Organic and abstract are the words that best describe the musical scope and substance of this album. It combines modern classical with experimental ambience and is the work of an Ireland-based duo Nathan Sherman (viola) and Alex Petcu (percussion).
The concept behind these five commissioned instrumental pieces is based on Carl Jung’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections, a study of the archetypes.
Sherman is a graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Royal Academy of Music and Escuela Superior de Música de Catalunya.
Petcu is of Romanian origin who teaches at Cork School of Music and regularly collaborates with leading Irish musicians.
In the opening track - Sophia x Bythos (9.34) - composer Nick Roth explores the theme of water inspired by its symbolic relationship with the unconscious mind. Roth says it was written for “amplified viola, aquarium and light” and consists of gurgling reveries with only the loosest sense of shape.
gravity dreams iv (14:06) by Ann Cleare is the longest and most abstract piece a kind of post-industrial maelstrom of textures replete with plucking, sawing and rattling sounds .
Laganton (12:34) by Benjamin Dwyer, is named after the leader of a small community from the west coast of Latangai (New Ireland). Laganton was one of the last practitioners of the ancient ritual of “shark calling” designed to lure the sea creatures to land as they were believed to possess ancestral spirits. The track begins with sweeping viola and bell-like percussion and closes with haunting sub-human cries which were recorded over 50 years ago.
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Within this context, Scheherazade (8:49) ,composed by Siobhán Cleary, is a relatively conventional piece. The lively melodies pay homage to Rimsky-Korsokov’s romantic composition of the same name.
Finally, Cauldron of Morning (7.27) is by Nathan Sherman himself and features keyboardist Garrett Sholdice. The heavy drones, distorted dissonance and swirling noise is apparently inspired by the intense poetry of Sylvia Plath.
Overall, the range of ground covered in 52 minutes is highly impressive and offers an immersive listening experience to get lost in.
Nathan Sherman’s website
Alex Petcu's website
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