Customer Reviews

La Bella Vista

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If contemplation had a melody, the music contained in this album would be part of it. Harold Budd has been writing and performing exquisite music over many, many years -you must listen to "Pavilion of Dreams" or "The Pearl," his collaborations with Brian Eno in the 70's, if you need proof- and although not incredibly prolific, each time what he has released has been worth the wait. "La Bella Vista" ranks among her most accomplished in recent years, which might sound strange given the spontaneous circumstances of its recording at Daniel Lanois eponymous house in the Mojave desert -the story goes that he did not even know he was been taped during the first piece- yet it is. The music here is meditative, spacious and beautifully performed, particularly poignant for the early morning or the late night, which is not to say that it is bland nor without intensity. To ask Budd for more frequent releases it would be a tribute to my desire for more moments like these, yet given the consistent depth of his works there's plenty to dwell on, in this one, for a long time.

I can only echo the previous reviewers -- while Harold Budd's work with minimal electronics & piano is justly praised, this all too short collection of spare piano improvisations is stunning. There's an especially shimmering tone of antique glass to these pieces, an almost casual atmosphere born of a lifetime of composing & playing music. It's vaguely reminiscent of Satie without being the least bit imitative of him.

Now I also notice that one of the tags offered for this work is "easy listening." That's the last thing in the world it could be called! There's a contemplative lucidity to this music, a subtle but intense passion ... it touches the soul like a tender caress of burning ice. Definitely music for evening ... including the evening of life. Most highly recommended!

This is my favorite Harold Budd CD. A live recording with some of the compositions recorded spontaneously and surreptiously, it has a special mood and relaxed flow to it. Budd is a master of this rolling, ethereal ambient sound, which is easily differentiated from other artists in the genre. I have provided customers with several favorable reviews, but this is my favorite. I listen to it at least three times a week. My friends like it. You can think, read or have a conversation while listening to it. Mr Budd is clearly the Godfather of ambient music, a moniker that I gave him a couple of years ago, and is now used by others. If you're a Harold Budd fan or an ambient music fan you will love this CD.

Like many who have reviewed "La Bella Vista", my Harold Budd collection started slowly. A few of his collaborations with Eno made their way into my CD collection over a decade, until I finally picked up a copy of "The Pavilion of Dreams" during a particularly stressful autumn season in my life. The timing was perfect, and I became a tried and true Harold Budd fan at that point and there was no looking back. I'm glad that "La Bella Vista" is finally available through MP3 download, because I had wanted to hear Budd "unplugged" (and often improvising) for years after reading about this album but I was unable to find a copy. After hearing it now for what must be several hundred times, I can say that "La Bella Vista" didn't disappoint. I can understand some of my fellow reviewers complaints that the album's length is a little short, or that they miss Budd's use of electronics and reverb, but for me this album is a vibe all the way through and I just get lost in it. One of my favorite aspects of ambient music was also captured on this album, in that it works on several levels: you can put it on as background music at an intimate dinner party, you can read to it, sleep to it, or outright just sit and relax with it on at full volume. I can't say how many times I've played this CD for an entire afternoon at work, and I never tire of it. I'm quite sure "La Bella Vista" will be in my player frequently this fall in New Jersey; if I could think of one disc that I own that captures the mood of leaves falling from the trees and the days getting shorter while the nights get longer, this album would be the first that comes to my mind.

Forty minutes of Harold Budd's piano skills, without additives. All the trademark Budd motifs are here: the rolling melodies, the repetitions, the use of silence, and the warm romanticism at the heart of all he does. Recorded on a beautifully toned Steinway by Daniel Lanois no less, he who breathed new life into Bob Dylan's faltering output. This is a lustrous and richly melodic collection of piano pieces, so why am I giving it only 4 stars? Simply this: I miss the extra magic and mystery from the special effects (delays, overdubs etc.) Harold adds when he's in the studio. Still a recommended purchase. Perhaps I'm a bit of a puritan, but the only solo piano I can manage is either Phillip Glass Solo Piano or Keith Jarrett The Koln Concert: 24 January 1975

I had my first Budd several years ago, buying "She Is A Phantom" in a used book store, on a table with other staff recommendations. This brought me to Eno and, through various links, along with Steve Roach, back to Budd again.

This is an incredible album and I can only thank Daniel Langlois for the courage to tape Budd unawares. Each track a little gemstone, little microBudds floating in the ether. Yes, contemplative, meditative, introspective. A precursor to, but nothing like Avalon Sutra, Translucence and Drift Music. Perhaps Budd at his purest.

I was going to give this CD 4 stars, because its only drawback is that it is a bit short. But then again, if it were longer, I'd have to give it 6! By the way, I love synths and electronics, but there is something to be said for antique Steinway Pianos.

It occurred to me the other day that within my vast CD collection, Harold Budd is the artist whose name appears on the most albums. This has happened quietly and without fuss over more than two decades.
La Bella Vista, reportedly recorded impromptu and without Harold's knowledge at the time, explains why. He is truly the master of an instrument that I had, prior to listening to him play, little time for. I had always found the piano quite an overwhelming and jarring instrument, and for the most part still do.
But this music is just sublime.

The other day..maybe really months ago, I had an incredible dream and it was this: It was an incredibly lucid dream of me in the mind and body of a crawling baby on a shaggy rug in a foreign room, with foreign wallpaper. There was an female adult(never saw her before) sitting in a love chair watching me crawl. I felt with my mind what it was like to be a conscious breathing crawling baby. To see out of its eyes, trying to keep its neck up. I noticed the fragility and newness of my limbs. Most importantly, I (what an epiphany here, folks) realized that my consciousness now was the same when I was a baby. Perhaps even more important was the familiarity(like I had been there before)I felt in that strange room with that strange person. It was not unlike a Quantum Leap episode.

Harold Budd's La Bella Vista, does alot of the same thing that this dream did. What a fantastic album.

One more gem by modern piano improvisation geniusIf I were to go to live on the deserted island ,this is one of the few CDs I would CERTAINLY take with me!Urgently recommended!

Slip the cd into your disc driver press "PLAY" then "Repeat" and enjoy. Budd's music envelops you. One of the best records I bought in years.