McKay [Enhanced] [Import]

McKay [Enhanced] [Import]

Track Listings

1. Intro - Fred Cash, McKay

2. Tell Him

3. Bluesin' It

4. Sadder Day

5. Thinking of You

6. How Long

7. Rising Tide

8. Loving You

9. Take Me Over

10. Five Days of Faith

11. Thadius Star

12. Echo

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Debut solo album from soulful vocalist who has worked with Soulive, Kelis, Lenny White, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, Talib Kweli, & many more. Produced by Geoff Barrow (Portishead). The singer songwriter grew up in The Bronx, where her soul, blues, hip-hop & jazz influences might easily have steered her on an obvious & profitable course. But with McKay something completely fresh, elemental & almost deviant has been born. It is an astoundingly versatile work, at the head of which Stephanie McKay is nothing short of sensational. 'Like a Jill Scott record without the worthiness...with Beth Gibbons (Portishead vox) off reinventing folk, it's great to see Geoff Barrow do the same for soul' - Jockey Slut. Go Beat. 2003.

Tracks:

Cupcake
Pink Chandlelier
There You Are In Me
Yodel
The Big One
G.E.S.
I Will Be There
The Down Low
Long & Lazy River
I Am Nothing
Beecharmer
Swept Away

Tracks:

Real Life
Tipperary
Gladd
Food
We Had It Right
Columbia Is Bleeding
Lali Est Paresseux
Happy Flower
Mama & Me
Pouncce
Old Enough

Amazon.com

Few recording artists follow their double-disc debut with another double-disc collection. Nellie McKay isn't the typical recording artist. The singer/songwriter/activist is a restless talent--with a steely backbone. When Columbia refused to release this 23-track set, McKay took a hike and put it out on her own Hungry Mouse imprint. (The song "Columbia Is Bleeding" isn't about her former label, rather the treatment of lab animals at the Ivy League institution.) McKay's creative restlessness brings to mind Robert Pollard and Matt and Eleanor Friedberger, not so much in sound, but in the sense that--for better or for worse--there's nothing she won't try. In "G.E.S." and "Mama & Me," she raps. In the latter, she quips, "See I been livin' with my mama/since I was an embryo/never had Nintendo/saw a lot of Brecht though." In "Tipperary," the British-born New Yorker torches up the joint music hall-style. Then in "Yodel," she, well, yodels. What holds it all together is McKay's flexible, appealing pipes. There's a reason she was cast as Polly Peachum in the Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera--the petite blonde oozes charisma. McKay's actress mother, Robin Pappas, served as executive producer on Pretty Little Head, which features charming duets with fellow iconoclasts k.d. lang ("We Had It Right") and Threepenny co-star Cyndi Lauper ("Beecharmer"). As with Get Away from Me, the album is like a seven-course meal; overwhelming if taken in all at once, but there's a little something here for pretty much everyone. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

Best Album of 2006 -- Criminally Underrated.......2007-05-21

This didn't make the Village Voice's list of the top 30 albums of the year? There's more wit and inventiveness on these discs than can be found in the entire careers of others. Any pop fan can feast on these hooks for months. It sounds like Stephen Sondheim joined an East Village girl group. This woman is a genius.

Screw Sony - this was WORTH THE WAIT!.......2007-05-10

I waited anxiously for this album to come out (in its full form) after Sony dropped her.

A double-CD like her first record, again Nellie soars -- deftly displaying her vast influences and talents ranging from academic and intellectual hip-hop and jazz influenced tunes to pseudo-pop piano music to just plain fun songs like "Pounce."

The last track "Old Enough" always leaves me smiling... and glad that Miss McKay is a young talent indeed with many years of fabulous tunes to come... I can't wait!!

A good listen.......2007-04-10

If you like Nelly's fisrt CD because of how origional the lyrics were, you might be disappointed with this CD. Its more mature and less satirical than the first. Still worth the purchase and listen.

Pretty good for a brat.......2007-03-09

I liked her first album, "Get Away From Me" for it's varied musical styles and her intelligent, literate lyrics. Same is true for this release. Her sometimes snotty attitude can wear thin but I keep going back for more. She shows a sense of humor that brings Cole Porter to mind though I haven't heard a song of hers that has the emotional depth of Porter's best. Still, I sense that depth is lurking there. Hey, she has time to do more, after all she's just a brat.

Sassy, stunning, and subversive.......2007-03-08

This long-awaited follow-on to her amazing first effort extends and deepens here obvious talent. She's matured a bit, but retains a real vibrancy. Some might see this as a softening or backing away from the sharp-edged social and political content of her first album, but in cuts like "The Big One," it's there and solid.

Average customer rating:

Promising Beginning
Wonderful
Nellie McKay is brilliant!
She's clearly talented. But..
Love this CD

Get Away from Me
Nellie McKay
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Pretty Little Head
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ASIN: B0001AP07M
Release Date: 2004-02-10

Tracks:

David
Manhattan Avenue
Sari
Ding Dong
Baby Watch Your Back
The Dog Song
Waiter
I Wanna Get Married
Change The World

Tracks:

It's A Pose
Toto Dies
Won't U Please B Nice
Inner Peace
Suitcase Song
Work Song
Clonie
Respectable
Really

Amazon.com

Like Rufus Wainwright, Nellie McKay was born about thirty years too late. She may look like a winsome teenager on the cover of "Get Away From Me," but she's got the soul and grit of Ethel Merman, mincing her way through drawing room dramas and musical conflagrations with more subtlety, wit, and better personal politics than Eminen, but with similar results--most stunningly on "Sari," where she perfectly melds the ire of Missy Elliot with the goofiness of Moon Unit Zappa on this edgy rap song. McKay quickly changes personas becoming a torchy siren on her paean to domesticity "I Wanna Get Married," wearing her irony as lightly--and as transparently--as a see-through negligee. At nineteen, McKay has only scratched the surface of what she's capable of, veering from witty jazz, to edgy cabaret, to brash confessionals, and taking the listener on what certainly will prove to be a long, eccentric ride. --Jaan Uhelszki

Customer Reviews:

Promising Beginning.......2007-04-13

Here we are, 3 years after the release of "Get Away From Me", and it's safe to say major All-World sales success will not occur with this CD. Nellie McKay got as much artistic final-cut freedom on her first release as any artist likely ever was permitted, and what happened?

Despite appearances in coolly-targeted media outlets (NPR, Letterman, The View) the disc didn't sell in the Norah-Jones-multi-multi-platinum quantities that Sony anticipated. But those expectations were misguided in the first place. Nellie McKay is talented and hard-working, but she is NOT mainstream.

You can read elsewhere what people write about the individual songs, and you can listen to the clips here (or the entire songs elsewhere if you're so inclined) but the view from here is that pretty much all of the music sounds great, and some of the lyrics are amazingly original. (She does even better with her words on "Pretty Little Head," which came out last year.)

Put it this way: Nellie McKay doesn't make you forget Frank Zappa and Randy Newman -- she makes you remember them.

Wonderful.......2007-02-22

This was one of those situations where I saw an artist on Conan O'Brien and said wow I have got to get this person's CD and it was 10 times better than I expected. Nellie McKay is a great writer, her music is witty insightful deep and fun. It flows easily between vocal based styles from the 40s to quirky rap influenced pop. I think people who can appreciate great musicianship and songwriting will love this double CD. It doesn't get heavy musically, no big guitar solos or double bass drums or anything. What you do get is an exceptional offering from an absolute star that is a far better option than Fiona Apple or Tori Amos.

Nellie McKay is brilliant!.......2007-01-10

fantastic multi genre cd. Lyrical wit and creative orchestration very unique. reminiscent of the orchestrated Beatles albums except with more twisted and saucy lyrics.

She's clearly talented. But.........2006-12-03

With the release of "Pretty Little Head," I decided to revisit the much talked about debut of Nellie McKay, "Get Away From Me." Bottom line is this: she's got chops. She can sing and play. Her songwriting can frequently be inspired. But the raps are clumsy and ill executed and sometimes there's no point to the noise. Unfortunately, I'd say "Pretty Little Head" improves on the formula only slightly. She's clearly got her fans, but I won't be one of them until potential is realized.

Love this CD.......2006-11-10

Nellie McKay is awesome. I love her singing style and her witty lyrics.

Average customer rating:

a must-have for the cello music collection
Worth Getting to Know

Vivaldi: Complete Cello Concertos

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Vivaldi: Concerti per mandolini
Vaughan Williams: The Nine Symphonies
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Vivaldi: Complete Flute Concertos

ASIN: B0009A1AKU
Release Date: 2005-05-31

Customer Reviews:

a must-have for the cello music collection.......2006-02-14

What immediately surprised me, after happily being borne along by the jouncy first track of this compilation, is why Vivaldi is still a stranger in the classical cello concert hall. Cellists spotlighted as soloists invariably choose the concerti of Dvorak, Saint Saens, Elgar, even Haydn. Perhaps it's because these compositions showcase the cellist's technical skills. However, all are forays into somber tones. In contrast, Vivaldi's cello concerti is loaded with his unmistakable joie de vivre. Yet Vivaldi's soaring notes, caresses, leaps and waves are complemented by his thoughtful forays into melancholia, subtly dipping into sadness without delving too deeply that it can't go back. Ofra Harnoy gratifyingly showcases the composer and these wonderful pieces, not herself; she is a cellist not given to cheap effects for braggadocio. Get this wonderful collection if you love cello and baroque music. It occupies a cherished spot on my classical cd collection. The music never fails to cheer me up.

Worth Getting to Know.......2005-10-26

This 4-disc set is an RCA Victor reissue of recordings of Vivaldi's cello concertos that Canadian cellist Ofra Harnoy made from 1989-1997. At a bargain price of $23.98, it's an absolute must-have for baroque music lovers, fans of Vivaldi, or just anyone who loves good classical music. Most people are probably familiar with Vivaldi's many violin concertos, including, of course, Le Quattro Stagioni, the famous "Four Seasons." This lesser known music by "the red priest" is just as rewarding. Harnoy's cello has a warm and rich tone, and the Toronto Chamber Orchestra provides excellent accompaniment. Superb in every respect.

Average customer rating:

"Harvest Home" Serves Up a Feast
Amazing
Exquisite
Exquisite
Emotional and poignant

Harvest Home

Manufacturer: Gothic Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Christmas With the Dale Warland Singers
Blue Wheat
December Stillness
Christmas Echoes, Vol. 1
Cathedral Classics

ASIN: B000B8QFBY
Release Date: 2005-10-11

Tracks:

Beautiful River (Shall We Gather At The River)
Simple Gifts
She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain
Peace
McKay
A La Claire Fontaine
Deep River
We Gather Together
Not One Sparrow Is Forgotten
Cindy
Gentle Annie
We Shall Walk Through The Valley In Peace
The Water Is Wide
By And By
The Old Church
Lay Me Low
The Road Home

Album Description

This CD is the second of the final CDs to be issued by The Dale Warland Singers, who disbanded in 2004. The program is a "harvest" of popular songs, hymns and spirituals, including "Simple Gifts," "Deep River," and "We Gather Together". The Grammy-nominated Dale Warland Singers were specialists in performing American works. Includes 16-page booklet with full texts and notes on the works! The Dale Warland Singers CDs are among the best selling American choral CDs in recent history. This CD is a "volume 2" of their best seller, Blue Wheat, issued previously on ACC. Based in Minneapolis/St. Paul, the Dale Warland Singers were recognized as one of the world's foremost a cappella choral ensembles. This 40-voice professional choir recently celebrated its 31st and final season of concerts, tours, radio broadcasts, and critically acclaimed recordings, following the retirement of founder and director Dale Warland.

Customer Reviews:

"Harvest Home" Serves Up a Feast.......2006-03-10

Most CD recordings of choral music do not attract the attention of the population at large, and "Harvest Home" is clearly an exception. Word came to me about this remarkable album through a fellow faculty member at the Boston Conservatory. He was rightly proud of having written two of the arrangements, but prouder still of the fact that it had become a red-hot bestseller through the word-of-mouth network of choristers all over the country. Needless to say, I was curious but a bit skeptical. Generally, things that become that popular have an aesthetic downside. I ordered my copy from Amazon and got it just before I left to go to a concert with a couple of musician friends. We were frankly thrilled with the quality of the singing, the beautifully shaped nuances, and the richness of the several of the arrangements. It is clear that its popularity among choral singers has to do with the musical material, as with its execution. The arrangements are based on mostly religious American folk songs and show off the delicate intonational skills of Dale Warland's legendary group. It's just the kind of thing that church choir members can really appreciate, but unfortunately cannot stand up to repeated listing -- it has to be the work of great composers for me to hear recordings over and over again. Nevertheless, I played it for my choral group, and they jumped all over it. That's the market audience. Bravo, Mr. Warland.

Amazing.......2005-12-26

I've been a fan of the Dale Warland Singers for a long time, and attended many of their concerts. This recording displays perfectly what the choir was capable of. I listen to it constantly. Many of these arrangements are the best I've heard of these songs. "Deep River" is better than that of Chanticleer or Cantus. "She'll be Comin Round the Mountain" is really fun. I got the chance to sing it a few years ago and will never forget it. You NEED to buy this CD. It's well worth the money.

Exquisite.......2005-12-18

Buy this album! This is the finest recording I have purchased this year. The exquisite tonality and the arrangements have kept me listening every day. The audio quality is outstanding - balanced, finely nuanced, lovely soundstage. If you enjoy choral music, purchase this album - NOW.

Exquisite.......2005-11-16

I purchased this on a whim and it is been in my 5-disc player ever since. I have always loved choral settings of folk songs and hymns (with one exception - "The Water is Wide" should never ever ever be sung by a chorus - it doesn't work, but it is the only track I skip on this disc). The selections are all old favorites in often harmonically lush arrangements. Hawley's arrangement of "Not One Sparrow" is transcendent and has become my morning prayer, "Lay Me Low" my evening meditation. The singing is as near perfect as can be, musicality is stunning, and technical merits are high. I cannot recommend this disc enough.

Emotional and poignant.......2005-11-07

On Harvest Home, the Dale Warland Singers delve into the rich legacy of mostly American sacred and folk music. With the lush vocal orchestrations and thoughtful arrangements, many of these familiar songs take on new life and emotional depth.

As a boy, I grew up in the Mennonite church tradition and one of the distinctive things about our church services was the a cappella 4-part harmony. As I got older, I thought this was a bit odd and wished we used instruments in church like most people. In looking back now, I am thankful for that tradition and what it taught me about music and harmony.

Throughout high school I was involved with choral groups, doing several programs each year. The first year after high school I spent a few months at a religious school that had a long-standing tradition of chorale music. I well remember the hours of rehearsal to get the song just right, practicing enunciation and dynamics and expression.

So when I hear a group like the Dale Warland Singers, I have a small insight into the dedication it takes to do choral music at the level of this recording. These are singers and a director at the top of their game, with attention to detail everywhere, creativity in the arrangements and technical brilliance. And what a vocal range, with "how low can they go" bass and sopranos that my normal laptop headphones have trouble reproducing without distortion.

I've long been a fan of spirituals; they are at times moving to hear, at times playful and fun (and can be even more fun to sing). This album features a couple of my favorites: "Shall We Gather At The River" and "Deep River". Upon first hearing this rendition of the latter, I was nearly moved to tears by the stark beauty and emotional depth of this arrangement. It's a prime example of the power of music to take us places emotionally and connect us with the deeper feelings and longings of the soul.

In addition to several spirituals, there is a unique variety of other religious pieces pulled from the traditions of Quakers and Baptists among others. The album also mines some rich treasures from the Shaker tradition, including the comforting "Not One Sparrow Is Forgotten" and the poignant tenderness of "Lay Me Low', with the simple text of

Lay me low where the Lord can find me, where the Lord can own me, where the Lord can bless me

Not everything leans towards the serious or sacred though. A fun, light-hearted arrangement of "She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain" (arr. by Emma Lou Diemer) features bouncing bass lines and lots of syncopation and sibilance to keep things interesting. And the traditional Dixie folk song "Cindy" tells the story of a heartsick man with tongue-in-cheek lyrics that playfully bounce from part to part.

The liner notes are exceptional, with lots of helpful historic and musical notes on the various selections. This is one of the final albums from The Dale Warland Singers after 31 years. The group disbanded in May 2004 so that the founder Dale Warland could focus more on teaching, consulting and guest conducting. He certainly has left his mark on the choral landscape and this recording is no exception. Highly recommended if you appreciate choral music, especially traditional folk and sacred selections.

Average customer rating:

Hans Krása: Brundibár

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Brundibar (New York Times Best Illustrated Books (Awards))
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ASIN: B000K97RKC
Release Date: 2006-12-12

Tracks:

Scene One
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Scene 6
Scene 7
Scene 8
Serenade
Scene One
Scene Two
Scene Three
Scene Four
Scene Five
Scene Six
Scene Seven
Overture For Small Orchestra
The Butterfly
Yes, That's The Way Things Are
Birdsong
The Garden
Man Proposes, God Disposes
The Old House

Amazon.com

Among the recently discovered works by Czech-Jewish composers written at the concentration camp Terezín (a way-station to the Nazi gas chambers) was the children's opera Brundibár (Czech for "bumblebee") by Hans Krása, born in Prague in 1899 and murdered in Auschwitz in 1944. Performed by the camp's children 55 times - with the cast changing as the performers were deported and killed - it became a symbol of the prisoners' undaunted creativity. Assessing the purely musical quality of the Terezín works is almost impossible in view of the wrenching circumstances of their inception and the composers' still developing talents and creative powers. The miracle is that they exist at all.

Tracks:

March: Hands Across The Sea
Dizzy Fingers
Mississippi Suite-I. Father Of Waters
Tournament Galop
From A Moonlit Ceremony-I. Evocatioin
Violin Concerto-I
Melody For Violin And Piano, Op.44
Al Fresco
The Breaking Heart
Andante Moderato
Camptown Races
Prelude For Meditation
I. Allegro Moderato Grazioso
Adagio For Strings
Love Duet
Hexentanz

Average customer rating:

Great singer, glad she left her label
Get away, get here
A promising start
The concert video is excellent
She's a nut--but a colorful, genuine nut

Get Away From Me
Nellie McKay
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Pretty Little Head
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Get Away from Me
Talking Heads Brick

ASIN: B0007SL388
Release Date: 2005-03-29

Tracks:

David
Manhattan Avenue
Sari
Ding Dong
Baby Watch Your Back
Dog Song
Waiter
I Wanna Get Married
Change the World
It's a Pose
Toto Dies
Won't U Please B Nice
Inner Peace
Suitcase Song
Work Song
Clonie
Respectable
Really

Tracks:

David [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Manhattan Avenue [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Sari [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Ding Dong [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Baby Watch Your Back [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Dog Song [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Waiter [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
I Wanna Get Married [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Change the World [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
It's a Pose [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Toto Dies [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Won't U Please B Nice [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Inner Peace [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Suitcase Song [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Work Song [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Clonie [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Respectable [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
Really [5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo]
San Francisco Night - Live at the Independent [DVD][Live]
John-John [DVD][*]
Teresa [DVD][*]

Customer Reviews:

Great singer, glad she left her label.......2006-03-18

A beautiful voice with some interesting nonstandard formats. Nellie is very refreshing and I would refer her to anybody in a second. BUT!!! this lousy label she recorded this wonderful music on limits me from hearing her on all my listening devices. This is a locked (anti-theft) CD so I can't import to my iPod (thanks SO very much). It plays only on my main stereo equipment, not my Mac or car stereo. In other words, it's an event if I want to listen to her music. I can't casually listen to Nellie. I say, Nellie, Get Away From THEM! I'm glad you left that label! Good luck to you! I hope all recording artists wake up and free themselves from this horrible, limiting "locked" format! Nellie gets 5 stars. Recording label, a negative 100000000. By the way, just download this from the iTunes store.

Get away, get here.......2005-08-26

Nellie McKay shows in her charmingly-titled debut "Get Away From Me" that she is definitely one of the fresher musical voices out there. She has the energy and voice nailed down -- what her songs need is further maturity and a bit of songwriting polish. (Not to mention a rhyming dictionary)

In a sprawling two-disc album, McKay runs her full range of songs with rap (the gritty girlie-rap "Sari"), countryish pop (the amusing anti-male "It's A Pose"), punkish stuff ("Inner Peace"), classical instruments given a new spin (piano-based "Work Song"), poppish reggae ("David") and jazz ballads ("Won't U Please B Nice?"). What are the songs about? Blasting men, domestic dreams, politics, pets, masturbation and "my clonie."

At nineteen, McKay shows a lot of budding talent that will probably be a force to be reckoned with in future years. She's pretty solid here, but not as good as one senses she could be someday. Even so, she's more eclectic and inventive than many of the singers/bands out there.

Musically, she uses a mix of pop, rock, Tin Pan Alley, hip-hop, jazz, rap, country, and... oh, just about everything in modern music aside from metal. And in keeping with the wide range of musical types, there's an instrument for everyone, from cellos to accordians, from the violins and clarinet to the xylophone and Spanish guitar.

Her songwriting is a mix of the witty ("I wanna pack cute little lunches/for my Brady Bunches") and weird (the entire "Clonie" song -- hello, tortured rhymes!). In these, her youth makes itself pretty evident -- they can be simple and almost goofy at times. A joke on her part? Maybe. She obviously has inspiration and talent, and an appealingly edgy outlook, but needs to work on what she has in places.

McKay's voice is, of course, the centerpiece of the whole album. And it's a pretty good voice, very flexible and versatile, capable of being wispy one moment and throaty the next. Her rapping in "Sari," however, is a disappointment. She's no Eminem; she's more like Blondie vocalist Deborah Harry, whose rapping efforts haven't been too great either.

Nellie McKay's double-disc debut has a unique flavour that few singers have. Despite some chunks of musical inexperience and wobbly writing, "Get Away From Me" is amusing and brings back memories of music past, with a new spin.

A promising start.......2005-07-11

I like this album. I've listened to it a lot since I bought it. That being said, Ms. McKay has emerged onto the scene with this album as a promising talent, not as a brilliant fully-formed artist.

At her best (the opening track David) is a good example, McKay does what certainly qualifies as "rocking" her driving piano playing and strong feeling for pop-melody is absolutely electric. There are some over produced tracks on this two disc set ("Sari" is one) where Ms. McKay is taken out of the driver's seat and placed in front of a heavily produced pop-backdrop, and these tracks lack the personality of the tracks which Ms.McKay is allowed to lead.

Emotionally this album produces some rocky-terrain too, alternating -sometimes jarringly- between catchy pop melodies ("The Dog Song") and an authentic and passionate sense of angst ("Inner Peace"). There's no reason that Ms. McKay can't do both of these things, and perhaps the order of the songs is partially to blame for the uneveness, but somehow there's the sense that she hasn't quite found exactly what she wants to say and how she wants to say it.

My favorite moments on the record are those when Ms. McKay is less than straightforward; "I Wanna Get Married" is a work of demure irony. Other times, she is so direct that at the end of the 4 minute track it's hard not to be a little disappointed that her lyrics are so transparent and understandable.

You should buy this album because because it represents the hopeful first step in what promises to be a career whose best works are surely yet to come. This album's youthful exuberance, passion and lack of restraint offer certain charms, which I hope will only become more precious when considered with an expanded body of work which becomes more focused.

The concert video is excellent.......2005-06-21

This release makes the original release somewhat obsolete. This contains all of the songs from the original on side A - in cd format, and and 25 minute video of Nellie McKay on side B. (Side B also contains two b-sides, and a useless surround version of the album - all of side B requires a DVD player).

Nellie is quite magnetic on stage, I wish that this concert contained more of her silly banter between songs, there's only about 2 minutes of that. But if you want a record of her live, this is excellent.

She's a nut--but a colorful, genuine nut.......2005-04-25

Nellie McKay(the M.C .on the DVD pronounces it "Mc-eye")has an unplaceable accent, a faraway glint in her scheming eyes, and a tart sense of humor that catches you totally unawares. She's an honest-to-God original, and a breath of fresh air in these calculated-pop times. Her music careens between different inspirations, and she's juggles them all like a pro. My favorites are the whimsical "David", the plaintive "Really", the humorous/serious "I Wanna Get Married" and the comical "Clonie". "Married" really epitomizes McKay--sardonic, rueful, but wistful and longing. You can hear the yearning in her voice even as she spouts scattershot poetry. The DVD is a wonderful(but brief)concert in San Francisco, and her in-between patter is constantly surprising. You never know where she's gonna take you.

McKay: Violin Concerto, 16th Century Hymn Tunes

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An Extremely Strong Program of McKay's Extremely Fine Music

McKay: Violin Concerto, 16th Century Hymn Tunes

Manufacturer: Naxos American
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

McKay: From a Moonlight Ceremony / Harbor Narrative / Symphony for Seattle
George Frederick McKay: Caricature Dance Suite, William Bolcom Solo; Viola Suite Eguchi/Margolis
Henry Kimball Hadley: Symphony No. 4, The Ocean, and The Culprit Fay
Nicolas Flagello: Piano Concerto No. 1; Dante's Farewell; Concerto Sinfonico
Alfvén: Symphony No. 4 "From the Outermost Skerries"

ASIN: B0006M4SVO
Release Date: 2005-01-18

Tracks:

Allegro Molto Ma Risoluto
Andante - Quasi Adagio
Allegor Vigoroso
Meditation
Rondolet
Air Varie
Choeur Celeste
Cortege Joyeux
Allegro Con Gaiezza E Con Brio
Moderato Pastorale
Allegro Gioioso E Ritmico Molto
Song Over The Great Plains

Customer Reviews:

An Extremely Strong Program of McKay's Extremely Fine Music.......2005-01-27

This CD is the third in a series devoted to the music of George Frederick McKay (1899-1970) which certainly deserves whatever attention it is currently getting. One hopes that the years of neglect that this composer's music has experienced - largely because for most of his professional life he lived in the Pacific Northwest, far away from US classical music centers - are over. He is remembered with fondness, though, by citizens of Seattle, where his music has continued to be performed occasionally; by alumni of the University of Washington where he taught for many years; and by such students of his as the eminent current-day composer William Bolcom, who indeed was a major participant in the second CD in the series devoted to McKay's chamber music. One only wishes that another of his former students, Goddard Lieberson, who went on to become a huge influence in the classical music recording industry, had done something to preserve his music in recordings, but alas that didn't happen. This CD, the second to present orchestral music of McKay's conducted by John McLaughlin Williams, is a fine addition to the series. It comprises four very different works that, among other things, show the range that McKay had.

By far the most important work here is the Violin Concerto (1940) which is here played with real commitment, virtuosic precision and ravishing tone by Brian Reagin, a violinist new to me but one who bears watching. He is currently the concertmaster of the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra and was previously assistant concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony. The Concerto, in three movements in the usual fast-slow-fast arrangement, is played without pause. The first movement is dramatic and declamatory. The first appearance of the violin is a statement of the movement's most important theme in double-stops and gossamer arpeggios. The orchestra features peremptory brass interjections that, an evidence of McKay's expertise, do not ever cover the soloist. There are several cadenzas in this movement, none long but all of them extraordinarily virtuosic. The final cadenza leads into the lyrical second movement which is clearly the heart of the concerto. Harmonically this movement sounds, to this listener, as if it could only have been composed in the 1940s, using as it does chromatic and bluesy harmonies that were newly in the air during that time. Think, if you will, of the harmonies and sinuous melodic contour of David Raksin's theme-song for the movie, 'Laura,' written three years later, and you'll have some idea of this movement's atmosphere; I hasten to add that what McKay does here is miles more effective (and sophisticated) than Raksin's effort. A passage for solo violin and flute leads into the exuberantly rhythmic third movement which begins with woodwind writing that reminded me right away of the similarly orchestrated wind chords in Edward MacDowell's 'Indian Suite.' And indeed both the melodic and rhythmic elements of this movement remind one of authentic Indian music, through the prism of classical techniques, and at the same time the mild jazziness of the earlier movements continues. This is an extraordinarily strong violin concerto and I would venture to say that it is the equal of Samuel Barber's concerto which some think is the finest ever written by an American. This is strong praise, I realize, about which I've thought seriously. I'll go further and say that McKay's third movement is more effective that Barber's.

The 'Suite on Sixteenth Century Hymn Tunes' (originally for organ, 1945; rev. 1962) is for strings alone (except for the appropriate addition of the celesta in the fourth movement, 'Choeur céleste'). The strings are divided into two separate orchestras. The five movements are elaborations on hymns by 16th century French composer, Louis Bourgeois, written for John Calvin's Genevan Psalter. The tunes themselves are lovely, and their incorporation into McKay's work extremely effective. I particularly liked the concluding 'Cortège joyeux,' a celebratory recessional.

'Sinfonietta No. 4' (1942), one of five McKay wrote, was, according to the very informative notes by conductor Williams, a precursor to his 'true' symphony, the so-called 'Evocation' Symphony, recorded nicely in the first CD in this series. In three movements, the first is more neo-classic, spare, rhythmically asymmetric, harmonically astringent and bracing than the other works on this CD. The second movement evokes, with its lonely wind solos, the wide-open spaces of the American West without sounding in the least like Copland's brand of 'Western-ness.' Again, there is an American Indian tinge to the melodies. The finale, Allegro gioioso e ritmico molto, is McKay in a playful, even prankish, mood. It burbles along cheerfully, interrupted now and again by brass fanfares and chirruping winds. Yet, it is in modified sonata allegro form, with concentrated development and recapitulation leading to a jubilant coda that ends abruptly with a hiccup.

The final work, 'Song Over the Great Plains' (1953), was written on commission from the Indianapolis Symphony who asked for a work to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Steinway Piano Company. It has an important piano obbligato part, played here by Ludmilla Kovaleva, but is not quite a piano concerto. It is a fourteen-minute single movement work that evokes early spring in the northern Great Plains - McKay had spent some time teaching in South Dakota before moving to Seattle - and quotes the call of the western meadowlark, happily quite recognizable by this reviewer from Kansas for whom it is the state bird. The work has a main theme that sounds like a folksong, but Williams assures us it is original with McKay. It builds to a climax followed by a long piano cadenza before dying away as softly as it began. A lovely piece worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Vaughan Williams's own lark piece, 'The Lark Ascending.'

One cannot praise too highly conductor John McLaughlin Williams for bringing us the music in this extraordinary program, nor the playing of the National Radio Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine whose growing number of excellent recordings of American music should surely qualify them for honorary US citizenship.

Strongest recommendation.

Scott Morrison

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Larkin Gifford's Harmonica

Manufacturer: Starkland
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
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Phillip Bimstein: Garland Hirschi's Cows
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ASIN: B000H0M6D2
Release Date: 2006-10-16

Tracks:

Casino: EatDrinkGambleSex
Casino: The Fearful Things
Casino: Paradise Lost
Half Moon at Checkerboard Mesa
The Bushy Wushy Rag
Rockville Utah 1926
Larkin Gifford's Harmonica: Just a Gift
Larkin Gifford's Harmonica: As Plain in My Mind as Yesterday
Larkin Gifford's Harmonica: Saturday Night Roundup

Album Description

This new Phillip Bimstein CD follows the composer's previous Starkland CD Garland Hirschi's Cows, which generated hundreds of calls to radio stations, cultivated an ardent following, and was eventually anointed "a cult classic" on NPR's All Things Considered.

The CD is introduced by the multiple-Grammy winner John Adams, who writes: "Listening to this album of Bimstein's compositions makes me feel like I've taken a slow drive through a western landscape, meeting along the way everyone from Georgia O'Keeffe to Tony Hillerman, Mark Twain, Neal Cassady, Raymond Scott, Kurt Weill, Aphex Twin, and some of those grizzled geezers that populate the novels of Annie Proulx."

The title piece presents a poignant portrait of the elderly Larkin Gifford, who offers vibrant stories, which include his lifelong love of playing the harmonica.

Another portrait features the delightful, funny Robert Logan, known as "Bushy Wushy the Beer Man." Bushy Wushy sold beer in Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, for more than forty years. Listeners will hear baseball game sounds, stories from Bushy Wushy, and a wind quintet.

Casino focuses on both Las Vegas and veteran dice-caller Tom Martinet, who discusses superstitions, insights, and fascinations associated with gambling. We also hear gambling percussive sounds and a wind quintet.

The CD also offers two instrumental works. For Half Moon at Checkerboard Mesa, Bimstein mixes environmental sounds at Zion National Park (singing canyon tree frogs, howling coyotes, chirping crickets, etc.) with an interacting score for live oboe. The other instrumental work is Rockville Utah 1926, based on the lovely melodic material from the work Garland Hirschi's Cows. The title is the place and date of Garland's birth.

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