A Beautiful Minimalist Masterpiece...
This album will consume you and take you far away. You must at least listen to the samples available, it won't take you long to feel the effects of this music. If you're new to the music of Michael Levy, this is a great place to start, as it contains a taste from his various albums. Highly recommended.
Extremely Talented Artist!
I was fortunate enough to come across Mr. Levy's music as I was conducting research o the music of Ancient Greece. I work for the Teaaching Company, a well-known U.S. production house that specializes in educational video and audio courses. Mr. Levy's rendition of "The First Delphic Hymn to Apollo" expodentially enhanced the academic content and production value of our course "The Great Tours:Greece and Turkey", giving our audience a realistic sense of the music and culture of the ancient world.
Mr Levy's music deserves to be heard and appreciated by all who have a sincere interest in understanding the evolution of music and the sounds of ancient times. Or anyone who simply appreciates good music!
Ancient and modern music for an old instrument...
Michael Levy has given us a musical treat. Of the 12 items on the album, 6 are reconstructions of what ancient Greek music played on the lyre might be like, and the other 6 are his original compositions for the instrument. General listeners might find the latter more accessible, as they are influenced by modern musical tastes, but if you have an interest in historical pieces the other six are well worth listening to. Mr. Levy, though not a formally trained musician, is passionate about the instrument and the music that went with it. His website, ancientlyre.com, has ample evidence of his scholarship. If you listen to the samples, you'll find that his mastery of the instrument is clear and his musical sensitivity and talent are also evident. In terms of his technique as well as sense of melody and rhythm, the pieces are intriguing. I hope you find them as enjoyable as I have.
Incredible...
This was my favorite performance from Michael Levy thus far. Not only is the performance immaculate, but the recording quality is pristine. I love the space that you feel while listenting to this album. I like the way he experimented with creating a fret by using the pick, just like you create a fret on the birimbau with a stone you create an infinite number of tones on a fixed tone instrument. My only complaint is it is a short album, and I wanted more.
Here is a treasure to find. Michael Levy recreates this music in five superb tracks. My favourite is the beautiful Extemporisation on an Ancient Harp of Kemet, which transports listeners to times long ago
This is good, whatever's next will be fantastic...
From afar I've watched Michael Levy, klezmer musician, struggle to master the ten-stringed Hebrew lyre (kinnor) and several other instruments evoking biblical antiquity - even a modern African descendent of an ancient Egyptian harp. Not long ago I discovered by far the best modern kinnor I've ever encountered and recommended it to Michael. And once he got one, all his hard work on instruments much harder to play paid off. The tone color of his lyre is splendid, bright and balanced, and his playing technique is at the top of his considerable game. This is also his most serious attempt yet to master the tuning of antiquity. The cyclical or "Pythagorean" tuning he used for most of the songs is ideal for plainchant and melody accompanied by drones, not for music that uses any kind of harmony, polyphony or even heterophony as he uses. One needs divisive tuning, what most people call "just" tuning (as on a mountain dulcimer), for that. And that's why I say "this is good, whatever's next will be fantastic". I tune my own lyre and my Celtic harp divisively, and I know that when Michael masters that part of his craft, the results will make people's hair stand on end for sheer "music of the spheres" beauty. I'm quite sure it will anyway and that other reviewers will say so.
Instructive and at the same time relaxing...
This is how I can best describe Levy's take on introducing the listener to some of the Ancient Greek Modes. Dorian, Hypolydian, Lydian, Hypophrygian, and Phrygian they are called, and I remember my music classes in college and I wished the instructor had had a practical musical talent comparable to that of Levy. Just like in his other works he invites us to a colourful musical landscape, made accessible by his puristic style: just the strings of his lyra instrument and a gentle reverb effect. Great work.
Excellent album! As close as you can get to the music of ancient Greece. Very beautiful & peaceful music.
Enjoy a taste of Ancient Greece...
This was one of the first albums I purchased from Michael Levy. This is beautiful and simple music. It makes m feel good immediately, and I hope you feel the same. Recommended...YES!
Another Wonderful Album of Lyre Music
Composed in various ancient Greek music modes, Mr. Levy performs another fantastic set of his own original lyre music, inspired by the music of antiquity. This is very relaxing music and beautiful to listen to. It's also nice to know that such an ancient art-form is still being practiced and is appreciated by people today. This type of music really needs much more public support.
My only complaint is that the album is a bit short, running at just under 19 minutes. Understand, though, that producing an album takes a lot of time and money, especially when it's an album that will knowingly not receive a huge amount of support. It's a labour of love.
I completely recommend this album and one can hope that Apollo concurs :)
Transport your imagination...
Let Michael Levy be your tour guide. Transport your imagination into the ancient past. Visit the temples of ancient Greece. The sea breeze tugs gently at your toga as the wind whistles through empty temple ruins. The sound of a replica lyre brings to life the history of a thousand years and you find yourself revisiting a past life. You are mute witness on the courts of the ancient past to what passed for everyday entertainment and inspirational sounds. Cherish this peek into a life with the ancients.
A first-rate reconstruction of ancient Greek Music
Mr. Levy, an amateur and self-taught lyrist, set about with the task of re-constructing and essentially re-creating the lyre music of ancient Greece, in a style that may be similar to what the ancients were to enjoy. The compositions on the album were composed in the Hypophrygian mode. In my opinion, he seems to have captured some of the essence of this almost forgotten art-form. The high-light of the album is the opening song, which is also the album's name-sake. It has a wonderfully soothing flow to it, which you can here in the mp3 sample provided by Amazon. This album also re-creates some of the ancient Hebrew kinnor compositions from the biblical era. My own personal interests are in the Greek kithara, but I can appreciate and enjoy his performance with the Hebrew lyre, as well as comment that it was artfully done.
This is an album for listeners that have more eclectic tastes, but it is definitely a wonderful addition to add to any music collection. Mr. Levy has done a wonderful service by helping to resurrect this ancient art-form, which has a-lot of history attached to it.
Enjoy!
The ancient past through the looking glass...
This album is probably the best means to artfully and authentically connect with those ancient civilizations like the artist seeks to connect us with. Michael Levy performs the Lyre, the musical instrument of Ancient Mesopotamia, in an honest and authentic way. Just a little reverb is added to the recording, other than that you can only hear an occasional breathing of the artist. It feels like sitting in one of their ancient temples; my mind begins wandering around and I begin to fantasize I am listening to sounds more than 4000 years old. Amazing!
Sound Healing For Reiki and Massage
This is different music of a higher frequency and I will make use of it as a sound healer and reiki/massage practitioner. Allows people to meditate and not fall asleep. Nice work Michael, you are also a sound healer!
I bought this album and I am very pleased with it. Thank you Michael Levy for sharing your talents with us. I am very blessed by this music and I feel it creates an atmosphere where I can draw near to God in holiness. The music is very special to me and I know that God has written the very chords of these melodies for the angels of God and man to enjoy. I recommend this album for anyone who wishes to create a peaceful and holy environment in the home but also to those who appreciate world music from the ancient Middle East
Beautiful Historic Music...
This Historic music was a beautiful addition to our history studies of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and India. It is very relaxing. We use it as back ground music wile painting.
Amazing, Wonderful, Beautiful!
Not only is this historically significant,the music is really soulful & moving. I consider this one of my best musical discoveries in 2010. Highly recommended!
Pure Music...
This is music in it`s purest form. The notes coming from the Lyre weave a complex net of relations, which you can perceive as sort of abstract geometric art in your mind. As there are no other instruments involved, each single tone is more significant by itself. Thus this flow of non disrupted tones can free your mind from useless things and make you see clearer. Wassily Kandinksy maybe would rejoice in listening to this music, as it is an example for what he wrote about "the spiritual in art". Also other names like Pythagoras and Kepler come to mind listening to the music. But besides all this, you can just listen to it and relax, letting your mind roam through a forest, a desert, space and time.
This album is a very interesting find, for it presents ancient and traditional melodies played with a lyre, so these notes will likely be not only quite new, but also a fascinating surprise. Some pieces sound very meditative, while others are more popular, but in every piece the exotic sound of the lyre will give you a new soundtrack to which to summon pictures of a world that was always just visualized, and never heard. It will surely have you listen to it many times.
Great Musical Historian
These melodies are like a time capsule. Thx. Michael levy, for continuing to carry on ancient lyre music. Nice improvs too!
It is a touching ceramonial piece. My daughter, who is studying Ancient Mesopotamia, adores it...
Like a Time Machine...
Michael Levy is a contemporary man with a psalmist's touch, and best of all, he's conversant with a historical instrument. There's no longer a need to imagine the soothing music young David might played in the courts of King Saul. It's here. Michael Levy's hard-won ability to channel musical history is uncanny and goes beyond the obvious scales and period melodies. His work is the kind of magic that happens when the right kind of musician immerses him of herself into a cultural or spiritual music.
This music has the power to heal the inner man and put your soul at rest. Music is the language of the soul and I can see that these peaceful harp melodies are inspired by the Holy Angels of God...I feel that King David himself is playing to me, just as he did when he played them to Saul.
"...when David would take the harp and play it with his hand, and Saul would be refreshed and be well and the evil would depart from him (I Samuel 16:23 NAU)
Amazing mysteries in this beautiful music. I recommend this album for anyone who desires more of god in their lives.
Michael Levy is truly an original -- although the music he plays is largley forgotten. He takes the oldest music in the world and plays them on the lyre -- the way it is meant to be played -- resuscitating the music back to life. There is something ancient, primal, & primordial to the music he creates.
Michael is real passionate musician, and his music is one of my greatest personal discoveries I found last year
Micheal Levy is a genius and his music , be careful, is a magic spell...