[DSD][OF] David Krakauer, A Far Cry - Dreams And Prayers - 2014 (Contemporary Classical) [DSD128] [DSF]

Digital Converters: Merging Technologies Horus
Graphic Design: Jonas Design
Mastering: Jessie Lewis
Mastering Room: B&W 801 Series 3
Microphones: Danish Pro Audio, Schoeps, Neumann
Photography: Jesse Irons
Producer: Jesse Lewis
Project Manager: Megumi Stohs Lewis
Recording Engineer: Jesse lewis, Jesse brayman
Recording location: Sacred Heart Church, Fall River Massachusetts, october 21-23 2013
Recording Sampling Frequency: 128
Software: Pyramix

DAVID KRAKAUER
Internationally acclaimed clarinetist David Krakauer redefines the notion of a concert artist. One of the world’s leading exponents of Eastern European Jewish klezmer music, he is also a major voice in classical music. He has appeared with the Tokyo, Kronos, and Emerson quartets, plus as soloist with the Dresden, Seattle, and Detroit symphony orchestras, among others. With his band Ancestral Groove, he has redefined the klezmer genre with major appearances at Carnegie Hall and internationally. His discography contains some of the most important klezmer recordings of the past decade, notably The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind (Golijov/Kronos/Krakauer on Nonesuch). Consistently defying categorization, Krakauer has enjoyed artistic collaborations with Dawn Upshaw, Itzhak Perlman, John Zorn, Fred Wesley, Music from Marlboro, Abraham Inc, the Klezmatics, John Cage, Danny Elfman, and Socalled. His newest project, The Big Picture, explores the universal search for identity through reimaginations of familiar film themes brought together in a cinematic concert accompanied by original visuals. davidkrakauer.com
A FAR CRY
Megumi Stohs, one of the Criers and also the label manager, explains: “Crier Records was born from the desire to take A Far Cry’s concert programming to the next level. Having our own label provides the utmost flexibility to create and release our musical experience to the world in a way that is beautiful inside and out, and to find a unique expression for every project. We are thrilled now to share our whole process – from the spark of a Crier's idea, to the creation of a program, through the rehearsing, the concert, the recording process, and finally the completed realization of that initial spark: something you can hold in your hand and share with the world.”
A Far Cry – a tightly-knit “collective” of 17 musicians, self-conducted, based in Boston – was declared an “increasingly essential ensemble” by Jeremy Eichler of the Boston Globe in his review of the concert that formed the basis of the group’s new recording, Dreams & Prayers, the debut release on its new label, Crier Records (CR1401). Dreams & Prayers century-hops over a millennium of music, juxtaposing A Far Cry’s own arrangements of music by Hildegard von Bingen and Ludwig van Beethoven with recent works by Mehmet Ali Sanlikol (created for and premiered by A Far Cry) and Osvaldo Golijov (an arrangement receiving its first recording by A Far Cry). This premiere release on Crier Records consists entirely of premiere recordings. http://afarcry.org/

Dreams and Prayers, the album, explores music's role in religious mysticism as the ultimate passageway between the physical and the spiritual. In each of the four works on this album, drawing from three faith traditions and 1000 years of history, something very simple—a breath, a word, a turn, a single note is transformed into something transcendent, and even holy. As we've performed and toured this program over the past two years, I've begun each concert by inviting the audience to react in whatever fashion they wish, removing any obligation to applaud. If this music makes you want to sit in meditative silence, please do so. If it makes you want to leap and dance and yelp in fervent ecstasy, by all means, do so.
The most gratifying part of this journey for me has been that during our performances, people from all walks of life, faith traditions, and personal philosophies have expressed the deep resonance of this music for them, and indeed, have sat in transcendent silence and danced down the aisles of stuffy concert halls. My hope is that this album will also find resonance within you. May it stimulate your mind, feed your soul, and light your spirit ablaze.
A Personal Note: from Dreams and Prayers curator Miki-Sophia Cloud
Dreams and Prayers in Stereo and Binaural
We chose to record both a stereo and binaural version of Dreams and Prayers. The stereo version truly represents our vision for this album; a sound that vividly tells the story captured in the stunning acoustics of Sacred Heart Church. The binaural is an additional and remarkable perspective. It was recorded with simple pair of microphones in a binaural sphere, and is a palpably realistic recreation of the music. I hope you will all have the opportunity to enjoy both versions of this beautiful music.
~Jesse Lewis, producer and engineer of Dreams and Prayers