Drawn from Life

On this CD:

1. Solfeggietti
Composed by Allen Anderson
Performed by Aleck Karis

2. String quartet
Composed by Allen Anderson
Performed by Judith Eissenberg, Lydian String Quartet, Mary Ruth Ray, Rhonda Rider
Conducted by Daniel Stepner

3. Life Drawn
Composed by Allen Anderson
Performed by Aleck Karis

Tracks:

From This Moment
Persis
Like Pictures Part #1
Like Pictures Part #2
Night Traffic
Rising Dust
Intenser
More dust
Bloom
Two Voices
Bloom

Amazon.com

Picking up where such seminal Eno recordings as Music for Airports and Another Green World left off, the inveterate innovator-producer's first recording in four years is a surreal tableau of loping beats and eerie sounds enveloped in dark yet serene atmospherics. With German percussionist Schwalm contributing softly swinging drumming, Eno is free to dabble in sounds ranging from Middle Eastern string quartets to crying machines and Vocoders to happy, babbling babies. One of Life's many highlights is Laurie Anderson's cameo on "Like Pictures Part #2," as she enunciates her words above the song's spooky, soothing ambiance. "Bloom" contrasts happy baby chatter against distorted heartbeats and sinister samples; "Night Traffic" paints an empty urban center at dusk with shifting shapes and '70s jazz percussion and piano. Throughout Drawn from Life, Eno and Schwalm cast a spell of spectral dislocation and foreboding. It's like what dying prostrate in the snow must be like--slow, sleepy, beautiful, and chilling. --Ken Micallef

Album Description

'Drawn from Life' sees Brian Eno collaborating with German DJ J. Peter Schwalm. This collaboration produced soundscapes of jazzy, shuffling rhythms and strings that sway from cutting to sighing lay the foundation of most of the tracks. Laurie Anderson lends her voice, on 'Like Pictures Part #2,' This Astralwerks release has 10 tracks.

Customer Reviews:

Eno and Schwalm a match in ambient history .......2006-10-08

This has become my second favorite Brian Eno album. If you are a fan of his music you will surely appreciate this recording. Laurie Anderson appears on two of the tracks as well.It is a more moving and rhythmical expression than some of Eno's dry ambience work, but it seems to take you on a sound journey of deeply emotional nightime movements. Along with J. Schwalm's composing genius the two really have a winner here. I suggest this album for any eno fan that likes his later work.

dissappoint.......2003-03-14

I had big expectations from Eno's new album. I love Ambient2, ThePearl, Apollo, ShutovAssembly.
The DrawnFromLife is getting me nervous! I think the babyscream in a song is a very bad idea. + The long silence after the last songs.
In sum up this album for me sounds like a bad MassiveAttack album.

Top-class electronica.......2003-02-24

What a great project! Definitely one of the better ambient electronica releases of recent times. As professional and classy as you would expect from a Brian Eno project, but Drawn from Life is also clearly the work of two men who complement each other per fectly. SchwalmâÂ€Â™s inventive beats and percussive figures forming a perfect bed of sound for EnoâÂ€Â™s rich sonic tapestry. This is ambient with a beat âÂ€" think a high-gloss Arovane or Dntel âÂ€" and a superb music to snuggle up to on a Sunday night. But as opposed to Music for Airports, for example, this works best with active listening, preferably in the dark to soak up the brooding, nocturnal, lush atmospheres. DonâÂ€Â™t expect miracles: this needs at least one or two listenings to kick in. The rest, as they say, is plain sailing. Why only 4 stars? I don't like the vocally bits. I find them unwelcome, unecessary accessory (cheese alert) to this kind of music, regardless of whether its Laurie Anderson, Terrence Mckenna or Martin Luther King doing it.
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Lie Back, and Enjoy !.......2002-08-04

I always greet a new Eno album with caution...... he truley is a box of tricks, and for that I am grateful. This collaboration with J. Peter Schwalm however is quite wonderful.
I recall listening to this for the first time, and a second,and a third...continuously... I enjoyed it that much.
For me the lush strings which seldom stray in tone nor melody, is a typical Eno trade-mark.... and one that I love about his work the most. The added precussion makes for a slight twist from what I would have expected to hear on such compostions, but they do sit well, and do pull this album out of almost becoming another ambient collection.
The added bonus of having Laurie Anderson on, "Like Pictures part #2", just adds to my enthusiasm for this album.
It is hard to pick out any stand out tracks, as this album really works as one piece from start to finish.
Lie Back, and Enjoy !

(With)drawn from life.. cold, numb, yet organic........2002-06-22

I say 'cold' because that's the impression I get from Eno's work throughout this masterful recording; it starts with the chilly haze of "From This Moment" and though numerous sounds and tones are used, the overall impression doesn't fade. I have to say that an equal collaboration was the best idea for this album. Brian's work alone here would have ended up as Ambient 5: Frozen in Ice. Schwalm's light fleeting percussion, however, lends a wealth of shapes and textures to the music, giving it an organic edge and a pulse.

While this album is still quiet enough to serve as background wallpaper for reading or working, it's just busy enough to keep your attention if you sit down with a good pair of headphones. It's like a dream of floating in an endless white cloud while various images and sounds come into focus, clear for a moment, then vanish. City streets, Laurie Anderson talking about pictures, kitchen dishes clinking, swirling snow, and the occasional lapse of silence. Eno and Schwalm use no real melodies and only random fragmented words, but nevertheless draw the listener into their own web as convincingly as any fine lyricist I could name.

Tracks:

From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79: The Lament for the Dead Child - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Dorliak/Alexander Maslennikov/Dmitri Shostakovich
From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79: The Thoughtful Mother and Aunt - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Dorliak/Alexander Maslennikov/Dmitri Shostakovich
From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79: Lullaby - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Dorliak/Alexander Maslennikov/Dmitri Shostakovich
From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79: Before a Long Parting - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Dorliak/Alexander Maslennikov/Dmitri Shostakovich
From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79: A Warning - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Dorliak/Alexander Maslennikov/Dmitri Shostakovich
From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79: The Abandoned Father - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Dorliak/Alexander Maslennikov/Dmitri Shostakovich
From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79: The Song of Misery - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Dorliak/Alexander Maslennikov/Dmitri Shostakovich
From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79: Winter - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Dorliak/Alexander Maslennikov/Dmitri Shostakovich
From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79: A Good Life - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Dorliak/Alexander Maslennikov/Dmitri Shostakovich
From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79: The Young Girl's Song - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Dorliak/Alexander Maslennikov/Dmitri Shostakovich
From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79: Happiness - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Dorliak/Alexander Maslennikov/Dmitri Shostakovich
Your Languid Southern Voice - Zara Dolukhanova/Berta Kozel
Everywhere-Above Forests and Fields - Zara Dolukhanova/Berta Kozel
I Remember the Day - Zara Dolukhanova/Berta Kozel
The Night Breathed Coolness - Zara Dolukhanova/Berta Kozel
Amidst the Worlds - Zara Dolukhanova/Berta Kozel
Russian Song - Zara Dolukhanova/Berta Kozel Z
Four Poems of Rabindranath Tagore: Arms Are Drawn to Arms - Zara Dolukhanova/Eduard Grach/Berta Kozel
Four Poems of Rabindranath Tagore: Don't Leave Without Saying Farewell - Zara Dolukhanova/Eduard Grach/Berta Kozel
Four Poems of Rabindranath Tagore: O My Friend, Here Is A Flower - Zara Dolukhanova/Eduard Grach/Berta Kozel
Four Poems of Rabindranath Tagore: Little Yellow Bird - Zara Dolukhanova/Eduard Grach/Berta Kozel
Six Joyful Songs: The Cheerful King - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Svetlanov
Six Joyful Songs: If Rivers and Lakes Would Flow Together - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Svetlanov
Six Joyful Songs: A Little Boat - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Svetlanov
Six Joyful Songs: Story of a Little Old Lady - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Svetlanov
Six Joyful Songs: Nail and Horseshoe - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Svetlanov
Six Joyful Songs: The Key of the Kingdom - Zara Dolukhanova/Nina Svetlanov

Customer Reviews:

Breathtaking music and artistry.......2007-03-16

Hearing these superb performances of this glorious music is a truly wonderful experience. The Shostakovich cycle from Jewish folk poetry is simply stunning and these grest artists (Dolukhanova particularly) bring out every nuance and emotional colour of these great songs. And having the great man himself at the piano is just the icing on this glorious Russian cake. This recordin shows you what singing and songs are all about.

Shostakovich Bare and Most Moving.......2000-06-12

Say what you want about the massive DS symphonies-they are no doubt a cry for help, reflecting great depair and destitution. But they are also hopelessly contrived creatures artistically vacillating on the lines between the emotional outcry and contextual contradiction. Just listen to the 7th, 8th and 9th symphonies back to back! More pladuits are heaped on the 15 string quartets for their even greater emotional appeal, and also their intimacy.

And intimacy is what I want to speak of here: From Jewish Folk Poetry contains a stunning need to communicate from the singers (Vishsnevskaya style), their voices are lacerating sharp- the mezzo Dolukhanova, sultry, the alto and tenor, heady and delightful. Yet this piece, and this particular release in particular conveys a shattering impact. The audio is suitably raw, transmitting much coldness and desolation.

The recording is definitive: Shostakovich heads the piano while the singers are from the priemere. Tracks 3 (Lullaby) and 8 (Winter) are simply breathtaking. Haitink's recording on Decca cannot match the white heat here.Buy it for the Shostakovich, and also becoime enchanted with the other 16 tracks, concert relays from Dulukhanova singing music of a much more romantic vein. Wonderful.

Allen Anderson: Drawn From Life/String Quartet/Solfeggietti
Average customer rating:
Allen Anderson: Drawn From Life/String Quartet/Solfeggietti

Manufacturer: Composers Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000005TY6
Release Date: 1996-10-15