From: rtut@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Raymond Tuttle)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Dorian's Discovery label - premiere releases (review)
Date: 24 Nov 92 00:15:16 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)

Dorian has launched a new complementary label which they are calling
Dorian Discovery.  The name and the logo (a ship sailing over the
horizon) suggest that these CDs will be musically adventurous, and the
first three releases certainly bear that suggestion out. 

The first (DIS-80101) contains a hugely enjoyable work for orchestra,
chorus and soloists, and few North Americans are likely to have heard
it before now.  Its composer, Antonio Estevez (1918-1988), was born in
Venezuela, and the work, his "Cantata Criolla" (Florentino, the One who
Sang with the Devil), is great fun.  It contains a lot of Venezuelan folk
music and a little bit of Hollywood, Copland, and Orff's "Carmina
Burana" - quite a combination! 

The cantata tells the story of the singer-poet Florentino (tenor Idwer
Alvarez, whose ringing voice promises a bright international career for
him) who is challenged to  and ultimately wins a rhyming and singing
contest with the Devil (baritone William Alvarado).  The chorus
narrates and comments on the action, and the very colorful orchestral
writing gives this work a lot of popular appeal.    

The Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, the Schola
Cantorum de Caracas and the Orfeon Universitario Simon Bolivar all are
conducted by Eduardo Mata, and Dorian, as usual, finds a great hall to
record them in.  With an attractive coupling (Villa-Lobos' Choros No.
10), this disc is a wonderful, unexpected find. 

The second Discovery release (DIS-80102) is the CD debut of the young
American pianist Thomas Labe.  His program, recorded in  Dorian's
favorite locale (the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, New York) is
called "The Virtuoso Johann Strauss -  Paraphrases and Arrangements
of Favorite Strauss Melodies by Rosenthal, Tausig, Godowsky and
Schulz-Evler". 

Some of this music is pretty silly, but it does make fearful technical
demands on the pianist.  Labe is up to the challenge.  However, he is
most impressive in the four Tausig works, which are very loosely based
on Strauss' melodies.  In other places, an iota of shameless
extroversion would have given the music a little more viability. At
higher volumes, the piano's sonic image goes out of focus, and this may
contribute to the vague feeling of these performances. 

Flutist Chris Norman has already recorded several discs for Dorian,
both with The Baltimore Consort and as a soloist (the excellent "Man
With the Wooden Flute" from earlier this year).  The last of the three
discs, "Horizons - Traditional Music from Around the World"
(DIS-80103), features him as part of the group Helicon, which also
contains Ken Kolodner (hammer dulcimer and fiddle) and Robin Bullock
(guitar, cittern, fiddle, and more). 

Helicon wanders throughout Europe and the Americas on this engaging
disc.  It is an intriguing idea to play traditional music from all over the
world without being overly concerned about using indigenous
instruments.  Helicon clearly feels that a good tune is more important
than instrumental authenticity, and this CD proves their point, as far as
I'm concerned.  Helicon's performances are as satisfying as a good bowl
of crunchy granola mixed with yogurt and honey fresh from the hive. 
Dorian doesn't identify where this disc was recorded (oddly for them),
but the sound is just fine. 





--
****************************************   Raymond S. Tuttle
"Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod,"       University of Rochester
but it's nothing to get depressed about!   (still with his two little 
****************************************   white mice).
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical