of a composition. In his playing we hear endless experiments in Serbian 7/8 grooves, Macedonian 11/8, Turkish and Latin grooves as well as the bristling free-playing of his hero Ed Blackwell. His is not a typical approach to the modern jazz drumming. Or consider the contributions of pianist and composer Brendan Cooney. Many may recognize him as a baritone player in the West Philadelphia Orchestra, but the piano has always been his great love. Crippled by tendonitis at the age of 23 Brendan took a long hiatus from playing jazz as he relearned to play the piano from scratch under the tutelage of Bob Durso, local guru of the Taubman Approach to Coordinate Technique. (The Taubman work boasts such luminous students at Tom Lawton and Danilo Perez.) After years of careful, brutally-slow, reconstruction he has emerged with a virtuosic command of the keyboard matched by few. We hear in his playing the sound of patience reminiscent of Mr. Gould's "gradual, lifelong construction". At the same time it vibrates constantly with restless energy. Perhaps this is why we hear Bach's famous Fugue in Cminor erupt in to a moody afro-Cuban groove, or why a Debussy children's piece becomes a percolating 7/8 study in intensity. Maybe this is why a dark foreboding version of Ornette Coleman's Lonely Woman erupts into a frightening explosion that pushes at the boundaries of piano texture or why the delicate unfolding of a Wagner melody concludes with catastrophic bomastic-ality! Certainly Brendan's approach to the textural possibilities of the piano is a unique contribution to the ever-expanding frontiers of the instrument. Bassist Chris Coyle is the youngster of the group, a recent Temple graduate with a giant musical appetite and driving bass sound. He has studied with the best of the Philly jazz and classical bass worlds under the tutelage of the likes of Philly jazz legend Mike Boone and Philadelphia Orchestra verteran John Hood. He handily doubles Brendan on virtousic bass runs, bows his way beautifully through lyrical Wagnerian passage, delivers up tasty, soulful grooves over Duke Ellington's "I Like the Sunrise", and generally "lays it down" throughout the album. Together the three have created quite the musical adventure in this, their debut trio record. Where some trio albums can become monotonous under the limited timbre of the piano, this album remains vibrant, a constantly shifting array of textures, compositional devices and improvisatory schemes. All the while, the album remains thoroughly accessible to it's audience, unhindered by abstractions. It is a forward-leaning exploration in the creative life.

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  • Price: 21.99 EUR excl. shipping
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  Dream Demon

  A young bride-to-be's anxieties over her upcoming wedding take on a horrifying, demonic form in this underseen 1988 "rubber reality" shocker from director/co-writer Harley Cokeliss (Black Moon Rising), starring Timothy Spall and Jemma Redgrave. As her marriage to decorated war hero Oliver draws near, well-heeled Diana moves into her sprawling new London home where she starts to experience strange and terrifying nightmares. But are these blood-curdling night terrors merely the symptom of an unsettled mind, or the sign of something far sinister at work? Hounded by a pair of sleazy journalists (Timothy Spall and Jimmy Nail), Diana soon crosses paths with American tourist Jenny, who appears to have a strange connection to the foreboding house and it's sinister past. Long dormant on home media since it's original VHS release, Dream Demon - a terrific blend of psychological horror and late 80s practical gore effects - has at long-last been stirred from it's analogue slumber and arrives on Blu-ray, newly-restored from the original camera negative and in a brand new Director's Cut!

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  • Price: 83.10 EUR excl. shipping
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  Mentor

  Working with Ceiri Torjussen on the score for MENTOR: Among the challenges we faced as we began to envision a score for "Mentor" was that we felt strongly that the music needed to combine two very disparate emotions that coursed through the film: Carter's joy and excitement in his relationships with both Julia and Sanford and his early success as a writer, as well as a sense of unsettledness and foreboding about where those relationships were actually leading. Since most of the story is told in flashback, we felt that the music would also play an important role not only in delineating the past from the present, but also in supporting the notion that Carter's past, with Julia and Sanford, was actually more vibrant and alive than his present. Finally, as with any film, we wanted the music to help define the significant themes in the script and aid in the evolution of the characters and the story. When we began working with our composer, Ceiri Torjussen, he immediately came up with a variety of options that dealt head-on with these challenges. In our discussions with him, we decided that the score should have an ambient quality, and that it should, at the same time be unusual and distinctive. He capitalized on what we imagined were contradictory goals, in part through the use of specific instruments. He went out and purchased a variety of African thumb pianos, for example, which feature prominently in the score. He also decided to feature guitars, and brought on a phenomenal young guitarist, Andrew Synowiec, for whom he wrote terrific parts. For us, Ceiri's score was a spectacular success, helping to bring out subtleties of story, character and structure that supported and enhanced all of our efforts in writing, producing, and editing the film. -William Whitehurst (Writer/Producer, MENTOR) -Simeon Hutner (Editor/Co-Producer, MENTOR) ABOUT THE COMPOSER: Ceiri Torjussen's music was described by the Los Angeles Times as a "sudden bolt of creative lightning". Hailing from Wales but now based in Los Angeles, in the last few years, he has made a sudden but marked impact on the world of film music, with an enviable list of high-profile credits to his name. He has scored six feature films to date. In 2006 UNDOING, a noir-thriller, premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and MENTOR, starring Rutger Hauer, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Most recently he composed additional, heart-thumping action music for the 2007 blockbuster, LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, starring Bruce Willis. His music demonstrates an expansive creative range and versatility, being at home in many arenas, including horror (DRACULA III: LEGACY, SOUL'S MIDNIGHT, and additional music for UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION) and comedy (FUNKY MONKEY and additional music for SCARY MOVIE II). No stranger to television, he provided additional music for the WB TV show GLORY DAYS, the CBS network shows COLD CASE and CLOSE TO HOME, and for the series DEAD LIKE ME, on Showtime. Torjussen has also worked extensively in animation, composing music for high-profile animated shows such as NI HAO KAILAN (Nickelodeon), and for Mike Young Productions' MAX AND THE MECHANICALS, THE MR. MEN and DIVE OLLY DIVE for which he received a 2007 DAYTIME EMMY NOMINATION for Best Original Score. Torjussen has also orchestrated and conducted on numerous studio feature films such as THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, I-ROBOT, HELLBOY, CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, JOYRIDE, BLADE 2, WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, DRACULA 2000 and TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES. He is equally at home with the orchestra as he is with electronic music. His Wenallt Studios is fully equipped with 96-bit digital recording capabilities, state-of-the-art sound synthesis software, and an additional room dedicated to tracking live ensembles and vocals. He resides in Los Angeles.

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  • Price: 18.65 EUR excl. shipping
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  The Secret Garden

  Enormously popular child actress Margaret O'Brien (Meet Me in St. Louis) touches the heart in this classic adventure of a young orphan sent to live at the dark and foreboding English estate of her widowed uncle and his crippled son, played by fellow child sensation Dean Stockwell. Led by a strong will and a stubborn temperament, Mary Lennox (O'Brien) discovers the existence of a secret garden, the history of which slowly reveals the mystery of her uncle and his son's embittered lives. Eventually, the beloved garden becomes the only hope for their happiness and restoration from the haunting grip of the past. Produced by Clarence Brown, the film is based on the popular novel by acclaimed children's author Frances Hodgson Burnett (Little Lord Fauntleroy). a dazzling technical effect aptly derived from the Wizard of Oz brings the secret garden alive in a radiant color sequence, making it, and the film, a magical place you'll have to experience yourself!

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  • Price: 18.29 EUR excl. shipping
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  Front Row Seat To Earth (lp)

  (LP) Natalie Mering verzückt mit ihren 60ies-Folk-angehauchten Melodien, klirrenden Gitarren, Orgeln und rasselnden Trommeln. Emotional, herzzerreißend, sirenenhaft...Natalie Mering verzückt mit ihren 60ies-Folk-angehauchten Melodien, klirrenden Gitarren, Orgeln und rasselnden Trommeln. Emotional, herzzerreißend, sirenenhaft... Ein sehr stringenter Entwurf, der den Westcoast-Sound der 70ies durch eine wirklich individuelle Künstlerin direkt in die Gegenwart bringt und dennoch die Patina des Originals trägt. Das Songwriting ist komplex, aber dennoch nicht sperrig, sondern zugänglich. Ein schönes und surreales Video: player.vimeo.com/video/178103466 Natalie Mering, the being behind Weyes Blood, embeds her sublime song in a harmonic gauze of arpeggiated piano, acoustic guitar, druggy horns, & outer space electronics. Propulsive, spare drums carry us across the album s course. There is a faded California beauty to Front Row. A gentle honesty that recalls the finest folk music made on the West Coast of the 70s. The hue hangs in the sweet-spooky harmonies, the pulsing sway of the vibrato & the ecstatic chord resolves. But this beauty is scratched with shadow, with dark foreboding, alienation, & acceptance of change. Love & loss balance together in suspended alchemy, as the earthiness of the singer-songwriter tradition wears digital sounds like feathers in its hair. Mering, together with co-producer Chris Cohen contrasts live band intimacy with the post-modern electric sheen of A.M. radio atmospherics. The experimental flourishes sparkle amid the succinct, thoughtful arrangements. The closeness of this record - how personal, alone, & frank it feels - conceals its aspirations to the outside, to the Earth of its title. Weyes Blood harbors devastating weight while also universalizing the strange ways of identity & relationships. These are not typical love songs or protest songs -- they are painful, poignant riddles that celebrate the ambiguity of love & affirm the conflict of harmonious life within a disharmonic world. TRACKS: 1. Diary 2. Used to Be 3. Be Free 4. Do You Need My Love 5. Generation Why 6. Can't Go Home 7. Seven Words 8. Away Above 9. Front Row Seat (+ Bonus track 'Three Tears' on download)

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  • Price: 24.80 EUR excl. shipping
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  Le Quattro Stagioni

  Kati Debretzeni (Violine/Dir) // With its vivid poetry and technical ingenuity, Vivaldi's Four Seasons was ground breaking at the time of its release and to this day remains as influential and transfixing as ever. In this recording, violinist Kati Debretzeni directs the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in an energetic, historically informed performance. From the commanding heat of the Summer sun, to Winter's foreboding darkness, the power of Vivaldi's masterpiece is inescapable.

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  • Price: 11.44 EUR excl. shipping
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  Day Without a Name

  The Vita Ruins are an indie band based out of Washington D.C, started by Tim Kratzer (Vocal, Guitars, Bass and Keyboards) and Greg Balleza (Guitars, Bass, Keyboards and Vocals) in 2005. Since 2007, the band has built their own recording studio where they were able to self-engineer, mix and produce the album, capturing the nuanced sound that defines their style. While neither had any formal training or background in recording and sound engineering, they successfully self-taught themselves the entire process from the first steps of instrument tracking all the way through mixing, editing and producing before sending the final mix downs out for mastering. 'A certain paranoia runs through the songs of local trio the Vita Ruins. Foreboding electronics linger under the surface of most songs on the band's new album, 'A Day Without a Name,' while the atmospheric guitars and moaning vocals add a hint of desperation. Think of the band as a less bombastic version of Muse, the message that we're living in a hopeless, future age is similar, but instead of combating that dire situation with overblown histrionics as Muse does, Vita Ruins soaks up those anxieties and piles on more layers of sound.' -Washington Post 'With their chainsaw guitars, atmospheric overtones, and sultry vocal track, The Vita Ruins are a band that should gain attention with their debut release, A Day Without A Name. After picking up shows around the DC area and finally taking it to the studio, we're left with 11 fresh tracks that produce a balance of euphoria and disdain, assertion and reflection, highs and lows.' -Murmur DC 'Building their own recording studio isn't the only evidence of the Vita Ruins' dedication to their music. Every note and effect on this album feels as though it is in precisely the right place, and every second that needs to be is filled with as much sound as possible. The Vita Ruins effectively blend fuzzy guitars and funky electronic beats, creating ambient atmospheres and rocking moments. A Day Without A Name has a unique sound and is a cohesive and enjoyable album.' -Bloginity.com.

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  • Price: 15.12 EUR excl. shipping
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  Satan's Slave

  After a bizarre car accident results in the death of her parents, Catherine (Candace Glendenning) moves to the foreboding mansion where her uncle (Michael Gough) and cousin (Martin Potter) reside. Soon, the love that dares not speak it's name (between Catherine and her cousin), creepy séances, and human sacrifice are on the menu of this British thriller boasting generous portions of skin and gore. With Barbara Kellerman, Michael Craze. AKA: "Evil Heritage." 89 min. Widescreen (Enhanced), Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital mono, Subtitles: English (SDH), audio commentary, bonus short "Fragment" (1965), featurettes, deleted scenes, theatrical trailers. Two-disc set.

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  • Price: 27.49 EUR excl. shipping

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