Customer Reviews

Music for Rest & Renewal (with nature sounds)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The talented and creative Bradley Powell is the Candlelight Guitarist. His music is original and some of the most soul soothing I have ever heard. "Music For Rest And Renewal" is just that. I often come home from work stressed-out to the max, put this CD on, and after a while the tension just flows away to the strains of his finger-style guitar. It rarely fails. Mr. Powell is accompanied, beautifully, by sounds of nature, including the ocean, birds, rainfall, a stream and waterfall, fireside, and night sounds, all digitally recorded on-location specially for this CD. The sounds are quite subtle and enhance the album tremendously. A blend of soulful Spanish, romantic classical, and gentle jazz, I often meditate to the music and sounds of nature offered here.

The artist features a quotation on his Website, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, which is extremely appropriate to the music he makes, "Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting -- a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I highly recommend "Music For Rest And Renewal," especially for those who live in a big city, as I do, and are nature deprived.
JANA

This was a wonderful CD collection of artistically put together tracks that incorporate the sounds of nature. I found this collection to be a great relaxation tool since I received it.

Bradley Powell is a very talented artist and his work on this CD is an apt demonstration of what he is capable of. I highly recommend this CD. A must have in todays stressful world.

"Moved by our nation's events," in the fall of 2001 guitarist Bradley Powell decided to create "a healing work for people" and "light a musical candle," the artist's website explains about this CD's genesis. Growing up in a family of inventors and original thinkers, Powell picked up his first guitar at age ten and later had the opportunity to study, inter alia, with jazz guitarist Joe Pass, Dr. Ronald Purcell (including one master class taught by Andres Segovia), and David Rose of "Little House on the Prairie" fame.

The twelve tunes presented here form a musical arc from Spanish melodies to inflections of jazz and classical harmonies, and from daybreak to nightfall and to the promise of another day. True to the project's title, they are mostly quiet in mood, charming in their very unpretentiousness; and soothing like a hot bath or an evening by the fireplace. While Powell's crisp, precise fingerstyle technique speaks to both the quality of his training and the extent of his talent, he realizes that this is not the place for six- or twelve-string fireworks a la Segovia (or, for that matter, California's own fingerstyle wizard, Alex De Grassi, or his cousin, Windham Hill Records founder William Ackerman). Instead Powell keeps it simple - deceptively so - both melodically and in terms of arrangement. Three tracks - "Waltz of the Clouds," "Rainy Day Canon" and "Tomorrow Is a New Day" - are soft, tasteful duets with the flute(s) and oboe of Gilberto Hildavio, and there is also an overall slightly more elaborate instrumentation on the last track; otherwise, this is mostly about the warm, gentle sound of classical guitars blending with the sounds of wind and water, of seagulls on the Pacific Ocean, and of owls and other birds in California's woods, mountains, and deserts.

Contacted by email, Mr. Powell was reluctant to give specifics as to the types of guitars and strings used in the recording, but kindly confirmed that most of the pieces are played in standard tuning, with the guitar tuned down to D for "Rainy Day Canon" and "Waterfall Cove." He also mentioned the place that both guitars featured on this CD have in his life: one, his everyday companion; the other, a guitar that has been in his possession since college and has been fine-tuned by the hands of luthier Jose Oribe.

Whether you've just been through a period of emotional turmoil, or had a bad day at the office, or are just looking for the perfect music for a few quiet hours at home: I'm sure you won't be disappointed in turning to this CD.

"There are two ways of spreading light - to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." - Edith Wharton.

Also recommended:
Soul Mates & Kindred Spirits
Sunflower Serenity ...Watercolor Odyssey (solos with nature sounds)
Golden Eagle: John Denver Instrumental Tribute
The Water Garden
A Windham Hill Retrospective
A Windham Hill Retrospective
Touch-Windham Hill 25 Years of Guitar
Guitar Virtuoso
Art of Segovia

I rarely review music. But a copy of this album fell into my possession
(almost literally!) and I find it's great music when I want to write and
think. A very talented musician here.

I listen to The Candlelight Guitarist when doing surgery. The music is very peaceful and relaxing, and I really enjoy it.

Bradley Powell is a seemingly selfless artist. Preferring to simply be called The Candlelight Guitarist, he composes music for the guitar and for incidental instruments when he feels they will expand the musical line and the result is exceptionally fine musicianship. MUSIC FOR REST & RENEWAL is just that - put this CD on your system, dim the lights, and meditate with this spiritually soothing music. Powell has incorporated sounds of nature he recorded around his home - the Pacific ocean, mountain sounds, whispers of nature at repose. Recordings of this genre can be simply background music, so uninspired and bland the writing and performance. Not with Brad Powell. His artistry is superb and his compositions, while they appropriate melodies from many sources (just as do all great music writers whether they admit it or not - like Mahler....), they become distinctly his in his own warm recorded sound. This music is not profound, but its effect on you is! Highly recommended for the harried soul.

We love The Candlelight Guitarist--"Music for R&R." My favorite is "Daybreak Devotion." It lifts my spirits and I could just turn up the volume and get lost! So soft and easy.

The CD is indeed a rare find, for there was not one track that I was compelled to skip or fast forward. Normally I have a difficult time listening to something unless it is exceedingly good. I'm happy to say that, try as I might, I could not pick any one favorite, as all of the selections were excellent. A few, like "Rainy Day Canon", and "Happy Is" could play in the background of each minute of my day and I would not grow weary of them.

From the first gentle melodies on the instrumental album "Music for Rest & Renewal" to the final note, I feel transported to some of the most beautiful places on earth. Guitarist Bradley Powell, "the Candlelight Guitarist" infuses each of his original compositions with warmth and gentle assurance that all is well in the world. Flutes and nature sounds accompany acoustic guitar with such perfect ease and grace that I feel my heart rate and breathing noticeably becalmed. "Music for Rest & Renewal" is the perfect background music for anyone interested in receiving the benefits of sound healing.

I'm not usually a big fan of instrumental music, but I thoroughly enjoyed this CD. Artist Bradley Powell combines his gentle guitar melodies with soothing nature sounds he recorded himself in his native California. The nature sounds are quite subtle--soft ocean waves in the background, fading seagul cries at the start of a new track, etc. Powell's guitar sounds are sometimes accompanied by gentle flute or oboe melodies, and I thoughat that some of the songs were reminscent of children's lullabys. Overall, the music reminded me of a soundtrack that you might hear at an intimate, upscale restaurant, as it provided a pleasant background without being distracting.