Music for the spirit and the soul

Chipman - My route was more straightforward I suppose (I do enjoy Cocteau Twins, as well as Gerard and DCD - I saw Gerard perform here in Seattle - unforgettable!). I was approached by a good friend to help him upgrade his current system (this seems to happen frequently in this hobby when folks hear what is possible). He and his wife are into Early Music and Sibil was one of the first CD's he brought over to listen to on my system knowing some of the music I enjoyed. We both sat there, dumbfounded, me at the sound of her voice for the first time, and my friend at how present it sounded on my system. He ended up going the way of tubes on further listening and comparisons. At the same time I knew Howard (Boa2), who I'd also lead down the path to hopeless addiction, had a bad case of upgradeidis (I think he still gets the sweats to this day) and was jonesing after some George Wright creations at the time. I hooked him up with my friend Michael who ended up buying Howard's Jolida 502B. He still has it and goes back and forth between that and a Unison Unico. He and his wife are delighted with the improvement in their system (went from some respectable 80's NAD SS gear). It was at that time I think I sent Howard a copy of Sibil. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Marco

Yes, Chipman, I blame Marco for sending me two of my desert island discs (Sibil-la and 'Le Pas du Chat Noir' by Anouar Brahem). As well, he was kind enough to offer methadone-laden talks in order to quell my audio addiction to the point where I may have finally settled into audio nirvana. Oh, but I did see a pair to interconnects I want to try....

And I used to live in Paris, Chipman, so stop teasing me with descriptions of Figueras-filled evenings that are only going to make me jealous!

All the best,
Howard

Ok Howard, no more Figueras stuff except just to say you are now down the slippery slope of acquiring the entire Alia Vox back catalogue and if you include his previous labels recodings Astree/Auvidis/Harmonia Mundi etc you are in trouble as he started recording in the 60's! You can forget about that pair of interconnects....

I too lived in Paris twice totalling 7 years - this is a great place for concerts ! Can I tell you about Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble I attended in the same church.... Try the disc "Officium" - an heavenly match of Sax and a quartet of male voices interpreting early music.

Chipman, The Hillard Ensemble has done some great work with both Arvo Part and Gavin Bryars. If you enjoy Bach, try the disc Morimur for a creative take on that composer.

Marco

Chipman,
I'll go in search of the "officium" disc right now. Thank you for the recommendation. I lived in Paris years ago, and my wife and I lived in Florence about three years ago. And when there are enough zeros again in the bank account, we will be living in Europe again, at least for most of the year.

Thanks to everyone for all of the recommendations. I'm printing out this page in order to keep a checklist of must-buy discs.
All the best,
Howard