Search - Kim Kashkashian :: Ulysses Gaze

This is a compilation of the music from the soundtrack of Theo Angelopoulos's film Ulysses' Gaze, the story of a photographer's quest for the beginnings of the art of filmmaking on its 100th anniversary. It's also the story of his search for his own self and his home in the ruins of war-torn Europe, and his experiences along the way. But do not expect to find this, or any other information about the record, in the booklet: all it gives you are pictures from the film, most of them bleak, dark, and gloomy. The music underlines this atmosphere: uniformly slow except for a few lively moments of dance, it is mournful and lamentatious. Two very similar modal themes encompassing nine notes are repeated more than a dozen times, varied mostly in range and instrumental color. They are supported by a constant, unchanging drone in a melancholy minor mode, creating a sense not only of stasis but of all cessation of time and motion. The most arresting element is the playing, which is splendid on all hands. Kim Kashkashian stands out because of her prominent part and the extraordinary purity, warmth, and expressiveness of her tone. The interplay between the instruments is remarkable; sometimes it's hard to tell when a takeover occurs. --Edith Eisler