Listen to Christmas With Chanticleer Tonight!

Tonight the Andrews University radio station (WAUS 90.7 fm) will be airing Christmas with Chanticleer tonight at 6pm Eastern. We think this is pretty cool, so we thought we would share!

Here is the link: http://www.waus.org and then click "Listen Live"

What Others are saying about Fireside Christmas with Chanticleer

Today we wanted to share some customer reviews of our DVD release Fireside Christmas with Chanticleer!

From Amazon:

Just what I was looking for!
December 6, 2009
By "music giver"
I first saw this on the Today Show...I thought, something different! I spent two shopping trips looking for it.

SLOW DOWN..savor the holidays and begin your celebrations....
December 8, 2009
By LD Maestra
Beautiful music? Never out of style. Music by Chanticleer? Like fine wine. It just keeps getting better.
This essential choral collection forces you to savor the beauty of the holidays. Put your feet up, pour yourself a glass of your favorite something and prepare yourself for pure beauty in sound. Chanticleer would never attach themselves to anything banal and this album is no exception. These are holiday chestnuts --- but not "chestnuts roasting on an open fire." There are many beautiful moments here to be savored. In a sea of overdone holiday tunes, here is one that is worth adding to any holiday collection. Satisfying. Soulful. Chanticleer.

Fireside Christmas with Chanticleer
December 10, 2009
By D. Turner
The perfect thing for the Spare the Air days... a crackling fire to look at and the superb voices of Chanticleer. Lifts the spirits and warms the toes!

From Chanticleer.org:

By Martha Verso
I bought this as a gift for my mom & she loves it! If anything, Chanticleer makes the whole "cheesy-burning-log-thing" fantastically not cheesy.

Fireside Christmas with Chanticleer

Can there be exceptional music on a Yule Log? ABSOLUTELY!

What’s more heartwarming than Christmas by the fireside with the ones you love? Perhaps a Fireside Christmas with the world renowned “orchestra of voices” known as Chanticleer!

It wouldn't be Christmas without Chanticleer, and this year you can enjoy it beside your own virtual fire.

This is not your average Christmas Yule Log. This Yule Log showcases one of the world's leading ensembles performing the pure sounds of music from long ago. Chanticleer's hauntingly beautiful singing captures the true essence and spirit of Christmas past. So forget all that canned Log music, go for the real thing and feel the warmth of your virtual fire throughout the radiant sounds of Grammy award winning Chanticleer.

Fireside with Chanticleer features hauntingly beautiful music from the best selling recording Our Heart's Joy.

Click to purchase

Christopher O'Riley Out of My Hands - All Music Guide Review

Check out this outstanding review of Out of My Hands by Christopher O'Riley from All Music Guide. The album even made the AMG Top Pick category!

Christopher O'Riley
Out of My Hands
Review by Uncle Dave Lewis

Nearly as far back as one can go with the canon of Western classical music -- the mid-14th century or so -- composers have been drawing upon the resources of popular music for inspiration. We don't recognize the tunes now in many cases, as we cannot listen with medieval or renaissance ears, but the pop hits of bygone centuries run through the masses and motets of that time, much as gypsy melodies and folk songs populate the symphonies and concertos of somewhat later times. The historic situation cuts both ways; in the nineteenth century, opera arias took pride of place alongside the parlor favorites, quadrilles, and sentimental heart songs that constituted musical life outside the opera house or concert pavilion. With the advent of rock & roll, its drum kit, bass, and electric guitars, and their requisite pedals -- essentially placing the capability of a mini-orchestra under the hands of three or four players -- the crosstalk with classical music heretofore hasn't been so natural or direct, though not for lack of trying; rock had barely been in the public consciousness three years before the first cross-pollinations with other music began to appear. Rock music, however, is so closely wedded to its performers and inherent sonic universe that to some ears, taking it into another dimension can only make it sound trite and second-tier.

Not so Christopher O'Riley's White Tie/Mesa Bluemoon release, Out of My Hands, which includes 12 first-rate classical piano transcriptions of songs taken from the repertoire of pop and rock artists such as Radiohead, Portishead, Pink Floyd, Elliott Smith, the Smiths, Nirvana, and others. It is a challenging, moving, and a wholly idiomatic experience from the standpoint of the piano; there are even some technical innovations, such as the antiphonal exchanges between extreme registers of the keyboard in O'Riley's transcription of Portishead's "The Rip." There are many moments here that fire up the imagination, energize and inspire, like the long, Bill Evans-like prelude that opens O'Riley's set of variations on Pink Floyd's "Us and Them," or the thundering power and discord of O'Riley's recasting of Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box." This isn't Arthur Fiedler & the Boston Pops doing tunes from Saturday Night Fever; O'Riley really goes for it, and his versions of these numbers "rock" even though he doesn't have a drummer or bass player to support him in this courageous and dazzling high-wire act without the benefit of a net. Moreover, Out of My Hands provides the same emotional depth and intellectual stimulation that one might come to expect from a first-class, standard classical piano recital as O'Riley's attitude about this "non-serious" music is as reverent as it would be for something of Liszt's or a Brahms' Intermezzo. Out of My Hands has every sign of being a landmark disc that will be referenced repeatedly within the context of its time, and in the future, so don't miss out. It is urgently recommended that anyone with ears get within earshot of Out of My Hands, as it resets the bar for the conversation twixt classical and popular music. The recording, made with a special microphone design that situates multiple mikes within the body of the instrument, is likewise spectacular, not to mention good and loud, not a property you often get with classical-anything.

Christopher O'Riley - New York Times review

Roll Over, Beethoven: Here’s Rock You’d Like

By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
Published: August 25, 2009

Classical music fans who enjoy attending concerts away from the major halls have had an increasing number of options in recent years, including Brooklyn bars and the Greenwich Village club Le Poisson Rouge. The Highline Ballroom has also begun to program classical performers, like the pianist Jeremy Denk (who plays there on Saturday). On Monday at the ballroom, the pianist Christopher O’Riley celebrated the release of “Out of My Hands,” his latest CD of virtuoso arrangements of music by bands and singer-songwriters...Click to read the full review

Chanticleer vs Jay Leno

Recently there has been some back-and-forth between Chanticleer and Jay Leno. Since it is all in good fun, we thought we would share the two videos with you. It will be interesting to see if Jay does any sort of rebuttal again...

Make sure you watch Leno first, then watch the Chanticleer response!

If you would like more information on the Fireside Christmas with Chanticleer DVD that they were promoting on the NBC Today Show, please click to visit the White Tie Records website!

Maestro Alex Gregory

In our final installment of introducing ourselves by introducing our artists, today we focus on "Maestro" Alex Gregory.

British composer, multi-instrumentalist virtuoso and inventor Alex Gregory was born into a family of sixth generation musicians and visual artists. Gregory graduated from the University of Milan as a Classical Composer and was titled “Maestro” by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II Government in 1983.

Impressed by electric guitarists like Ritchie Blackmore, Allan Holdsworth, Jan Akkerman and others, the young composer found himself to be far more of a Rock’n’Roller than he could have ever conceived during his many years of strict studies.

This strong Rock element in conjunction with Alex’s love for the ancient melodies of Britain, popularized by virtuoso mandolinists, and the knowledge gained at college of orchestral instruments and orchestration led to the invention of the 7 STRING STRATOCASTER (Gregory was issued with the only two patents ever issued on the 7 STRING ELECTRIC GUITAR!) and a Signature deal with Fender Musical Instruments.

The top A on the 7 String Stratocaster allowed Gregory to duplicate very complex violin parts, and, together with the further inventions of the “Heavy Metal Mandolin” and the “Piano Guitar”, in 1991 the young Maestro recorded for “PAGANINI’S LAST STAND” for Priority Records/CAPITOL.

“PAGANINI’S LAST STAND” was released in 1992 and quickly became a “must have” collectors item, so much so that by 1996 it had reached GOLD STATUS in Japan as a bootleg, leading to a publishing deal in that country with VIRGIN/EMI and the official release by FANDANGO RECORDS in 1997.

Seventeen years after the original release, “PAGANINI’S LAST STAND” remains an underground legend throughout the world.

The success of “Paginini’s Last Stand” confirmed to Alex that he was on the right track in his musical quest, and, under the endorsement of Gibson Guitars, Gregory spent the five years between 1992 and 1997 creating the instruments and the concept of the “XXI CENTURY ELECTRIC ORCHESTRA”.

Alex felt that the first step to the introduction of the “XXI CENTURY ELECTRIC ORCHESTRA” would be the popularization of its lead instrument, the 4 string “XXI CENTURY ELECTRIC MANDOLIN” (affectionately called the “HEAVY METAL MANDOLIN”).

Therefore a new record titled “24 JOKES FOR HEAVY METAL MANDOLIN” was started as early as 1994, but by 2001 only “12 JOKES” were completed and ready for release due to various distractions. One of such distractions was a stint in FOCUS 2000, the 1997 new venture of FOCUS founder, guitar legend JAN AKKERMAN, with the DIXIE DREGS as the rhythm section.

While the press was busy covering with major features the new concept of the “XXI CENTURY ELECTRIC ORCHESTRA” and its instruments, Gregory had already taken the same concept to the next level with the invention of the PENTASYSTEM®.

The PENTASYSTEM®, which is a radically NEW FAMILY of five string instruments all tuned in fifths and a NEW METHODOLOGY for their use, provides simple answers (based on scientifically and mathematically proven facts) to almost every single musical and engineering problem relating to TUNING, HARMONY and ORCHESTRATION.

Seeing the importance and the possibilities of the PENTASYSTEM®, which is dramatically different from the traditional six string guitar, several groundbreaking patents were acquired to protect its assets.

In 1998-99 the 7 STRING ELECTRIC GUITAR (because of bands like KORN, LIMP BISKIT, ORGY, etc.) was the hottest item on the market and companies like B.C. RICH, FENDER MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS and SCHECTER, were eager to secure licensing deals for Maestro Alex Gregory’s old invention as well as the first PENTASYSTEM® instrument to be released: the CELLOBLASTER®.

The CELLOBLASTER® debuted Nashville at the 1998 summer NAMM and was an immediate commercial success. In no time major players like Tommy Lee, Ryan Shuck of “Orgy”, Billy Corgan of the “Smashing Pumpkins”, DJ Lethal of “Limp Biskit”, etc. switched to what the press called the NEW 5 STRING GUITAR, but that was only the beginning of a TRUE REVOLUTION that would change forever the way you hear and view MUSIC.

In fact, a new record titled “ANOTHER MILLENNIUM?” featuring Maestro Alex Gregory’s 13 piece PENTA ORCHESTRA, was completed and released in 2001. Astonishingly, on “ANOTHER MILLENNIUM?” even the drums played melodies and in tune harmonies!

Never one to rest on his laurels, Alex quickly followed up this release in 2002 with “THE HOLY GRAIL OF 7 STRINGS”.

“THE HOLY GRAIL OF 7 STRINGS” features VIRGIL DONATI on drums, MATT BISSONETTE on bass guitar, JOHN LEVESQUE on vocals and ALBERT LEE on “chicken picking” jewels. The record shines with a unique cover of Deep Purple’s “BURN”, that demonstrates not only the ability of all the musicians, but also the versatility of Gregory’s inventions.

Throughout 2003 and 2004 Alex and the Pentasystem® were featured on prime time Los Angeles major TV News channels. But, even as this was happening, Alex was focused on his next goal, the recording of “BACH ON STEROIDS!”

In order to be able to dedicate himself completely to his recording career, in 2004 Maestro Alex Gregory sold all the Pentasystem® technology to Pen 5 Guitars LLC. Finally free of distractions, he could now undertake the monumental task of orchestrating and recording what many described as “an impossible dream”.

“BACH ON STEROIDS!” i.e.: “the impossible dream”, was completed in 2006. While re-writing all the books, from POP to ROCK, from CLASSICAL to PUNK, from JAZZ to COUNTRY, Alex succeeded where others had failed — to record the conclusive statement, contemporary and accurate, on 15 of the MOST POPULAR BACH PIECES, performed by the spectacular line up of some of the most respected musicians in the world.

Recognized for his years of dedication and numerous contributions to the industry, Gregory was presented in Hollywood with an LA MUSIC AWARD on November 9th, 2006 for career achievement in guitar innovation.


House Of Joy

Maestro Alex Gregory | MySpace Music Videos

Christopher O'Riley - Out of My Hands

Continuing our introduction, today we would like to highlight our recent release Out of My Hands by Christopher O'Riley.

Christopher O’Riley’s first recording of Radiohead transcriptions, True Love Waits (Sony/Odyssey), was as critically acclaimed as it was commercially successful, sitting at the top of Billboard’s Classical chart for months.

Rolling Stone gave the album four stars, calling the music “melodically vivid yet also noisily orchestral, revoicing Radiohead’s distortions, threats, loveliness and dismay … with unblinking virtuosity.” Hold Me to This: Christopher O’Riley Plays the Music of Radiohead, released on harmonia mundi’s World Village imprint, followed suit: “The songs are recognizable as Radiohead’s, but their materials are deconstructed, tweaked, expanded into new time frames, new structures, new expressive possibilities,” said The Chicago Tribune. Home to Oblivion; An Elliott Smith Tribute (World Village), tackled the deeply emotional and complex work from the troubled singer/songwriter who died prematurely in 2003 and similarly drew critical praise. O’Riley’s fourth set of transcriptions from the contemporary popular songbook was Second Grace – The Music Of Nick Drake, repertoire from the late enigmatic British guitar wizard and songwriter, taken from Drake’s formally unreleased home recordings as well as his official studio output.



One of the most important and versatile pianists performing today, Christopher O’Riley’s unique career encompasses performances of a broad repertoire, ranging from the music of the Renaissance and Baroque to premiering works by today’s leading composers such as Richard Danielpour and Aaron Jay Kernis, and to such non-classical genres as the tango. As a classical pianist, O’Riley has performed with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra and the symphonies of Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Baltimore with conductors including Marin Alsop, David Zinman, Leonard Slatkin, John Williams, Neeme Järvi, Bobby McFerrin and Hans Graf, among many others. His classical recordings, including works by Scriabin, Stravinsky, Busoni, Ravel, Beethoven and John Adams can be found on the Image, Nonesuch, and RCA labels. Recently, O’Riley made his conducting debut with the Columbus Symphony, also performing Ravel’s G Major Piano Concerto with the orchestra.

O’Riley has performed his acclaimed transcriptions at major venues around the world, from Istanbul to London and from Sicily to Sydney. Recent performances have incorporated live video art, in collaboration with award-winning artists Steven Byram (who also creates all O’Riley’s album artwork and illustrated his book of transcriptions, True Love Waits: Radiohead Reimagined For The Piano) and Jonathan Rosen. As host of the most popular classical music radio show on the air today, National Public Radio’s top-rated From The Top, Christopher O’Riley works and performs with the next generation of brilliant young musicians. In 2007, PBS launched the weekly television series From The Top from Carnegie Hall, featuring O’Riley as host. New episodes will be filmed in Spring 2010.

Chanticleer on the NBC Today Show

As part of our introduction, we want to introduce our Artists. So, what better way to introduce Chanticleer than to share their recent performances on the NBC Today Show!?!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Click to purchase Fireside Christmas with Chanticleer, available from White Tie Records.

An Introduction to White Tie Records

White Tie Records is an independent classical label with major label distribution. We offer our artists a custom approach to distribution to support their individual career development. Because we are an independent label, we are able to navigate the changing industry with agility.  Our goal is to serve as advocates for our artists within the distribution system. White Tie Records is an artist run company with one simple mission, to put the music first.      
 
About the owner: Lisa Nauful’s conservatory training led to a successful orchestral career, with performances at some of the world’s finest venues.  She has toured with orchestras both domestically and internationally and completed intensive study in Vienna, Austria.  Stepping away from a full-time orchestra position in 1989, Lisa entered the classical recording industry as the top wholesale Classical Buyer in the country.  She has held positions at four prominent record labels.  Lisa was Product Manager for Philips Classics, PR Manager for Telarc, Senior Director of Publicity for Atlantic Records (representing Nonesuch, Teldec Erato, Finlandia, Atlantic Jazz and Mesa Bluemoon) and most recently, the US Label Manager for Warner Classics.  Lisa holds a Master of Music degree in Performance and Orchestral Literature and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.  In addition to her label work she continues to perform and teach.