With
collector card:
Editing limited to 50 copies!
Digipack limited to 1000 copies, 14€
Style:
Neoclassical, Ethereal voices and 'Fairy music'
References: For people who likes Fantasy, Fairies, elves, role games...
February
2008 - 12 Tracks
Enter the crazy faerie universe of this virtuoso neoclassical band.
Surrealistic, yet beautiful, 'never heard before' music blending orchestral
and folk instruments with vintage analogue synthesizers.
3 years after their 'Elvenmusic III', the new ‘Caprice’ escapes
from the forest.
Discover now the 'craziest and surrealistic' neoclassical masterpiece
of these virtuosi musicians from Moscow Opera. Caprice music on the
'Elven trilogy' was about to translate sounds and music that Elves could
create. Kywitt is different and gives a human view (sometimes hallucinations...)
at the faerie world. The result is a ‘never heard before’
music, more surrealistic, more ‘Fantasy’ and also more intense.
The Genius Composer 'Anton Brejestovski' seems to play with the score
and instruments like he would play with toys. He adds a lot of new musicians
and instruments, like drums, electric guitar, electro, vintage analogue
synthesizers blended with classical and folk instruments (Cello, violin,
Oboe, clarinet, accordion, duduk, saz...).
Discover Caprice surrealistic world, 'Poppy' songs of dwarves, orcs
but also beautiful and intense Elven neoclassical melodies.
12 tracks: 1 Dundellion
Wine, 2 Monday, Tuesday, 3 Kywitt! Kywitt! 4 Adew, Sweet Amarillis,
5 Mary Morison 6 Philomel, With Melody 7 Christmas Lullaby 8 Blacksmith
9 The Dusk of Kimmeria,
10 More, 11 Peggy O + bonus : fae fae fae fae fae fae fae
Anton
Brejestovski's Influences for Kywitt!:
"Kywitt!
Kywitt! began when in November 2006 I was reading the Grimm brothers
tales translated by Zhukovsky. I saw this funny Kywitt! Kywitt! poem
- and
this is how the first song was born. Then in one of my books about elves,
faeries, magic arts etc., I read a story about a humpback hearing elves
singing "Monday Tuesday..." and then interrupting because
they couldn't
finish the song. The humpback sang "... and Wednesday" and
did it so well
that the grateful faeries removed his hump! This was the direction for
the
whole album - FAERIE tales! So I carried on, and this is the reason
why
nearly every second song has the word combination "Faerie Queen"
in it! "
Mirror,
the debut album by Caprice recorded in 1996 and now rereleased by prikosnovenie,
is the group’s most intimate and most diverse work. Anton Brejestovski
was 25 when he wrote this album, it's a younger album, more explosive
or contemporary . "Mirror" is the beginning of what will become
the "Elvenmusic" later but this album is wilder and spontaneous...
the adolescence of CAPRICE.
The mood which dominates Mirror submerges us of a sadness and bitterness
authentically slavic, but it is not a hopeless depression. Mirror will
interest people who like CAPRICE scores, 12 musicians played on this
album.
TRACKS:
1. Open 2.
Smoke Over City 3. Mirror 4.
Interlude
MP3 5. Forest 6. Anticipation of Nothing MP3 7. Pause 8. Werter's
Second Hell 9. Waltz
MP3 10. Last Morning 11. Deneb 12. Afterlife
MP3
Review
:
The debut
album of a Moscow band called Caprice, "Mirror", was first
released on MC only, on the expenses of the musicians themselves; only
lately they made the CD version with one bonus track ("I Want to
Wait"). Frankly speaking, the content of this album cannot be called
"elvenmusic", though there are some fragments of it featuring
small instrumentals like "Interlude" and "Waltz".
The musical material of this CD is much more spooky and hopeless than
the one of the next album, "Songs of Innocence and Experience",
and only short and rare embeddings of airy instrumentals make it a little
bit less depressive. In contrast to its descendant, whose lyrics belonged
to the pen of William Blake, all lyrics and music of "Mirror"
were written by Anton, and are in Russian. Right here I'd like to mention
that the Russian language still doesn't suit the music of the kind,
except some rare cases. And although the wonderful voice of Inna Brejestovskaya
dramatically conveys all feeling and emotions to the listener, the Russian
lyrics sounds clumsy and not to the point, although this could be excused
to the debut album. In general, this is a very worthy album: spooky
neoclassical arrangements, strong vocals, and evident mastery of the
eight musicians promise good impressions, and even some shortcomings
don't spoil the general atmosphere. Strongly recommended to all lovers
of serious spooky music. Gothic.ru
Elvenmusic
3
The
tales of the uninvited Digipack
limited edition
Style:
Neo-classical heavenly faeric
December 2005 -Prik098
- 12 Tracks
Caprice
is a Russian neoclassical band with a beautiful female voice. Their
new album is the third and last CD of their trilogy of 'Elvenmusic'
inspired by J.R.R Tolkien poetries. 'Tales of the Uninvited' is 12 tracks,
which are music of faeries, not humans. This is why the lyrics are not
in English, nor in any other human language - but in Laoris, the language
of faeries. Only 'Faeries Stole Bridget' is in English, because this
song reflects the World of Faerie from the human point of view.
Tracks
: 1. Enter Laoris 2. Minstrels of old 3. Yesterday You Danced With
Me 4. Black Flower 5. Two Faeries 6. Bog Dance 7. The Court of Faerie
8. The Forest 9. Summer Night 10. Faeries Stole Bridget 11. Exit Laoris
12. Maple
COLLECTOR
BOXES : 'Elvenmusic 3' is available
in a Collector box with a bonus track CD. The trilogy Cds of 'Elvenmusic'
is also available in a collector box with a bonus track CD. Click
here.
Elvenmusic
3 by Caprice composer, Anton Brejestovski :
"Looking
back at Elvenmusic 3, I discover to my surprise, that it is, actually,
faerie POP MUSIC! There are so many light songs, really melodic, really
energetic. "Fairies Stole Bridget" simply sticks in your head
like "King's Daughter" (from Sister Simplicity). It's a hit!
"The Court of Faerie" is very, very melodious. "Summer
Night" and "Yesterday" are joyful dance music bursting
with energy of dance. "Enter Laoris" and "Minstrels of
Old" have repetitive patterns which you want to listen to again
and again.
"Exit Laoris" is a quintessence of all Elvenmusic - there
are direct quotes from Elvenmusic 1, 2 and 3! "Maple" fills
me with tears every time I hear it, it is SO SAD, so desperate. And
"The Black Flower" is Caprice's biggest hit at all concerts.
I do believe that Caprice music comes as a REALLY CLOSE REFLECTION of
actual faerie music. It seems complex because faeries are more musically
gifted than people, and what is complex to us is absolutely ok with
them :)
I worked hard on the 'Laoris' language, which has been created for this
album, putting all my linguistic background into it. It has been very
hard work for Inna to sing these lyrics, but she finally made it wonderful
and so Elven-sounding.
So, all it all, 'Elvenmusic 3' is the best Caprice album so far and
the perfect completion of the TRILOGY. I hope you enjoy listening to
it just like we enjoyed recording it." A. B.
Review
:
TALES OF THE UNINVITED is the third chapter of their 'Elvenmusic', which
is inspired by J.R.R Tolkien poetries. This time eleven our of twelve
tracks have the lyrics written in Laoris, the language of the faeries.
This language has got its own grammar and visually it's like a drawing
of tree branches with leaves. This language has been invented by Caprice
and it represent the band's will to "getting deeper and deeper
into the world of faerie", as they declared into an interview with
French magazines Longueurs d’Ondes. The tracks are capable to create
a magic atmosphere that enchant. Musically the band astonish for their
skill into the writing of a complex score. Also the beautiful voice
of Inna help into the characterization of Caprice music and into the
creation of this fable world. The violins, the flutes, the clarinets,
the harp and all the intruments that are gently played create an atmosphere
that also make me think of the historical period of the Renaissance.
Caprice with TALES OF THE UNINVITED confirm their mastery into the creation
of faeries music! Review by: Maurizio
Pustianaz Rated: 5/5
Sister
simplicity
Digipack + bonus video
Genre:
Neo classical
May 2004 - 15 titles - Digipack
This is a different Caprice album - instead of the exquisite world of
faerie, this time Anton Brejestovski's music speaks through Britain's
best poets (Shelley, Byron, Wilde, Shakespeare, Wordsworth) about
human passions - love and beauty, death and hatred. The concept of Simplicity
is most breathtakingly revealed, and by so few instrumentalists, all
of them Russia's top-notch musicians. And Inna Brejestovskaya's voice
is more beautiful and passionate than ever.
Tracks : 1. Winter (Shelley) 2. I Saw You
Weep (Byron) 3. A Red, Red Rose (Burns) 4. The Dole of the King's Daughter
(Wilde) 5. The Faerie Chime (Maelwys) 6. To My Sister (Wordsworth) 7.
Once Kings (Anonymous, 6th century) 8. The Green Bowl (Lowell) 9. Green
Are the Rashes (Burns) 10. Juliet's Beauty (Shakespeare) 11. Autumn
(Shelley) 12. Twilight (Byron) 13. Nothing Will Die (Tennyson) 14. Summer
(Shelley) 15. bonus track The Dole of the King's Daughter (remix)
Caprice is a russian symphonic orchestra with
11 musicians passionated by the Tolkien's books. This album is a tale
full of elves, orcs, dwarfs, ents, hobbits and men.
This album is the second part of the Elvish trilogy. The title of the
album was chosen because it illustrates the last days of the Elves,
Men, Ents, Hobbits co-existing in Middle Earth, the days described in
J.R.R.Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Rhyme of Lore
is a short intro, like a distant voice from the past speaking of the
ancient knowledge of the Wise. Of Beren and Luthien is a ballad about
the love between Beren, a Man, and Luthien Tinuviel, an Elven maid,
who chose to become a mortal woman and pass away together with her beloved.
O Rowan Fair is Bregalad the Ent's lament about a tree's death. Elves
of Rivendell is a merry summer evening song from The Hobbit, an invitation
to Bilbo Baggins and his dwarf companions to stay and rest for a while
in Rivendell.A real tribute to Tolkien's poetry that will spell you
with its charming sounds even if you don't know anything about Tolkien.
Tracks: Rhyme of Lore / Of Beren
and Luthien / O Rowan Fair / Bath song / Elves of Rivendell/ shadow
bride/ galadriel song / Galadriel message to Aragorn/ Galadriel's message
to Legolas/ Athelas/ Elves rolling Barels/ Sam's song/ The tower of
Cirith Ungol/ Passion (Sam meets rodo)/ Elves beyond the sea/ The last
ship
"Even if you are one of the last people on Earth to claim unfamiliarity
with the words and worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, you may be drawn in by
the charm of Caprice's second volume of "Elvenmusic." The
songs here are all tales and portraits inspired by "The Lord of
the Rings" that play like fairytales read aloud, escaping from
mundanity and creating a place of fantasy that is both comforting and
uncanny. Inna Brejestovskaya's high, bright voice is joined by an orchestra
of strings, woodwinds, and brass instruments which invites visions of
a magical setting, sparkling leaves and elven maidens in the groves.
Even for listeners who do not know the roles of Galadriel,
Aragorn or Legolas, "Galadriel's Song" and her "Messages"
come alive with tender feeling. The brimming orchestral music and darker
presences ("Shadow Bride," "Athelas") keep Caprice's
confection from being oversweet, as fairies themselves are as tricky
as they are dainty, and Tolkien's world is populated by creatures from
all facets of the psyche." Gothic
Beauty USA
"Two years after the first element of Elven Music, the trilogy
of the neo-classical/heavenly band from Moscow, the second part is finally
released. Admittedly, the quality and the emotions of the first volume
explains our impatience: never was the poetry underlying the work of
the Master of Legends rendered so well. For those who are not familiar
with the idea lying behind Caprice's work, their aim is to put music
on poems and songs from the works of Tolkien (and not to tell the tale
of The Lord of the Rings). Once more, Prikoskovenie has done a wonderful
job. Even before the precious disc is put under the lens of the laser,
the superb digipack, designed by Sabine Adelaïde, catches the eye
and takes us to another realm: pure poetry, so different from the traditional
iconography usually inspired by the subject. Let us not forget the photographs
of Séverine Stiévenart. If, for one part, this second
volume quite logically fits into Elven Music, it is for the other part
different through a greater variety of themes and moods. This can be
explained by the fact that, whereas the first was mostly dedicated to
the elves with an atmosphere blending fantasy, richness and sweet sorrow,
this opus introduces other characters and themes which enrich the work
(from the amusing "Bath Song" to the tragic "Shadow Bride").
The music, which fitted much into "chamber music", has been
made denser, integrating more effects, percussions, voices and noises,
sometimes going up the road of symphony ("The Tower of Cirith Ungol").
The instrumental technique is, as usual, flawless, whereas the really
magical voice of Inna Brejestovskaya still manages to surprise us through
its purity and its beauty ("Galadriel's Song", "The Last
Ship"). The singing, which was sometimes too dominant in Elven
Music, merges now perfectly the instrumental play (the pair harp-voice
is particularly successful). The Evening of Iluvatar's Children, in
the end, is 52 minutes of joy, beauty and escape: too rare to miss."
PJH (translated by Jean-Luc Delghust(le fantastique.net, Khimaira
Songs
of innocence and experience
Style:
Neo-classical heavenly faeric References:Cheche lune, William Blake, JRR Tolkien
April 2002 - 7 Titles - 35'
Enter into the magic elfish world of Caprice! The marvellous russian
orchestra (violin, doublebass, oboe, piano, bassoon) lead by Inna sensitive
voice is inspired this time by William Blake's poetry. Caprice describe
a beautiful story full of heart and various feelings. Sometimes sad,
sometimes happy, the Caprice's heroes are representative of our emotional
lifes. A marvellous fairy tale!!!
TITLES:Introduction
/ The Echoing Green / Laughing song / The Fly / Long John Brown And
Little Mary Bell/ The little girl found / Night /
References:JRR
Tolkien,
June 2001 - 12 Titles - 50'
Heavenly voice from Russia with classical instruments (Harp, violin,
bassoon, oboe, cello, flute, clarinet...) are inviting us into fairy
worlds. The music is inspired by Tolkien's books. It's talking about
princess, dungeons, dragon, dwarves... For all fans of Cherche-Lune,
XVII VIE.
Tracks
:
The realm of faerie / Princess Mee / Song of the wind / Far over misty
mountains / The last dance / Lullaby / The Mewlips / Of Amroth and Nimrodel
/ The road goes over on and on / Merrymaking of the forest elves / Of
true thomas and Fairy Queen / Farewell
'For
Tolkien, a defining characteristic of the realm of Faerie is its arresting
strangeness, an alterity which for mortals is at once perilous and intensely
attractive.
Amid the massive proliferation of Tolkien-inspired music in our time,
one can point to many successful attempts to translate the hypnotic
magnetism of the secondary world. (Of recent vintage one might cite
the work of Arturo Stàlteri, Giuseppe Festa, and The Tolkien
Ensemble.) Few, however ˆ I would say none ˆ have managed to capture
_both_ the beauty _and_ the peril of Middle-earth in a single melody.
Indeed, for all their variety, musical interpretations of Tolkien‚s
legendarium tend rather to blunt strangeness into familiarity (at least
for me who must listen to more Tolkien music than most).
It is against this backdrop that I am excited to introduce Caprice,
a Russian neo-classical ensemble that is in the process of recording
a trilogy of CDs that set Tolkien‚s verse to music (the first two
of which are now available; the third is due for release late in 2004).
Caprice is the brainchild of keyboardist Anton Brejestovski, who has
convened an impressive cadre of professional musicians from the Russian
National Symphony, the Bolshoi Theatre and other prestigious quarters
to realize his vision of „Elvenmusic.‰ The descriptor is to
be taken literally, for Brejestovski‚s goal is to imagine what
Tolkien‚s poems might sound like if they were sung by Elves. It
is this deliberate attempt to approach these poems from a vantage point
_within_ Faerie that imbues the result with its uniquely „perilous‰
quality.
The music of Caprice drifts effortlessly across a landscape of moods
expressive of Tolkien‚s own versatility, ranging from the epic
tapestry of Amroth and Nimrodel to the light-hearted Bath Song and the
stately Athelas epigram. In a spirit of ecumenism, a number of poems
from the _Adventures of Tom Bombadil_ have been included, adding dimensions
of whimsy (Princess Mee), gothic horror (The Mewlips, Shadow Bride)
and unrequited longing (The Last Ship). All of the lyrics are rendered
by the ethereal voice of Inna Brejestovskaya, which saturates even the
least perilous of the poems with an element of indefinable otherness.
The Tolkien Ensemble sounds tame by comparison to the restless spirit
that moves Caprice.
No aficionado of Middle-earth should let pass an opportunity to hear
this strikingly different interpretation of Tolkien‚s poesy.'
Chris Seeman http://www.tolkien-music.com/
"The Russian Caprice has just released their 1st full length album
on Prikosnovénie. That's already a reference! The least I can
say is that it's a surprising and great voyage into folk-territories
built up with a bunch of acoustic instruments. It creates a certain
neo-classical and sometimes barroque feelings. At the same time it's
an artisitc production. The title reveals a part of their inspiration,
which concerns a fairy world. A female vocalist with a rather a-typical
voice sings it. Caprice stands for reverie, based on the poems of J.R.R.
Tolkien. Instruments like clarinet, bassoon, cello etc. surprise me
because of thier particular intonation. It sounds refreshing and rather
happy while the last track "Farewell" contains a certain melancholic
feeling.... probably because of the last song! If you would like to
join the magical unvierse of th "Elf", you have to put your finger on
this magisterial and authentic production. "
"Looking
back, I can see that my artistic tastes have been changing all the
time. Very few things - probably only the Beatles - have remained my
steady
favourites since my earliest teen years until now.
My first childhood idol was Jean Michel Jarre, who I fell in love with
at
the age of 12 and treasured all his records. AC/DC and (early) Metallica,
my
next loves, still fill me with their crude energy every time I listen
to
them.
As a teenager, I adored Yes and Pink Floyd. I still very much enjoy
listening to Yes (especially Tormato, Relayer and Going for the One),
but
Pink Floyd, apart from their early albums, before The Dark Side of the
Moon,
does not touch me any more. King Crimson (only their 1980-s albums),
Genesis, Duran Duran and Depeche Mode were also my favourites at the
time.
After this, a big "classical" period began. After the linguistic
university,
I went to a music college, and began to absorb classical music massively.
I
began with Schnittke and Prokofiev, moving on to Shostakovich, Mozart,
Bach,
Beethoven, Mussorgsky, Schubert, Brahms, Stravinsky, pausing briefly
at
Denisov, Webern, Brahms, Schumann, Ravel, Scriabin, and dozens of others.
Piotr Tchaikovsky must be mentioned specially; I can't say I love everything
he wrote, but the selected few works I adore.
Henry Purcell stands out as something salient for me, too. His melodies
and
instrumentation were probably among my strongest classical influences,
along
with Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky.
Ironically, the understanding of simple, positive music came very late:
only
around 2003 I took to ABBA, and later to ethnic music, especially Buena
Vista Social Club, Salif Keita and Cesaria Evora, and also some eccentric
characters, such as Sparks (geniuses!) or Max Raabe. The understanding
of
Russian pop music of the 70s - a truly great period - came also quite
late."
INTERVIEW:
" Elvenmusic " is your first album, could you
introduce your world to us ?
This
album is an attempt to show what the music written by Elves, not humans
sounds like. The parallel world of faerie, so intensely felt in many
western cultures, is often viewed as a place where music and dancing
are of a great importance. The music of this world has been described
in quite a few literary sources, and we tried to show what it may sound
like. I personally think "The Last Dance", "Merrymaking of the Forest
Elves" and "Farewell" are the closest to the real faerie music. However,
not all songs on the album are "pure music of the elves". Some tracks,
like "Mewlips" or "The Road Goes Ever On and On" are only music illustrations
to JRR Tolkien's poems.
The
number of musicians in your band is very impressive! where do they come
from ? Do they have any former or side projects ?
I would say that Caprice is their side project :-) They are all serious
academic musicians playing in orchestras and music theatres - Russian
National Symphony, Bolshoi Theatre, Alexandrov Folk Ensemble etc. Some
of them also perform in chamber ensembles. Caprice is their only non-academic
project, and they seem to like it - all in all, they are all young people,
and they enjoy informal and youthful atmosphere at our concerts, much
more relaxed compared to their academic music performances.
What
is the place given to the "Fairie world" in the Russian culture ?
Russian folklore has tales about supernatural forest creatures, like
wood-goblins or water-nymphs, but no elves are ever mentioned. The western
European lore, on the contrary, tells us a lot (and I personally think
it is the most fascinating part of it) of enchanting, beautiful, ever-young
creatures, who fill us with inexplicable delight and yearning when we
feel their presence.
Is
your country an inspiration to your music ?
No, not as far as Elvenmusic is concerned. Many people ask why being
Russian I write music which has no Russian roots in it. But my other
music - unrelated to elves and faeries - is maybe more "Russian"...
However, Russian music tradition is very important to me. I often think
and read about Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Stravinsky and
other great Russian composers, and their music and their personalities
really inspire me.
The
lyrics of the first track "The Realm of Faerie" are not in the booklet,
why ? which language is it ?
These words are, as far as I know, in one of the Elvish languages. They
were recorded by Ostlupusmmeon (not in the studio) and then sampled
and mixed with the music. We didn't put them into the booklet because
we don't know how to spell them, we never saw them written!
Your
lyrics are based on JRR Tolkien's work. Is your album simply inspired
from the masterpiece "The Lord of The Rings" ? or do you consider it
a real musical illustration of this book ?
Both. We were definitely inspired by Tolkien's book, but not all of
the music is the actual 'illustration' to the novel, more than half
of the album being faerie music. However, our second (not yet recorded)
elven-album is almost entirely dedicated to The Lord of the Rings, not
to its elves only, but to all the races mentioned by Tolkien (men, ents,
dwarves, hobbits). Some music from the second album will be the musical
illustration of the novel's episodes.
Your
music can be deeply melancholic as well as full of happiness, is it
your way of seeing Tolkien's world ?
All of my music is like this, not only Elvenmusic. I can't compose it
any other way... I think it's melancholic, and sometimes even scaring
and fearful because there is so much unhappiness, bitterness and imperfection
on Earth... On the other hand, a lot of people crave for more beautiful
and happier worlds, and the happiness in my music is the happiness of
anticipation of a better world to be found...
Who is the mysterious Ostlupsmmeon who lends her
voice on some of your tracks ?
We have an agreement with him - he inspired us and we managed to record
some of his voice, which we hope adds to the album's merits. But in
return we promised not to talk much about him. We can reveal that he
is not a human creature, and yet has a human form. We can also say,
that his name (with the stress on the "e") appeared in the 14th century
(or earlier), and has been borne not only by him.
In
the "Thanks" of your album, you mention the Russian Gothic Project,
what is it exactly ? can you tell us more about this project.
It is a very big internet resource carefully maintained and developed
by a team of enthusiasts promoting gothic subculture in Russia. It has
tons of information about gothic music, literature, films etc. This
project also released three CDs, a big compilation of Russian gothic
music, and mini-CDs of two Russian gothic bands, Lunophobia and Dvar.
RGP also regularly organizes various concerts of gothic music, goth-parties,
as well as participates in various international gothic events. All
its members, whom I know personally, are remarkable and unusual people.
As far as the "thank you" on our album, it was RGP who issued our track
Princess Mee on their compilation Edge of the Night. They also promoted
it, which resulted in our contract with Prikosnovenie.
How
did you meet Frederic & Sabine of Prikosnovenie ?
They contacted us in April 2000 after hearing our song on the Russian
Gothic Compilation, but we actually met them only in May 2001, when
we visited Clisson, a small medieval town where they live and work.
This
album is a part I, how many parts do you plan to ? Will the concept
be the same ?
The second part, as already mentioned, is dedicated to The Lord of the
Rings. Most likely, its name won't be Elvenmusic 2 - we are thinking
of another name, from which the nature of the album will be clearer.
Songs of Middle Earth seems a good title, but as far as we know at least
one album with this name already exists. There is also a third album,
its music being composed at the moment. It is entirely dedicated to
the parallel world of forest faeries (i.e. music like "Last Dance").
Thanks to Ostlupusmmeon, all lyrics will be only in Elvish, not in English.
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