Nico Muhly: Seeing Is Believing - Collon, Gould, Aurora Orchestra (2011)
Nico Muhly: Seeing Is Believing - Collon, Gould, Aurora Orchestra (2011)
EAC Rip | Flac (Tracks + cue + log) | 1 CD | Full Scans | 407 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: Decca | Catalog Number: 001560602
EAC Rip | Flac (Tracks + cue + log) | 1 CD | Full Scans | 407 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: Decca | Catalog Number: 001560602
Decca’s third album of music by Nico Muhly is a collection of his orchestral works including the concerto for electric violin, Seeing is Believing, with soloist Thomas Gould.
Composer: Nico Muhly, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons
Performer: Thomas Gould
Conductor: Nicholas Collon
Orchestra/Ensemble: Aurora Orchestra
Reviews: Minimalism, electronic fusion, and early English choral music don't generally sit together comfortably within the same sentence, still less on the same classical disc. That fact alone makes Seeing Is Believing worth a listen, aside from these superb performances.
Twenty-nine-year-old American composer Nico Muhly has an extraordinary CV for his age. Achievements include works being premiered by the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic, a collaboration with Björk, and composing the film score for The Reader. If all this weren't enough, shortly after this review is posted English National Opera will perform the British première of his first opera, Two Boys, with its thoroughly modern storyline about the darker side of the internet. In other words, think Muhly, think youthful no-rules classical, full of cross-genre inventiveness, and indeed that's exactly what you get with Seeing Is Believing.
Seeing Is Believing references the ancient practise of observing and mapping the sky. His third album for Decca Classics, it punctuates four of Muhly's original compositions with three of his orchestral arrangements, of motets by Byrd and Gibbons. Miserere Mei is particularly fascinating for the fact in which initially it appears to be a literal orchestration job, thanks to the way he has carefully conserved the original vocal part-writing. However, upon the opening of the "Zion is wasted" section, everything changes. Carefully placed little modern twists appear in the shape of registral extremes in the piano and gamelan gongs, which surprise, delight, and thoroughly update the originals whilst maintaining all their sense of antiquity and sacred dignity. It's genius. They're mesmerising complements to his original compositions, which are edgy, sometimes delicate, vital works, heavy with the influence of the great American minimalists but also drawing from modern electronic idioms. The title-track, a concerto for electric violin, is a case in point, played with brilliance by Thomas Gould. Equally brilliant are the Aurora Orchestra's performances. In the motet arrangements, their playing style is a delicious amalgam of early and contemporary playing styles, whilst the original works are presented with energy, dynamism and a sheer joy in the music.
If Muhly is a new name to you, then this beautifully performed disc is the one to get hold of. His music is clever, young, complex and multi-faceted. It's also capable of beguiling listeners of all ages, classical ‘experts’ and newcomers alike. You can't ask for more than that.
Tracklisting:
1. Seeing Is Believing by Nico Muhly
Performer: Thomas Gould (Electric Violin)
Conductor: Nicholas Collon
Orchestra/Ensemble: Aurora Orchestra
2. Cantiones sacrae, Book 2: Miserere mei, Deus by William Byrd
Conductor: Nicholas Collon
Orchestra/Ensemble: Aurora Orchestra
Period: Renaissance
Written: 1591; London, England
Notes: Arrangement: Nico Muhly
3. Motion by Nico Muhly
Conductor: Nicholas Collon
Orchestra/Ensemble: Aurora Orchestra
4. This is the record of John by Orlando Gibbons
Conductor: Nicholas Collon
Orchestra/Ensemble: Aurora Orchestra
Period: Renaissance
Written: 17th Century; England
Notes: Arrangement: Nico Muhly
5. By All Means by Nico Muhly
Conductor: Nicholas Collon
Orchestra/Ensemble: Aurora Orchestra
6. Civitas sancti tui by William Byrd
Conductor: Nicholas Collon
Orchestra/Ensemble: Aurora Orchestra
Period: Renaissance
Written: by 1589; London, England
Notes: Arrangement: Nico Muhly "Bow Thine Ear"
7. Step Team by Nico Muhly
Conductor: Nicholas Collon
Orchestra/Ensemble: Aurora Orchestra
Written: 2007
Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011
EAC extraction logfile from 15. December 2011, 2:56
Nico Muhly / Seeing is Believing
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Gap handling : Appended to previous track
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Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "PERFORMER=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %haslyrics%–tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "ALBUM ARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" %source% -o %dest%
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[CTDB TOCID: VokFtVV8n_EPNu0NF8dxUgkm5TA-] disk not present in database, Submit result: VokFtVV8n_EPNu0NF8dxUgkm5TA- has been uploaded
==== Log checksum CD35BB450208CF0579773E9CE2DD3AA156D3ED0CDCFDF4EA54638DF67092957E ====
EAC extraction logfile from 15. December 2011, 2:56
Nico Muhly / Seeing is Believing
Used drive : HL-DT-STDVD-RAM GH22LP21 Adapter: 0 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 102
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "PERFORMER=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %haslyrics%–tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "ALBUM ARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 24:37.71 | 0 | 110845
2 | 24:37.71 | 3:29.21 | 110846 | 126541
3 | 28:07.17 | 7:30.72 | 126542 | 160363
4 | 35:38.14 | 4:31.03 | 160364 | 180691
5 | 40:09.17 | 9:40.39 | 180692 | 224230
6 | 49:49.56 | 4:39.09 | 224231 | 245164
7 | 54:28.65 | 17:51.14 | 245165 | 325503
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Track 2
Filename C:\M\Nico Muhly\2011 Seeing is Believing\02 - Miserere Mei, Deus.wav
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 4
Filename C:\M\Nico Muhly\2011 Seeing is Believing\04 - This is the Record of John.wav
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Track 5
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Track 6
Filename C:\M\Nico Muhly\2011 Seeing is Believing\06 - Bow Thine Ear, O Lord.wav
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename C:\M\Nico Muhly\2011 Seeing is Believing\07 - Step Team.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:06.77
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Extraction speed 3.8 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC AB947CA4
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
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[CTDB TOCID: VokFtVV8n_EPNu0NF8dxUgkm5TA-] disk not present in database, Submit result: VokFtVV8n_EPNu0NF8dxUgkm5TA- has been uploaded
==== Log checksum CD35BB450208CF0579773E9CE2DD3AA156D3ED0CDCFDF4EA54638DF67092957E ====
Thanks to the original releaser