Customer Reviews

Gymnopedies / Saudades Do Brasil

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

 

 

I own the LP of this CD. I bought it for Herrmann's conducting. Sure, Like Satie and Milhaud okay. But that wasn't the main attraction for me.

The results are interesting. These are orchestrations of Satie's much-beloved Gymnopedies. I wouldn't off the top of my head think of Herrmann's style as being like Satie. But listening to these transcriptions of Satie for orchestra makes a good case.

You could say: Herrmann makes everything into movie music. There's a kind of taffy-pulling of tempi, a lyrical stretching out and then dropping back into rhythms. Whatever it is: it's pretty seductive.

If you want to visit another world, just put on this disk. The two Gymnepodies are always on my ipod, and often at the end of a long day at work on the train ride home, you'll find me staring out the window and listening to these magically transporting recordings.

--E. R. O'Neill