cohen live in london

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2002 debut album for controversial ‘crossover’ classical act featuring mezzo Karen England & soprano Rebecca Knight. The ‘Babes’ have enjoyed a something of a Cinderella story having gone from busking in Covent Garden to performing to millions of people watching both the FA Cup Final & the Champion’s League Final within the space of a year. 15 tracks.
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Plucked from a wet afternoon of busking Bizet and Puccini to passersby on the Piazza in Covent Garden in the spring of 2001, soprano Rebecca Knight and mezzo Karen England soon found themselves singing in slightly larger venues: the FA Cup and Champions League soccer finals. That the management company doing the plucking had recently performed a similar Cinderella crossover act for Russell Watson offered portent, and indeed the Babes–the moniker began as a joke–were soon on their way to this recording debut. The marketing shtick and its soccer connections may offend purists, but it’s the football hooligans that the Babes are trying to win over here; can Borodin soothe the savage Manchester United fan? Their classically trained voices mesh gloriously, with England’s warm mezzo showing particular character in her solo turns.

The repertoire choices here cover material that may already be familiar to fans of Charlotte Church (i.e., Delibes “Flower Duet”) and other crossover acts, but they do include some pleasant surprises, like Offenbach’s Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann and “You Live On in My Heart,” a reworking of Ennio Morricone’s enchanting Cinema Paradiso theme with lyrics by Knight. But in a rush toward the musical middle of the road, it’s the productions themselves that sometimes overwhelm the Babes with bathos (“Ave Maria”), hollow thunder (“Aida 2002″), and electro club kitsch (the ‘Vibe Tribe’ mix of “Flower Duet”). Former Art of Noise mainstay Anne Dudley’s tastefully restrained coloring of Tchaikovsky’s “1001 Nights” is one of the notable exceptions. They’re babes, they sing opera–with fair promise–for the masses, and if they turn one in a hundred from football hooliganism to a well-mannered appreciation of Grieg and Dvorák, won’t it all have been worth it? –Jerry McCulley
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Best review for Elizabeth Futral: Great Operatic Arias

The resurgence of pianist Chick Corea in the 1990s seemingly knows no bounds, as is demonstrated by his Corea.Concerto. Blending Corea’s thrilling regular jazz sextet, Origin, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, this disc is Corea’s second journey into classical music, after The Mozart Sessions with conductor and vocalist Bobby McFerrin. But Corea.Concerto is Corea’s first original symphonic work and it’s a mightily impressive debut. The disc is split into two major pieces: a bombastic, new arrangement of Corea’s classic “Spain,” first recorded in 1972 with Return to Forever and here featuring lengthy showcases for the members of Origin, and Corea’s new “Piano Concerto No. 1,” modeled after Mozart’s piano concertos and featuring the Philharmonic with Origin bassist Avishai Cohen and drummer Jeff Ballard. Of the two, “Spain” is perhaps more satisfying, only because it gives more room for the members of Origin to shine and because the unusual blend of jazz sextet and symphony orchestra is achieved here to a greater effect. There are moments in Spain’s “Opening and Introduction” when Corea attains a wonderful fusion of Latin rhythms, big orchestral blocks of sound that recall composers like Edgar Varese and have a jazz harmonic sensibility. The “Piano Concerto” is a more strictly classical piece that wears its Mozart influence on its sleeve, with melodies spun back and forth between piano and orchestra. –Ezra Gale
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Best review for Chick Corea: Corea Concerto / Spain for Sextet & Orchestra / Piano Concerto No. 1

Following the celebration of his 40th year as a Columbia artist in 2007 and coinciding with his induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in March 2008, Cohen thrilled his fans by announcing his first tour dates in 15 years. He’s gone on to play the most prestigious and beautiful venues in virtually every corner of the globe, mesmerizing and charming audiences with performances that were hailed as some of the best of his career. When legend Cohen takes to the stage, raved Ireland’s The Independent (June 2008), it’s no less than a cultural event of Biblical dimensions.

One dozen of Leonard Cohen’s most famous songs from those recent world tour performances at auditorium halls, festivals, arenas, and stadiums from Tel Aviv to London, from across Europe to the California desert and his native Canada are now collected on Songs From the Road. The 12-song program filmed in high definition and recorded in 5.1 surround sound will be issued in three separate packages: CD+DVD in a beautiful softpak with a 12-page book, Blu-ray, and 2-LP 180-gram audiophile vinyl in a gatefold jacket.
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Best review for Songs From the Road (Vinyl)

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Best review for Future (from Live in London) [Vinyl]