New CDs for November 2017
Concertos and Chamber Music
Jane Antonia Cornish – Into Silence
Steve Reich – Steve Reich / Third Coast Percussion Quartet
Jazz
Mike Stern – Trip
Katie Thiroux – Off Beat
Opera, Opera Excerpts and Art Songs
Gustav Mahler – Das Lied von der Erde
Thomas Meglioranza and Reiko Uchida – The Good Song
Choral Music
Communaute de Taize – Songs & Prayers from Taize
Pop, Blues and Rock Music
Dori Freeman – Dori Freeman
Dori Freeman – Letters Never Read
Eilen Jewell – Down Hearted Blues
Ozomatli – Non-Stop: Mexico Jamaica
Jah Wobble – Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart without Judgement
Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart – Everything Is Nothing
Electronic Music
Laraaji – Day of Radiance
Arachnophonia: Simon & Garfunkel “Bookends”
Editor’s note: Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about items in the Parsons Music Library‘s collection. All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.
Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by Music Library student worker, Aly (class of 2018) and features Simon & Garfunkel’s fourth studio album released in 1968, Bookends. Thanks, Aly!
I was re-shelving CDs recently while working a slow evening shift at the music library when I came across a Simon and Garfunkel CD. It immediately brought me back to a few years ago, when I went through a “phase” of folk rock, listening to the iconic duo, as well as a few other legends such as Cat Stevens. I then browsed our collection of Simon and Garfunkel selections, and soon discovered that the library offers almost their entire discography.
My all-time favorite album of theirs is Bookends. In my opinion, the 1968 album was released right in the “sweet spot” of Simon and Garfunkel’s musical career. It featured the quirky, iconic single we all know love, “Mrs. Robinson“, from the 1967 movie The Graduate. Some more of the duo’s greatest hits would come later, such as “Bridge Over Troubled Water“, arguably their best-known song. (Fun fact: “The Boxer” would also come in their following album, and Mumford and Sons has a great modern cover of this piece.)
My personal favorite off the album is “Old Friends“, which sounds the best when listened to immediately before the closing theme of the album, “Bookends“, since the two songs seamlessly flow into each other. Appropriately, the album starts and ends with this theme, featuring simple harmonies and rich major-7 acoustic runs that could lull you into a peaceful relaxation.
New CDs added in September!
New CDs for September 2017
Orchestral Music
George Crumb – George Crumb
William Schuman – Symphonies and Selected Orchestral Works
Roger Sessions – Symphonies 6, 7 & 9
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Complete Symphonies
Isang Yun – Complete Symphonies; My Land, My People; Exemplum
Concertos and Chamber Music
Alberto Ginastera – The Three Piano Concertos (Nissman Plays Ginastera)
Bohuslav Martinu – Chamber Music with Flute
Jean-Pierre Rampal – Les triomphes de Jean-Pierre Rampal
Ransom Wilson – Flute Music By French Composers
Jazz
Tri-Ocity – The Art of the Jazz Organ Trio
Film Music
Dimitri Shostakovich – Hamlet: Music for the Film, op. 116/116a
New CDs added in August!
New CDs for August 2017
Chamber Music, Concertos and Orchestral Music
Frederic Chopin – Paul Badura-Skoda plays the Chopin Piano Concertos
Aaron Copland and Benjamin Britten – Piano Concertos
Howard Hanson – Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6 and Fantasy Variations on a Theme of Youth
Jascha Heifetz – Beethoven & Brahms Concertos
Sergiu Luca & Malcom Bilson – Mozart Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin: Late Viennese Sonatas
Gwendolyn Mok – The Composer’s Piano: Brhams Late Piano Works Op. 116-119
Jean-Philippe Rameau – Piece de Clavecin en Concert
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Concerto in C for Two Pianos; Job: A Masque For Dancing
Manuela Wiesler & Julian Jacobson – Schubert*Reinecke*Boehm
Band Music
Frederick Fennell – Screamers (Circus Marches)
Johan Willem Friso Military Band – Alliance of the Free
Jack Stamp – Cloudsplitter
U.S. Marine Band – Picture Studies
Popular Music
Betty – Carnival
Betty – Limboland
Betty – Snowbiz
The Human League – Dare!
Humor/Parody
The Capitol Steps – Obama Mia!
The Capitol Steps – Take The Money and Run for President
Musicals & Film Soundtracks
Irving Berlin – Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun: The New Broadway Cast Recording
Laurence O’Keefe – Bat Boy : The Musical
Jule Styne – Bells Are Ringing
Betty – Betty Rules
Galt MacDermot & Bill Dumaresq – The Human Comedy: A Modern Opera
Frank Wildhorn – Jekyll & Hyde : The Musical
Various Artists – Repo Man: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Marvin Hamlisch – Sweet Smell of Success
Boy George – Taboo: Original London Cast
Boy George – Taboo: Original Broadway Cast
Jeanine Tesori – Thoroughly Modern Millie
Michael John LaChiusa – The Wild Party
Folk / World Music
Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy – One
New CDs added in July!
New CDs for July 2017
Orchestral Music
Ernest Bloch – America (An Epic Rhapsody)
Margaret Brouwer – Orchestral and Percussion Music
Diana Cotoman – Symphonie No. 1
Diana Cotoman – Symphonie No. 2
Diana Cotoman – Tableaux & Poemes
Frederick Delius – Appalachia / The Song of the High Hills
Henri Dutilleux – Metaboles / The Shadows of Time
Henri Dutilleux – Symphony No. 2
G.F. Handel – Water Music / Music for the Royal Fireworks
Hans Werner Henze – Drei sinfonische eduden / Quattro poemi / Nachstucke und arien / La selva incantata
Hans Wener Henze – Ode to the West Wind / Five Neapolitan Songs / Three Dithyrambs
Vincent D’Indy – Jour d’ete a la montagne, Op. 61 & Symphonie sur un chant montagnard “Chevenole”, Op. 25
King’s Consort – The Coronation of King George II
Olivier Messiaen – Turangali^la symphony
Christopher Rouse – Odna Zhizn / Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 / Prospero’s Rooms
Bright Sheng – The Phoenix
Chamber Music and Concertos
Martha Argerich – Debut Recital: Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Ravel, Prokofiev
Ludwig van Beethoven – Bearbeitungen Fur Blaser
Ludwig van Beethoven – Legacy: The Spirit of Beethoven – Gwendolyn Mok
Ludwig van Beethoven – Sonatas for Violin and Piano
Ebb & Flow Arts – Explorations
Soovin Kim; Jeremy Denk; Jupiter String Quartet – Concert in D Major; Chausson / Sonata No. 1 in A Major; Faure
Steven Mackey – Banana Dump Truck: Music of Steven Mackey
Sphinx Virtuosi – Live in Concert
Richard Strauss – Violin Concerto / Sonata in Eb
Charles Wuorinen – Ashberyana / Fenton Songs
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich – Violin Concerto / Rituals
Popular Music
The Chainsmokers – Bouquet
Kaia Kater – Nine Pin
Josh Ritter – Sermon on the Rocks
Duncan Sheik – Legerdemain
Various artists – Tamla Motwon : Connoisseurs
Suzanne Vega – Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles
Band Music
Thomas Coates – Thomas Coates : The Father of Band Music in America
Cantatas, Choruses, Operas and Oratorios
J.S. Bach – St. Mark Passion
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy – Psalmen un Moetetten / Oratorium Christus Op. 97
Ludwig van Beethoven – Fidelio
Ludwig van Beethoven – Missa Solemnis
George Frideric Handel – Amor e gelosia : Operatic Arias
George Frideric Handel – Delirio : Italian Cantatas
George Frideric Handel – Rinaldo
Witold Lutoslawski – Twenty Polish Christmas Carols
Musica Ficta – Danske julesalmer og sange
Ariel Ramirez – Missa Criolla / Navidad Nuestra
Paul Schoenfield – Concerto for Violin & Orchestra / Four Motets / The Merchant and the Pauper (excerpts)
John Tavener – Lament for Jerusalem
Kurt Weill – The Seven Deadly Sins
Jazz
Seamus Blake & Chris Cheek with Reeds Ramble – Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off
Jane Ira Bloom – Early Americans
Avishai Cohen – Into The Silence
The Cookers – The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart
Fred Hersch Trio – Alive at the Vanguard
Harold Lopez-Nussa – El Viaje
Joe Mulholland Trio – Runaway Train
Musicals & Film Music
City of Prague Philharmonic – Psycho : The Essential Alfred Hitchcock
Osvaldo Golijov – Youth Without Youth : Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Maury Yeston – Titanic : A New Musical
World / Folk Music
Sheila Chandra – Monsoon
Maarja Nuut – Une meeles = In the hold of a dream
Various Artists – Why The Mountains Are Black : Primeval Greek Village Music : 1907-1960
Various Artists – Women of Africa
It was 50 years ago today …
The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album was released on June 1, 1967 in the UK and on June 2, 1967 in the US. It became the soundtrack for the fabled “Summer of Love” both influencing and reflecting the flower powered youth culture of the time, but its appeal has proven to be timeless.
The Beatles stopped touring in August of 1966, and took some time off. The group reconvened in November of that year and spent over 400 hours in the studio between November 1966 and April 1967 completing the album. (This was a far cry from their first foray into EMI Studios to record their first album in 1963 — that entire album was recorded in less than 24 hours!) This studio time led to all sorts of interesting musical experimentation and since the group had decided they were done with touring, there was no need to worry about whether the songs could be produced live on stage. The album as a whole is a fascinating almalgamation of harmonium, harpsichord, brass band, fairground noises, harp, psychedelia, Leslie speaker tweaking, multi-tracking, tape loops, full orchestra, crashing apocalyptic piano chords, dog whistles and more. The Beatles’ musical ideas required lots of technical innovation from producer George Martin and studio engineers.
The eclectic mix of songs was loosely held together by the “concept” of a fictional Edwardian alter-ego Sgt. Pepper Band and the songs are wonderfully joyful. From the psychedelic marching band music that introduces us to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, to the psychedelic imagery of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” ( title inspired by a drawing by John Lennon’s young son, Julian), to the music hall whimsy of McCartney’s “When I’m Sixty-Four”, to the spiritual tone of Harrison’s sitar-laced “Within You Without You”, to the amazing shifting tones, full orchestral crescendo and avant garde surrealism of “A Day In The Life” (one of the greatest ever Lennon/McCartney collaborations in this author’s opinion), there is much to enjoy, right through to the startling tape loop ending inserted into the run-out groove of the original LPs (and included on CD reissues if you wait for it). The Beatles drew inspiration from varied sources like an 1843 circus poster (“Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite”), a TV cornflakes commercial (“Good Morning, Good Morning”), news stories about runaway teens (“She’s Leaving Home”) or car accidents (“A Day in the Life”).
![An alternate take from the Sgt. Pepper cover photo session](https://i0.wp.com/blog.richmond.edu/parsons/files/2017/06/sgt-pepper-outtake-2-300x300.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1)
An alternate take from the Sgt. Pepper cover photo session
There is just as much to enjoy in a perusal of the album art itself. The cover features a pop art inspired collage of various folks (famous and not so famous) that the Beatles chose as inspirational to them, elaborate gatefold sleeve packaging (with bonus cardboard mustaches and pseudo-military insignia in early pressings) and includes the lyrics to all of the songs printed on the back cover, something that had never been done before with a pop album.
Sgt. Pepper signaled that pop & rock music could also be considered high art or even progressive social expression and more than just disposable entertainment. Musicologists cite Sgt. Pepper as continuing the musical maturation of the Beatles as a group that began with Revolver and Rubber Soul. It was also extremely influential on the development of progressive rock with its emphasis on studio experimentation, elaborate instrumentation and insistence on pushing the boundaries beyond conventional subject matter and track lengths. The album has been an influence on countless others since its release in 1967.
Here’s a sampling of a few of (many) parody takeoffs on the iconic cover:
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention – We’re Only In It For The Money
The Simpsons – The Yellow Album
The Rutles – Sgt. Rutter’s Only Darts Club Band
Golden Throats – a compilation of critically lambasted cover songs
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band consistently ranks in critics and fans listings of best albums of all time. Among numerous accolades and awards, it is ranked # 1 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It’s included in the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry and is one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Whether Sgt. Pepper is an old favorite or if it’s brand new to you, this classic album / cultural touchstone is well worth a listen!
![Sgt. Pepper cut outs insert](https://i0.wp.com/blog.richmond.edu/parsons/files/2017/06/sgt._pepper_lonely_hearts_club_band_the_beatles_insert_cut_outs-298x300.jpg?resize=298%2C300&ssl=1)
Sgt. Pepper cut outs insert
New CDs added in April / May!
New CDs for April / May 2017
Classical
Catalyst Quartet – Bach/Gould Project / J.S. Bach
Antal Dorati – Antal Dorati Conducts Satie, Milhaud, Auric, Francaix, and Fetler
Alberto Ginastera / Heitor Villa-Lobos / Jose Evangelista – Concerto for Strings / Suite for Strings / Airs d’Espagnes for String Orchestra
Franz Xaver Mozart / Muzio Clementi – The Classical Piano Concerto
Carl Nielsen – Aladdin Suite / Pan and Syrinx / Saga Dream / Maskarade Overture / Helios Overture
Rachel Barton Pine – Capricho Latino
Rachel Barton Pine – Testament: Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin / J.S. Bach
Louis Spohr – Violin Concertos Nos. 6, 8, and 11
Alberto Williams – Musica para piano Volume 1
Jazz
Pat Metheny – The Unity Sessions
Pop / Rock / R&B
Drake – Views
The Killers – Hot Fuss
Miramar – Dedication to Sylvia Rexach
Adriano Viterbini – Film [O] Sound
Various Artists – Boombox 1: Early Independent Hip Hop, Electro and Disco Rap, 1979-1982
Vocal/ Choral Music
Ian Bostridge – Shakespeare Songs
Thomas Lloyd – Bonhoeffer: A Choral-Theater Piece
New CDs added in March!
New CDs for March 2017
Classical
Frederic Chopin – Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Jessie Montgomery – Strum: Music for Strings
Carl Nielsen – Symphony No. 1 op. 7/ Little Suite, Op. 1
Louis Spohr – Violin Concertos 7, 9 & 10
Ingolf Turban – Violin Concertos by Bruch, Busoni and Strauss
Jazz
Stefon Harris – Ninety Miles
SF Jazz Collective – Wonder: The Songs of Stevie Wonder
Bluegrass
Nefesh Mountain – Nefesh Mountain
Ballet, Musical Theatre and Motion Picture Music
Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle – Sissle and Blake sing Shuffle Along
Geoffrey Simon – French Ballet Music of the 1920s
Frank Zappa – 200 Motels: The Suites
Vocal Music
Christian Gerhaher – Mahler: Orchestral Songs
Christian Gerhaher – Mozart: Arias
New CDs added in February!
New CDs for February 2017
Classical
Francis Poulenc – Gloria for soprano solo, chorus and orchestra
Charles Rosen – The Complete Columbia and Epic Album Collection
Pop/Rock/R&B
The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
The Avett Brothers – True Sadness
De La Soul – And The Anonymous Nobody
Prince – HITnRUN Phase One
Prince – HITnRUN Phase Two
Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
Jill Scott – Woman
A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It From Here Thank You 4 Your Service
Twenty One Pilots – Blurryface
Musical Theatre
Jay Kuo – Allegiance: Original Broadway Cast Recording
New CDs added in January!
New CDs for January 2017
Blues
Alan Lomax – Parchman Farm: Photographs and Field Recordings: 1947-1959
Classical
John Adams – Scheherazade.2
Franz Berwald – 4 Symphonies
Johannes Brahms – Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, Waltzes, Op. 39
Bartolomeo Campagnoli – Six String Quartets
Electronic Music
Mason Bates – Works for Orchestra
Jazz
Andy Gonzalez –Entre Colegas
Bob Mintzer – All L.A. Band
Ted Nash Big Band – Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom
Musical Theatre
Steve Martin & Edie Brickell – Bright Star: Original Broadway Cast Recording
Opera
Jennifer Higdon – Cold Mountain
Vocal Music
Christian Gerhaher – Ferne Geliebte
Christian Gerhaher – Mahler Lieder
Christian Gerhaher – Franz Schubert: Die schone Mullerin
Craig Hella Johnson – Considering Matthew Shepard
Anna Netrebko – Verismo
World Music
Anoushka Shankar – Land of Gold