Search - Horatiu Radulescu :: Horatio Radulescu: Intimate Rituals

Complex "spectral" music, brilliantly performed

Jeff Abell | Chicago, IL USA | 07/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Reading the liner notes to this CD is perhaps asking for trouble...by the time you finish reading about how the composer imagines his works in terms of harmonics and so-called "spectral" harmony, you may think you need a degree in advanced physics to appreciate this disc. Instead, just give it a listen. The performances, featuring the outstanding French violist Vincent Royer, are really quite astonishing. "Das Andere," which explores the idea of an "alter ego," is an amazing work made up largely of high, whistling, eerie harmonics. "Agnus Dei," dedicated to Stravinsky, matches Royer with Gérard Caussé, in a style that occasionally suggests - dare I say it? - neoclassicism, even though it is not "tonal" by a long shot. My favorite is "Lux Animae," where the viola is deliberately mis-tuned, so that when played using natural harmonics, an eccentric collection of pitches emerges. "Intimate Rituals" melds viola with piano strings. If you're interested in the French "spectral" school, you should hear this CD. Radelescu is little-known in the US, but he has a wonderful advocate for his work in Vincent Royer."