Category: Recording

Album Review: Falling Like Tears – mimi duo

Nicole Neal6 Comments

I have been super-fortunate once again over the past few weeks to have the pleasure of listening to and reviewing another wonderful new recording, comprised of almost entirely original compositions (save one piece). Falling Like Tears is the first (and Kickstarter campaign-backed) recording from classical guitar and piano pairing, mimi duo. Also being a pianist, as well as classical guitarist myself I was quite excited to listen to this recording.

The WA based mimi duo features guitarist, composer and arranger Duncan Gardiner and pianist Setsu Masuda. Masuda’s story as a musician I find particularly interesting and heart-warming in that she returned to piano after a hiatus only in 2009, and holds now the AMusA and LMusA from the AMEB as well as performing in the mimi duo and other performance settings. A super talented woman!

Gardiner is perhaps more well-known to those in Western Australian and Australian classical guitar circles and already having toured internationally, and with three albums and a book of original works to his name. A super talented chap!

mimi duo have been playing and performing together since 2012 and in 2015 they featured as guest soloists with the Fremantle Symphony Orchestra. This year (2016) sees them take to the international stage with a tour of Japan. A super talented duo!

Falling Like Tears, mimi duo’s first recording is somewhat a case of art inspiring art inspiring art. A good proportion of the recording has been inspired by a story – The Rose, the Butterfly, the Bee and the Moth – written by renowned author Jane Harrison. Harrison’s story had then been illustrated and turned into an art book, apparently a sculptural art installation which opens up like a concertina, by artist Jo Darvall.

I won’t give the game away on the story, but Harrison’s story is presented with some of Darvall’s artwork within the beautifully presented CD packaging with the recording.

Again,without wanting to give the story away (and I encourage to you to head over to iTunes or www.mimiduo.com.au to grab your own copy) each of the pieces has been very sensitively composed and very much reflective of the different phases of the story it has been written around.

It’s challenging to pick a favourite track from the recording as they’re all really lovely pieces in their own right (each ranging from around 2 minutes to about 7 minutes in length), 15 tracks in all.

mimi1

If I had to be pinned down to favourite track, however, I would probably have to go with Slowly, Deeply, which is a crucial pinnacle point in the story.

Slowly, Deeply is a piece featuring a bittersweet, slightly melancholy piano melody to the fore, with the guitar providing some wonderfully coloured, shimmering chords (great playing, and fabulous tonal shifts and control on the part of Duncan). The piece, about halfway through, then moves into a more urgent, pressing reinforced melody from the piano, with some fabulous tremolo action in the background from the guitar. The guitar then drops away with quite dramatic effect to leave the piano playing solo with plenty of sustain pedal, before the guitar then enters again with some wonderful fade in-fade out chords. A very beautiful piece.

And if I had to be pinned down to another favourite I’d go with A Thousand Cranes Beat Their Wings – a wonderful, Japanese-inspired interplay between the guitar and piano. This piece is not a part of the The Rose, the Butterfly, the Bee and the Moth story, but rather a piece that Duncan was inspired to write following the terrible earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011. The mood and style of the piece is one that fits in very well indeed with the mood and style of this recording.

All in all, Falling Like Tears is an incredibly beautiful piece of work, featuring some wonderful original compositions for guitar and piano, presented in a manner sensitive to the music being presented by two clearly talented musicians. I highly recommend this recording if you’re a fan of contemporary classical guitar, of new music or of heartfelt and haunting lyrical melodies and soundscapes.

Visit www.mimiduo.com.au to find out more about mimi duo and to grab your own copy of Falling Like Tears. You can also do the download the album from iTunes.

Album Review: Serene Nights by Guitar Trek

Nicole Neal3 Comments

It has to be said that I’m a very lucky bunny indeed – another fantastic classical guitar album to review (and yes it was fantastic – and just as an aside, I only tend to post up reviews if I really like a recording as I like to keep things positive on here and prefer to expend my efforts in telling you about the stuff that floats my boat and I think is worth a listen).

And this recording, Serene Nights, the sixth by Australian guitar family quartet Guitar Trek (guitar family being a bass, baritone, standard, and treble). The quartet, comprised of Timothy Kain, Minh Le Hoang, Matt Withers and Bradley Kunda, have produced what is a really refreshing recording.

Guitar Trek
Guitar Trek

And when I say refreshing I mean music that you perhaps wouldn’t ordinarily connect with the classical guitar or perhaps even have imagined it on the instrument previously. For example, we’re treated to a couple of excellent Johannes Brahms transcriptions (Intermezzo, Op.118 No. 2 (arranged by Bradley Kunda) and the Horn Trio in E Flat Major Op.40: IV – Allegro con Brio)- not a composer I’d usually connect with the guitar at all, but a great composer and both of these pieces certainly work very well with the guitar family. Brilliant stuff (and goes without saying almost expertly played by the four guitarists).

The album title Serene Nights, out now on the ABC Classics label, is a pretty accurate one, for whilst there are some lively pieces on here (including impressively lively album opener Llanura by Alfonso Montes) the abiding sensation, for me, delivered by this recording is one of poise and grace.

Llanura delivers us a “hello we’re here!”, before settling us into Kunda’s delightful arrangement of Brahms’ Intermezzo, which sounds just perfect on guitar family – delicate, graceful, lush, full of rich colour, serene.

Being a bit of a ballet fan, I have to say that my personal favourite on the recording is the an Andrew York arrangement of Waltz of the Flowers from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. A cracking arrangement, and expertly played, full of joie de vivre, fluid and nuanced. The colours and dynamics that the quartet bring out in the piece demonstrate the versatility of the instrument family, and the masterful command of the instruments that these four players have. We rarely hear Tchaikovsky on guitar and this recording goes to show it can work really well indeed.

This is followed a wonderfully sultry rendition of Albeniz’s Tango (Op. 165 , No. 2), as arranged by Timothy Kain, brining the mood back into serene territory again following the lively excitement of the Tchaikovsky. Very lullaby-esque. Beautiful arrangement, beautiful playing.

For the romantics amongst you you might want to check out the Alfonsina e el mar (Ariel Ramirez, arr. Roland Dyens) – achingly beautiful melody, supported by some big, fat rich sound. The baritone guitar really plays a great part in this piece, demonstrating how the guitar family can bring an important dimension that a straight-up guitar quartet can’t quite manage.

Then for a bit of a change of pace with latin flavour and colour (with a steel strung guitar thrown into the mix) we’re presented with Noite Serena (Bau (Rafino Almeida)) followed by a Timothy Kain arrangement of Nola for a little bit a whimsical touch. We then head into Mark Issac’s Angel and a Kain arrangement of Satie’s Je Te Veux, both of which have a lovely, easy relaxed vibe to them.

My second favourite offering on the recording are all four of the Four Pieces for Piano by Rodrigo (arr. Timothy Kain), proving yet again the piano to guitar leap works very well indeed. My particular favourite of the four is the third movement (Plegaria de la Infanta de Castilla). Once again the richness that the baritone brings to the piece is particularly noteworthy.

The recording is closed out by a Jeremy Sparks arrangement of Joplin’s Solace. A lovely, and most definitely serene, closing to a fine recording.

Serene Nights is a high-class affair – high calibre playing with some top notch “in house” arrangements of some wonderful pieces of music that sit very well on the guitar family (testament to talented, sensitive and balanced arranging skills). An expertly played and wonderfully colourful exploration.

Serene Nights is available to buy now at all good record stores, including ABC stores and the usual online outlets.

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Serene Nights – a recording worth celebrating!