David Lanz & Gary Stroutsos – Living Temples

David Lanz & Gary Stroutsos – Living Temples
MP3 @ 225 Kbps VBR | 50:43 min | 71.7 MB | 2008 | 10% Recovery Record

If you heard the desert sing, how would you describe its song? What melodies arise from the red rock, the river, and the open sky? What is the sound of a sacred place?

Alone at the piano, with filmmaker Jan Nickman’’s images flickering on the near by screen, composer and musician, David Lanz, began to slowly find answers to these questions. And then enter into the fold, world flutist and composer Gary Stroutsos, and engineer/producer Gary Lanz. Not content to create a soundtrack restrained in style, these three friends and brothers allowed the muse to have her way, wild and elusive at first, then flowing freely, and finally tamed and captured in the recording. Blending the classic sounds of piano, cello, and upright acoustic bass, with exotic native and world flutes, dreamy synth textures, hand percussion, and the majestic thundering sound of the Taos drums, the compositions were given room to breathe, unfold, and come to life. This is music that reflects the spacious beauty the American Southwest evokes. Beauty at once stark, rich, and surprisingly lush in texture. So what is the sound of a sacred place? Listen to the music of Living Temples and you may just hear the answer . . .

David Lanz & Gary Stroutsos – Spirit Romance

David Lanz & Gary Stroutsos – Spirit Romance
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 49:52 min | 123 MB | 2005 | 10% Recovery Record

This album from piano master David Lanz is something like the new age equivalent of a jam session. Lanz took to his piano and Gary Stroutsos to his flute and, in combination with a small handful of other new age musicians and engineers, spent a few weekends putting together a series of instrumental works. The music is composed to have a “Zen-like quality,” which is to say that there is no real motif in use and no thematic sense to speak of, but more of a generalized feeling that can be given mood or content proactively by the listener. In the realm of new age music, this one’s relatively nice. More emphasis is given to the general likableness of the sound than to the occasional spiritual or academic backings that can twist music to a more intellectual level without aesthetic purpose (à la interpretive dance). This one is a plausible addition to the collections of non-new age listeners, as a basic piece of background music on a quiet day.