Elpmas

Description

.co.uk A beautiful miscellany of Moondogg compositions. The overall highlight has to be the glorious "Westward Ho", a depiction of the European migration to America. Written in canonic form, the piece combines sea-shanty vocals (complete with sound effects: creaking timbers, waves lapping against the hull) with a foreshadowing of the yet-to-be-born folk music of migrant America. The latter is provided by some ingenious writing for the viola dagamba, of all things, its tentative, pre-fiddle tones fitting perfectly into this highly evocative music. Other than that, there's a lot of Moondogg's favoured interlocking tuned percussion lines, some spookily passionate choral compositions, some poignant chamber music for a small mixed ensemble and some passionate Japanese recitation which retains its poetic impact even across the language barrier before flowing into an almost reverential musical composition. The disc closes with a long section based on harmonic overtones, long an area of fascination for the composer. Overall, because of this wonderful diversity of styles, this is perhaps the most "commercial" of Moondogg's available recordings--if one piece doesn't get you, another will--so newcomers to his music will enjoy starting here.--Roger Thomas