Green Meadow Stream [Original recording reissued]

Bernie Krause | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 1, 2003)
• Original Release Date: January 1, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Wild Sanctuary
• ASIN: B00008AIVH
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #405,157 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Green Meadow Stream

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Bernie Krause's Green Meadow Stream is 59 minutes of ecstasy. Captured not far from Yuba Pass in the High Sierras, in an isolated place called Lincoln Meadow, Krause's recording is superb. In the trees, whose leaves bristle occasionally in a gentle breeze, birds chirp and play with one another. But the birds are far enough away that their singing does not distract from the real star, the stream. Kick back or cuddle up to listen to the cool water of the meadow stream trickle over pebbles and rocks. The froth of bubbles fills in behind a bigger rock or two and along the grassy shore dotted with wildflowers and adds a faint flavor of effervescence that all relaxing streams seem to have. Once or twice you can hear the plop of a fish--Krause has managed to record the early-spring frolicking of stream trout on compact disc. Twice in the recording you'll find the dull thud of something falling from the trees--perhaps leftover twigs from a squirrel's nest or a branch's end that storms and winds had made loose. In his liner notes, Krause explains that he was lucky to capture the sound of this place when he did in 1990 because not more than a year later the trees around it were clear-cut. He writes, "This recording is a reminder of what extraordinary beauty there is to be experienced in the natural world ... a testament and ode to the Lincoln Meadow that many human and nonhuman creatures once knew." Krause has both conserved a part of nature we often overlook and even brought the mountains to our living rooms, to our bedrooms, ideal for whatever purpose--yoga, meditation, napping, or relaxation, straightforward and honest. --Erik Macki

Product Description

We’ve set up our recording gear near a stream that cuts diagonally across this high Sierra meadow from south to north. It carries with it water so clear and crystalline that we can see the trout heading for the shadowed holes as we approach. Willows and low vegetation along its path shelter many different kinds of birds. The forest edge is only a short distance away. Streams (like ocean sounds) are difficult to record. I have to be very careful so that what is picked up and transformed through my gear leaves the impression you get while actually on site. The result sounds simple, but takes many days and many hours of recording to achieve.

GREEN MEADOW STREAM is located to the east of Yuba Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. This recording was made in 1988, a year before logging, in what was formerly a healthy and undisturbed habitat. Although the logging was selective, the habitat has since been significantly altered so that the soundscape example on this CD can no longer be experienced. Extinction takes many forms. Here is an example of a gorgeous biophony – recorded before it vanished.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful !, October 23, 2000

By 

Elizabeth Gordon (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Green Meadow Stream (Audio CD)

This is among the very best nature recordings I have every listened to - and I have been collecting them from all over the world for years.

As an avid hiker, it reminds me of those few exquisite days, when I happen to hit it just right, that the earth's music unfolds like the most compelling symphony.

Gorgeous !

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's very relaxing but by no means boring., November 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Green Meadow Stream (Audio CD)

I thought this cd would be background noise that I would, for the most part, ignore. It turned out to be very soothing, but also, astonishingly interesting. I think sometimes our busy, industrialized lives lead us to ignore nature's simple, but profoundly beautiful intricacies. This cd is a welcome reminder.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another good one., September 24, 2005

By 

P. Sennett (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Green Meadow Stream (Audio CD)

One more time Bernie Krause has made an outstanding recording of natural sounds. I live in a very large city where natural sounds exist, but not as dense as the ones recorded in Green Meadow Stream. It is the density, fabric of sounds that gives this album its real pleasure. I use Krause's recordings, this one is my third, to truly relax. You might say I have not even heard the whole thing since I fall asleep concentrating on the sound of the stream and the bird calls. His very best recording is, however, Kalimantan: Heaven Before Time, truly beautiful. No doubt about it, you have to like this sort of thing to appreciate sounds of nature as foreground. As background sound this stuff will drive you nuts.