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DiscountDelight - Osvaldo Golijov: Ayre
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List Price: $16.98
Our Price: $9.69
Your Save: $ 7.29 ( 43% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0028947754145
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon
Release Date: 2005-09-27
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Upshaw is a true artist
Comment:
I must first say that I have the highest admiration for Dawn Upshaw. Here is an artist, a wonderful singer, who is willing to explore music as varied as can be imagined. From Bach to Schubert to Debussy to Golijov and Saariaho, she illuminates it all with her beautiful voice. She is a true artist and a courageous one, (witness the hostility in some of the reviews here.)
I feel that Golijov is a very important contemporary composer, and this work, with its varied ethnicity and moods is a fascinating journey. To me the second half of the album, folk songs of Luciano Berio, while interesting, is nowhere near as powerful as Golijov piece.
The instrumental group Andalucian Dogs are superb. They accompany Upshaw with boundless energy and virtuosity.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Review of 'Ayre'
Comment: Some of the selections were interesting. One or two, very interesting but overall, so-so. Upshaw is wasted on this one.
Occasionally 'atmospheric'.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A marketing triumph
Comment: Witness the awesome power of marketing! Golijov is hailed as all but the 21st century Mozart; even the venerable Gramophone Magazine has joined the chorus of praise: "intoxicating", "endlessly haunting", unforgettably beautiful". So before you've thought twice you'll have bought this disc, and what do you end up with? I'll put it briefly: a facile hotchpotch of improvisatory, crowd-pleasing cross-over, with the staying power of any glittering soap bubble. Ayre is entertaining enough, no doubt about that. It is expertly played and seductively sung, quirky enough to give the superficial impression of modernity, but without ever truly challenging the listener on any level, or offering anything essentially new. The problem is that Golijov presents us with a series of elaborations on Klezmer, Arabic and Mediterranean folk music for which far more enticing alternatives are available from artists closer to the original sources. Try Rabih Abou-Khalil for truly unforgettable adaptations of Arabic music, for instance. And though Golijov's multinational cocktail does not include Scandinavia, those who like Ayre are bound to be blown away by the songs of Sami artist Mari Boine, that in my view operate on rather deeper levels of profundity. And for exotic vocal effects, check out Toby Twining.
Ayre is no match either for the cycle of Berio Folksongs that inspired it - the Berio work is far more coherent and simply has more substance as a work of art. Upshaw's version of it is undeniably committed, but does not erase memories of the phenomenal reading by Jard van Nes and musicians from the Concertgebouw Orkest (Decca). While Upshaw tends to sentimentalize the slow songs, and adapts a deliberately rough-edged, folksy voice for the others, Van Nes staunchly approaches the cycle from the classical tradition, which results in a reading of hieratic power and intense beauty. Next to her ecstatic 'Azerbedijan LOvesong' Upshaw sounds positively soporific. Which in my view leaves little reason to invest in this disc.
Customer Rating:
Summary: IF THERE'S SUCH A THING AS "POLITICALLY CORRECT" MUSIC, THIS IS IT....
Comment:
Golijov's music incorporates Jewish, Arabic, Christian, Afro-Brazilian, and other ethnic influences ad nauseum...
So what?
Listening to this disc is like having dental work done without novocaine.
Only DIVERSITY NAZIS who want to smugly bask in their own "enlightened" weltanschauung will find much to enjoy here.
Golijov cunningly caters to these folks' taste. May he ride it all the way to the bank.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Give it a try!
Comment: Someone said that people who say "I know what I like" actually mean "I like what I know". This disc is a tremendous ear opener and brings to our attention the golden era of Al Andalus in 14th century Spain when great philosophers and musicians of three cultures, christian, jewish and muslim lived and worked in relative harmony. Let's face it, the price of the disc is negligible for a cultural experience of this kind. I'm delighted to have it.
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Editorial Reviews:
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This is a fascinating CD, containing two song cycles--one brand new, by Osvaldo Golijov, and one dating from 1964, by Luciano Berio. Berios's is a setting of folk songs from several countries, including France, Italy, America, and Sardinia. Golijov's songs are in Spanish, but they cross Christian, Jewish, and Arab cultures. The Berio arrangements contain nicely odd harmonic cadences in the accompaniments. Dawn Upshaw sings them simply and directly, albeit in what might be called a traditional operatic, if low-keyed, fashion. Golijov's songs are strange, daring, and magnificent, in composition, accompaniment, rhythm, and vocal delivery. To be sure, Upshaw uses an operatic sound for much of the cycle, but she lets loose with some of the most remarkable yelps, hoots, and bellows to express the texts and situations as well. The songs vary: some are prayers, some folk songs, some lullabies. Golijov orchestrates with accordion, horn, laptop computer (electronica), flute, violin, viola, and more--and the sounds fit the words. He doesn't seem to care whether he's making music classical or popular: as a result he has created something unique. Fans of pop music will be as entranced by this as will those specializing in classical music. Try this--it's remarkable. --Robert Levine
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