» David Darling

Notes about the Grammy Awards

BT Fasmer — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:53:13 +0000

Some quick notes on the Grammy Awards now before we move on to new music; On the Domo Music homepage you can see Kitaro’s pictures from the awards ceremony. He didn’t win though – but it looks like he still had a good time. There is also a very noisy Grammy Pre Party video available. And, if you didn’t get to see the show – you can see it in its entirety on Grammy.com. The new age music part is from 59 minutes onwards – or you can listen to an audio version just by visiting David Darling’s homepage.

And, while we are talking about the Grammy Award, check out Peter Kater’s blog about how he felt about being nominated for the sixth time.

David Darling and New Age Music

BT Fasmer — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:36:38 +0000

We are all congratulating David Darling with yesterday’s Grammy award in new age music category! David Darling is hopefully happy with the award – but before the show he had a little ambivalent feeling about being placed in the new age music category. According to newspaper Hartford Courant:

David Darling is not entirely clear why it’s in the New Age category. “None of us really know how that came about,” says Darling. He thinks of himself more as a jazz or classical musician, though the New Age connection has been around for a while: Darling’s first professional gig came in the ’70s, playing with the Paul Winter Consort, which also received Grammy nods for allegedly new age albums.

And more:

“I don’t think of it as New Age music; I think of it as contemporary classical music or world-ethnic music, because there’s so much influence in my music that comes from all over the world,” Darling says. “I have nothing against what it stands for; in fact, I’m a great fan of the basic concepts in New Age. I’m not such a great fan of marshmallow music that gets put in New Age.”

Read the complete interview here.

Mmmm. Marshmallows…

New Age Music for Audiophiles

BT Fasmer — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:33:07 +0000

New age music recordings rarely get praise for being high fidelity. Audiophiles rather listen to classical or rock music, were all instruments are played and recorded live. But from time to time a hi-fi new age album is released (or re-released as a hi-fi edition). David Darling’s 8-String Religion is such an album. Prestigious web magazine Audiophile Audition gives it this description:

The cellist-composer’s [David Darling] general idea is to create a healing atmosphere to make the listener feel embrace by Mother Nature. The relaxed and centered quality of the music and its originality sets it apart from much New Age music, and with the highest-level sonics that F.I.M. has squeezed out of the original master, the album should provide a wonderful listening experience for most anyone.

To get this kind of praise from a magazine for audiophiles is just fantastic. But then this is a special recording. It was released back in 2001, and is my favorite album by David Darling. The original recording has now been remixed for high fidelity fans.

Read the whole review here.

You can sample the album at CDBaby (normal edition)