Another beautiful Lang album
5
By thsdrumcap
David Lang’s “Death Speaks” is another beautiful work that is both intimate and epic. Lang takes text from Franz Schubert’s art songs, specifically anytime Death is speaking to the living. The music - a quartet made up of vocalist Shara Worden, guitarist Bryce Dessner, pianist (and fellow composer) Nico Muhly, and violinist Owen Pallett - is very clearly Lang’s voice, yet much of it new even for him. Although each individual movement in Lang’s work contains text from multiple art songs, he still manages to utilize his own version of text painting to create a story. The final track, “Depart,” is a beautiful meditation; also on the subject of death, it was commissioned for a French hospital morgue. Listen with headphones at the very least, with a full surround stereo at best, as the last piece especially utilizes spatial location of the cello and voices.
Wonderful new album!
5
By Dan Kozlowski
It seems David Lang has begun a new, introspective phase of his life. Beginning with 2007’s The Little Match Girl Passion, Lang has been exploring the fragile and transient aspects of life. This year’s release, Death Speaks, is an obvious continuation of that stream.
Soprano Shara Warden’s tremendous voice complements the goals of this album magnificently. On the first track, “You Will Return”, her fragile tone is suspended amid the music-box plucking of accompanying musicians Owen Pallett, Nico Muhly, and Bryce Dessner. The second track, “I Hear You”, is more aggressive in nature, while the rest of the album continues a low hum of reflection. The final track, “Depart”, is not part of the song cycle and features Maya Beyser’s multi-tracked cello with four wordless voices; it’s a captivating 18-minute meditation on the afterlife.
To put it plainly, this album is incredible. I haven’t been able to put it down since I got it, and neither will you. The quality of the recording is top-notch, and I’m not sure the playing could be any better. I will say that if you’re considering buying this as your first David Lang album, I may point you elsewhere: Little Match Girl Passion, This Was Written By Hand, or So Percussion’s self-titled album are probably more ‘mainstream’ Lang. Regardless, this is a wonderful album that isn’t just a good listen, it’s a point of reflection.
Breathtaking music, but why is this $9.99?
3
By Billybobpeter
This music is absolutely breathtaking. It's beautiful and awe-inspiring and ambient and a wonderful art form to experience. I will enjoy listening to this very much.
My beef is with iTunes. What gives you the right to overprice this album? Death Speaks is priced at $3.96 (a bargain for what would normally be $4.99 from iTunes), but in order to get the single "Album Only" track on the album, you have to pay nearly 3x the amount you could pay for the other five tracks! That is absolute bull, iTunes. I refuse to rate this above 3 stars unless the price is lowered to something more reasonable. Too bad, since this music is absolutely wonderful and deserves 5 stars.
Amazing
5
By SungSungE
Goodgood
death speaks my language
5
By mojangles
The ranks for death speaks form a complement drawn from contemporary classical/alt-classical/new music (Shara Worden, Nico Muhly) and indie rock (Owen Pallet, Bryce Dessner of The National) who meet and proceed promptly to blur the line between worlds. The work itself is new ground for Lang, the bulk of whose ouevre has been fairly firmly rooted in the classical world - if not necessarily in conception, certainly in execution.
The standout perfomer here is certainly Worden, who can turn a vocal line from atmospheric detachment to a kind of harrowing hypnoticism in a few short notes.
You cannot go wrong with David Lang
5
By MKG1028
First of all, I love this cover art. Lang's music is mysterious, genre-crossing and innovative. Drawing inspiration from Schubert's Death and the Maiden, Death Speaks is a haunting and fantastic work with incredible performers (Shara Worden, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner).
Amazing!
5
By MW848
Is there a cooler composer than David Lang? I think not. An interesting concept and EXCELLENT execution. Listen to this. Now.
Shattering
5
By clj1
From the soft and pealing opening notes, death speaks is another example of why David Lang is one of the most probing and originall composers working today. Don't hesitate to check out this incredibly moving album.
David David David LANG
5
By Collin J. Rae
BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL, only awesome beauty rolls out of Mr Lang. a MUST
Really good
5
By Yalta
Amazing
