Shir Hashirim (album)

Last updated
Shir Hashirim
Shir Hashirim (album).jpg
Studio album by John Zorn
Released December 3, 2013
Recorded September 2010 at East Side Sound, NYC
Genre Avant-garde, vocal music
Length30:58
Label Tzadik TZ 8310
Producer John Zorn
John Zorn chronology
In Lambeth
(2013)
Shir Hashirim
(2013)
The Hermetic Organ Vol. 2
(2014)

Shir Hashirim is an album of vocal music by John Zorn, written in 2008, recorded in New York City in September 2010, and released on the Tzadik label in December 2013. [1] The album features compositions inspired by the Song of Songs and cover art by Auguste Rodin. [2]

Vocal music is a type of music performed by one or more singers, either with instrumental accompaniment, or without instrumental accompaniment, in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but does not feature it prominently is generally considered instrumental music as is music without singing. Music without any non-vocal instrumental accompaniment is referred to as a cappella.

John Zorn American composer, saxophonist and bandleader

John Zorn is an American composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist with hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, and producer across a variety of genres including jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and improvised music. He incorporates diverse styles in his compositions, which he identifies as avant-garde or experimental. Zorn was described by Down Beat as "one of our most important composers".

Tzadik Records American record label

Tzadik Records is a record label in New York City that specializes in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995. He is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases. Tzadik is a not-for-profit, cooperative record label.

Contents

Track listing

All compositions by John Zorn

  1. "Kiss Me" - 4:08
  2. "Rose of Sharon" - 3:11
  3. "At Night in My Bed" - 3:46
  4. "How Beautiful You Are" - 3:07
  5. "I Have Come Into My Garden" - 5:22
  6. "Where Has Your Lover Gone" - 3:45
  7. "Dance Again" - 3:36
  8. "O, If You Were Only My Brother" - 4:07

Personnel

The Sapphites:

Production

Related Research Articles

Masada (band) band

Masada is a musical group with rotating personnel led by American saxophonist and composer John Zorn since the early 1990s.

<i>Naked City</i> (album) premier album du groupe Naked City

Naked City is an album by John Zorn, originally released on Nonesuch Records in 1990. The band which would become known under the same name included Zorn on alto saxophone with Bill Frisell on guitar, Wayne Horvitz on keyboards, Fred Frith on bass and Joey Baron on drums, and was established in 1988 as a "compositional workshop" to test the limitations of a rock band format.

<i>Kristallnacht</i> (album) album by John Zorn

Kristallnacht is an album by John Zorn first released in 1993 on the Japanese Eva label and subsequently in 1995 on Zorn's own Tzadik Records label.

<i>Archery</i> (album) album

Archery is an album by John Zorn featuring his early "game piece" composition of the same name. The album was first released on Parachute Records in 1982 and later released on Tzadik Records with additional rehearsal takes as a part of The Parachute Years Box Set in 1997 and as a triple CD set in 2001.

<i>Pool</i> (album) album by John Zorn

Pool is an album by John Zorn featuring his early "game piece" composition of the same name which was first released on vinyl on Parachute Records in 1980 as a double album including the composition "Hockey". The album was released on CD on Tzadik Records with an additional bonus track featuring a test recording of Archery as part of The Parachute Years Box Set in 1997 and as a single CD in 2000. The album was the first released solely under Zorn's name following his collaboration with Eugene Chadbourne, School (1978).

<i>Filmworks XI: Secret Lives</i> album by John Zorn

Filmworks XI: Secret Lives features a score for film by John Zorn performed by the Masada String Trio with guest appearances from Vanessa Saft on vocals and Jamie Saft on piano. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2002 and contains music that Zorn wrote and recorded for Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII, a documentary on Jewish children hidden during the Second World War directed by Aviva Slesin. The documentary was originally to be titled Under the Wing and several sources still refer to the soundtrack under this name.

<i>Nani Nani</i> album by John Zorn

Nani Nani is an album of improvised music by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn and Yamataka Eye. A sequel album Naninani II was released in 2004.

<i>Malphas: Book of Angels Volume 3</i> album by Sylvie Courvoisier

Malphas: Book of Angels Volume 3 is an album by Sylvie Courvoisier and Mark Feldman performing compositions from John Zorn's second Masada book, "The Book of Angels".

<i>At the Gates of Paradise</i> album by John Zorn

At the Gates of Paradise is an album by John Zorn released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2011 and featuring music inspired by William Blake and the Gnostic texts from the Nag Hammadi library.

Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz is an American bassist and oud player who has recorded and performed extensively with Cyro Baptista's Banquet of the Spirits, Daniel Zamir's Satlah, Rashanim, and Pharaoh's Daughter, and John Zorn. Blumenkranz studied at the Manhattan School of Music, the Rimon School of Music in Israel, and holds a B.A. in Performance from Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 2012 he released the first album under his leadership Abraxas: Book of Angels Volume 19 featuring compositions by John Zorn.

<i>On the Torment of Saints, the Casting of Spells and the Evocation of Spirits</i> album by John Zorn

On the Torment of Saints, the Casting of Spells and the Evocation of Spirits is an album of contemporary classical music by John Zorn, written in 2012, recorded in New York City in March & July 2013, and released on the Tzadik label in November 2013. The album features compositions inspired by William Shakespeare, Halloween and Anthony the Great and the cover art features paintings by Salvador Dali, Goya and Michelangelo.

<i>In Lambeth</i> (album) album by John Zorn

In Lambeth is an album composed by John Zorn and performed by the Gnostic Trio, recorded in New York City in April 2013 and released on the Tzadik label in December 2013. The album is the third by the trio following The Gnostic Preludes (2012) and The Mysteries (2013). Its title quotes from William Blake's poem Jerusalem.

<i>The Hermetic Organ Vol. 2</i> live album by John Zorn

The Hermetic Organ Vol. 2 is an album by John Zorn, consisting of a live improvisation on the Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ of St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University, which was recorded on September 23, 2013 and released on Tzadik Records in January 2014. The performance was part of the Miller Theatre's Zorn @ 60 series. It follows Zorn's first volume of organ improvisations, The Hermetic Organ (2012).

<i>Psychomagia</i> album by John Zorn

Psychomagia is the second album by Abraxas, led by Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, performing compositions written by John Zorn, which was recorded in December 2013 and released on the Tzadik label.

<i>The Alchemist</i> (John Zorn album) album by John Zorn

The Alchemist is an album composed by John Zorn and featuring two new compositions, one for string quartet and another for female voices, recorded in New York City in 2013 and released on the Tzadik label in February 2014.

<i>Adramelech: Book of Angels Volume 22</i> album by Jon Madof

Adramelech: Book of Angels Volume 22 is the second album by guitarist Jon Madof's Zion80 which was released in 2014 on John Zorn's Tzadik Records as part of the Zorn's Book of Angels Series.

<i>Alastor: Book of Angels Volume 21</i> album by Eyvind Kang

Alastor: Book of Angels Volume 21 is an album by violinist and multi-instrumentalist Eyvind Kang which was released in 2014 on John Zorn's Tzadik Records as part of Zorn's Book of Angels Series.

<i>On Leaves of Grass</i> album by John Zorn

On Leaves of Grass is an album composed by John Zorn inspired by the works of Walt Whitman and performed by the Nova Quartet, John Medeski, Kenny Wollesen, Trevor Dunn, and Joey Baron, which was recorded in New York City in March 2014 and released on the Tzadik label. The album is the fourth by the quartet following 2011's Nova Express and At the Gates of Paradise and 2013's Dreamachines.

<i>Myth and Mythopoeia</i> album by John Zorn

Myth and Mythopoeia is an album of contemporary classical music composed by John Zorn and featuring a piece for string quartet and soprano, one for solo cello, one for a trio of piano, violin and cello, one for a duo of violin and cello and one for full ensemble, which was released on the Tzadik label in June 2014.

References

  1. Tzadik Catalog, accessed May 22, 2014
  2. Discogs album entry, accessed May 22, 2014