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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2006)
BY BRETT CAMPBELL Stocking Stuffers from Planet Eugene World music, classical music and other CDs with Eugene ties W ith onstage action abating for some sort of pagan solstice cele- bration, here are some recom- mended recent CD releases from musicians with local ties. If you’re still into buying rather than downloading, why not pick them up at local stores like the Musique Gourmet? innovative new and recent American music at http://nonpop.scottunrein.org The Decemberists, The Crane Wife (Capitol) Portland’s literary art rockers led a parade of Pacific Northwest artists (e.g. M. Ward, Death Cab, Neko Case, etc.) to the Americanistan, Live at Luna forefront of popular Eugene’s favorite world music this year, and music collective scores again it’s a relief to see that with a scintillating survey of dance music with roots in The Decemberists The Crane Wife major label success hasn’t diffused Colin Turkey, Israel, Egypt and Meloy’s delicious weirdness or his band’s nearby regions. It’s best encountered in close proggish punch. Their wild November 2005 proximity to bouncing bellies, but the CD- show at the McDonald still rings in my ears. only experience is one of the most entrancing I heard in 2006. Craig Einhorn, Something Real (Unicorn) The classically trained guitar virtuoso Cosmas Magaya and Beauler Dyoko, takes a brave leap into singer-songwriter ter- Afamba Apota (Dandemutande) ritory, mixing covers of Lennon, Young, the Eugene is a second home to this Zimbabwean mbira duo, whose album of shim- Dead and more with his own laid-back origi- nals, often regarding his Eugene home (“Zen mering duets stands with any of the dozens of world music albums I heard this year. Man: Spencer Butte,” “Oregon Song”) and recent Maui sojourn (“Warm Summer Breeze,” “Island Style”). Einhorn’s singing Marin Alsop, Naxos recordings can’t match his guitartistry, but the aloha The controversy over her appointment as spirit that breezes through this Hawaiian in- music director of the Baltimore Symphony fluenced disk and solid contributions from a this year may have overshadowed the dozen local lights (Dave Burham, Shandi Eugene Symphony’s conductor laureate’s in- Sinnamon, Rebecca Oswald et al.) will warm creasingly prominent recording career. But up a chilly winter’s eve. stirring releases of orchestral music by Toru Takemitsu, Michael Hersch, Samuel Barber, Here’s a couple of non-local CDs of spe- her mentor Leonard Bernstein and other 20th and 21st century composers (e.g. Philip cial appeal: Glass, John Adams, Michael Torke, Michael Daugherty) with her U.K. ensembles, the Eighth Blackbird, Strange Imaginary Bournemouth Symphony and Royal Scottish Animals (Cedille); The Time Gallery (Naxos) National Orchestra, are showing the world On still another Naxos disk, the daring what we in Eugene knew a decade ago: Chicago ensemble passionately performs Contemporary classical music has no more neo-Romantic music by 2004 Pulitzer Prize persuasive advocate than Marin Alsop. winning composer Paul Moravec while their other new CD covers exciting, sometimes Arnold and Victor Steinhardt, outrageous contemporary chamber music by Jennifer Higdon, Steve Mackey and other hot American Journey (Naxos) On another new Naxos CD, the emeritus new composers. UO piano prof and his famed violinist sibling offer elegant renditions of music Andy Palacio, Watina (Cumbancha) by Bernstein, Copland, Foss and more obscure but still worthy This pulsating disk of music from the disappearing Garifuna American composers, including Victor’s own tango. culture of the Caribbean coast makes a fine stocking stuffer for Joseph Waters, Offshore anyone who relishes the inter- (Albany) section of West African and Latin American music. Cuba is UO alum Waters, now teach- the closest referent, but this ing at San Diego State University, music has a spice all its own. runs the New West Electro Acoustic Music Organization, which Victor Steinhardt sponsors new music concerts there and in Finally, let’s give a shout out to Cherry Portland and New York and is about to go inter- Eugene Blossom Productions, Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and national. But he’s also a skilled, provocative DIVA, three new-ish upstart Eugene well- composer of diverse music for acoustic and electronic instruments, and his new disk ranges springs of new sounds and visions that pro- in influence from Debussy and Messiaen to vided some wonderful musical moments over the past year. They give us the great gift of Cuban rhythms. live music of our time and place, all year long. I hope they’ll inspire our more estab- Scott Unrein, NonPop (blog) lished institutions to bring us more music of Recent UO graduate and composer Scott here and now. ew Unrein offers weekly samples of accessible, NYE 2007 A T T H E I N D I G O with dj hoop dreams and guests eighties | top 40 | electro | disco | dance rock rap jams | dirty pop | early nineties | soul two dollar champagne and wells until eleven pm thirteenth and oak | twenty one and up visit indigodistrict.com for more details. DECEMBER 21, 2006 33
