Solo piano for the somnambulist
RDS | Toronto, Canada | 05/20/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"His eyes blindfolded, Domenico De Clario sat down at his piano at every sunset from June 1 (during a full moon) until June 28 (another full moon) in 1996 and recorded a series of improvisations which are released here on the Nonplace label. The recordings developed out of an invitation to participate in a project titled "The Quiet in the Land: Everyday Life, Contemporary Art and the Shakers" curated by France Morin. Domenico De Clario performs blindfolded in order to amplify the double connection between his body and that of the piano as receiver-transmitter, and also because he feels that he is able to "stay longer inside each second" while performing. Throw in a preoccupation with the seven chakras of the body, and you've got a pretty good idea as to where this artist is coming from. His music is, by contrast, without pretense, and exists on a level of simple, calming beauty. Without much variation in tempo - Domenico De Clario performs in a steady stream of melancholy, of shimmering sadness reflected on the water of a quiet brook - the pieces are bewitching, yet their constancy has a double effect of sometimes leaving me anxious for greater variation. And yet this anxiety is quiet, overcome for the most part by the nocturnal tranquillity of the music, a long, long lullaby. It's certainly an unexpected turn for the Nonplace label, usually the home for Burnt Friedman's dub incarnations."