WRUV Reviews

The pulsating music of Carnival is samba - invented by poor Afro-Brazilians & still uniquely Brazilian to this day. Here is a good sampling of samba music created for the 4-day Rio Carnival*, said by many to be the biggest party in the world, as well as some famous Brazilian football anthems.

The 2010 Rio Carnival starts on Saturday Feb 13th and finishes on Fat Tuesday, Feb 16th.

*”Rio Carnival is a wild 4 day celebration, 40 days before Easter. It officially starts on Saturday and finishes on Fat Tuesday with the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday after which one is supposed to abstain from all bodily pleasures. Carnival with all its excesses, celebrated as a profane event, can be considered an act of farewell to the pleasures of the flesh. It usually happens in February, the hottest month in the Southern Hemisphere, when the Rio summer is at its peak.” - From http://www.rio-carnival.net/

Trio from Argentina skillfully plays traditional Eastern European Gypsy music & original compositions of the same genre, with passion & an occasional hint of tango. Great violin, accordion, strings, & arrangements.

Six of India’s eminent classical musicians lead small ensembles in performing compositions that showcase their preferred instruments - Hariprasad Chaurasia - bansuri (flute); Ravi Shankar - sitar; Zakir Hussain - tabla; N. Rajam - violin; Ram Narayan - sarangi (like a lute played with a bow); & Bismillah Khan - shehnai (like an oboe). Detailed liner notes.

Two CD set - most tracks are more than 20 minutes long. But they’re really great compositions if you like highbrow classical Indian music.

Fascinating compositions featuring lots of Indian tabla, gongs, vibes, scat vocals, complex rhythms, etc. Creative and energetic with a world music flavor.

This album nicely combines soft rock with easy to listen to country. The record is a rock album first, and country second with most of the songs somewhere in between. There’s a solo female vocalist on all the tracks being back up by a typical band mostly, but also a harmonica (track 2) and brass/string section (track 4). The songs make you picture a typical week in the Texas or the South– real Americana.

Play # 2,4,6,9,10      All FCC Clean

Ries was close friend and musical secretary to Beethoven as well as an accomplished pianist and composer (although overshadowed by Beethoven). His sonatas pre-date the Romantic period and yet exhibit its traits. Play any!

Two works considered to be masterpieces, exhibiting Dvorak’s “Bohemian” traits (perhaps his homesickness). Lovely! Long movements, try sampling.

Andrew Rangell performs these exquisite works that reveal Haydn’s creativity and diverse use of textures and harmony. Play all!

Pieces by various composers all commissioned by the Texas Christian University Percussion Ensemble. Most pieces composed in 2008, all are very interesting with their layers of percussion: melodic and emotive.

Try tracks 2-6

Reworkings of Renaissance pieces and new works, all for percussion: abstract, lively, lyrical. The Renaissance pieces are modern.

Try 9, 10, 13 (with saxophone!)