Best Of The Batch: Laurel Zucker & Mark Shapiro
Classical

By MuzikMan (more articles from this author) 2006-11-07

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Artist: Laurel Zucker & Mark Shapiro
Title: Madrigal for Flute and Piano
Genre: Classical
Label: Cantilena Records
Website: www.laurelzucker.com
CDBaby:

Laurel Zucker and Mark Shapiro continue their longstanding musical alliance with yet another superb release titled Madrigal for Flute and Piano. This is their seventh release on Cantilena Records. The duo is creating quite a legacy of classical renderings and this particular release is one the stands out amongst the many I have enjoyed over the years.

Ms. Zucker and Mr. Shapiro are in exceptional form performing music from various composers from the 18th and 19th century. Reineke, Gaubert, Hue, Boehm, and Doppler are the honored composers on this outing.

The term 'madrigal' has two distinct, unconnected meanings: a poetic and musical form of 14th-century Italy, and a 16th- or 17th-century setting of secular verse. This is ongoing education for me personally, both listening and understanding the meaning of the titles. I find it all very fascinating and can see how this beautiful music has lasted through the ages. Classical music is where it all starts and ends and everything we hear that is from a different genre stems from it. There was a day that I would have said that statement was rubbish but now I know much better.

The nine tracks take you through a story from a place far away in time with the ebb and tide of a musical ocean that seems to flow right over you while listening. This music is exciting, sad, tragic, and full of the many colors of the soul. Without uttering a word this music is so powerful, alone that it does need a single word to express itself. The flute is a beautiful instrument and if used properly it can bring out many different atmospheres, particularly when it combines with another instrument like a piano. The give and take that this dynamic duo formulates in each composition is an ongoing dialogue with their instruments that holds strong and true from the beginning to the end of this recording.

Madrigal for Flute and Piano is music that resonates through the universe and will continue to do so thanks to the fine artists performing, Laurel Zucker and Mark Shapiro. Thank you both for another classic that I intend to enjoy for many years to come.

1. Carl Reineke- Movement 1
2. Carl Reineke -Movement 2
3. Carl Reineke - Movement 3
4. Carl Reineke- Movement 4
5. Philippe Gaubert- Divertissement
6. Francois Doppler- Fantaisie Pastorale Hongroise, Opus 26
7. George Hue- Fantasie
8. Philippe Gaubert - Madrigal
9. T. Boehm - Nel Cor Piu Variations

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