Harvest Home: Music for All Seasons

1	Bound for Another Harvest Hone / Jay Ungar 4:06
2	The Farmer's Set / Jay Ungar 7:29
3	Prairie Spring / Molly Mason 3:42
4	Haymaker's Hoedown / Jay Ungar 2:45
5	Solstice Hymn / Jay Ungar 2:54
6	Thanksgiving Waltz / Jay Ungar 3:46
7	La Chanson de Mardi Gras / Molly Mason 3:50
8	Bonaparte's Retreat/Hoedown / Jay Ungar 5:10
9	Ashokan Farewell / Jay Ungar 5:08
10	The Harvest Home Suite: Overture (Fertility Theme, Harvest Home) / Jay Ungar 4:11
11	The Harvest Home Suite: Autumn (Thanksgiving Hymn) / Jay Ungar 3:13
12	The Harvest Home Suite: Winter (The Solstice, Mardi Gras) / Jay Ungar 4:18
13	The Harvest Home Suite: Spring (Prairie Song) / Jay Ungar 4:16
14	The Harvest Home Suite: Summer (Wind That Shakes the Barley, the Barn ...) / Jay Ungar 4:48

Barnes & Noble

"Headed for Another Harvest Home" sets the tone for Jay Ungar and Molly Mason's celebration of the waning of the year. Investigating harvest traditions, they visit a rollicking Cajun party in "Le Chanson de Mardi Gras," offer a stately "Thanksgiving Waltz," and make a lively medley of source and subject by combining Aaron Copland's "Hoedown" with the fiddle tune that inspired it, "Bonaparte's Retreat." The duo also includes their signature tune, "Ashokan Farewell," made famous from the soundtrack to Ken Burns's "Civil War" series. Another dynamic medley, "The Farmer's Set," contrasts intriguingly with the more sober "Solstice Hymn." The five-movement "Harvest Home Suite," which features Mason's guitar and Ungar's fiddle exploring traditional and original melodies reflecting the four seasons, draws this seasonal journey to a reflective close. Kerry Dexter

All Music Guide

Times of great and intense joy and love, and also times of horrible anguish and tears, are portrayed and echoed in this musical score and the playing, particularly of Jay's fiddle, and also with Molly's singing. It is a tremendously moving piece at both a very primitive and a very cerebral level, effectively fusing the folk tradition with orchestral music. It is a celebration of a simpler and more natural time involving communities that were in touch with the cycles of nature and with each other. The musicianship on this disc is absolutely stellar, whether it is the smaller groupings of the folk musicians or the Nashville Chamber Orchestra conducted by Paul Gambrill. There are many shifts and changes in the music, and nary a step is missed in whichever format is used. The hauntingly beautiful waltz "Prairie Spring" closely mimics the coming of spring to the open Western prairies in its changes. There are too many special moments here to single a few out however I am going to mention "La Chason De Mardi Gras (Song of Fat Tuesday)," a traditional song from Cajun country in southwestern Louisiana. Here Jay and Molly use musicians from the stellar Cajun group Balfa Toujours to fullest advantage. Thanks to Angel Records for putting out this strongly recommended release. Jay and Molly, Jacquelyn Schwab, and Paul Horn are among the few who consistently put out music played straight from the heart. Bob Gottlieb