Customer Reviews

Earth: Voices of a Planet

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

 

 

This musical offering was created by the Paul Winter Consort and friends to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Earth Day. "Earth: Voices of a Planet" is another release that does a good job of showcasing the diverse creativity of this group's work, with a special focus on their efforts to collaborate with wildlife and the environment. The tone of the album tends toward the classically symphonic and avant garde as the consort staples of pipe organ, cello, flute, saxophone, piano and French horn blend with the calls of elephants, whales and birds, and the sounds of water and wind. Moods of the compositions range from cheerful to mysterious, playful to respectful. As in much of Winter's work, the animals are often allowed to take the lead while the human musicians follow along, respectfully and artfully arranging their melodies and harmonies around the voices of their creature counterparts. Also as usual, the music is fascinating to follow: never boring and never the same. Yet there is a continuity to the Winter Consort's work and a consistency to their voice. Drawing inspiration from many corners of the world, these musicians consistently find ways to blend diverse elements into a harmonious and triumphant whole. Defying traditional categorizations like jazz, classical, ethnic or New Age, their music creates a style unto itself, and one well worth hearing!

This is a fabulous CD. Each track represents a different continent. And on each track Winter has mixed natural sounds from that location with his saxophone and the other musicians.

He has assembled a great collection of musicians who play in unusual combinations such as

Winter's soprano sax and:
flute, cello and keyboards
kudu horn, Ghanian drums, piano, etc
pipe organ!
voice, guitar, rainstick, jungle drums, whistles
dijeridu [played by an American!] and bull-roarers

Three of the most outstanding tracks are
The Call of the Elephant, representing Africa, and including elephant rumbles with the drums and other instruments.

Antarctica is represented by soprano saxophone and pipe organ, mixed with the sound of the Antarctic wind and a Weddell seal call.

Black Forest, featuring Winter's saxophone and a European blackbird

I highly recommend this album.

Different styles and ambiences created and on display. A relaxing cd
to play while hanging around the houe, having dinner, doing daily tasks, etc.

This is a fantastic CD with wonderful eclectic tunes that puts you in touch with nature. The seller provided fantastic service too. I highly recommend this CD!

I love this album ... I actually got it thru one of those cd clubs a long time ago when I didn't get the postcard back to them on time. It quickly became a favorite and I found myself using it in my preschool classes to expose the children to different sounds. Besides using instruments of non-european cultures("Uirapuru Do Amazonas" features an Andes instrument that sounds just like bird call) in orchestral arrangements, but other nature sounds are used as well - such as bird call, orca song, and even the rumplings of elephants! several sounds also feature native tongues. It is just an amazing cd and I highly recommend it.