Post by erik on Dec 28, 2018 0:40:15 GMT -5
At the risk of self-aggrandizement (full disclosure), here are my three picks for best music releases of 2018:
Haydn: THE CREATION--Houston Symphony Orchestra, Chorus, and Soloists/ANDRES OROZCO-ESTRADA
Franz Joseph Haydn's late-era oratorio "The Creation" is given a first-rate treatment from an unexpected part of America, namely southeast Texas, thanks to the inventive decision by the Houston Symphony's Colombian-born music director Andres Orozco-Estrada to tackle this work, which had its two previous best renditions both led by Leonard Bernstein (in 1966 with the New York Philharmonic, and in 1982 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony). The chorus and vocal soloists (Nicole Heaston; Peter Rose; Toby Spence) are also outstanding.
READY PLAYER ONE (SOUNDTRACK SCORE)--Alan Silvestri
A highly dramatic score for Silvestri to provide for Steven Spielberg's exciting futuristic adventure film, based on the book by Ernest Cline. It is as energetic (and bombastic) for READY PLAYER ONE as John Williams' score for last year's Spielberg film THE POST had been more subtle, but it works just the same.
And last, but by no means, least:
LIBERTY--Lindi Ortega
This was a tremendous concept album for the Canadian-born female firebrand, one rooted in the mythology and parched landscape of the Southwest and northern Mexico, and a vision influenced by the film scores of Ennio Morricone and the country, rock, and Mexicana influences of Linda. Tracks like "Darkness Be Gone", "The Comeback Kid" and the mariachi-tinged title track were standouts, as was Lindi's version of the much-covered Violetta Parra classic "Gracias A La Vida".
Haydn: THE CREATION--Houston Symphony Orchestra, Chorus, and Soloists/ANDRES OROZCO-ESTRADA
Franz Joseph Haydn's late-era oratorio "The Creation" is given a first-rate treatment from an unexpected part of America, namely southeast Texas, thanks to the inventive decision by the Houston Symphony's Colombian-born music director Andres Orozco-Estrada to tackle this work, which had its two previous best renditions both led by Leonard Bernstein (in 1966 with the New York Philharmonic, and in 1982 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony). The chorus and vocal soloists (Nicole Heaston; Peter Rose; Toby Spence) are also outstanding.
READY PLAYER ONE (SOUNDTRACK SCORE)--Alan Silvestri
A highly dramatic score for Silvestri to provide for Steven Spielberg's exciting futuristic adventure film, based on the book by Ernest Cline. It is as energetic (and bombastic) for READY PLAYER ONE as John Williams' score for last year's Spielberg film THE POST had been more subtle, but it works just the same.
And last, but by no means, least:
LIBERTY--Lindi Ortega
This was a tremendous concept album for the Canadian-born female firebrand, one rooted in the mythology and parched landscape of the Southwest and northern Mexico, and a vision influenced by the film scores of Ennio Morricone and the country, rock, and Mexicana influences of Linda. Tracks like "Darkness Be Gone", "The Comeback Kid" and the mariachi-tinged title track were standouts, as was Lindi's version of the much-covered Violetta Parra classic "Gracias A La Vida".