The Whole Music Experience

Yesterday an Ayurvedic doctor referred me to this wonderful site: http://www.ayurveda-music.com/Healing-Sounds-of-Ayurveda.html If you are interested in Indian classical music and balancing your dosha, I recommend this site and the CDs sold on it.

Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI Istanbul—Dimitrie Cantemir (1673-1723) Aliavox (distributed by Harmonia Mundi) I have never heard medieval or renaissance Turkish music before, though I have heard Turkish music played on traditional instruments as well as, Armenian and the music of Sephardic Jews. When I received Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI’s Istanbul in the mail, with its booklet and gorgeous music, I knew that reviewing the recording would require a steep learning curve, but with each pleasurable listen, I heard both familiar and unfamiliar instruments, familiar and unfamiliar modes. The experience was not totally new to my ears since I have attended my share of Oriental music concerts over the years and it seems that my DNA is predisposed to these modes because I never experienced an adjustment period coming from the West. Savall leaves his viol de gamba behind for this recording and plays a rebab (type of fiddle played vertical while resting on the lap, a vièle (another

Gloriae Dei Cantores Unto Ages of Ages Sacred Choral Music of Sviridov, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky Paraclete Press/Harmonia Mundi I have never stepped foot in a Russian Orthodox Church, but in 2005 I attended a concert given by a Greek Orthodox choir at a Greek Orthodox Church in Seattle’s Montlake neighborhood. It felt like stepping into a surreal universe, icons and stories appearing on gold painted ceilings and walls, and I can’t even begin to describe the men’s choir which sang chants rich in chromatic scales and otherworldly harmonies. Five years later I recall the experience as if it happened yesterday. The Massachusetts-based mixed choir Gloriae Dei Cantores (Orleans, MA) performs sacred works composed for the Russian Orthodox Church by Russian composers Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) and Georgy Sviridov (1915-1998). I’m of course familiar with the repertoires of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, but not of the 20th century composer Sviridov (whos