Julia
Powell
"Music Swims Back To Me" CD
Solponticello
Genres: classical, modern classical, experimental
Solponticello
195 Three Oaks Drive
Athens, GA 30607
Oct 21 - 27 2002 |
Music
Swims Back To Me is Julia Powell's most recent work and it
serves as a collaboration of sorts with poet Anne Sexton and
singer Ellen Ritchey. With the help of a small chamber
ensemble, Powell's compositions are rendered in a beautiful and
mysterious way.
The album starts with the title-track, which poses Sexton's
spoken poetry over a dark, cinematic layer of seeping strings and
subtle piano notes. The poetry itself is wonderfully unique, bizarrely
personifying music ("Music remembers better than me.")
"The Wonderful Musician" is definitely one of the album's
most memorable pieces, with traditional classical elements being
interspersed with more experimental concepts. When Ritchey's
amazing soprano starts up, the beauty of the piece truly shines
through, with the cheerful composition hinting at something dark and
forewarning. The track goes through a number of shifts in mood and
style, including an excellent climax halfway into it. Similar to
"Musician" is the reprise of the title-track, which hits the
most powerful forte of all, bellowing out "turn" over and
over to amazing effect, with the clenched strokes of the violin adding
even more tension to the mix - only to be suddenly plummeted into a
creepy ambiance by way of a dark, damp piano chord.
Another wonderful track is the last piece, Bach's "Let
Not Your Heart Be Troubled," in which she enlists the talents of
a church chorus. Its graceful melody tastefully closes off a powerful,
enchanting album.
If you are at all interested in modern classical music, this album
will certainly appeal to you. Both dark and beautiful, Powell's
compositions make for fantastic listening.
87%
Matt Shimmer [Vitals:
7 tracks; distributed by the
label;
released 2002] |