Lara St. John – Gypsy (1997) [Reissue 2004]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 66:29 minutes | Front/Rear Covers | 2,71 GB
or DSD64 Stereo (from SACD-ISO to Tracks.dsf) > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Front/Rear Covers | 2,62 GB
or FLAC (carefully converted & encoded to tracks) 24bit/44,1 kHz | Front/Rear Covers | 603 MB
Lara St. John is a fabulous Canadian violin player. In this entertaining collection, she plays freely and on a very large scale, just what gypsy music requires. It may not take much intellect to play Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy (I like Sarasate’s better, anyway). But it does take intellect, and lots more, to play Bartók’s Second Rhapsody as convincingly as she does here, with the very assertive collaboration of Ilan Rechtman. St. John doesn’t make the difficulties of Ravel and Sarasate sound easy, but both musicians play with such flair it doesn’t matter. Rechtman’s gypsy arrangements are goofy and enjoyable. The recording on this SACD is world-class and of audiophile quality. Wide-range sound.
Gypsies…. The race evokes fabled visions of fortune-tellers, thieves, nomads, magicians and beggars. And, oh yes, musicians! Above all, musicians. Wonderful, spirited, entertaining people who would perform in the streets with reckless abandon for whatever the crowd was willing to give. Gypsies are descendants of low caste Indian tribes, called Asura, Ghasiya, and Luri. Among the Luri, it is in the Dom people we find the source of thefabulous musical genius of the gypsy race. As early as the sixth century, historians refer to the Dom as gandharva–musical. The word doma comes from the Sanskrit dom (to resound) and is ascribed to the people who lived by singing and making music–the gypsies. This recording is a celebration of the wonderful music that these magical people have inspired.
The selections on this CD are, for the most part, familiar classical compositions. On “Carmen” Fantasie (Franz Waxman), and Variations on Dark Eyes (Ilan Rechtman), tracks one and two respectively, Ms. St. John’s violin sings and cries with so much feeling that I sat fixated, listening to each note as it gently lingered in the air of the recording venue long past the moment at which it was played. Track seven, Ravel’s Tzigane, is as exquisitely performed as track nine, Czardas Caprice (Ilan Rechtman). Both of these pieces are full of the gypsy spirit. Throughout this recording pianist/composer Ilan Rechtmen accompanies Ms. St. John with a beautiful, sensitive and complimentary piano. If you are a lover of beautiful violin works for the emotion they stir in the spirit, or if you are simply an aficionado of well-performed gypsy music, or even if you are an audiophile and collect great recordings, even if you just like to buy music with provocative pictures of great looking women on the cover–this one is for you!
Tracklist:
01. Bizet/Waxman: Carmen Fantasie
02. Variations on Dark Eyes (Occhi Chornye)
03. Bartok: 2nd Rhapsody
04. Kreisler: La Gitana
05. Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen
06. Gypsy Nocturne
07. Ravel: Tzigane
08. Czardas Caprice
Personnel:
Lara St. John – violin
Ilan Rechtman – piano
Note:
Produced by Kathy Geisler. Recorded at Skywalker Scoring Stage.
SACD ISO
https://xubster.com/qrnhnsmjq65t/LaraSt.J0hnGypsy1997Reissue2004SACDIS0.part1.rar.html
https://xubster.com/ywp6fhireync/LaraSt.J0hnGypsy1997Reissue2004SACDIS0.part2.rar.html
DSF
https://xubster.com/eb5b4gudsd60/LaraSt.J0hnGypsy1997Reissue2004DSD64.part1.rar.html
https://xubster.com/kyoeh7trggu1/LaraSt.J0hnGypsy1997Reissue2004DSD64.part2.rar.html
Hi-Res FLAC
https://xubster.com/9paqzqjxa6dl/LaraSt.J0hnGypsy1997Reissue2004FLAC2444.rar.html