sonofile - disc script

disc script Kronos Quartet: Peteris Vasks, String Quartet No. 4 03/23/05

{unpublished notes to the 2003 Nonesuch release}

No expression can ring true without incorporating its opposite -- to recognize the light, you must perceive the dark, and vice versa. The music of Latvian composer Peteris Vasks resonates with life's hopeful ideal as well as its often more tragic reality -- and, in this, his work not only has more immediate impact but more staying power than so many strictly black or white sounds. As the best music always does, Vasks' compositions reveal shades of gray, gradations of emotion bred from a resolute coalition of heart and mind.

Posted by bradley bambarger at 12:53:51 am

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disc script Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Cinemage" 03/23/05

{originally published as liner notes to the 1999 Sony Classical release}

"Cinemage": It's an intriguing syncretism and the ideal title for this album, a collection of pieces that Ryuichi Sakamoto composed mostly as aural accompaniment to visual events -- but that exist on their own as pure music, evocative and compelling without any external program. "The Last Emperor," "Little Buddha," "Wuthering Heights" and "Forbidden Colors" (from "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence") are some of Sakamoto's most renowned themes, each evidence that he is one of the more memorable melodists working today. And these compositions -- along with the epic "El Mar Mediterrani" (written for the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games) and the rarely heard "Replica" (which originated on Musical Encyclopedia, one of Sakamoto's genre-defying solo albums) -- are an ideal introduction to the art of a composer who revels in the polyglot Zeitgeist that marks the end of our century.

Posted by bradley bambarger at 12:32:50 am

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