RE-PERFORMANCES

Driving into work today I heard an extraordinary recording on our local Classical Music station (KVOD).

It was a cello/piano selection from their "CD of the Week" entitled THE SPANISH MASTERS (Zenph, 2011). 

What blew me away was the seemless way in which this North Carolina recording company has added contemporary artists' music to WAX RECORDINGS (cylinders, actually) of Piano compositions by the legendary Manuel De Falla, IsaacAlbeniz and Enrique Granados made a century ago! Featured in these "re-reperformances" are cellist Zuilli Bailey and soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian.  If the vocal/piano pieces are as good, I will DEFINITELY be adding this to my music library !  The idea of making these ground-breaking recordings available in newly mastered arrangements that pair long dead composers with contemporary musicians in digital format is amazing to me.  Sort of like photoshoping music or allowing Natalie Cole to sing with her father the late great Nat King Cole in the album UNFORGETTABLE: WITH LOVE (Elektra / Wea, 1991)--only more so....my mind is racing with pairings of musicians who never had a chance to meet in real life, but could now be captured "re-performing" together.  The possibilities are mind boggling!

For a full description of the title and an NPR interview with the contemporary artists, checkout the info on the KVOD website:
 http://www.cpr.org/#load_article|New_CD_of_the_Week__The_Spanish_Masters