Indigo Road

Ronn McFarlane (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Ronn McFarlane
• Audio CD (November 13, 2007)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Dorian Recordings
• ASIN: B000WPJ5TA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,891 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars spectacular, January 13, 2008

By 

J. Shahwan (Maplewood, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Indigo Road (Audio CD)

I first heard a sampling of this music while driving home from work. It so caught my attention that I pulled over and wrote the name of the album and immediately ordered it when I arrived home. The music is surprising and haunting -- not what you'd expect at all. For those who enjoy renaissance music, this will both delight and astound! A true find. Jay.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful -- the lute is a living instrument..., January 22, 2009

By 

S. McCrea "s_mccrea" (Henderson, NV United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Indigo Road - Original Lute Music (MP3 Download)

...in McFarlane's hands. He's an excellent lutenist, his attack clean and crisp. The music is smooth and relaxing, reminding, in an odd way, of Ottmar Leibert's more reflective moments. Let's hope we can expect more original lute compositions from him.

From the ethereal, meditative "Catheral Cave" to the virtuoso show-piece "Blue Norther", he demonstrates a deep knowledge, and mastery, of the instruments potentialities. But the best part is: he's shown the instrument is very much alive as a vehicle of contemporary expression; that lutenists need not rely on the huge backlog of brilliant music from the 14th-18th centuries.

While the album isn't entirely lute music, there is some light keyboards (somewhat reminiscent of Windham Hill, as another reviewer noted, as well, in my opinion, as that of Narada) some largely decorative percussion (e.g. castanets on "Rosa"), the lute dominates to point to there everything else is basically a grace note.

Hopefully, on future albums, Mr. McFarlane will dispense with the superfluities and let the lute speak for itself.

Don't get me wrong, I love lute music from all periods, but after 1750 the lute went into rapid decline. (like Baroque music, the lute went into decline after its greatest composer/performer, Sylvius Leopold Weiss, died in that year, the same as the Great Bach--whose own lute compositions were influenced heavily by the former). Whereas after the mid-18th century the ability to play the the pianoforte (and then piano) was an absolute requirement for anyone claiming to be a gentleman, or gentlelady, the same was true for the five centuries before with the lute. Even kings and queens frequently played; one story, perhaps apocryphal, holds that Henry VIII wrote the holiday perennial "Greensleeves"; tho' one does wonder between all the marriages, mistresses, beheadings and misgovernment he could have had anytime for musical composition. Be that as it may, tablature, a simplified system using lines and numbers to teach the musically "illiterate" how to quickly play any piece--it can be found in present-day guitar magazines to teach wannabe Jimmy Page's to play without spending a year or so mastering the complexities of traditional notation.

I hope this album stimulates other composers to write new pieces for the Grandfather of the Guitar (and the son of the 'ud). HIGHLY recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning and magical, June 10, 2010

By 

H. Grove "Errant Dreams Reviews" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Indigo Road (Audio CD)

I had the great fortune of listening to McFarlane in concert recently, and his music is absolutely magical. He can do things with the lute that require skill beyond what I can imagine possessing. While I enjoy older music that's time period-appropriate for the lute, I prefer some of the music that McFarlane himself has composed for it (in particular, Cathedral Cave blows my mind). After first finding Indigo Road on iTunes, I bought the CD from Amazon for my mother, and hunted down some related albums (look for albums by The Baltimore Consort such as "Gut, Wind & Wire").