Fading Sounds
Navona, 2022
8/10
The composer Georges Raillard embraces the simple wonders of the world with these 10 works for solo guitar, where David William Ross brings his fluid skills to the creative and harmonic listen.
“Coastal Rhapsody” starts the listen with warm, smooth guitar playing that’s quite soothing and sometimes very bare in its stirring appeal, and “In The Pine Wood” follows with much attention to mood as sublime, sparse moments as well more firm gestures unfold across the 5 chapters.
Elsewhere, “Cut Flowers” displays cascading waves of beauty with a poetic appeal, while “Lighthouse” emits a hypnotic approach that illustrates fascinating progression with the guitar. The album’s best selection, “Stray Thoughts”, arrives near the end, and unfolds with 3 segments that are dreamy, vibrant and even mysterious in Ross’ very capable hands.
A body of work that manipulates tone and timbre with fascinating results, the upbeat versus haunting moments make for a very unpredictable and often enlightening experience.
Travels well with: Joseph Summer- Hamlet; Jeffrey Derus- From Wilderness