Green Meadow Stream
Bernie Krause'sGreen Meadow Streamis 59 minutes of ecstasy. Captured not far from Yuba Pass in the High Sierras, in an isolated place called Lincoln Meadow, Krause's recording is superb. In the trees, whose leaves bristle occasionally in a gentle breeze, birds chirp and play with one another. But the birds are far enough away that their singing does not distract from the real star, the stream. Kick back or cuddle up to listen to the cool water of the meadow stream trickle over pebbles and rocks. The froth of bubbles fills in behind a bigger rock or two and along the grassy shore dotted with wildflowers and adds a faint flavor of effervescence that all relaxing streams seem to have. Once or twice you can hear the plop of a fish--Krause has managed to record the early-spring frolicking of stream trout on compact disc. Twice in the recording you'll find the dull thud of something falling from the trees--perhaps leftover twigs from a squirrel's nest or a branch's end that storms and winds had made loose. In his liner notes, Krause explains that he was lucky to capture the sound of this place when he did in 1990 because not more than a year later the trees around it were clear-cut. He writes, "This recording is a reminder of what extraordinary beauty there is to be experienced in the natural world ... a testament and ode to the Lincoln Meadow that many human and nonhuman creatures once knew." Krause has both conserved a part of nature we often overlook and even brought the mountains to our living rooms, to our bedrooms, ideal for whatever purpose--yoga, meditation, napping, or relaxation, straightforward and honest.--Erik Macki