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Dan Dean: Songs Without Words
ByLike the groundbreaking 1968 recording, Switched-On Bach (Columbia Masterworks), an audacious exploration by Walter (now Wendy) Carlos of JS Bach's music on the then-new Moog synthesizer, Dean breaks with tradition on Songs Without Words. The opener, Bach's "Air on a G String Suite No. 3 in D Major," sounds like a choir of angels, like a soundtrack to an entrance to Heaven, with sweetly layered vocals soaring over subtle bass notes. Rimsey-Korsaksoff's familiar "Flight of the Bumblebee" swarms with an insectile feverishness.
Vivaldi's "Concerto for Lute and Orchestra in D Major" serves as the centerpiece of the set. With sparser vocal layeringand more pronounced bass linesthis three part, ten minute immersion in the piece is beautifully transcendent, a reverent treatment of the music with a unique approach to making it.
Thoughts that come to mind upon multiple listenings to Songs Without Words: The relative affordability of setting up a personal recording studio can have freeing effect on the artist; that's the case here. Like Switched-On Bach, nobody's tried this out before. Unlike Switched-On Bach, these are pure organic, human sounds, lovelier and more alluring than the exact but stiffer experience of the early Moog.
Dan Dean boasts a forty year career as a producer/composer/recording engineer/recording artist. It's a fine surprise to hear himan artist capable of recording a killer version of James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)," with organist Larry Goldings, on Dean's terrific 2 5 1 (Origin Records, 2010)involve himself in a personal and highly successful immersion into an unorthodox classical music journey.
Track Listing
Air on a G String Suite No. 3 in D Major; Flight of the Bumblebee; Concerto for Lute and Orchestra in D Major (Movement 1: Allegro; Movement 2: Largo; Movement 3: Allegro; Night on Bald Mountain; The Sheep May Safely Graze; Adagio in G Minor.
Personnel
Dan Dean
vocalsDan Dean: bass, voices, whistle.
Album information
Title: Songs Without Words | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Origin Classical
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