Kaleidoscope – Music from a Thousand Years

Like gazing into a kaleidoscope, this double-CD album brings a treasure-trove of musical miniatures tracing the sweeping panorama and historic perspective of 10 centuries. A mirage-like journey through 1000 years – from the 11th Century until present day – introduces evanescent encounters with a dizzying array of epochs, genres and styles: from otherworldly chants half-whispered beyond ancient monastery walls, to the traditions of Indian Raga, Bulgarian folk tunes and Mongolian throat-singing, to rustic bagpipes and medieval troubadours, to the Baroque splendor of Bach, Handel and Rameau, to Mozart and Schubert, to Italian and French opera, flamenco and tango, jazz and blues, Stravinsky and Shostakovich, Piazzolla, Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner and David Bowie. This charismatic retrospective is a fascinating collection, brimming with world-premiere recordings (50 out of 51 tracks) and presenting a stunning variety of compositions – some original, some arranged by the performing artists – violinist Elmira Darvarova (first and to date still only ever, woman-concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra) and hornist Howard Wall (a former long-time member of two of the world’s greatest orchestras – the New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra). 17 nations from 5 continents are represented, including by ten women composers (one of whom composed operas in the 17th C. and had her works performed for the likes of Galileo). The meticulous album notes cover the multi-dimensional, serendipitous and cross-pollinating nature of essential events and legacies, which endure and continue to fascinate and transport us.

TRACK LISTING:
Disc 1
1. Louis-Gabriel Guillemain – Presto 2* 4:18
2. Richard Strauss – Morgen! 3* 3:53
3. György Ligeti – Ballad and Dance 2* 3:14
4. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Rondo from Duo No. 1 2* 5:35
5. Erroll Garner – Misty 3* 6:43
6. Reinhold Glière – Canzonetta 2* 3:00
7. Munkhbat Jamsranjav – Ode to Genghis Khan 3* 1:59
8. Hildegard von Bingen – Aer enim volat 3* 1:20
9. Igor Stravinsky – Tango from L’Histoire du Soldat 2* 2:15
10. Francesca Caccini – Siren’s Song 1* 2:21
11. Traditional Bulgarian: Polegnala e Todora & Gankino Horo 1* 2:29
12. Douglas Hill – Elegy for Violin and Horn 5:29
13. Duke Ellington – Black Beauty 3* 4:38
14. Johann Sebastian Bach – Gavotte & Musette 1* 3:07
15. Jan Bach – Gramophone 1* 1:28
16. Hermann von Reichenau et al. – Salve Regina x 10, from Reichenau to Puccini 1* 6:11
17. Georg Philipp Telemann – Allegro from Canonic Duo No. 1 2* 1:57
18. Charles Gounod – Faust: “Salut! Demeure chaste et pure” 2* 4:52
19. Dmitri Shostakovich – “Elmira’s Motif” from Symphony No. 10 1* 2:03
20. Jules Massenet – Thaïs: Meditation 2* 4:48
21. Vernon Duke – Etude 2* 3:32
22. Ástor Piazzolla – Libertango 3* 4:41

Disc 2
1. Jean-Marie Leclair – Allegro 2* 2:25
2. Ignaz Pleyel – Andante 3* 2:14
3. Anna Amalia von Preußen – Fugue in D minor 2* 1.54
4. Henry Purcell – I Attempt from Love’s Sickness to Fly 3* 2:40
5. Marin Marais – Le Basque 3* 1:36
6. Phillip Ramey – Meditation* 3:30
7. Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre – Presto 2* 1:40
8. Nick Homes – Hobo Blues 3* 2:29
9. Traditional Bulgarian – Krivo Sadovsko Horo 2* 2:33
10. David Bowie – Life on Mars? 3* 5:30
11. Guillaume de Machaut – Douce Dame Jolie 3* 1:13
12. Franz Schubert / Ioan Dobrinescu – Serenade (Ständchen)* 3:45
13. Errollyn Wallen – No. 3 from Five Postcards 2* 2:56
14. Geminiano Giacomelli – La Merope: “Sposa, non mi conosci” 3* 4:32
15. Yui Kitamura – A Bird and a Hawthorn Tree* 2:07
16. Thomas Morley – La Rondinella 3* 1:59
17. Duke Ellington – Don’t Get Around Much Anymore 3* 2:10
18. Rebecca Clarke – Lullaby 3* 3:39
19. Igor Stravinsky – Variation d’Apollon 3* 2:38
20. Grigora Dinicu – Hora Martisorului 2* 1:59
21. Jean-Philippe Rameau – L’Egyptienne 3* 2:23
22. Elizabeth Raum – Earth from “Four Elements”* 1:32
23. George Frideric Handel – Allegro from Suite No. 7 1* 2:02
24. Richard Bissill – Fat Belly Blues (Version for Horn and Violin)* 6:25
25. Antonia Bembo – Habbi pietà di me 3* 2:16
26. Jeremy Cohen – Blues Etude 1* 2:03
27. Ástor Piazzolla – S.V.P. (S’il Vous Plaît) 1* 3:47
28. Elmira Darvarova – Kissed by the Rain (based on Raga Desh)* 3:36
29. Bruce Thompson – From “Un Diario Español, Página 92” 1* 2:17