The Great Michael Fremer gives “Ciaramella Dances” an 11 out of 10 for sound! …the recording sounds… closely miked, yet still wonderfully spacious and natural. Instruments are convincingly spread across the stage…. The music covers “grounds” from Spain, Italy and England…. These mostly mirth-filled tunes sound something like what you’d expect to hear at an outdoor June wedding held in a garden and you might expect the group to break into Pachelbel’s Canon in D, but thankfully they don’t…. (there’s also a new composition “The Fisher and Fox” by group co-director Adam Knight Gilbert). Side two begins with Alessandro Piccinini’s “Chiaccona in partite variate”, which has a chord progression familiar to any rocker or folkie. As much pleasure as the melodic compositions and spirited playing bring, an additional highlight is the superb, minimally miked recording (a single AKG C24 tubed “stereo” unit), produced to analog recording tape at USC’s Alfred Continue Reading →