The Whole Music Experience

Holiday Recordings (In My Collection) I gave most of my holiday recordings to my parents. And the list you’ll find here features Christian and pagan music. I have not received any holiday recordings from other spiritual and religious traditions, but I'm open to recordings featuring music for Kwanza and other religious traditions. But on this list, I’ve included Corsican polyphony, Nicoise and Provencal polyphony, early music, early colonial music from Latin America, polyphony and carols from the United States (early music), choral music from Eastern Europe, and some unique small ensemble music. Of course you’ll also find a recording of Handel Messiah , which is also featured during Easter season. I realize that these recordings don’t comprise a comprehensive collection, (Tchaikovsky’s incidental music for the ballet The Nutcracker is missing from this list). However, the loving spirit of all the recordings comes through loud and clear, especially on a good stereo syst...

About Provence and Provencal Music:   Southeastern France or Provence is a former Roman province, located on the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent to the Italian border.  Provence is bordered by the Alps and Italy to the east, the Rhone River to the west and the Mediterranean Sea provides the southern border.  The principality of Monaco, Nice, Marseilles, Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Arles are all important Provençal cities.  Occitan is the language historically spoken in Provence and the Occitan regions of France, although the language has been losing its prominence.  The language is also spoken in parts of Spain, Italy (Piedmont), Germany and even the U.S (Idaho and Oregon).  The famed medieval troubadours penned their poetry and sung their verses in Occitan, which is a Latin Romance language. The troubadours draw comparisons to the West African griot or the Irish bards.  They not only sung love songs, they also traveled on trade routes bring...

Corou de Berra Au fil du temps... independent release Twenty years in the making, France's mixed voices choir, Corou de Berra released a retrospective recording entitled, Au fil de temps... (as time goes by). The six voice choir hails from the French Alps and the vocalists perform traditional songs from Provence, Nice, and Italy. They mostly offer up lush a cappella vocals, even spine-chilling a cappella as on the religious piece, Stabat Mater , or happier fare, Bella bella ciao , which many listeners would have heard at one time or another in their lives. However, the choir has also performed original contemporary polyphony. If you listen to track 8, Di mi pichon , composed by Michel Bianco and Serge Dotti for instance, you will hear those luscious vocal harmonies playing along with swing violin, and not too long ago, the choir produced a retrospective of the late Italian folk singer, Fabrizio de Andre. Peter's War from maschi feminine cantanti appears on this 20...