A new album release from Rick Baitz is comprised of a beautiful set of instrumentation by way of collaborating with several other musicians and the outcome is gorgeous with spacious and expansive sounds that each have a particular set of moods.
The River of January release features seven outstanding pieces of music some reaching almost 18 minutes in length and others only a few minutes but whatever you get, you become engulfed in what's given off because you have such unbelievable instruments performed by players that live for the craft.
The record features violinist Cornelius Dufallo along with a small chamber Ensemble and it all comes together to create robust and almost haunting atmospheres at times.
Cornelius is extremely well known for being an incredible violinist and this is a huge part of what pushes the record forward and such a beautiful way.
This album is a compilation of pieces written over several years by Rick Baitz, recorded here for the first time.
The first movement has three tracks and was originally released in 1991 and those pieces feature everything from synths to cello, violin, flutes, and plenty more.
The fourth track called Music for a Sacred Space originally released in 2021 is the one that features Cornelius Dufallo along with Rick himself on the electronics and cellist Audrey Chen.
This piece is over 17 minutes long and extremely intense with different sections and progressions that really reach out and grab you.
A beautifully intense piece of music but then, this whole record features just that.
The fifth track is called Dark Fire which features violinist Jennifer Choi who's also on the first three tracks of the record and between the cello and violin which are the two main instruments on this one, it has an incredibly moving and cinematic feel.
The last two songs are flute-based and incredible in terms of their texture and ability to pull you out of where you are and put you in a different space.
These songs feature flutist Erin Lesser and were originally done in the 80s.
So, this album is a beautifully intense and vast compilation record built with the compositions of Rick Baitz and truly showcases and ability to compose and arrange pieces of music that wrap themselves around you and stay with you for a very long time.
This was an incredible release that really takes a little time to soak in, but it feels amazing to do so.
I would suggest listening to this one alone with enough time to check out the whole record because it's absolutely gorgeous from beginning to end and there are a lot of sections and progressions throughout it that speak volumes for Rick as a composer.
Comentários