PAUL WINTER CONSORT Silver Solstice (2CD & Dvd)
2CD+DVD BOX with Booklet
Living Music / Earth Music 2005
RAR!
The album includes the entire performance of the 25th celebration, plus 10 tracks from previous years' solstice events. The box-set presents the 142 minutes of music on 2 stereo CDs, and also in Surround Sound on one bonus DVD-Audio disc (32 tracks in Surround Sound).
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For the last 25 years Paul Winter has been performing winter solstice shows in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. By and large, this is where he has stretched his music, working with virtuoso players from across the musical spectrum, but especially world music. Irish piper Davey Spillane and singer Nóirín ní Riain, Armenian percussionist Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Brazilian guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves, and the Russian Dmitri Pokrovsky Singers join the Winter Consort in songs that tap a different spirit in the winter season. The cathedral facilitates an embracing aura so that Spillane's uilleann pipe lament on "Dawnwalker" segues into Tuncboyaciyan's mournful hymn, "Before It's Too Late," as if they were the same piece. Perhaps a lament taps the same spirit in any language or culture, be it Irish or Armenian. Besides all the global themes, there's quintessential Consort classical-folk-jazz like the Winter-penned "Harvest Faire," where his soprano dances in the cathedral eaves amidst Spillane's pipes and the Balkan-based rhythms. Most of Silver Solstice is drawn from the 2004 performance, but there are some previously recorded renditions here, and several songs had previous incarnations on the limited-edition release of Solstice Gems. So to longtime Winter fans, this may seem like a glorified greatest-hits collection. But that limited-edition release is now out of print, making Silver Solstice the definitive document of this annual event. In addition to the two main discs, there is also a DVD-Audio disc with 5.1 surround mixes that puts you in the middle of the cathedral. -
Tracks :
CD 1 :
1.
Opening Calls 04:03
2.
Tomorrow is My Dancing Day 03:02
3.
Sun Singer 04:58
4.
Sound Over All Waters 04:32
5.
Kurski Funk 04:19
6.
Dawnwalker 06:46
7.
Before It's Too Late 05:21
8.
Harvest Faire 04:43
9.
Sera 05:33
10.
Seoladh - Journey Through the Longest Night 05:15
11.
Cathedral Forest - Journey Through the Longest Night 05:45
12.
Belly of the Whale - Journey Through the Longest Night 05:29
13.
Solstice Treet - Journey Through the Longest Night 03:28
14.
Storm - Journey Through the Longest Night 01:12
15.
Bells of Solstice - Journey Through the Longest Night 01:33
16.
Return of the Sun - Journey Through the Longest Night 01:26
17.
Solstice Chant - Journey Through the Longest Night 02:14
CD 2 :
18.
Caravan At Dawn 06:23
19.
The Lake 04:33
20.
Luiza 02:41
21.
Canyon Chaconne 06:27
22.
First Ride 04:34
23.
Icarus 03:14
24.
The Rain Is Over And Gone 05:48
25.
The Cello And The Pipes 03:55
26.
The Rising Moon 05:05
27.
Down In Belgorod 03:39
28.
Oror Bubrik 06:17
29.
Silent Night 03:00
30.
Song For The World 03:18
31.
Wolf Eyes 08:12
32.
Minuit / Auld Lang Syne 05:43
I was surprised (though I suppose I should not be) by the reviewer who panned this album because he was expecting a video DVD of the concert and only got the music with still photos from the DVD disc. This is probably a symptom of the record industry's failure to market a single surround sound music format that everyone can understand. So, let's make this clear, the bonus DVD with this album is a DVD-AUDIO title that gives you high definition surround sound. And, if you have a surround sound system set up to play it properly, it sounds magnificent.
I have heard Paul Winter's Winter Solstice concerts in New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine several times over the years. The immense spaces of this cathedral (literally, the world's largest gothic-style church), combined with Paul Winter's inspired use of the acoustics for his music always makes for an impressive experience. While Winter has recorded in the cathedral before (several tracks of the album Canyon, for example), the recordings have always been in regular two channel stereo, which cannot really convey the experience of actually being in the space itself. When I heard that this latest album contained a surround mix, I was eager to see how Paul and his engineer Dixon Van Winkle had coped with the challenges inherent in recording in this huge space. For one thing, a recording is a different experience than a live concert; just trying to duplicate the church acoustics would not likely be satisfactory for someone listening at home, and there are all sorts of decisions to make about balances, tonal quality, how much of the church acoustics to include without smothering the direct sound of the instruments, etc.
I am happy to report that Dixon Van Winkle has done a brilliant job on this project; it is simply the best surround sound mix I have yet heard. You have the sense of really being there, but the balances are always close to ideal (something very hard to achieve in a live concert). Interestingly, it is the quiet, subtle moments that seem to benefit most from the surround mix (such as the beginning of "Belly of the Whale", where you sense the sea washing around you as the whales are heard singing from behind)--the listener is drawn in to the experience to a degree that ordinary stereo cannot achieve.
Ultimately, the success of any music album rises or falls on the music. If you like Paul Winter's music, you will like this CD plus DVD-Audio set very much. If you are not familiar with his music but like great surround sound, you could do worse than to check this title out. And if you can't stand Paul Winter's music--well, bah, humbug to you too!
Highly recommended.
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