Journaling
Posted by Judah Adashi in CD Review, tags: cornelius dufallo, electronics, Huang Ruo, Innova Recordings, Joan Jeanreneaud, John King, john luther adams, Judah Adashi, Kenji Bunch, Vijay Iyer, violin
Journaling
Innova Recordings 831
Cornelius Dufallo, violin and electronics
Cornelius Dufallo seems to be everywhere of late, making great music wherever he goes. At one time best known for his work as a violinist with the adventurous string quartet ETHEL, Dufallo has now turned his full attention to a wide-ranging career as a composer and soloist. Having established a recital series, Journaling, devoted to collaborations with fellow composers, Dufallo’s new release of the same name documents those partnerships alongside his own music.
Dufallo’s two pieces on Journaling are driven by loops. Violin Loop I serves as a propulsive opener, and Violin Loop V as a meditative interlude. These works are inextricably tied to the composer’s explorations of his instrument as a performer: Dufallo’s gliding lyricism, pure tone, and sensitive use of varied techniques and technologies articulate a sound world all his own.
The album includes uniformly strong contributions from a broad range of composers: John King’s restless Prima Volta; Joan Jeanreneaud’s mesmerizing Empty Infinity; pianist-composer Vijay Iyer’s contrapuntally rich Playlist One (Resonance), which culminates in a melody of understated beauty; Huang Ruo’s soulful, sinuous Four Fragments; and Kenji Bunch’s wistful Until Next Time.
The centerpiece of the disc is John Luther Adams’s Three High Places, written in memory of the composer’s longtime friend Gordon Wright. For those who know Adams’s music primarily from his larger-scale soundscapes, this eloquent study in open strings and natural harmonics will sound at once familiar and revelatory.
Both as a composer and as a performer, Dufallo has a gift for personal, direct communication. Journaling affirms that he has found kindred spirits along his musical journey, and affords a rewarding glimpse into the private world that they are creating.
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