26-01-2015, 17:47
Carmen Rubino is a synthesist who creates a full-bodied sound with piano or electric-keyboards at the center surrounded by lots of strings plus some harp sounds as well as a few woodwinds (oboe? English horn?) and a few various flutes. His music fits best in the new age music arena, but there are definitely some modern classical elements. His biographical information mentions his longtime love of progressive-rock, and here and there are echoes of that sound (but toned down to fit the popular contemporary instrumental genre of adult music). But if you added some screaming, crying, electric guitar to some of these numbers, you would be very close to prog on occasion. Regardless, Rubino does a good job of writing pretty music and arranging it with lots of sounds so that it is a tapestry of textures, full and solid-sounding. Interestingly enough he balances the album between long tunes (like you would find on a prog album) and short pieces (three are right at two-and-a-half-minutes long which is pretty short by todayâs standards). But those shorter pieces keep the flow moving along nicely. Rubino also drops in the sounds of birds, wind, thunder and crashing waves which either takes the music even further into new age nature territory, or gives it a little Pink Floyd ambience -- take your pick. The album is titled Aquarian Dream and ends with the title tune which is a winner (over 13 minutes long).
