Music links 2007 quarter 4, archived section of music links blog.

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November 2006

Proudly announcing: I'm not dead as you may have been thinking. Not yet. I have been working with the Rowan review, but there is not much work left now. As well, the weather is no more nice. If you consider visiting Finland, never come in November. There are 11 better months listed in your calendar.

I found this Cdbaby website, when searching for further info about Maggie's Rowan. It's not free music except samples, but it's independent music store. Oh, Maggie's Rowan is also available there. Ride in for a good ransack.

I found it a bit funny when I read "but you have to wait till September" on Answers and Experts pages when searching for Maggie's Rowan. I actually wrote those words into Wikipedia and in the end of September I updated  it to "released on". A&E have just copied the Wikipedia article, but when are you going to update,  A&E? Wake up, September is gone. But thanks for including my web address, search engines like it ;)
http://www.answers.com/topic/maggie-reilly
http://experts.about.com/e/m/ma/maggie_reilly.htm


Soundroots is website every world music fan should make familiar with. New contents are added frequently, so you had better to see every now and then, what's new. And beware, if you click the Spin the Globe you may start some 75 megabytes download without any warning. And yes, I liked Sally Nyolo's sample song.

In Worldmusic you can find collection of 30 sec samples of music around the world. Too short to be a joy to listen, but if you can not recall right now, what is, say, Indian Ocean music style about, it is there.

And now, my friends, I have something to proudly introduce to you:  Frederik Magle. He is an organ player and composer and you can download several tunes and samples from his website. The website suggests registering to participate in conversation, but you can download without.

His music is has a light and airy touch most of the time even if The Hope has its noisy moments. Considering he is an organ player, the sound of the organ is polite rather than prominent. Apparently, this music needs more time to make familiar with; I will write more later.

Far Away is a sci-fi fantasy film score style music. New age fans will enjoy this as I do. It's mostly performed by electronic instruments but I hardly believe the prominent French horn a synth sample.

Intermezzo is very short piece for a brass band. Be careful to listen every single note as it ends sooner than you think it should begin.

Let there be light is a symphony for organ. There is no more that gentle and polite organ sound, rather the organ is now commanding and at moments noisy to irritation. However, when you get the musical idea, everything is in the right place. The organ soundscape contains a lot of rippling decoration and it makes me think some of Eino-Juhani Rautavaara's works like Annunciations.

Rising of a new day has a very obvious programme:
0:00 dawn: start riding
2:00 mournful moment, a visit on a friend's tomb, perhaps
3:00 happy riding under prairie sky
3:50 glorious march
4:40 triumphant sprint to the finish line
It's a digital version, however the sound is very acoustic. Yes, he has got a great French horn sample in his synth ;) And be careful not to miss the forward link to Light on your Path, another interesting tune for organ and brass.

The Hope is a great work for brass, percussions and organ, the choir joins in during part 2. It reminds me about Tubin's Requiem for Fallen Soldiers, not the same music but the same mood anyway. And beware, don't explode your speakers, when the big drum goes off.

Cantilena is an improvisation for organ. Well, if this is an improvisation, why bother with the slow and tedious composition work. A beautiful melody and modifications with a soft organ touch. One of my favorites and this is a "small" work.

There is no competition. Frederik  Magle is  the winner and the highlight of my quarter 4 of 2006.

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