30.5.09

Francis Bacon Studio

Cantatas and Sonatas with the Viol - Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Ch. Coin (2000)

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22 tracks - Mp3 320 - RAR 110 Mb - No Covers No Booklet

Ensemble Baroque de Limoges
Christophe Coin

personnel & tracks info here

Even not a lot of time ago Dietrich Buxtehude was more known for being Bach's mentor and for his role as organist and composer of the virtuous School of the North of Germany, in that order.
Some years would pass before his kammermusik -in spite of that it is a very small part of his work- was revealed in all its force by ensembles such as the Boston Museum Trio, John Holloway with ter Linden and Mortensen, Music Antiqua Koln or Ton Koopman among others.
Nowadays that so restricted vision has stayed in the past and Buxtehude occupies a place among the Big Baroques, both for his magnificent vocal work and for his orgelwerke, and certainly, for his chamber music.
This way of panoramic it is the vision that offers us Christophe Coin and Ensemble Baroque de Limoges in this album: two cantatas, a funeral elegy, two chamber sonatas and three works for keyboard. All joined by a conductive thread, the presence of the viola da gamba playing roles so much of soloist as of continuo.
In the Sonatas Opus 1 Coin offers us an impeccable and incisive delivery, choosing energetic tempos and delivering one of the soloists voices -usually a violin- to the viola da gamba. Jan-Willem Jansen manages with property in the stylus phantasticus that there demand the prelude, the coral and the toccata for organ (performed in an authentic organ preserved in the Eglise-Musée des Augustins in Toulousse), in spite of that some critics consider him less endowed than Chapuis or Vogel. In what concerns the cantatas, Tauran and Del Pozo carry out a correct performance, impeded partly by the balance of the recording that emphasizes the instruments. The most powerful number of the disc is the Klaglied -for soprano, two violas and continuo-, composed by Buxtehude when his father died, who delivers sounds sublime and full of emotion in a monumental four-part conterpoint.

29.5.09

'Reflexio' Sonates pour flûte - Andreotti, Jansen, Coin, Azzolini (2006)

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16 tracks - Mp3 256 - RAR 138 mb - Covers+Booklet

Maria-Tecla Andreotti, flauto traverso
Jan-Willem Jansen, lautenwerk & cembalo
Christophe Coin, viola de gamba
Sergio Azzolini, fagotto


Ensemble Baroque de Limoges


The documentary evidence says to us that in the house of the Bach Family music was played regularly (slightly obvious in a kindred of almost 20 members, 3 of them musicians of universal height). In the inventory of Bach's testament it has been found 8 keyboards and 10 string instruments, without counting flutes and oboes that were excluded because of his void monetary value. I do not believe that it is necessary to add that these concerts were famous for its extraordinary quality and that, in view of the intimate environment, great freedom would exist in the choice of the instruments for the continuo and even for the soloists.
With this conceptual frame behind, Christophe Coin and the soloists of the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges perform the very well-known Sonatas for Flute delivering a refreshing and new vision of the music of the Maestro, coming closer these familiar and intimate sonorities that we already mention. A bassoon in the accompaniment of the Sonata in E Major, a viola da gamba doubling the harpsichord line in the Sonata in B Minor, or moreover the Lautenklavier -extint keyboard instrument that was one of Bach's favorites- they deliver a new comprehension of Bach's music.

Thelonious Monk advice to Steve Lacy (1960)

Don't play everything (or everytime); let some things go by. Some music just imagined.

28.5.09

Mare Nostrum - Fresu, Galliano, Lundgren (2008)


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15 tracks - Mp3 320 - RAR 143 mb - Covers

Paolo Fresu, trumpet & fluegelhorn
Richard Galliano, accordion & bandoneon
Jan Lundgren, piano



Even not a lot of time ago this writer was part of that close legion of aficionados who considered that jazz was 4/4, trumpet, sax, bigbands, smoking clubs and a long etcetera of common places that constitute the image Jazz has constructed over itself.
But the years show you that the world is wider and wider and the things that you yesterday were condemning because its unorthodoxy or lack of revealed truth , today are nothing else but artistic honest, diverse and fruitful expressions.
Mare Nostrum is that, and is a lot more.
It is music simultaneously nostalgic, evocative, magic. And it is like a great sea, his sonorities have something of deeply and of abysmal, slightly aquatic where you can submerge. And as in the sea, one feels a restrained force, which expresses slightly but which allows to feel his immense power.




26.5.09

Magdalena Kožená & Marc Minkowski Live at Radio France (1999)

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21 tracks - 320 kbps - RAR 179 MB - NO Covers NO Booklet



Georg-Friedrich Händel - Italian Cantatas (Live)
Tra le Fiamme HWV 170
La Lucrezia HWV 145
Delirio Amoroso HWV 99

December 18, 1999. Radio France

Magdalena Kožená, mezzosoprano
Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble
Marc Minkowski

Sébastien Marq, Flauto
Pascal Monteilhet, Tiorba
Juan Manuel Quintana, Viola da gamba
Anton Steck, Violino
Jean-Louis Fiat, Fagotto


There are several recordings in which Magdalena Kožená and French director Minkowski have worked together: operas, oratorios and masses with the Czech mezzo integrating casts and -as I understand it- two albums with the singer as a soloist, in Handel Italian Cantatas (with Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble, 1999) and French Arias (with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, 2003). The first of these two corresponds to the recital we offer on this occasion.
Despite the somewhat pompous and willfull critical vision on his oeuvre, while recognizing their high level, Marc Minkowski was very successful 10 years ago with this album, partly because this young and beautiful Czech mezzo-soprano, Magdalena Kožená, who in a short time has captivated critics and the public, both for the quality of his bright tone, unique technique and dramatic sense.
Three cantatas, with a lush orchestral accompaniment, are what make up this disc, and we hear in this live concert on Radio France. They were composed by a young and ambitious Händel in his Roman period, when he frequented the courts of influential Italian cardinals. As noted Emmanuelle Haïm on occasion, we face a different Händel from the known institutional composer of the Coronations Anthems, the Great Oratorios or Te Deums. This is a young musician, passionate, perhaps in love, heir of Corelli, which shows us a dignified and noble Lucrezia that is dragged to the self-destruction, the most successful of the three deliveries.
Two encores close the concert, one of them the very known Doppo la notte -in a superb rendition- from the opera Ariodante, giving a farewell to this magnificent recital.

El transbordador Atlantis cruzando por delante del sol




Estas impactantes fotos fueron tomadas al transbordador Atlantis mientras orbitaba la tierra para reparar el telescopio Hubble por un fotógrafo aficionado, Thierry Legault, desde el patio de su casa (!).

25.5.09

Marin Marais - Pieces de Viole du Second Livre.

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14 tracks - Mp3 320 kbps - RAR 101 Mb - Covers+Booklet

Jordi Savall, basse de viole
Anne Gallet, clavecin
Hopkinson Smith, théorbe


A few weeks ago I have read a very interesting history related to the recording of this session on which Savall started the Marais's cycle.
It was running the year 1975 when Savall, which had begun to work for Erato, raises to the director of the french label the chance to make a few albums with the subject of the viola da gamba repertoire (Hume, Marais). The response was a disappointing denial - " nobody is interested in it ". In this context there appears the producer Michel Bernstein, who after hearing Jordi, Stephen Preston and Trevor Pinnock in a concert of Folies d'Espagne in Caen, he speaks to him about his label Astrée and of his project to realize a collection entitled Défense et illustration de la musique française.
Very soon they agreed to work on a disc dedicated entirely to Marin Marais, specifically his Second Livre, and for it Bernstein decided to record the session in an old and beautiful roman church St. Lambert des Bois, in Yvelines, near Versailles. Since this place stays closely together of a small airport, the recordings must be made between eight o'clock pm and the four of the dawn, retire to be supped on then by night and to resting to a small nearby hotel. How they get sense at the time this Voix Humaines and all this music understood now as a night music, given birth under the protection of the hazes of the Ile-de-France!

J. S. Bach - Oster-Oratorium BWV 249

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17 tracks - Mp3 320 kbps - RAR 149 mb - Covers+Booklet



Oster-Oratorium BWV 249
Cantata BWV 66: "Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen"

Barbara Schlick, soprano
Kai Wessel , alto
James Taylor, tenor
Peter Kooy, basso


Collegium Vocale, Gent
Philippe Herreweghe

24.5.09

J. S. Bach - Ascension Oratorio BWV 11

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Cantata BWV 43: "Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen"
Cantata BWV 44: "Sie werden euch in den Bann tun"
Oratorio BWV 11: Himmelfahrts-Oratorium

Barbara Schlick, soprano
Catherine Patriasz, alto
Christoph Prégardien, tenor
Peter Kooy, basso

Collegium Vocale, Gent
Philippe Herreweghe

22.5.09

Marin Marais - Pieces de Viole du Quatrieme Livre.

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11 tracks - Mp3 320 kbps - RAR 104 mb - Covers+Booklet

Jordi Savall, viola da gamba
Ton Koopman, cembalo
Hopkinson Smith, tiorba


Les Pieces de Viole of Marin Marais were recorded for the first time of an integral way by Jordi Savall and diverse instrumentalists between the year 1975 and 1992.
This Suitte d'un Gout Etranger corresponds to the second one of these recordings, in January, 1977, and Savall (using one viola da gamba of anonymous author of the 18th century) is joined by Ton Koopman and Hopkinson Smith. All, young and iconoclasts men at the time, musicians of what today is known as the Second Generation of baroque musicians. Will they have imagined what the future would provide them and how they would transform into models and leaders of a whole cultural movement? The most probable thing is that not.
Published in 1717, when Marais already was counting respectable 61 years, the Fourth Book comes to be a formidable response to the mode italianizante of the French court. The most fierce rival of Marais-Antoine Forqueray - was personifying the vibrant foreign style and Marais was kept as the classic "nationalistic" inheritor of Lully's tradition.
Speaking in current terms I would dare to say that this Livre IV it is Marais's attempt of being kept in force in the renewed court - where his former boss Louis XIV has just died only two years ago - giving a rococo touch to his music by means of the incorporation of "characteristic" themes(this is naming the movements of the suite with picturesque or evocative titles); a complete example of this is Le Labyrinthe.
For whom we knew this wonderful music through the movie " Tous les Matins du Monde" - in the middle of the 90's-, a theme like La Reveuse (The Dreamer) will bring us nostalgic and agreeable images of a Gerard Depardieu regreting to his dying past. In Les Fetes Champestres you will be able to feel the beat of the bagpipes and the dance with a strong rustic air. Le Tourbillon is almost a monument to the ego with this amazing fingering that only is reserved to the chosen ones. And this way we might continue...


7.5.09

Blue Bottle



Me acuerdo que cuando chiquitito en mi casa habían unas revistas CODEX de argentina donde te explicaban el mundo en dibujos. Y en una de esas salía este bicho: LA CARABELA PORTUGUESA.

De partida no es una medusa, es un Siphonophoro. Y tampoco es un sólo organismo. Es una colonia, donde viven muchos seres (?). Éstos -pequeñas medusas e hidroides- trabajan juntos para mantener viva la colonia. Tiene una suerte de vela gelatinosa en su cresta que le permite navegar, vive en aguas cálidas, preferentemente en la gulfstream, y posee TENTACULOS VENENOSOS DE HASTA 30 MT. Como muchos de estos hidrozoos, ataca a sus presas, entre las que se encuentra el hombre, inyectando el veneno neurotoxico de sus larguísimos tentáculos.

En esta semana (mayo 2009) se ha detectado un número inusualmente alto de Carabelas Portuguesas en el Mediterráneo cercano a las Islas Baleares, con el consiguiente temor de los turistas en temporada alta. Y no han encontrado nada mejor que disponer de un pescador que las caze y cobre luego la paga por bicho capturado. Se sabe que la Blue Bottle no esta en peligro de extinción.





6.5.09

http://ivanushkov.ru/




cobrando cuentas pendientes

Decir que no me gusta Pedro Lemebel sería falso. He leído y he disfrutado de sus libros desde mucho antes que fueran mainstream. Anoto que jamás he comprado uno, pero el sino me los ha puesto en mis manos de maneras diversas. Me he reído y he llorado según corresponda. He gozado como chino, en suma, reconociendo ese argot particular que nos caracteriza como comunidad, nadando en esas ornamentaciones de su escritura -llamadas barrocas, por algunos, pero que a mi me parecen manierismos-. Y también (cómo no) me lo he cruzado caminando por las calles del santiago cola comme il faut, o en reuniones con amigos comunes, o simplemente sale en conversaciones de cualquier joto de a pie que se precie de culto.

Durante muchos domingos lo leía con regularidad en La Nación y era el acompañante ideal de reposadas tardes, necesarias para descansar de agitados sábados. Eso hasta que el mencionado periódico se sumergió en su propia insignificancia y dejó de existir en el horizonte.

Evidentemente Lemebel como ente humano y literario va mucho más allá, pero valga como chapucera introducción.

Y todo esto, bueno, por la comentada polémica de principios de 2009, donde la vieja crónica del Unicornio Azul, que ha sido reciclada en un libro reciente, muestra a un Silvio Rodríguez homofóbico que recibe de mala manera las insinuaciones de Lemebel y un amigo literario acerca de la doble lectura de la famosa canción. Todo sellado por la sentencia pontificia del Silvio de la crónica que dicta: "Con la revolución todo, sin la revolución nada", o algo por el estilo, dejando a los hablantes de la colizonidad con un palmo de narices

El caso fue seguido muy de cerca por el columnista Bruno Bimbi, para el diario Crítica de Argentina, donde se puede monitorear paso a paso el desarrollo del proceso. A la larga este Bimbi pasó a ser uno más entre los actores de la polémica al escarbar de manera inclemente en la situación y emplazando a los sujetos a pronunciarse de la discusión.

En suma, Silvio Rodríguez negó -por supuesto- las acusaciones de supuesta homofobia y señaló su irrestricto compromiso con las minorías, etc. Mientras que Lemebel, quien en un principio había avalado lo escrito como una crónica nacida de circunstancias verídicas, luego se "retractó" diciendo que había que interpretar sus crónicas desde una perspectiva "humorística" o "lúdica" (sic). En lo que todos concordaron era que la polémica desatada se había salido de madre y estaba dando espacios para que elementos la usaran como artilugio contrarevolucionario.

Lo que estos prohombres (utilizando laxamente el giro, en el caso del escritor) nos señalan entonces es que no debemos distraer nuestra atención con estas discusiones menores, y perder del foco principal lo que importa, que vendría a ser la integridad y coherencia de la revolución (no se necesitan adjetivos cuando es el caso de la revolución cubana, tal como cuando decimos El, por jesucristo, o el Partido, por el PC).

Triste e indignante resulta ver al polemista incombustible de Lemebel reducido a dar explicaciones funcionarias y burocráticas. Uniformes y pulidas como un biombo de laca. Sin dudas incómodas ni quiebres de ningún tipo.

Guardando las proporciones, ésto me recuerda aquella famosa caricatura de Topaze: El León no es tan bravo como lo pintan.

En alguna parte de su recular Lemebel hace referencia a que lo que subyace (obvio) es "el superado tema de la izquierda y la homosexualidad". Y por supuesto que lo es, y no por superado precisamente. Lemebel mismo con su Manifiesto (1986) es una encarnación a nivel local de tan "superada" temática. Performaces legendarias como las Fridas, el mismo Manifiesto y su provocadora lectura en tierras entonces hostiles (mitín de izquierdas en el chile pinochetista), sus crónicas y demases no hacen más que trabajar desde la trinchera de enfrentamiento entre izquierda y homosexualidad.

Citas históricas como "Cuba no necesita peluqueros", campos de concentración-reeducación y tantas otras circunstancias hacen que la divergencia sea indeleble.

Ver a Lemebel en estos pantanos me recuerda un poco a Galileo, negándose a sí mismo para no perder un espacio en su propia comunidad. Quizá el ácido Lemebel del pasado está empezando a parecer incómodo al laureado -con justa razón- Lemebel de hoy. Jugando un poco al contrafactualismo podría inferir que el Manifiesto de hace 23 años atrás no le parecería un artilugio contrarrevolucionario al escritor entonces, y hoy sí. Hoy estaría -con un texto de esa clase- "dándole alimento a los reaccionarios para que sigan atacando el bello proceso cubano".

Negar que una persona, un escritor, cambie de visión con los años es pueril. Pero añoro la uña travesti de quien alguna vez arañó sin distinciones, como mono(a) con gillete, tanto al dictador como a los comunistas de buró y bigotillo.

Es penoso ver al alguna vez filoso cola contestatario devenido en alguien que ve la crítica como un acto de contrarevolución. Al más puro estilo del ya legendario control de cuadros.

Inesperadamente de vuelta


cuando en algún meandro de internet volví a encontrarme con este proyecto de blog que aborté hace tres años, sentí que no era mala idea volver a utilizarlo, volver a intentar un blog. why not?

si esta web se me volvió a aparecer de la nada, no puedo desoír el sincronismo.

al ataque.