RAM NARAYAN: SARANGI, THE VOICE OF A HUNDRED COLORS
One of the great underrated recordings of all time...kind of a "Kind Of Blue" of folk music from the 60s..Eric was a prolific painter and illustrator, writer, and a blues man with a painter's soul and a poet's wit...but this Prestige recording, with Geoff Muldaur on 2nd guitar, the unique Mel Lyman on mouth harp, liner notes by Richard Farina stands above all else he recorded.. it is just one of those sessions where something was in the air and it got put down on wax...seems almost unknown and that has always escaped me...the original "Joshua Gone Barbados" is here...no one did it better..great musical pathos..great words...come on... someone put this out again !
Another vinyl jewel that features the brilliant performance of Britten's masterful Nocturnal, a set of variations that works toward the original at the end, Dowland's "Come Heavy Sleep"...there are some pops and clicks here, but the Nocturnal is remarkably clear to my ear....
Bream is, at least today, very underrated....his vision encompasses a wide arc from Dowland, through Bach, The Romantics and The Impressionists to the very Contemporary...a true master ...as the world spins faster all the time , good things can get left in the dust...here is a small treasure. The centerpiece is the 30 minute+ Royal Winter Music by Henze, but the Bagatelles by Walton are gems where virtuosity meets brilliant composition... a beautiful recording
