New CDs for January 2016
Jazz
Herbie Hancock – Future Shock
Pop/Rock/R&B
Adele – 25
Aerosmith – Honkin’ On Bobo
Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
Drake – If Youre Reading This Its Too Late
Elle King – Love Stuff
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
Lamb of God – VII: Sturm und Drang
Bettye Lavette – Worthy
Mark Ronson – Uptown Special
Mavis Staples – One True Vine
Tame Impala – Currents
Taylor Swift – 1989
The Weeknd – Beauty Behind The Madness
New CDs added in December!
New CDs for December 2015
Classical
Susan Allen – Postcard From Heaven
Franz Schubert – The Unauthorised Piano Duos, Volume 3
Early Music
Psallentes – Missa Transfigurationis
Film Music
Carmine Coppola and Francis Coppola – Apocalypse Now Redux
James Newton Howard – Snow Falling On Cedars
Pop/Rock
Various Artists – Soul Of Sue Records
Various Artists – I’m A Good Woman – Funk Classics From Sassy Soul
Sisters
Jazz
Lafayette Harris, Jr. Trio – Bend To The Light
Jacob Fischer- … In New York City
Donald Vega – With Respect To Monty
Band Music
The President’s Own U.S. Marine Band – Elements
World/Folk Music
George Wassouf – The Best of George Wassouf
Various Artists – Teen Dance Music From China and Malaysia
Voices of Ireland – Lord of the Dance and Other Famous Irish Songs &
Dances
“Lights, please … ” – “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and the Music of Vince Guaraldi
The animated TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas made its debut on December 9th, 1965 on CBS.
The special was atypical for most cartoons at the time because of its contemplative message, its use of real children (some of whom were too young to read) to voice the characters as opposed to adult voice actors and its LACK of use of a laugh track. (Peanuts creator Charles Schulz refused to allow one saying he wanted to “let the people at home enjoy the show at their own speed, in their own way.”)
A Charlie Brown Christmas was also noteworthy for its holiday-infused jazz soundtrack created by musician/composer Vince Guaraldi.
Guaraldi became involved with the Peanuts before the start of production for the Christmas special. Producer Lee Mendelson heard Guaraldi’s 1963 radio hit “Cast Your Fate To The Wind” while traveling by taxi on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and initially commissioned Guaraldi write a jazz soundtrack for a television documentary about Charles Schulz called A Boy Named Charlie Brown that wound up never being broadcast. According to Mendelson, the first performance of “Linus & Lucy” occurred over the phone during the production of the documentary. Fortunately, the Christmas special allowed the piece to find a home.
The jazz soundtrack to the special was initially a hard sell, both to Charles Schulz (who was not much of a jazz fan at the time) and to the network since jazz had never been used in an animated special before. Despite Schulz’s initial feelings about jazz, he pushed for Guaraldi’s music to be included because he believed it created a perfect “bubbly, childlike tone” for the show.
Interestingly, the song “Christmas Time Is Here” was something of a happy accident. According to Lee Mendelson: “For the Christmas Show, [Vince] wrote an original melody that wasn’t in the documentary. It was a beautiful melody that opened the scene where the kids are skating. When we looked at the final cut, it seemed to me to be very slow. I said, ‘Let me see if I can find some lyricists to put some words to it.’ I couldn’t find anybody. I sat down at my kitchen table and in 10 minutes I wrote a poem called ‘Christmas Time Is Here’ to the melody. I wrote all the words down, handed it to Vince, and said, ‘Find a choir of kids to sing this.’ He had been working with a choir to do a jazz mass in San Francisco. He rushed them all together, about two days later. So that whole thing was written and recorded in about over a two-day period and then rushed into the final mix [of the special].” The song has gone on to become a holiday standard and has been covered by many artists including Tony Bennett and Diana Krall.
In fact, it is hard to imagine the holiday season in the US now without the beloved special and its music!
Univeristy of Richmond students, faculty and staff can stream the soundtrack to the special by logging into the Alexander Street press database to which the library subscribes. They can also access Guaraldi’s Grace Cathedral Jazz Mass (which also celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015) as well as several of Guaraldi’s other albums.
A Charlie Brown Christmas has become the second longest running animated Christmas special of all time (behind 1964’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) and the soundtrack album was added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry in 2011.
The Parsons Music Library has a special display about A Charlie Brown Christmas and Vince Guaraldi that you can visit through the end of the year — come check it out!
New CDs added in November!
New CDs for November 2015
Classical
Eighth Blackbird – Filament
Antonio Vivaldi – Complete Viola D’Amore Concertos
Franz Schubert – The Unauthorised Piano Duos
Pablo Villegas – Americano
Kontras Quartet – Origins
Early Music
Blue Heron Renaissance Choir – Music From The Peterhouse Partbooks, Vol. 4
Vocal/Opera
Joyce DiDonato & Antonio Pappano – Joyce & Tony: Live At Wigmore Hall
Musicals
Lin-Manuel Miranda – Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording
Pop/Rock/Country/Blues
Juan Diego Florez – Sentimiento Latino
Shemekia Copeland – Talking To Strangers
Shemekia Copeland – Outskirts of Love
Janelle Monae – The Archandroid
Janelle Monae – Metropolis: The Chase Suite
Jazz
John Scofield – Past Present
Sun Ra – Four Classic Albums Plus Bonus Singles
Sun Ra – Soundtrack to the Film Space Is The Place
Kenny Clarke – Kind of Clarke
Dee Dee Bridgewater, Irvin Mayfield & The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra – Dee Dee’s Feathers
New CDs added in October!
New CDs for October 2015
Classical
J.B. Cramer – Studio Per Il Pianoforte (84 Etudes in Four Books)
Brahms & Reger – Sonatas For Clarinet And Piano
William Lawes – The Royal Consort
Jane Austen Entertains –
Library
Jane Austen’s Favourite Music – Jane Austen’s Favourite Music: Songs, Piano & Chamber Music from Jane Austen’s Own Music Collection
Jane Austen Piano Favourites – Jame Austen Piano Favourites
Entertaining Miss Austen – Entertaining Miss Austen
The Flautadors Recorder Quartet – Cynthia’s Revels
Alan Feinberg – Fugue State
Chou Wen-Chung – Eternal Pine
Vocal/Opera
Thomas Arne- Artaxerxes
Mary Jane Newman – Jane’s Hand: The Jane Austen Songbook
Loyset Compere – Compere: Magnificat, Motets & Chansons
Pop/Rock/Country
Peggy Lee – Miss Peggy Lee
Harry Nilsson – The Point
Harry Nilsson – Pandemonium Shadow Show, Aerial Ballet and Arial Pandemonium
Ballet
Harry Nilsson – Nilsson Schmilsson
The Honey Dewdrops – Silver Lining
Now That’s What I Call New Wave 80s – Now That’s What I Call New Wave
80s
Jazz
Herbie Hancock Septet – Herbie Hancock Septet Live at the Boston Jazz
Workshop
Sam Most – From The Attic of My Mind
Terell Stafford – Brotherlee Love: Celebrating Lee Morgan
Jule Styne – Scott Hamilton Plays Jule Styne
Fred Hersch – Solo
Lafayette Harris Jr. – Trio Talk
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – Live In Cuba
Charlie Haden – Tokyo Adagio
Eric Alexander – The Real Thing
World/Folk Music
Music Rough Guides – The Rough Guide to the Best Arabic Music You’ve Never
Heard
The Moving Violations – Faster Than A Walk: New England Contra
Music
Marti Nikko & DJ Drez – Dreaming In Sanskrit
Electronic Music
Bang On A Can All-Stars- Field Recordings
New CDs added this month!
For August and September 2015
Classical
International Double Reed Society – 25th Anniversary
Marisa Robles – Harp Concertos
Mieczysław Weinberg – Mieczysław Weinberg
Alvin Singleton – Sweet Chariot
Kenneth Tse – Kenneth Tse, soprano saxophone
Georg Philipp Telemann – Twelve Fantasias
Edward T. Cone – Solo & Chamber Music
Sarn Oliver – Tangled Flow
Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra – Tangled Flow
Kevin R. Gallagher – Guitar Recital
Johan Dismas Zelenka – Chamber Sonatas, Volume One
Heinrich Koll – The Art of the Viola
Lillian Fuchs – Complete Music For Unaccompanied Viola
Quicksilver – Fantasticus: Extravagant & Virtuosic Music of the German Seventeeth Century
Jon Manasse – Trio, op. 11 / Beethoven. Grand duo : op. 48 / Weber. Trio, op. 114 / Brahms.
Trio Indiana – Trio Indiana
Hilary Hahn – The Hilary Hahn encores : in 27 pieces
Heinrich Koll – The Art of the Viola
Liturgical Organists Consortium – Divinum Mysterium
Hilary Field – Premieres – Contemporary Lyrical Works for the Classical Guitar
Manchester Festival String Orchestra – Vision: Music of the 20th & 21st Centuries
Franz Schubert – The Unauthorised Piano Duos, vol. 2: The Gahy Friendship
Boston Symphony Orchestra – Bolero; La valse / Ravel. Pictures at an exhibition / Mussorgsky.
Wiener Glasharmonika Duo – Glas & Steine
Music & Art in the Time of Rembrandt – Music & Art in the Time of Rembrandt
Vocal/Opera
Weser-Renaissance Bremen- Virgo Prudentissima
Giacomo Puccini – Puccini Rediscovered
Titta Ruffo – Titta Ruffo
Pop/Rock/Country
Sam Smith- In The Lonely Hour
Julie Andrews- Don’t Go in the Lion’s Cage Tonight
Merge Records – Oh, Merge: A Merge Records 10 Year Anniversary Compilation
The Texas Troubadours – Almost To Tulsa: The Instrumentals
Musicals
Jeanine Tesori – Fun Home
Richard Rodgers – The King and I (2015 Broadway Cast Recording)
John Kander – The Visit (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Skip Kennon – The Pioneers of Movie Music: Sounds of the American Silent Cinema
Jazz
Adrian Cunningham – Ain’t That Right! The Music of Neal Hefti
Arturo O’Farrill – Cuba The Conversation Continues
John Burnett Swing Orchestra – Swingin’ In The Windy City
Cécile McLorin Salvant – For One To Love
World/Folk Music
Harry Everett Smith – Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume Four
Rumanian Folk Music – Rumanian Folk Music
Maleem Mahmoud Gania – Gnawa Essaouira
Louisiana Cajun Music – Louisiana Cajun Music
Martilar – Memories From Turkey
Electronic Music
Qluster – Lauschen
New CD’s added this month!
Classical
Maurice André – Hummel | Molter – Concertos
Jonathan Dawe – A Noise Did Rise
Granados | Dosse – Complete Piano Music, Vol. 2
Festetics Quartet – Haydn: The Complete String Quartets Played on Period Instruments
Marin Marais – 6 Suites
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov – The Snow Maiden
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov – La Nuit de Mai
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov – Sadko
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov – La Nuit de Noel
Jazz
Keith Jarrett | Charlie Haden | Paul Motian – Hamburg ’72
Spanish Harlem Orchestra – United We Swing
Spanish Harlem Orchestra – Viva La Tradición
Vijay Iyer Trio – Break Stuff
New CD’s added this month!
Classical
Bartlett & Robertson – Selected Recordings, 1927-1947
Harriet Cohen – Complete Solo Studio Recordings
Philip Corner – Satie Slowly
Myra Hess – Complete Solo and Concerto Studio Recordings
Matthay Miscellany – Rare and Unissued Recordings
Moura Lympany – HMV recordings, 1947 – 1952
Irene Scharrer — Complete Electric and Selected Acoustic Recordings
Schnabel, A. – Complete Beethoven Sonatas
Schubert, F. – Die Schöne Müllerin | Winterreise | Schwanengesang
Katrina Szederkényi – Fantasias and Fugues: Music For Harp
Vocal
Ferrera Ensemble – Figures of Harmony – Songs of Codex Chantilly c. 1390
Arvo Pärt – Tintinnabuli
Trio Mediaeval – Aquilonis
Julia Wolfe – Steel Hammer
Electronic
Brian Eno – The Shutov Assembly
Jazz
Nels Cline and Julian Lage – Room
Red Garland Trio – Swingin’ on the Korner
Pop/Rock
D’Angelo and the Vanguard – Black Messiah
Elvis Costello – Beyond Belief: A Tribute to Elvis Costello
The Mavericks – In Time
The Mavericks – Mono
The Mavericks – The Definitive Collection
World Music
Cesaria Evora – The Essential Cesaria Evora
New CD’s added this month!
Classical
Hélène Grimaud – Bach
Hélène Grimaud – Beethoven, Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”)
Hélène Grimaud – Brahms concertos
Hélène Grimaud & Sol Gabetta – Duo
Jean Françaix – L’horloge de flore Quartets | Trio
John Adams – City Noir | Saxophone Concerto
Royal Wind Music – Sweete Musicke of Sundrie Kindes
Franz Schubert – Die Schone Mullerin | Winterreise | Schwanengesang
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Horn Concertos | Horn Quintet
Johann Heinrich Rolle – 31 Motets
David Briggs – Messe Pour Notre-Dame & Organ Improvisations
Giuseppi Verdi – La Battaglia di Legnano
Jazz
Aaron Goldberg & Guillermo Klein – Bienestan
Aaron Goldberg – Worlds
Bugge Wesseltoft – Moving
Delfeayo Marsalis – The Last Southern Gentlemen
Eric Johnson & Mike Stern – Eclectic
Herbie Hancock – Complete Warner Bros. Recordings (Mwandishi)
Mostly Other People Do the Killing – Blue
Pop/Rock
Radical Face – The Family Tree: Branches
Purity Ring – Another Eternity
World/Folk Music
Anonymous 4 & Burce Molsky – 1865
Jake Schepps – Ten Thousand Leaves
Various Artists – Cuban Symphonic Music
New CD’s added this month!
Choral Works
Antoine Brumel | The Brabant Ensemble – Missa de Beata Virgine & Motets
Classical/Opera
John Adams – Gospel According to the Other Mary
John Luther Adams – Become Ocean
Samuel Barber – Vanessa
Unsuk Chin – Rocaná
Henri Dutilleux – Symphony No. 1 | Tout un monde Lointain | The Shadows of Time
Leon Fleisher – All the Things You Are
Kashkashian / Magen / Piccinini – Tre Voci
David Krakauer – Dreams & Prayers
Liza Lim – The Heart’s Ear
Liza Lim – Tonuge of the Invisible
Harry Partch – Plectra and Percussion Dances
Francis Poulenc – Les Mamelles de Tiresias
Yizhak Schotten – Tribute to Lionel Tertis and William Primrose
Antonio Vivaldi – Incoronazione di Dario
Alec Wilder – Woodwind Quintets
Jazz
Count Basie and His Orchestra – America’s #1 Band
Al Basile – Swing n’ Strings
Dirty Dozen Brass Band – Buck Jump
Cornell Dupree – Can’t Get Through
Woody Herman – Thundering Herds, 1945-47
Wynton Marsalis Septet – The Marciac Suite
Lee Morgan – Sonic Boom
Oneness of Juju – African Rhythms: 1970-1982
Pop/Rock
Eddie Kendricks – Ultimate Collection
Led Zeppelin – IV
Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti
Mike Marshall & The Turtle Island Quartet – Mike Marshall & The Turtle Island Quartet
The Moody Blues – In Search of the Lost Chord
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Circle II, 20 Song Collection
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. III
Elvis Presley – 30 #1 Hits
Sinkane – Mean Love
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
Andy Stott – Luxury Problems
U2 – No Line on the Horizon
Band instrument works
BBC & RAF Orchestras – D-Day: 50th Anniversary
Marco Blaauw – Angels
Musicals
Woody Allen – Bullets over Broadway
Mark Baron – Frankenstein: A New Musical
Carole King and Gerry Goffin – Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Alan Menken – Aladdin
Jeanine Tesori – Violet
World Music
African Horns – African Horns
Manu Dibango – African Soul: The Very Best of Manu Dibango