The Aphrodite Album portrays scenes from the life of the love Goddess Aphrodite.
The music represents her relationships with her family and lover, the satellites who orbit around her in the Ether (her spiritual home).
The artistes performing the work are Alicja Smietana and Sonja Schebeck, two violinists from Nigel Kennedy's 'Orchestra of Life'. Konrad Mika is the international celebrated oboist, Bob Jones, the pianist. Extrasoundsensemble made up the String Quartet on the eponymous Aphrodite piece (Trk 6).
TThe Album was recorded by engineer Darius Grela at Krakov Recording Studio, Poland.
Please click Here for the 'Aphrodite' story. Please note this is available with the CD but not with the digital download.
Alicja Smietana's father was a famous jazz guitarist and Alicja does him proud with her eminently successful career in the classical music field.
Miss Smietana (pictured right) is co-director of Nigel Kennedy's 'Orchestra of Life' and plays violin in the same Orchestra, as well as running ExtraSoundsEnsemble, a group of readily available world-class musicians.
Alicja was a lynch-pin in the production and performance of the 'Aphrodite' Album.
Here is a sample of the title track from the Album.
Here is a sample of track 9 from the Album, 'Aphrodite'.
The 'Objet de Vertu'Album is a work for Pianoforte with Orchestral interludes.
The music was performed and recorded at Abbey Road Studios by Lucia Brighenti who took her Masters in Pianoforte and Composition at the Royal Academy of Music.
Objets de Vertu are those small ornaments (of virtue) or trinkets such as a bird in a gilded cage, a silver cigarette box or an enamelled Russian vase where such objects are of a very high quality they may qualify as 'Objets d'Art'.
Here is a sample of track 3 from the Album.
Here is a sample of track 7 from the Album.
Euterpe, one of the nine muses is the Goddess of Music, Dance and Lyric poetry.
The Euterpe Album is a selection of pieces for Violin and Piano where the prowess and expressive capabilities of the Violin, especially playing solo are explored and re-instated. There is one post-modernist number (Scorpio) which stands out in its juxta-position to the other standard classical oriented compositions on the Album.
All items are composed by Bob. The pieces are performed by violinist Joanne Leask (RAM) accompanied on the piano by the Composer.
Here is a sample of track 5 from the Album.
Here is a sample of track 8 from the Album.
by Bob Jones and performed by Erno Kallai
by Bob Jones and performed by Erno Kallai