by Mike Telin
On her debut album Carve, bassoonist Dana Jessen challenges listeners to discard any preconceived notions they may have about the instrument, and allow themselves to be swept away into a magical world of colorful acoustic and electronic soundscapes. Released on Innova Recordings, Carve features four alluring commissioned works by American composers — Paula Matthusen, Sam Pluta, Peter V. Swendsen, and Kyle Bruckmann — interwoven with playful improvisations by Jessen. [Read more…]
The Quality of Mercy: music by Patrick Castillo (Innova).
How do you depict grief? The most personal emotion next to love, it seems incommunicable. Its particularity grows out of a unique relationship between the aggrieved and the one who is lost; no one else can understand the complexities of that tie or the feelings engendered by its severing.
The composer Patrick Castillo understands the difficulty of exploring grief through art. In his This the hour of lead, a rich, five-movement probing of human loss included on his debut album The Quality of Mercy, he does not attempt to universalize grief. His sorrow is not the same as yours. Instead he constructs a fragile space for sadness, a sanctuary where you can release your pain and come to terms with your emotions. This is the texture of grief, with all its warps and woofs, not an outpouring of anguish. [Read more…]