GUNNAR MADSEN: Spinning World

Gunnar Madsen

Spinning World

© 1997 G-Spot Records (702987004223)

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Featured throughout the 2nd season of "Sex and the City." "Magnificent. This harkens back to a time when music was uplifting and spiritual. Piano, woodwinds and strings intertwine to create a rare album of beauty." LMNOP

notes

'Upon hearing this CD for the first time my 6-year old said "Wow, how does someone learn to make music this pretty! " I have followed Gunnar Madsen since his days with The Bobs, but I was not really sure if I would enjoy an album filled with nothing but waltzes. After my first listen I was hooked! This is really amazing.' Marc Z., Los Angeles

Featured throughout the 2nd season of HBO's "Sex and the City" and on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", Spinning World is melody upon counter-melody in played by a lush chamber ensemble. It's like Cirque du Soleil circa 1911. It's like Nino Rota in a romantic Fellini mood. Waltzes in surprisingly different styles and moods. Hauntingly beautiful.

Gunnar Madsen is an award-winning composer and singer. As the founder and creator of the nu-wave a capella super group The Bobs, Madsen fractured and re-constructed the rules for acapella music. His solo efforts have yielded three critically acclaimed albums in three genres in three years.

As a composer and songwriter/librettest, Madsen has received commissions from Lincoln Center, the Los Angeles Theater Center, the Minnesota Opera, Oberlin Dance Collective, ISO Dance Theater, National Public Radio and many others. He has written music for the feature films "Breaking the Rules " and "A Special Providence." He is a featured performer on the soundtrack of "At Play in the Fields of the Lord," in the National Geographic Special "Asteroids:Deadly Impact," and is featured as the emotionally charged voice of Sammy Davis, Jr. in the Emmy-award winning HBO film "The Rat Pack." Madsen's work is also on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution (video clips from the mind-bending collaboration between The Bobs and Iso). Madsen is the recipient of numerous music and theater awards, including a Grammy nomination (vocal arranging), Izzy nomination (outstanding achievement in Sound/Score), Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award (best original score) and the ASCAP special award for 7 consecutive years.

reviews

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  • Desperately Beautiful
    author: Volinka Reina

    Gunnar Madsen's music is so powerful that it evokes emotions I didn't know existed. The track Anna is desperately beautiful - music which explores the heart....

  • Magical music for our very special event!!
    author: Iris Gordon

    We just had a very traditional sweet 15 (Quinceanera) for our daughter. We used Anna for the Waltz. It was the perfect fairy tale music that we were looking for. I even heard some of the teenage boys commenting about how much they loved the music. I now listen to the entire cd while at work over and over again. My favorites are Anna and Far and Away.

  • author: Sara Jones

    I was completely blown away! This is something my mother and I both agree upon - she said this its what I call mellow music - very beautiful and romantic - GREAT JOB!

  • Absolutely charming!
    author: MJS, Pittsburgh, PA

    What a lovely surprise! I happened to stumble onto this CD and am thrilled with it. It is gentle music for happy moments.

  • Heartwrenchingly beautiful music-takes me to another world.
    author: Miss Angela

    This would be the second time I purchased this CD, with many years passing in between. Strong urges for this auditory nector soon became overwhelming, and I knew the time had come to own it once more. It was all the sweeter, like a love lost and then found again-the familiarity enveloping me as a cashmere shawl,scented with dreams that had lingered on. I become one of the ghosts waltzing the grand ballroom on the Haunted House ride at Disneyland. I am a lone gypsy woman dancing with dirty bare feet around a fire, my caravan having left before me. A truly wondrous and inspired work, the possibilities abound as to where any track will take you, if you but allow them to.

  • Fine wine for appeciative ears
    author: Mark Woytowich

    Soothing melodies that touch the soul on a subtle level. I never tire of this CD. We bought 10 of them to give as gifts--it is like presenting good friends with a medication/meditation sort of musical pill that will, indeed, alter their moods for the better. Gunnar Madsen's "Spinning World" is one of a kind, and all the more rare for being conceived and produced in this hectic modern age.

  • Lovely for listening, challenging for dancing
    author: Marion
  • Absolutely Breathtaking
    author: Christina Magnifico

    One of the most beautiful CD's I've ever listened to, I have it in my CD player right now on repeat! The songs on the CD are all moving in their own way and are an absolute joy to listen to.

  • Calming and original and fun
    author: Sara Tucker

    I just bought 3 more to give to my friends who need some beautiful music that is inspiring and relaxing. I love this CD!

  • Gunnar Madsen is a genius.
    author: Serena Beeks

    Musical genius Gunnar Madsen triumphs again with a supremely beautiful collection of hummable, danceable waltzes.

  • Excellent album, would recommend to others.
    author: Gretchen

    I was very impressed with this compilation. I originally came across "Anna" on Sex and the City and I can say that the remainder of the disc is great as well.

  • Beautiful to listen to!
    author: Linda Myers

    This CD was a pleasant surprise. I never knew there were so many variations on a waltz. Each song is a new take on this old musical form. It's wonderful to listen to!

  • Fantastic...!
    author: Lim Jingshun

    Every track on this album is spectacular. Its one of those rare CDs that you just can't get sick of, even after weeks of listening. Got to know about Gunnar Madsen from watching Sex And The City. Simply beautiful. However, i'd like to point out that the CD i have has a couple of problems when i play it on my player and even the CDROM i'm using - on track 01 (Anna), on locations 0:44, 1:04 and especially 2:13 there's an audible squeak. Particularly on 2:13, it was quite a loud blip. I checked out with Gunnar Madsen himself, he already knows about this glitch but not everyone has been getting that problem. I even ripped that track using Exact Audio Copy, problem persisted. But heck, its a beautiful album, i recommend it to everyone (except disco addicts... heh)! Just... Simply... Fantastic.

  • If music could be considered stunning, this would be the CD!
    author: Rosemarie

    The music begins with the cut from SATC that brought it to light, and continues with just beautiful cuts one after the other. Reminds me of a beautiful spring day, and being in love~ And of course Carrie and Big!!

  • inspiring, gorgeous melodies all on one disk
    author: Jennifer S.

    I was another who first heard of Gunnar Madsen because of his gorgeous song "Anna", featured in a Sex & the City episode, but after listening constantly to all the tracks from this disk on Gunnar's website, I knew I needed to have this CD in my collection every day. It is gorgeous and inspiring, and I truly have not heard a disk this wonderful in a long long time.

  • great to dance to!
    author: Frances

    I gave a copy of this CD to my daughters' ballet teacher, and I hear her play it for the kids all the time! This is a CD that inspires more art.

  • A happy surprise
    author: Kara Thomas

    I, too, bought this cd simply for the song "Anna." I was surprised how quickly I fell in love with every track. I have loved waltzes since dancing to Lawrence Welk with my grandparents and now I can dance in 3/4 or 6/8 in any mood! The melodies are haunting, endearing, energizing. I love the orchestrations. I'm so glad I found this cd!

  • A happy surprise
    author: Kara Thomas

    I, too, bought this cd simply for the song "Anna." I was surprised how quickly I fell in love with every track. I have loved waltzes since dancing to Lawrence Welk with my grandparents and now I can dance in 3/4 or 6/8 in any mood! The melodies are haunting, endearing, energizing. I love the orchestrations. I'm so glad I found this cd!

  • Bought it for "Anna", keeping it for everything else!
    author: Paula Engle

    This is an AMAZING CD! I bought it for the song Anna which is featured on a Sex and The City episode. When I listened to the rest of the CD, I couldn't believe what I heard. It's wonderful, soothing and hypnotizing! Everyone in my office LOVES it and let me play it loud so that everyone can hear. Where has Gunnar Madsen been all this time? Have I been under a rock all my life? Thanks again! It's a fantastic CD!!

  • This, among the 500+ recordings I own, is by far my all-time favorite.
    author: Chelle Fulk

    "Spinning World, 13 Ways of Looking at a Waltz", is a beautiful, delightfully captivating journey through the waltz. The thirteen distinctly separate pieces, all composed by Gunnar Madsen, illustrate that the waltz can be much more than Strauss. Each transitions seamlessly into the next, creating a cohesive whole from its very different components. Its simple yet rich orchestration contributes to a feeling of being led into unexpected places as the journey progresses. Every time I listen to "Spinning World" I hear something new. Every track is delicious, and even the liner notes are great fun! This, among the 500+ recordings I own, is by far my all-time favorite.

  • This, among the 500+ recordings I own, is by far my all-time favorite.
    author: Chelle Fulk

    "Spinning World, 13 Ways of Looking at a Waltz", is a beautiful, delightfully captivating journey through the waltz. The thirteen distinctly separate pieces, all composed by Gunnar Madsen, illustrate that the waltz can be much more than Strauss. Each transitions seamlessly into the next, creating a cohesive whole from its very different components. Its simple yet rich orchestration contributes to a feeling of being led into unexpected places as the journey progresses. Every time I listen to "Spinning World" I hear something new. Every track is delicious, and even the liner notes are great fun! This, among the 500+ recordings I own, is by far my all-time favorite.

  • an amazingly gorgeous collection
    author: Paul Kienitz

    This is, to put it simply, one of the most beautiful records I have ever listened to. Genuine beauty is a pretty rare quality in modern music, and this has it by the barrel. It is also complex and original enough to be highly engrossing, though "old fashioned" in tone. The different waltzes are so evocative and so varied that you could practically score a whole film with them. This album stands outside of almost every recognized category of style or taste... and rather than making it an obscure niche work, instead this makes it universal. Just about anyone will find something to like about it.

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