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  Stempenyu's Dream

  REVIEWS 'With this recording, Steven Greenman is revealed as the foremost composer of music in a style based on what we know of these Jewish violin traditions of 100 years ago.' '...the music Greenman has composed is of such striking beauty...' '...Greenman's violin demonstrates that he could teach Vassar Clements a thing or two about country klezmer.' 'Diving deep into the past, Greenman has created a contemporary Jewish music of spellbinding beauty. It should only start a trend.' ARI DAVIDOW-KLEZMERSHACK BIOGRAPHY Steven Greenman Jewish and Gypsy Violinist Known for his soulful renditions of East European Jewish music (klezmer) and passionate performances of East European Gypsy music all combined with virtuosic flair and technical precision Steven is a multi-talented musician well-versed in a multitude of musical styles and genres. Whether performing klezmer music in European concert halls, giving master classes of East European Jewish violin style and technique, performing lavish Gypsy violin showpieces with orchestras and ensembles or playing for Jewish, Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian balls and weddings Steven is at home displaying his love of East European Jewish and Gypsy music. Recognized internationally as one of the finest practitioners of traditional East European Jewish klezmer violin, Steven is also one of the foremost composers of traditional klezmer violin music. His current project Stempenyu's Dream involves a CD recording of his original Jewish and klezmer violin compositions, a series of concerts of the music and a future publication of the material. One of the first American born klezmer violinists to create a program and performance style based entirely on the repertoire of European klezmer violin music, Steven co-founded the Khevrisa ensemble together with the cimbalist, Walter Zev Feldman in 1998. Steven has performed internationally with Khevrisa and other notable klezmer ensembles such as the Klezmatics, Budowitz, the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, Kapelye and Di Tsvey (the Greenman/ Rushefsky duo). His own ensemble, the Steven Greenman Klezmer Ensemble is dedicated to performing his own compositions and the transitional Jewish/Moldavian klezmer repertoire. As a teacher of klezmer music Steven received a grant to be the first recipient of the Louis E. Emsheimer Memorial Artist in Residence Program in Cleveland, Ohio (2002) for which he led klezmer workshops for classical string players and lectured on klezmer music. He has taught klezmer violin and led string ensembles at the KlezKanada festival, Living Traditions' KlezKamp and KlezFest London. Working with educators Mitchell Korn and Amy McClellan of the Cleveland Orchestra educational department's 'Learning Through Music' program Steven was selected as a 'Teaching Artist' and developed a children's program combining story telling and klezmer music. Steven has collaborated with New York dancer/choreographer David Dorfman and the Cleveland State Dance ensemble as musical director in Dorfman's 'Moving Histories', a modern dance piece dealing with Jewish identity, and performed with members of the Klezmatics in the 1997 performance of Tony Kushner's adaptation of S. Ansky's 'Dybbuk.' Steven has lectured and performed at the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, Poland and has been a regular performer with various ensembles at Toronto's Ashkenaz-A Festival of New Yiddish Culture. In addition to his involvement with klezmer music Steven is an accomplished performer of urban Gypsy violin styles, in particular, Hungarian nota, Romanian lautari music and Slovak folk music. Steven has devoted his life to the study of these styles learning East European violin style and ornamentation from professional Gypsy and folk musicians from Slovakia, Romania, the Ukraine and Hungary in addition to transcribing and arranging hundreds of tunes. As a concert performer, Steven has been a regular guest soloist with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra performing his own arrangements of traditional East European Gyspy violin music. Steven will be featured on a forthcoming CD of urban Romanian Gypsy violin music together with the cimbalist, Alexander Fedoriouk and has performed often with the ensemble Harmonia. As a classical violinist Steven received both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Violin Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with Linda Sharon Cerone, Dr. Eugene Gratovich and the late Bernhard Goldschmidt. Steven has also performed as a member of the Canton and Akron Symphony Orchestras and has participated in the National Repertory Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Steven is lead performer, composer and producer of the recording 'Stempenyu's Dream.' Together with Walter Zev Feldman, Steven co-produced and is featured on the recording 'Khevrisa-European Klezmer Music' on the Smithsonian Folkways label. Steven has also recorded with Budowitz, guitarist Jesse Cook, vocalist Lori-Cahan Simon, Alicia Svigals and the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band.

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  • Price: 52.73 EUR excl. shipping
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  De Falla Delightful

  This is the debut solo recording for the team of Patrick Ferreri and Arthur Lauer. The recording was engineered, not as an impersonal concert hall setting, but with an intimate and close touch that brings you, the listener, very close to the instruments, the artists, and the music. All the arrangements and transcriptions were written by Patrick Ferreri and display a depth of understanding of not only flute and guitar, but the process of putting those two instruments together to make music that is much more than the sum of the parts. Consider this small note that Pat wrote to explain his approach to arranging, transcribing, and playing music for the flute and guitar: 'The term complement implies a completing: the combination of two things which, when joined together, form a whole. The term also suggests such disparity in the two things that what is lacking in one is supplied by the other, so that the result of their actual combination brings about a completeness which constitutes or approaches perfection. Thus it is with the guitar and the flute, while the guitar cannot produce lengthy, legato lines, as can the flute, it can produce chords and multi-part textures, which the flute cannot. In many other aspects, each instrument is especially equipped for that which the other is not, together the two instruments produce a musical symbiosis.' These two men have put every bit of their virtuosic musicianship into each piece recorded here, and it is apparent - from the light and dancing 'Danza de la Pastora' to the beautiful and sublime 'Reverie' by Debussy - that they were successful. Despite the varied range of periods and styles presented, all the music in this recording is eminently listenable.

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  • Price: 22.25 EUR excl. shipping
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  Kingdom of Ibbi Obbi

  Stefano Sciascia was born in Turin, on 7th September, 1960. He began studying double bass at the age of sixteen. He soon began playing with various orchestras, including Turin Orchestra della RAI,Claudio Scimone's Solisti Veneti and the Chamber Orchestra Orchestra da Camera di Padova e del Veneto, performing throughout Europe and North America (at the Edinburgh Festival, Wien Musikverein, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Milano Teatro La Scala, and in Boston, New York, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco,...). At the same time he devoted himself to researching new music and transcribing it for double bass, enriching thus his instrument's solo repertoire. In 1994 he recorded his first CD for the record label Rivo Alto: - Opere per contrabbasso e pianoforte G. Bottesini. In the few following years more records were released: 1996 Rivo Alto - Gran Quintetto in do minore e Sonate a Quattro G.Bottesini, G.Rossini 1998 Rivo Alto - Quella Fiamma G.B. Pergolesi, A. Vivaldi, N.A. Porpora, B. Marcello Arie del '700 per contrabbasso e pianoforte 1999 Rivo Alto - Concerto D.Dragonetti, S.Koussevitzky,G.Bottesini 2000 Rivo Alto - Elegie E. Bloch, G. Faurè, F. Poulanc, C. Debussy, ... 2002 Rivo Alto - Songs of the World Canzoni tradizionali da tutto il mondo 2004 Stefano Sciascia Production - Mantra 22.22 Meditazione per contrabbasso solo. In 1999 King Records Japan includes two tracks from "Quella Fiamma" in the compilation" King of Bass". In January 2003 the same record label releases a Japanese version of "Songs of the World" with the title "Contrabbasso!". The record is distributed internationally through multinational companies such as Virgin Megastore and Tower Records. In June 2003 double bassist Yoshihiro Utsumi founded the S.E.J. (Sciascia Ensemble Japan) in Kobe. This ensemble of musicians bearing Sciascia's name is very active and performs throughout Japan. In June 2001 Stefano Sciascia made his debut in the USA: he performed a recital at the Butler University of Indianaplis during the I.S.B. (International Society of Bassist) Convention. Two years later he received a standing ovation at the university of Richmond -Virginia-, during the I.S.B. Convention of 2003. On June 2005 he performed at the Big Hall of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, I.S.B Convention . In fall 2004 the magazine "Double Bassist" dedicated a long article to him. The article consists of an interview by editor Maggie Williams and deals with his career, concentrating especially on his release: Mantra 22.22. In September 2004 he was invited in Japan where he taught master classes and played concerts in Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe. He recorded in 2005 a CD dedicated to G. Bottesini, "Adagio Melanconico e Appassionato", and it features the precious collaboration of pianist David Giovanni Leonardi, who has been playing with Sciascia ever since their first recording together, ten years ago. The Sciascia-Leonardi duo has been performing in Italy and abroad since 1994. His Last recording 2007 is a Tale : The Kingdom of Ibbi Obbi . Double Bass and piano with a narrator and a 32 pages booklet with 16 oil paintings . Music by Rachmaninov Chopin Tchaikovsky Mussorgsky Scriabin Saint Saens Popper Jenkinson . He performed at the last ISB Convention,June 2007, a program of Hebrew, Klezmer and Classical Music . Stefano Sciascia is head teacher of the double bass class at the Conservatorio di Musica "G. Tartini" in Trieste. He plays an eighteenth century Italian Bass of the Brescian school.

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  Emil Altschuler

  One of America's finest up and coming virtuoso violinists, Emil Altschuler, performs at a world class standard and possesses a commanding stage presence. He holds degrees from The Juilliard School and The Yale School of Music. Master violinist, Erick Friedman, wrote of him: "...a very gifted violinist who possesses the talent and capability to become a truly outstanding violinist of his generation...and sound and accuracy of intonation that are truly extraordinary.' His brilliant technique and vigorous performance energy has received ovations in venues such as Lincoln Center, San Francisco's Helen Von Ammon's Emerging Artist Series, The Aspen Music Festival, and Italy's Castello di Galeazza. As a featured soloist, he has appeared with the Aspen Young Artist's Orchestra, the Binghamton Philharmonic and the Binghamton University Chamber Orchestra. Next season, he is engaged to perform at The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum After Hours as well as a tour of Italy. Inviting new audiences, Emil has recently teamed up with classical guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan, in a show entitled 'Summertime', performing short Jazz, Spanish, Gypsy, and contemporary works alongside classical masterpieces. Recently, he has taken interest in transcribing and arranging pieces from modern and popular genres such as Rock and Folk. With brother Josiah Altschuler, guitarist, they recently recorded Paganini's 20th Caprice, originally written for solo violin, arranged with a gypsy jazz style accompaniment. Emil also collaborates with pianists Tania Stavreva and Pei-yeh Tsai.

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  • Price: 23.81 EUR excl. shipping
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  Dancerdemonloveranswer

  My life has always been full of music. I don't even remember learning to play the piano. My mother tells me I started when I was two, crawling up on the bench trying to make music like my father did. He was always playing. One of my fondest childhood memories is of playing piano duets with him, or singing while he played. He was a composer as well, but came from a family where 'musician' was not an acceptable profession. I am currently working on transcribing and recording some of his music. (He died in 1981) I can still see him at the table during dinner, while we listened to some piano concerto, conducting the disembodied orchestra with his knife. I guess my influences come from everywhere. In the 60's I started out listening to the classics, which was from my father's influence, Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and of course, my beloved Chopin. Soon I discovered musicals, which I adored passionately. I cut my vocal teeth on (don't laugh, now) Mary Poppins. And when I was eight, I sang the music from The Sound of Music over and over, trying to get it right. I can't think of anyone better, technique-wise, to emulate than Julie Andrews. Then, when I was eleven my sister came home from college with a guitar. It was 1969, and she was playing Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Peter Paul and Mary. I was hooked on folk music and guitar playing. In the 70's I got into heavier rock, listening to, and playing, music by Kansas, Queen, Styx, ELP, but I still listened to the acoustic artists like Cat Stevens, Livingston Taylor (James' lesser-known but just as wonderful brother) and CSNY. And, of course, more musical theater. I played the guitar and piano incessantly, all the junior high talent shows, coffee houses, local theaters, and then bars when I was old enough. By the time I was eighteen I was playing in my first band, complete with Les Paul and black bellbottoms. Over the years I've played in many bands, keyboards, guitar, always singing. I wore out my Queen albums practicing my singing. In the 80's there were lots of scantily clad guys with long hair prancing around playing music. Fun to look at, but largely a 'boy's only' club, unless you could play wailing guitar leads, which I couldn't. For an acoustic guitarist/pianist there wasn't much work, and I looked silly in spandex (still do), so that was when I decided to go to music college. It was an opportunity to devote my time to nothing but practicing and studying, something you never have time for in the 'real' world of a gigging musician. So I went to Combs College of Music in Philadelphia, and stayed until I had a Masters Degree in Piano Performance. After I left college I floundered. I had been plagued by tendonitis in graduate school, and after I graduated I quit the music business for awhile out of frustration and pain. During this time I wrote fiction and poetry, and studied writing. The creative drive was too strong for me to ignore, and I needed an outlet for it. I still write, and although my main focus is music, I have a few projects in the works that I hope to find time for some day. The two most useful things about that period in my 'life without music' was that: 1) I developed stronger writing skills, which have helped my lyric writing immensely. In fact, in 1997 I was invited to conduct a seminar on lyric writing at a writer's conference. 2) I realized that for me, a life without being actively involved in music seemed like just passing the time until I died. I resolved that no matter how much trouble I had with tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome (I have that too), I had to get back into playing music. So in the late 80's I got back into performing solo and with bands, and was pretty successful. The band I was in went far enough to open up for Eddie Money and The Little River Band. But I was discontent. Top 40 music didn't seem the right place for me, and I missed the piano and musical theater. As the 90s dawned I took a long look at what I really wanted to do with my musical life. I had always wanted to write my own songs, but for a long time my attempts just didn't sound right to me. I guess I hadn't found my 'voice.' For some reason it finally seemed like the right time, and I started writing in earnest. This eventually resulted in the release of Labyrinth in 1995 and dancerdemonloveranswer, released August of 2001. The process of creating both these albums has been a great joy. There is nothing quite like watching your music come alive in the studio. But something was still missing, and so I branched out, trying to find it. The first place I went was back to the piano. The piano is really my home, and my first true love. So I started writing for the piano, and one of these new works appears on dancer. I also threw myself headlong back into theater. I've worked in professional theater since I was thirteen, sometimes acting, mostly providing music. I've accompanied a great number of musicals, and also composed for theater, but got out of that world as I was focusing on writing original music. My most recent compositions, once I'd decided to go that route again, was for Everybody's Ulysses for the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, PA, for which I wrote original songs and incidental music. I've also done some work scoring for film, most recently for the independent film Christmas Dinner, for Haverstick Films. Also, perhaps prompted by the theme of dancer, I began studying dance again, something I haven't done since I was ten, and I've begun to write instrumental music with the intention of having it choreographed. I finally feel like I have found the balance between pop, rock, classical, musical theater, dance and teaching that I searched for, for so many years. It's really just about devoting your life to the arts, and this varied and sometimes crazy lifestyle offers me the opportunity to really stretch out. Currently I'm teaching music classes at Harrisburg Area Community College, teaching private lessons, and performing at least two or three times a week, both piano and guitar, and continuing theater and dance work when I have the chance. I currently live in Harrisburg, PA with my amazingly tolerant and wonderful husband Eric, three cats and a dog.

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  • Price: 28.91 EUR excl. shipping
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  Summer

  Bekkers Piano Guitar Duo Dutch guitarist Robert Bekkers and (overseas) Chinese pianist Anne Ku began their piano guitar duo in 2001. Using modern instruments, the pair is re-interpreting music originally written for piano and guitar duos as well as transcribing better- known works for piano and guitar as orchestra. This once favourite pastime of bringing together performers, composers and enthusiastic audiences has left a largely untapped legacy of published music specifically written for the piano and guitar. The polyphonic and virtuosic possibilities of the two instruments have attracted many composers to write for the duo, including that of contemporary Dutch composers in a forthcoming CD. The duo keeps an active blog documenting the behind-the-scenes stories of their rehearsals and performances, as well as collaborations and foreign adventures. Summer is their first CD.

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  • Price: 40.68 EUR excl. shipping
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  Domenico Scarlatti 12 Sonatas

  When I began transcribing these sonatas some three years ago I was fascinated at how well they sound on the guitar, in spite of it's appearing to be so very limited with regard to the number of possible fingerings. Moreover, coming to grips with the oftentimes enormous technical challenges resulted in a marked increase of my capabilities of expression on that instrument. The incredible intensity and depth of expression of Scarlatti's music never fails to affect me. Supposedly, the sonatas were only performed in very intimate settings at the Spanish court, in the music rooms and apartments of the princess and later queen. I am convinced that the transcription for guitar is particularly apt when it comes to capturing this very intimacy. Benjamin Scheck was born in Geneva in 1969. He initially studied the guitar at the Zurich Academy of Music (Konservatorium Zürich) and the Berne Academy of Music and Theater (Konservatorium für Musik und Theater Bern), from which he graduated in 1993 with a "Konzertdiplom" (Professor Stephan Schmidt). Between 1993 and 1995 he won various study awards, notably a scholarship of the Migros-Genossenschaftsbund. The following year he spent at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Musique in Paris (Pofessor Alberto Ponce). Afterwards he enroled at the Lucerne Academy of Music (Konservatorium Luzern), from which he received his "Solistendiplom" (Professor Frank Bungarten) in 1999. Master courses he attended were taught by David Russell, Oskar Ghiglia and Pablo Marquez, among others. He gives concerts as a soloist as well as in various chamber music formations, and is particularly interested in folk music, such as the Brazilian Chorinho music and the music of the Balkans. This wide musical spectrum is also reflected in his work as a guitar teacher. Since 1992 Benjamin Scheck has been a musical instructor at Kantonsschule Baden (Baden State College). He is living in Uster near Zurich with his family.

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  Portrait of a Dreamer

  Dedication: Seeing one's dream come true is a beautiful thing. It's not easy and inherently involves many challenges along the way. But here it is - one of my biggest dreams fulfilled, my first solo album. The album comprises music from the Americas, Europe, and Eurasia. It is music that has traveled with me through various stages of my development as a solo musician and educator. I've been extremely blessed to be surrounded by both great and inspiring people: some of them musicians and others simply music lovers. These have given me support and followed my career very closely. To all who have believed in me - it is to you I dedicate this album. Carlos Manuel Zabala About the album: Comprising 400 years of music from 3 continents, PORTRAIT OF A DREAMER is, with the collaboration of acclaimed artists, Carlos Manuel Zabala's debut album. From Sonata to Tango, Russia to Argentina, and Bach to Gershwin, this album offers to the listener an exciting selection of works. Carefully planned, each track of this album brings a unique listening experience in terms of sound and expression: a unique album in every sense. About the artist: Carlos Manuel Zabala is a virtuoso trumpeter who performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician with diverse ensembles. In his tireless quest for new interpretations, Carlos is constantly discovering, arranging, and transcribing music of diverse styles and genres for both trumpet and flugelhorn: from tango, bossa-nova, and traditional Latin American music to standard classical repertoire. Versatility and uniqueness along with a passionate love for music-making describe him best. A graduate of the Escuela Universitaria de Música (University of the Republic School of Music) in Uruguay and of The Peabody Conservatory of Music, Carlos is recognized as a leader of an emerging generation of Latin American musicians. He is noted as the first person in the history of his native Uruguay to achieve a Bachelor of Music degree in trumpet performance. His present work includes masterclasses around the globe and outreach programs across the Americas.

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  Let the Bird Fly

  Many of the songs you are about to hear are more than a thousand years old. For centuries, these songs have been carried on from generation to generation, preserved only by the oral tradition. Then, in the early 1990's, a Russian singer and ethnomusicologist Juliana Svetlitchnaia made it her life's mission to eternalize the sounds of her culture's past. Juliana traveled to some of the farthest outposts of Russian civilization, places accessible only by helicopter and lacking basic amenities. Yet it was places like these that gave Juliana the most authentic sampling of the fading tradition she had sought to preserve. She worked day and night, interviewing singers, listening to their songs, singing along with them-and recording it all on a simple tape recorder. Upon her return, Juliana combed through hundreds of hours of the recorded material, transcribing the lyrics and notating the songs. Driven by her passion to share these gems with the world, Juliana founded PAVA: the ensemble of Russian female folk singers. 'Pava' is the Russian word for peacock, a symbol of the beauty, strength, and grace of a Russian woman. In the years that followed PAVA's inception, Juliana has painstakingly selected every singer who has performed in the group. She believes that a PAVA singer must have two indispensible traits: a zeal for the Russian folk singing, and a voice that radiates that unmistakable effervescence of the quintessential Russian female folk singer. This album owes it's existence to Juliana's endless energy as much as to the unique singing ability and boundless enthusiasm of each PAVA member. Although PAVA is an a cappella group, some of the songs in this album are accompanied by musical instruments. These include the traditional Russian balalaika, kalyuka (overtone flute), kugikly (panpipes), and kolyosnaya lira (hurdy-gurdy), the small percussion instruments such as treshchotki (clapper), bubenchiki (jingle bells), and a washboard, and a few less commonly known instruments, such as a scythe. Although a departure from the pure a cappella singing, the use of accompaniment in this album is not surprising: hand-held musical and percussion instruments have often been used in Russian folk music to enhance the liveliness of the songs and to draw out their rhythmic patterns. In concerts, PAVA singers wear authentic Russian folk costumes, some more than 300 years old! The singers admit that this intricate attire has an almost mystical effect on them, as if moving them back into the world that bore the sounds they now hope to reproduce. The costumes are sometimes donned for rehearsals, too, and some singers insisted on wearing their costumes in the recording studio. Whether or not they did, the results speak for themselves: the superbly rendered, first-of-it's-kind collection of melodies, harmonies and lyrics that intrigue and lure us into the amazingly vibrant Russian folk singing culture! Alex Mandel.

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