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MP3 Arni Egilsson, MEZZOFORTE, Choir of Langholt Church - Kaleidoscope
1 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Jazz Fusion, CLASSICAL: Contemporary
Details:
At present the dual disc "Kaleidoscope" DVD/CD is available in NTSC format only
"KALEIDOSCOPE" is a highly original music score written by the bass virtuoso Árni Egilsson. It is a 42 minutes long musical journey set in improvisational jazz fusion style. The work was filmed and recorded live in a performance by Iceland''s top artists such as the great jazz fusion band Mezzoforte with Óskar Gudjónsson, sax., Pétur Grétarsson, percussion and the Choir of Langholt Church and their organist Lára B. Eggertsdóttir, conducted by Jón Stefánsson.
The audio side (CD) is a high quality digital recording of the live performance.
The DVD side is the same performance filmed on location and mixed in high quality Dolby Surround 5.1. and high quality stereo.
MEZZOFORTE. In global pop industry terms, jazz - funksters Mezzoforte would in 1983 have seemed rather an unlikely bunch to become the pioneers of a long awaited ´breaking of the ice´ for the desperately isolated musical community of Iceland. Still, thanks to the combination of a dead cool summer anthem, and the daring optimism of their gutsy manager, Mezzoforte indeed became the surprise hit makers of 1983 in the UK , with a single called Garden Party taken from an album fittingly titled Surprise Surprise! The rest of the world would soon follow and start heading for Mezzoforte´s funky Garden Party, only to be pleasantly surprised and amused.??Essentially, still a ´boy band´, these baby faced whiz kids were just teenagers at the time, having found each other at the tender age of 15 and matured surprisingly fast on a healthy musical diet, balancing Keith Jarret with George Duke and Duke Ellington with Weather Report. Now, in the summer of 2004, having firmly stayed together and stuck to their powerful guns, survived at least three seven year itches as well as a number of considerable highs and lows, the group is now on a roll into a fresh creative whirlwind, onto what seems set to become yet another exciting and adventurous https://www.tradebit.comving through the years toured over thirty countries, released 11 albums and consistently impressed audiences and critics alike, there is currently a brand new collection of works in the can, and an ambitious tour to follow.??With all four founding members Eythor Gunnarsson on keyboards, Fridrik Karlsson on guitar, Johann Asmundsson on bass and Gulli Briem on drums, the distinctive Mezzoforte-sound has developed and matured through time without loosing the original sparkle that initially created their international reputation.??Through the years Mezzoforte has worked with some of the world´s most renowned wind instrumentalists and the latest addition to the live band is guitarist Gudmundur Petursson who joined in 2004, taking the place of Fridrik Karlsson, whose busy schedule with musical projects of his own as well as session work for various artists has limited his flexibility to tour. Fridrik remains fully active in the writing and recording part of the bands activities.
ÓSKAR GUDJÓNSSON is one of Iceland''s best known saxophonist. He has played with a great number of prominent bands, both in Iceland and abroad. Gudjónsson has released several solo CDs among them a duo CD with the Icelandic electrinc bassplayer Skúli Sverrisson.
THE CHOIR OF LANGHOLT CHURCH
has existed in its present form since 1973. They have performed all major works by Bach as well as other major works such as Rossini''s "Petite Messe Solenelle", Brahms'' "Ein Deutsches Requiem", Händel''s "Messiah", Beethoven''s "Messe Solenelle", "The Creation" and Masses by Haydn as well as "Requiem" and Masses by Mozart. The choir regularly performs new Icelandic works and has toured extensively and concertized in all the Scandinavian countries, middle and southern Europe, Israel, Canada, The United States and England. The choir has recorded a large number of albums and CDs, some of which are released on the Swedish BIS label. Kaleidoscope is the third large work Árni Egilsson has composed for the choir.
Jón Stefánsson received his cantor''s degree as a solo organist in Iceland where he studied with Dr. Robert Abraham Ottoson and Dr. Páll Ísólfsson.
He then went to Germany to study with Prof. Karl Richter at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Munich and later to Vienna, Austria where he studied with Prof. Michael Radulesco at the Künstlerische Hochschule für Musik. Stefánsson has been the organist and choir director at the Langholt Church since 1964 and under his guidance the choir has grown and blossomed. Stefánsson has appeared many times as guest conductor with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra as well as the Iceland Opera and Ballet Company.
When Jón Stefánsson told me that his 40th anniversary as a Choir Director/Conductor was coming up, I decided to write a piece for him and the Choir of Langholt Church to celebrate the occasion. Like Jón''s career the work was to be colorful and multifaceted, progressive and fresh, but above all, fun and positive. As we celebrate the past, a look to the future with a mixture of twentieth or twenty first century choir music and "jazz fusion". An exciting future indeed!
Árni Egilsson
ÁRNI EGILSSON has earned an international reputation as a Double Bass soloist, having performed in his native Iceland, and throughout Europe and the United States. He was brought to the United States by the late Sir John Barbirolli to play with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. While there, he established an enduring relationship with André Previn. A versatile instrumentalist, equally comfortable in jazz and classical venues, he has recorded a classical solo album with Vladimir Askenazy and a jazz album with Ray Brown. Egilsson is highly regarded as a leading session player in the orchestras of the Los Angeles recording studios serving as Principal Bassplayers for most of Hollywood''s top composers. He has been a Professor of Double Bass at California State University, Northridge. In recent years he has become well known as a composer of works for Double Bass, Chamber Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra as well as Solo Voice and Choral works.
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