SCHEHERAZADE AND OTHER STORIES

Renaissance

Symphonic Prog

4.32 | 1407 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

The Scheherazade has always been a 5-star masterpiece to me, but I noticed that I had never written a review to give myself a chance to explain this rating in more detail.

I guess my method of rating is subtractive .. Unlike many people I do not add X points for each of the Y categories, but rather assign each album 100% and then subtract points to reflect its deficiencies. This way if an album lacks something that may be deemed "important", yet its overall quality doesn't seem to take a hit, there is no deduction of points.

Anyway, The Scheherazade And Other Stories is nothing less than an elegant contemporary opera, performed with excellent inspiration and skill. There are no direct references to or borrowings from the "classical' pieces on Scheherazade, but the album definitely makes subtle allusions to the Rimsky-Korsakkov's opera with a similar title.

In general, I prefer purely instrumental music, but Annie Haslam's singing is just out of this world. It adds a whole new dimension to the listening experience of the Scheherazade (on the top of the immaculate compositions and the musicianship of the band).

Five stars gladly

Argonaught | 5/5 | 2013-3-20

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