..:: audio-music dot info ::..


Main Page      The Desert Island      Copyright Notice
 Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz


Jan Garbarek: Concert in Athens

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: ECM Records
Released: 2013.01.28
Time:
 54:18
Category: Jazz
Producer(s): Manfred Eicher
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.garbarek.com
Appears with: Keith Jarrett, Eberhard Weber, The Hilliard Ensemble
Purchase date: 2014
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


     Death of a Salesman:
[1] Requiem for Willy Loman (E.Karaindrou) - 3:58 
     Eternity and a Day:
[2] Eternity Theme (E.Karaindrou) - 1:58 
[3] Closed Roads 5:36 
     Number Ten:
[4] Waiting (E.Karaindrou) - 2:07 
     Voyage to Cythera:
[5] Voyage (E.Karaindrou) - 2:10
     Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf;
[6] Invocation (E.Karaindrou) - 2:26 
     Number Ten:
[7] Tango of Love (E.Karaindrou) - 1:41 
     The Glass Menagerie:
[8] Tom's Theme (E.Karaindrou) - 1:35 
[9] Laura's Waltz (E.Karaindrou) - 3:22 
     Landscape in the Mist:
[10] Adagio (E.Karaindrou) - 3:50 
[11] After Memory (E.Karaindrou) - 2:46 
     The Beekeeper:
[12] Farewell Theme (E.Karaindrou) - 4:27 
     Dust of Time:
[13] Seeking Theme (E.Karaindrou) - 2:17 
     Number Ten:
[14] Nostalgia Song (E.Karaindrou) - 2:26 
[15] Waltz of the Rain (E.Karaindrou) - 2:44 
[16] Adagio for Saxophone (E.Karaindrou) - 2:49 
     Ulysses' Gaze:
[17] Dance  (E.Karaindrou) -3:54 
     Death of a Salesman:
[18] Requiem for Willy Loman, Variation  (E.Karaindrou) - 4:13

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Jan Garbarek - Tenor Saxophone
Eleni Karaindrou - Piano, Liner Notes
Kim Kashkashian - Violin
Vangelis Christopoulos - Oboe

Camerata Orchestra - Orchestra
Alexandros Myrat - Conductor
Socratis Anthis - Trumpet
Maria Bildea - Harp
Marie-Cécile Boulard - Clarinet
Aris Dimitriadis - Mandolin
Stella Gadedi - Flute
Dinos Hadjiiordanou - Accordion
Sergiu Nastasa - Violin
Sonia Pisk - Bassoon
Vangelis Skouras - French Harp, French Horn

Manfred Eicher - Artistic Director, Editing, Mixing, Producer
Nikos Espialidis - Editing, Engineer, Mixing
Bobby Blazoudakis - Editing
Peter DePian - Editing
Alex Aretaios - Editing Assistant
George Mathioudakis - Editing Assistant
Haris Akriviadis - Photography
Sascha Kleis - Design

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


An exceptional live recording, “Concert In Athens”, the tenth ECM release by Greek composer Eleni Karaindrou, incorporates moving performances by guests Kim Kashkashian and Jan Garbarek. The US violist and the Norwegian saxophonist have each made important contributions to Karaindrou’s music in the past, Garbarek with his playing on the film-score for The Beekeeper (see Music for Films) and Kashkashian as the key musical protagonist of Ulysses’ Gaze. Themes of both those films are revisited here, amongst much that is new. A primary emphasis is music written for theatre: the wide-reaching emotional scope of pieces for plays by Arthur Miller, Tennesee Williams and Edward Albee provides a wonderful context for bringing the guest musicians into contact with Eleni’s soloists, above all the brilliant oboist Vangelis Christopoulos. Recorded November 2010, with Manfred Eicher as producer, “Concert in Athens” gives us perhaps the fullest picture of Eleni Karaindrou’s compositional creativity to date.



The music of Greek film and theater score composer Eleni Karaindrou draws on elements of classical music and jazz, and sometimes on traditional Greek music, but it's not easy to classify as any of these. Karaindrou relies on small ensembles, with or without a small orchestra, creating a distinctive timbre for each piece. The music is low-key, but it's a remarkably flexible language. With Karaindrou herself on piano, top-flight chamber players Kim Kashkashian on viola and Vangelis Christopoulos on oboe, and Jan Garbarek's saxophone providing subtle jazz accents, the music has a remarkable fluid quality. ECM's sound in this live recording is strikingly clear (you can hardly tell it's live, and there's no applause or audience noise), but the label's usual minimalist graphics are a bit annoying here; it would have been helpful to know exactly what scenes the pieces were intended for: although some of the material (like Tennessee Williams' play The Glass Menagerie) is well known, titles like Laura's Waltz are very general. Still, the music grows on you as its colors emerge on repeated hearings, and the musicians of the Camerata Orchestra under Alexandros Myrat play with both sheen and obvious enjoyment. This is apparently something of a retrospective of Karaindrou's work, and it makes you want to hear more of it.

James Manheim - All Music Guide



For more than two decades, Eleni Karaindrou has been composing film scores for Theo Angelopoulos and releasing soundtracks on ECM, including Ulysses' Gaze (1995), with violist Kim Kashkashian, and Music for Films, where Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek performs music from the Greek film director's The Beekeeper (1986). Concert in Athens isn't Karaindrou's first live recording; 2006's Elegy of the Uprooting takes that honor, a two-CD retrospective culled from eleven Angelopoulos films and Karaindrou's 2002 theater score for Trojan Women. Concert in Athens—recorded more than five years after Elegy of the Uprooting but in the same Megaron (Hall of the Friends of Music) venue—takes a much different approach to repertoire.

With Garbarek and Kashkashian as featured soloists, Karaindrou includes brief nods to earlier works, with Garbarek's tenor a focal point on The Beekeeper's poignant "Farewell Theme," and Kashkashian's melodic call-and-response with oboist Vangelis Christopoulos—also back from the same recording but subsequently a more regular Karaindrou collaborator—soaring equally over the pedal tone intro to Ulysses' Gaze's "Dance."

Karaindrou also tips her hat to The Weeping Meadow, and Dust of Time (2009), but the majority of this 54-minute performance is new music—and not to Angelopoulos films. Instead, she scores American theater classics including Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (1949), Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (1944) and Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virignia Woolf (1962).

Does looking across the Atlantic for inspiration make a difference in Karaindrou's music? Hardly; fragile emotions are rarely far from the surface, and it would be no small challenge to find another score to Death of a Salesman more painfully elegiac than the two versions of "Requiem for Willy Loman" that bookend Concert in Athens, featuring Garbarek's ever-perfect tone and spare but unerring choices. Karaindrou also gives Garbarek "Adagio for Saxophone," a soft but somewhat foreboding miniature where Alexandros Myrat conducts the Camerata Orchestra with the perfect combination of elegance and dramatic restraint.

Like Garbarek, Karaindrou's understanding of where Kashkashian's strengths lie make her use of the American violist equally compelling. Better still are the tracks where she brings the two players together, though this is not the first time they've collaborated. Still, on the gentle "Laura's Waltz," for The Glass Menagerie the two orbit around each other in both solo features, and marvelous unison playing supported by mandolinist Aris Dimitriadis, while Kashkashian contributes one of the concert's most haunting moments in her a cappella solo on "Adagio—Landscape in the Mist," after which Garbarek and Christopoulos once again find themselves playing in tandem on a version that transcends Elegy of the Uprooting's, where the oboist was the sole lead voice.

Few composers of film and theater music are afforded the opportunity to explore their work through recordings for a single label; that ECM and producer Manfred Eicher continue to afford Karaindrou such singular freedom is what leads to successes like Concert in Athens. If it's a career highpoint even more compelling than the retrospective Elegy of the Uprooting, it simply means that Karaindrou is still capable of surprise, and as she nears the midpoint of her eighth decade on the planet, that's no mean feat.

JOHN KELMAN - March 20, 2013,
© 2014 All About Jazz



A beautiful and exceptional live recording, Concert in Athens, is the tenth ECM release by Greek composer of music for stage and screen, Eleni Karaindrou. With Eleni herself on piano and the Camerata Friends of Music Orchestra, it incorporates moving performances by guests Kim Kashkashian and Jan Garbarek.

The US violist and the Norwegian saxophonist have each made important contributions to Karaindrou's music in the past, Garbarek with his playing on the film-score for The Beekeeper (recorded on Music for Films, 8476092) and Kashkashian as the key musical protagonist of Ulysses' Gaze (4491532). Themes from both those films are revisited on this album, amongst much that is new.

A primary emphasis is music written for theatre: the wide-reaching emotional scope of pieces for plays by Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee provides a wonderful context for bringing the guest musicians into contact with Eleni's soloists, above all the brilliant oboist Vangelis Christopoulos. Recorded November 2010, with Manfred Eicher as producer, Concert in Athens gives perhaps the fullest picture of Eleni Karaindrou's outstanding compositional creativity to date.

© Copyright Propermusic.com Ltd 2014.



Eine Sache ist es, zwei Weltstars zu Aufnahmen in ein Studio zu lotsen. Eine andere Geschichte, sie zu einem gemeinsamen Konzert auf die Bühne zu holen. Genau dies ist der griechischen Komponistin und Pianistin Eleni Karaindrou gelungen, als sie im November 2010 ihr außergewöhnliches “Concert In Athens” gab, das ECM nun auf dem gleichnamigen Album einem breiteren Publikum erschließt. Fünf Jahre nach dem denkwürdigen Konzert mit der Sängerin Maria Farantouri, dessen Mitschnitt unter dem Titel “Elegy Of The Uprooting” veröffentlicht wurde, feierte Karaindrou mit einem neuen Programm und dem Camerata Friends of Music Orchestra unter Alexandros Myrat eine triumphale Rückkehr auf die Bühne der Athener Megaron-Konzerthalle. Zu den bewegendsten Momenten tragen nicht zuletzt die beiden eingangs erwähnten Stargäste bei: Kim Kashkashian und Jan Garbarek.

Die amerikanische Bratschistin und der norwegische Saxophonist hatten in der Vergangenheit bereits bedeutende Beiträge zu Karaindrous Musik geleistet. Garbarek spielte mit Karaindrou die Musik zum Film “Der Bienenzüchter” ein, die 1991 von ECM auf dem Album “Music For Films” veröffentlicht wurde. Und Kashkashian war 1994 Protagonistin auf dem Album “Ulysses’ Gaze”, das den Soundtrack zu Theodoros Angelopoulos’ gleichnamigem Film lieferte. Themen dieser beiden, aber auch anderer Angelopoulos-Filme wurden eigens für das Athener Konzert von Karaindrou noch einmal neu bearbeitet. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt liegt diesmal bei Arbeiten, die sie für Theateraufführungen von Stücken von Arthur Miller (“Tod eines Handlungsreisenden”), Tennessee Williams (“Die Glasmenagerie”) und Edward Albee (“Wer hat Angst vor Virginia Woolf?”) komponierte.

“Jeder meiner Kompositionen scheint Teil eines Mosaiks zu sein, das erst im Laufe der Jahre langsam seine wahre Gestalt annimmt”, hat Karaindrou einmal gesagt. Mit “Concert In Athens” erhält man nun das bislang wohl kompletteste Bild von ihrer kompositorischen Kreativität.

© 2014 JazzEcho.de



Ein außergewöhnliches Live-Album, das frische Einsichten in die Musik Eleni Karaindrous bietet. Im November 2010, fünf Jahre nach jenem Konzert, dessen Mitschnitt unter dem Titel "Elegy Of The Uprooting" veröffentlicht wurde, kehrte die griechische Komponistin mit einem neuen Programm und dem Camerata Friends of Music Orchestra unter Alexandros Myrat in die Athener Megaron-Konzerthalle zurück. Als Gastsolisten standen diesmal unter anderem Jan Garbarek und Kim Kashkashian mit auf der Bühne, beide hatten in der Vergangenheit schon wesentlich zur Präsentation von Eleni Karaindrous Musik beigetragen. Dabei verbanden sich schwebende Orchesterklänge, traditionelle Instrumente, melodiös-sangliche Themen und das Spiel der Solisten zu einem unverwechselbaren Ganzen. Das Programm umfasste sowohl Werke für Theater und Film (von denen einige erstmals auf der Konzertbühne vorgestellt wurden) als auch Kompositionen, die eigens für die konzertante Aufführung geschrieben wurden.

JPC.de



Ein außergewöhnliches Live-Album, das frische Einsichten in die Musik Eleni Karaindrous bietet. Im November 2010, fünf Jahre nach jenem Konzert, dessen Mitschnitt unter dem Titel Elegy Of The Uprooting veröffentlicht wurde, kehrte die griechische Komponistin mit einem neuen Programm und dem Camerata Friends of Music Orchestra unter Alexandros Myrat in die Athener Megaron-Konzerthalle zurück. Als Gastsolisten standen diesmal unter anderem Jan Garbarek und Kim Kashkashian mit auf der Bühne, beide hatten in der Vergangenheit schon wesentlich zur Präsentation von Eleni Karaindrous Musik beigetragen. Dabei verbanden sich schwebende Orchesterklänge, traditionelle Instrumente, melodiös-sangliche Themen und das Spiel der Solisten zu einem unverwechselbaren Ganzen. Das Programm umfasste sowohl Werke für Theater und Film (von denen einige erstmals auf der Konzertbühne vorgestellt wurden) als auch Kompositionen, die eigens für die konzertante Aufführung geschrieben wurden.

Amazon.de



'Karaindrou's compositions are surprisingly soft-spoken, highly effective and hugely enjoyable. Well worth hearing.' -- Scotland On Sunday, (Alexander Bryce) * * * * *

'A beguiling concert by an all-star group...recorded with characteristic ECM warmth and clarity.' -- BBC Music Magazine, (Barry Witherden) * * * *

'Fabulous solos from Garbarek, Kashkashian and Christopoulos grace this concert of Karaindrou's beguilingly atmospheric music.' -- The Times, (Richard Morrison)

'Karaindrou is joined by Garbarek at his most lyrical...Kashkashian on viola and Christopoulos on oboe. When all three join forces on "After Memory", it sounds like a second cousin of Paul Giger's "Karma Shadub".' -- Financial Times, (David Honigmann)

'Haunting, evocative album...Garbarek's tone on 'Requiem for Willy Loman' is nothing short of miraculous, and his expressivity to draw rich meaning from the music is echoed on 'Invocation' and 'Adagio for Saxophone'.' --Jazzwise, (Stuart Nicholson)
 

 L y r i c s


Currently no Lyrics available!

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


Currently no Samples available!