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Divertissement Сhamber Orchestra, Sergey Kuryokhin – Re:SEASONS

Sergey Kuryokhin was as fine a composer as he was an improvisor.  The Divertissement Orchestra, led by violinist Ilya Ioff, reinterprets one of Kuryokhin’s finest compositions from his album The Sparrow Oratorium.  Well-played, indeed.

Alisa Ten: vocals [1, 2, 4]
Vera Chekanova: vocals [2, 3, 4]
Lidia Kovalenko: violin [1], viola [2, 3]
Mikhail Blekher: honky-tonk [1], celeste [2], piano [3, 4], harpsichord [4]
Vladimir Volkov: double bass [4]
Ivan Chernobaev: percussion
Ilya Ioff: violin [1, 3, 4], drums programming [3]

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Trio Mandili – Psalm 50

There will be no reviews either today or tomorrow as Orthodox Christians observe Christmas Eve and the Nativity on what was always the Ecumenical Church Calendar until the devising of the modern Gregorian Calendar, so for those who hold to the Councils, today is December 24.  We wish you a Merry Christmas (again), and leave you with today’s selection, a hymn of wailing by Saint King David by the Georgian folk group, Trio Mandili.  Be well.

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Chris Karrer – The Mask

Sad news to report today, as former Amon Düül II guitarist, oudist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Karrer passed away on January 2, 2024.  We honor him by sharing a North Africa-influenced work of his from 2018 called The Mask.  The back story is rather interesting, and that story can be read by clicking the link here.

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Scott Lawlor – Theotokos

As Orthodox are still going through the process of Advent, we share our second post of the year in honor of the Birthgiver of God (Theotokos), as composer Scott Lawlor has titled this 2019 release.  Time flies, but great electronic and ambient music maintains its station.

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Jeff Gburek – Still Life with a Question Mark

No wishes, no hopes for the year, just a pleasant way to gently slide into 2024.  We launch with Jeff Gburek’s latest release, of which he provides notes on his Bandcamp site:

“Still Life with a Question Mark came together as an album rather quickly after I discovered loops unused from an older project fit very well with the latest work I’d done in seclusion at Dom Sztuk, Kęszyca. Captures of VLF radio (ionospheric geomagnetic crackling impulses), hydrophone recordings from Solacz pond, frame drums, zither played with ebow, looped guitar and string passages, synthesizer, shortwave radio, textures of leaves, wood, ash and pitches calibrated as overtones based on Schumann Resonance (the variable background vibration frequency of the planet that has served as backdrop for life’s evolution here). Gathered mainly in mid-October and composed in November. An early winter ambient album to inspire reflection and peace.”

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Enda Reilly – A Dublin Farewell

2023 was a magnificent year for music releases, but a harsh one for those whom we lost.  The latest major artist we lost was The Pogues’ frontman, Shane MacGowan, who died on November 30th.  Folk singer Enda Reilly participated in a procession through Dublin in Shane’s honor and was moved to set a poem he penned to music.  I have a feeling that Shane would have enjoyed it.

That closes 2023, dear friends.  We begin again tomorrow.  Happy New Year!

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The Drone Pilots #054 – Ghazal

Our friend, the erstwhile lad known throughout Beijing and parts of Western Europe as The Drone Pilots, presents a fine podcast as we begin the wrapup process for 2024.  As he so eloquently describes:

“Ghazals are a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a repeating refrain word or phrase, originating in 7th century Persia; though starting as poems, ghazals were adapted in Indian classical music to become a unique genre of semi-classical song, with lyrical couplets with musical accompaniment and rhythm.
Trainspotters will relish the multiple samples of Peter Gabriel as a tribute to his Real World efforts to promote ethnic music globally.”