09-10-2020, 19:10
ANDREAS VOLLENWEIDER ~ Quiet Places
![[Image: R-16015820-1601923162-5246.jpeg.jpg]](https://img.discogs.com/AHQ3Kincoup1ZoElbRjlSeGKSSM=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-16015820-1601923162-5246.jpeg.jpg)
I have gone from one listening extreme to the other, from the loud and noisy to the sublime – a bit like our weather today! The zen-like cover artwork is a definite clue, but while calm and lovely – no jarring notes - Vollenweider manages to hold interest and avoid being saccharine. I don’t know quite how he achieves that – years of practice I expect! It’s fascinating – the ability he has to conjure up a magical, mystical atmosphere with this most ancient of instruments as a base. Mind you – it apparently had magically restorative powers way back in the days of David, so I suppose the journey continues – just in a different guise.
Really gorgeous cello throughout by Isabel Gehweiler, Walter Keiser provides percussion and drums, and the seemingly eternally benevolent Andreas gets on with the harp, piano, wind, keyboards, percussion, and the artwork no less.
If you like a bit of aery faerie nonsense that stands up proudly on its own considerable merit and isn’t formulaic sonic wallpaper – have a listen. I think the percussion goes a long way towards keeping it above the bland line, as does the cello. He hasn’t released anything since 2009 and this one seems at least as creative as some of his much earlier releases, of which I have several. I like it.
Some tracks that I noticed, particularly …
“Entangled” … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIoL5ST9I-8
“Venus in the Mirror” … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ05IIBdPDY
The opener – “Pygmalion” …
I have gone from one listening extreme to the other, from the loud and noisy to the sublime – a bit like our weather today! The zen-like cover artwork is a definite clue, but while calm and lovely – no jarring notes - Vollenweider manages to hold interest and avoid being saccharine. I don’t know quite how he achieves that – years of practice I expect! It’s fascinating – the ability he has to conjure up a magical, mystical atmosphere with this most ancient of instruments as a base. Mind you – it apparently had magically restorative powers way back in the days of David, so I suppose the journey continues – just in a different guise.
Really gorgeous cello throughout by Isabel Gehweiler, Walter Keiser provides percussion and drums, and the seemingly eternally benevolent Andreas gets on with the harp, piano, wind, keyboards, percussion, and the artwork no less.
If you like a bit of aery faerie nonsense that stands up proudly on its own considerable merit and isn’t formulaic sonic wallpaper – have a listen. I think the percussion goes a long way towards keeping it above the bland line, as does the cello. He hasn’t released anything since 2009 and this one seems at least as creative as some of his much earlier releases, of which I have several. I like it.
Some tracks that I noticed, particularly …
“Entangled” … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIoL5ST9I-8
“Venus in the Mirror” … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ05IIBdPDY
The opener – “Pygmalion” …
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson