Author: Rudy Carrera

[Article] A Striking Exception

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The Wall Street Journal do justice to the legacy of Manfred Eicher and perhaps the most amazing and success label you may never have heard of, ECM. From Stuart Isacoff’s article, a quote which sums up my personal opinion of him quite nicely:

“But the most striking exception at the Grammys belongs to ECM (Editions of Contemporary Music), nominated this time around for works by the little-known Polish-Russian composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg performed under the direction of Gidon Kremer. If anyone deserves an award for lifetime achievement, it is ECM’s founder, Manfred Eicher, a producer of over 1,600 albums—many of which have changed the course of recorded art

Here’s to Manfred and the crew at ECM, hoping they make another 1,600 wonderful albums.

[Video] Marisa Monte – Verdade, Uma Ilusão

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My heart is happily ensconced in Brazil these days. I’m kept company by a peach of a girl I can only refer to as my fofinha, and it happens that she has impeccable taste in music. As Valentine’s Day draws near, I get the privilege of sharing a terribly romantic song with the readership. The lyrics are here, and are worth using Google Translate if you can’t understand Portuguese.

For more on Marisa Monte, click here.

[Video] Aldo Ciccolini – Gymnopedie n.1 (Satie)

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The world lost one of the greatest piano interpreters of the 20th Century yesterday. Aldo Ciccolini died on February 1 at the ripe old age of 89. He had moved away from Naples to Paris, winning the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in 1949, and becoming a French citizen by 1969. He was the foremost interpreter of the works of Erik Satie, and did his fair part to expose Satie to a wider audience.

Addio, Maestro.