- Audio CD (22 Oct 2008)
- SPARS Code: DDD
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: CD
- Label: Decca (UMO)
- ASIN: B0006OJQXM
- Other Editions: Audio CD
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 159,976 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product details |
Track Listings
| 1. My Mood Swings - Elvis Costello |
| 2. Until.... - Sting |
| 3. The Abyss - Kate Curtis & Will South / Jacqui Dankworth |
| 4. Venus Flytrap - Blatchington Mill School / Ian Shaw |
| 5. I've seen it all - Bjork |
| 6. Shallow Footsteps - Emma Ludlow / Sophie Grimmer |
| 7. Song - Daniel Monk / Jacqui Dankworth |
| 8. Gotham Lullaby - Meredith Monk |
| 9. I never went away - Richard Rodney Bennett |
| 10. Swearing at the Moon - Arieh Miller / Ian Shaw |
| 11. When Darkness Comes - Emma Tillyer / Adey Grummet |
| 12. Dumptruck - Ron Sexsmith |
| 13. Daedalus - Errollyn Wallen |
| 14. Real Emotional Girl - Randy Newman / Elvis Costello |
Product Description
Album Description
With Moodswings the Brodsky Quartet presents a wide range of songs for quartet and voice, from compositions by a new generation of song writers to songs written and sung by Elvis Costello, Sting, Bjork, Meredith Monk, Errollyn Wallen, Richard Rodney Bennett and Ron Sexsmith
From the Artist
Moodswings is, together with Tchaikovsky's 2nd and 3rd quartets, the first release on the quertet's own label: Brodsky Records
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Brodsky Quartet kick off their new label with two new albums, of which this is one. Ironically, this CD in turn is composed of two intertwining parts. The one string is the outcome of a series of educational projects that encouraged secondary school children to write songs and engage in many other creative activities such as painting and set design. This produced a hundred songs, six of which are included on this disc. They are capably sung, not by the young songwriters themselves, but by four outstanding professional singers. On occasion, this makes these adolescent ponderings a trifle top-heavy.
These worthwhile and occasionally affecting efforts are interspersed with seven more mature songwiters strutting their stuff to backings arranged by the Brodskys. While Sting and Bjork do good if fairly predicatable versions of well-known songs, Costello performs 'My Mood Swings', a rather unattractive song from the soundtrack of 'The Big Lebowsky.' I was pleasantly surprised by the wordless lullaby by Meredith Monk, and by the songs of Ron Sexsmith and Errollyn Walker. By way of encore, Costello throws off a Randy Newman cover.
This is a pleasant enough record, even if it does not quite scale the heights or plunge the depths of The Juliet Letters. Still, it is a very entertaining album that might introduce you to some lesser-known artists deserving of wider recognition. The booklet contains interesting information about the school projects and shows some art made by pupils who participated.
These worthwhile and occasionally affecting efforts are interspersed with seven more mature songwiters strutting their stuff to backings arranged by the Brodskys. While Sting and Bjork do good if fairly predicatable versions of well-known songs, Costello performs 'My Mood Swings', a rather unattractive song from the soundtrack of 'The Big Lebowsky.' I was pleasantly surprised by the wordless lullaby by Meredith Monk, and by the songs of Ron Sexsmith and Errollyn Walker. By way of encore, Costello throws off a Randy Newman cover.
This is a pleasant enough record, even if it does not quite scale the heights or plunge the depths of The Juliet Letters. Still, it is a very entertaining album that might introduce you to some lesser-known artists deserving of wider recognition. The booklet contains interesting information about the school projects and shows some art made by pupils who participated.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Appropriate Title for Sharp Performances on a Bumpy Road
6 Jun 2005
Format:Audio CD
The Brodsky Quartet remains as audacious as ever with their new recording. This time out, the intensely dramatic string quartet spent time in select UK schools where they composed new songs with schoolchildren. Those are presented here alongside the quartet's arrangements of songs by more established writers such as Elvis Costello, Sting, Björk and Ron Sexsmith. The result could have been a mess, but it's not. Far from it, it's a soulful and sometimes challenging album adhering together rather tenuously as an avant-garde theatrical album. There are several peaks and valleys throughout, though luckily the high points make this a worthwhile disc to get.
Sting's performance of his gypsy ballad, "Until...", sounds especially influenced by Kurt Weill, as does Björk's familiar dirge, "I've Seen It All", from her 2000 cinematic foray with Lars von Trier, "Dancer in the Dark". Jacqui Dankworth lends a languorous vocal to Kate Curtis' and Will South's "The Abyss" and the more funereal "Song" by Daniel Monk. And a nice surprise is the Gershwin-inspired "I Never Went Away" by Richard Rodney Bennett, though it does feel a bit out of place among the more experimental music. Truth be told, some tracks are plain odd, such as Meredith Monk's "Gotham Lullaby" with its random yelps and minor-chord la-la's and Errollyn Wallen's meandering, overlong "Daedalus", a rather pretentious art song. The schools provide two of the highlights here: "Swearing at the Moon" by Arieh Miller of JFS in London, and Venus Flytrap by students from Blatchingham Mill School in Hove. Both songs are performed by Ian Shaw, whose biting vocal mixes well with the discordant string arrangements. Elvis Costello frames the recording with the jaunty opener, "My Mood Swings" and his closing cover of Randy Newman's "Real Emotional Girl", a slow, heartbreaking ballad with Newman's trademark observations. The quartet itself performs with their brio intact, applying a lot of color and texture to the songs.
Sting's performance of his gypsy ballad, "Until...", sounds especially influenced by Kurt Weill, as does Björk's familiar dirge, "I've Seen It All", from her 2000 cinematic foray with Lars von Trier, "Dancer in the Dark". Jacqui Dankworth lends a languorous vocal to Kate Curtis' and Will South's "The Abyss" and the more funereal "Song" by Daniel Monk. And a nice surprise is the Gershwin-inspired "I Never Went Away" by Richard Rodney Bennett, though it does feel a bit out of place among the more experimental music. Truth be told, some tracks are plain odd, such as Meredith Monk's "Gotham Lullaby" with its random yelps and minor-chord la-la's and Errollyn Wallen's meandering, overlong "Daedalus", a rather pretentious art song. The schools provide two of the highlights here: "Swearing at the Moon" by Arieh Miller of JFS in London, and Venus Flytrap by students from Blatchingham Mill School in Hove. Both songs are performed by Ian Shaw, whose biting vocal mixes well with the discordant string arrangements. Elvis Costello frames the recording with the jaunty opener, "My Mood Swings" and his closing cover of Randy Newman's "Real Emotional Girl", a slow, heartbreaking ballad with Newman's trademark observations. The quartet itself performs with their brio intact, applying a lot of color and texture to the songs.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Errollyn Wallen will break your heart and put it back together again.
1 May 2006
Format:Audio CD
Errollyn Wallen's track, Daedalus, will break your heart and put it back together again. This is a quiet, absolutely beautiful testament to her power, verve and finesse as a composer. Genius.
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