Immensity Of
New Focus, 2022
9/10
Nina Guo (soprano) and Edward Kass (bass), i.e. Departure Duo, interpret the work of Katherine Balch, John Aylward, Emily Praetorius and Gyorgy Kurtág for these very meticulous and unique pieces that highlight their inestimable chemistry.
Balch’s “Phrases” starts the listen, and presents text by Arthur Rimbaud, as Guo’s pipes are quite vivid, sometimes fragmented, where the harmonic bass work complements the colorful nature of the composition superbly.
In the middle, “Tiergarten”, by Aylward, births a stirring focus, where 3 poems by Rilke are fleshed out with both intimacy and power, while Kurtág’s “Einige Sätze aus den Sudelbüchern Georg Christoph Lichtenbergs” injects talking amid the soaring soprano and well timed bass.
The title track exits the listen, and it presents a very absorbing minimalism that embraces whistling, clucking mouth sounds and bare pizzicatos in a highly deliberate, sparsely atypical finish.
A fascinating listen that’s full of calm gestures, just as it is wise ambiguity and personal artistry, there just isn’t a second here that’s not worth exploring again and again.
Travels well with: NakedEye Ensemble- A Series Of Indecipherable Glyphs; Peter Gilbert- Burned Into The Orange