Another Take On "East Meets West"

An unusual disk, probably best treated as a one off rather than an ongoing project. Titled Dream Of The Orient, it is a joint effort by the forces of Concerto Koln directed by Werner Ehrhardt and the Turkish ensemble Sarband directed by Vladimir Ivanoff. The concept originally was that Concerto Koln would record an album of music with a Turkish ( or oriental ) feel of the kind that was fashionable in the years when the Austro-Hungarian empire was under direct threat from the Ottoman empire. Sarband were to add an authentic touch to proceedings by providing the percussive "janissary music" behind works by such as Mozart, Gluck, Kraus and Sussmayr ( the janissaries were a martial sect within the Ottoman empire and their music on the way into battle often unnerved the enemy ) As the project progressed, it was decided that Sarband should also contribute tracks of original Turkish music and finally, that Concerto Koln should also play on some of these tracks. The sleeve notes are honest about the difficulties faced by both sets of performers, particularly in terms of rhythm and spacing within the music. But much common ground and mutual respect was eventually fostered. The whole hangs together as a congruent programme and the quality of the disk is helped to no little extent by the superb recording in SACD which plays just as well on standard equipment.