An exaggerated but rooted-in-truth declaration: If you’re over 30, you’ve heard Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” at least 35,867 times – but not like this. Returning from a year-long break, Steve Markoff and Patricia Lazzara, the “Flutists Supreme” – a made-up title that acknowledges their real and collective awards and accolades – return with a calming, mythical, and transportive cover of Led Zeppelin’s romantic epic. Ready to revisit Led Zeppelin’s slow-burning masterwork that ends in a cathartic rock classic? Let’s listen, and talk about it.
Wait. Who does what?
Steve Markoff – Alto Flute
Patricia Lazzara – Flute
Dave Malyszko – Piano
Listening, and talking about it.
They present “Stairway to Heaven” with honorable melodic precision. This isn’t a drastic reinterpretation featuring new or expanded sections, or vastly complicated solos to prove their artistic merit. The song, the melody, is king here, and Steve and Patricia abide by its already-proven brilliance.
“Stairway to Heaven” starts with its classical leanings, painting a mythical, peaceful world that quietly mourns those who perhaps perished to retain said peace.
Dave Malyszko’s piano ably reproduces the underpinning guitar, and Steve and Patrica capture those dramatic and rippling Robert Plant vocals with flutes emanating from some magical, initially inviting, but perhaps nocturnally deadly forest. And they do this with gorgeous harmonizing and sustained notes that quiver as a gentle wind, as a bending flower, as a burgeoning line of centuries-old trees.
The energy increase around 3:52 is appreciated, as the original song demands it – a single flute still expresses Plant’s vocal notes, but the second flurries and flaps above it. Change, conflict, and tenacious strength through turmoil are ably captured here.
The flutes layer and break, the tension builds, the sections of Page’s cathartic guitar soloing are granted incredible emotional gravitas……
….and when it ends, it returns to its softer origins – it’s back to the lakeside, petting your mighty steed, and singing of kingdoms both wise and war-torn. You are home, you are safe – but you are not the same.
But is it good?
Folks, this is masterful. The flutes capture Led Zeppelin’s fantastical, Lord of the Rings-rubbing epic with sounds that naturally flow from such a deeply conceived fantasy-scape. They sound as the forest, as the running water, as the traveling musicians sharing tales through riveting song. If you’re looking for an incredibly accurate interpretation that not only respects the original but absolutely exalts it, you will LOVE Steve Markoff & Patricia Lazzara’s “Stairway to Heaven.” RECOMMENDED.
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