THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 24, 1994 TAG: 9407220100
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music reviews
LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
Stravinsky, ``Les Noces,'' performed by the Pokrovsky Ensemble (Elektra Nonesuch); Stravinsky, ballet music, pianist Christopher O'Riley (Elektra Nonesuch) - You think you cry at weddings? Consider the Russian marriage ritual, in which the bride may wail for two weeks before her ceremony.
The northern lament ``Birch Tree'' brings a touching end to the Pokrovsky Ensemble's remarkable recording of Stravinsky's ``Les Noces'' (The Wedding). Like its more famous predecessor ``The Rite of Spring,'' this 1923 ballet is a modernist look at folk material. It is scored for an unlikely ensemble of four pianos, percussion and choir.
Leader Dmitri Pokrovsky accentuated the work's mechanistic sound by producing the piano parts on a Macintosh computer. But the singers are arrestingly live, with an amazing range of character voices. Vocal lines tumble over one another in a swinging, celebratory frenzy. The album has the foreshortened perspective of a pop record, so the singers seem right up against the listener.
The ballet lasts less than a half hour, so the ensemble augments it with 15 Russian folk songs with connections to ``Les Noces.'' The singers and fiddlers have a strident, plaintive sound like Appalachian folk musicians. ``Steambath'' and ``Bunny With Short Legs'' rock. The liner notes are fascinating, but the English translation is hard to follow without transliterated Russian.
Christopher O'Riley has also taken a novel approach to Stravinsky's ballet music. On this smart, enjoyable disc, the pianist claims two ballets never heard in solo versions.
The centerpiece is the familiar ``Three Movements from Petrouchka,'' a staple of the modern repertoire arranged by the composer himself. Here O'Riley displays his sense of color and scale, not to mention his deft fingers. But his stroke of genius is selecting excerpts from ``A Soldier's Tale'' and the full score of ``Apollo,'' as transcribed for rehearsal pianists.
O'Riley, who performed with the Virginia Symphony last season, is a gifted player with an impulsive approach to rhythm that serves the quirky ``Soldier's Tale'' music well. When stripped of its trademark chamber instrumentation, this work's odd harmonies and melodic tics are especially clear.
The neo-Baroque ``Apollo,'' originally written for strings, makes a charming solo piece. O'Riley is restrained in its trills and hesitations and deliciously jazzy when required.
Mark Mobley ILL-ADVISED TRIBUTE
Terence Blanchard, ``The Billie Holiday Songbook'' (Columbia) - What would Lady Day say?
Thanks, but no thanks.
Trumpeter Blanchard is obviously a Holiday fan, and his admiration comes through in his reverential treatment of the material. And Jeanie Bryson is a more fitting singer than Miki Howard or Etta James, who have each issued solo tributes to Holiday recently.
But Blanchard, who co-produced, took this project far too seriously. The Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers alum is a first-rate movie composer, with such credits as ``Malcolm X,'' ``Sugar Hill'' and ``Crooklyn.'' Several instrumental tracks on ``The Billie Holiday Songbook'' sound like movie music. Miles Goodman's arrangements are far too weighty and string-ladened.
Blanchard's often-muted horn shines frequently - it is suitably melancholy on ``Detour Ahead'' and gently swinging on the Gershwin tune ``Nice Work If You Can Get It.'' But rarely does Blanchard really come alive as on ``What A Little Moonlight Can Do,'' where his boppish runs are akin to scatting. He even tosses in a couple of screeches before a muted fade sealed by Bryson's playful ``ow.''
The daughter of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Bryson is more a pop singer than a true jazz emoter. Hers is a relaxed style, characterized by quiet assuredness and subtle intensity. She's suitably resigned on ``Detour Ahead,'' lazily blase on ``Nice Work If You Can Get It.''
The CD's biggest disappointment - aside from the sea of strings - is the choice of tunes on which Bryson is not featured. Classics like ``Good Morning Heartache,'' ``I Cried For You,'' and ``Don't Explain'' would have fared better with Bryson. The decision to have the singer recite ``Strange Fruit'' against Blanchard's horn and those darn strings is regrettable.
- M.L. Lake PAVAROTTI DELIVERS
Luciano Pavarotti, ``My Heart's Delight'' (London) - This live recording comes from a 1993 performance before 20,000 fans in Modena, Italy, the tenor's hometown. Italian soprano Nuccia Focile was also on hand for duets and the occasional solo.
Selections by Puccini, Mascagni, Bizet and Gershwin are included. Pavarotti delivers the goods to an adoring crowd in Di Capua's ever-popular ``O sole mio'' and the ``Brindisi'' from Verdi's ``La traviata.'' He sings with a richness and vitality that knows no end.
- Terry Joy BLUES MONSTER
Michael Hill Blues Mob, ``Bloodlines'' (Alligator) - ``Bloodlines'' is an impressive blues debut from a monster guitarist. Hill, who has worked with Living Colour's Vernon Reid in the Black Rock Coalition, stretches the boundary of the blues. Hill's buzzing guitar shrieks, howls, soars and swoops with electronic effects and lighting-fast finger work.
Hill's smooth vocals resemble Robert Cray's and his solid songs pay tribute to many influences including African music on ``Signifyin' Monkey/Watch What You Say,'' funk on ``Can't Recall a Time'' and genuine blues on ``Why We Play the Blues'' and ``Bluesman At Heart.'' The bass/drums/keyboard Blues Mob is razor-sharp.
- Eric Feber TOP-NOTCH TWANG
David Ball, ``Thinkin' Problem'' (Warner Bros.) Think there's no room in the young-country regime for a hardcore honky-tonker? Listen to this debut, have a stiff one and think again. The title smash and ace George Jones tributes like ``Look What Followed Me Home'' are the real (hard) stuff. Ball falters once or twice on slow ones and smoky bars and bad memories are about the limits of his vision. But he's got more than one perfect twanger to throw at radio.
- Rickey Wright MEMO: To hear excerpts from these recordings, call INFOLINE at 640-5555 and
punch 6275. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Leader Dmitri Pokrovsky accentuated the mechanistic sound of ``Les
Noces'' by producing the piano parts on a Macintosh computer.
Some of the arrangements in Terence Blanchard's ``Songbook'' are far
too weighty and string-ladened
by CNB