Search - Bill Douglas, Ars Nova :: Eternity's Sunrise

Bill Douglas has spent much of his career playing with Richard Stolzman, especially during the crossover years that spawned albums such as Begin Sweet World. Douglas composed much of that material, and he brings the same crossover idea to his solo recordings. Eternity's Sunrise, a collection of music from his seven recordings on the Hearts of Space label, showcases a quasiclassical sound that borrows from world music and New Age influences with overtones of spirituality and sentimentality--especially sentimentality. Primarily a bassoonist, Douglas also plays extensive keyboards on his solo albums, accompanied by the Ars Nova singers and a smattering of classical instrumentalists. Douglas's choral compositions are featured heavily on Eternity's Sunrise in settings of poems by William Blake and Robert Burns. These are lugubrious affairs that might be solemn if their close harmonies weren't so smothering. Douglas is shown to better effect on tracks like "Farther than the Stars," with its Celtic affectations, and "Karuna," which laces keyboard orchestrations around an Indian mode. Douglas has a pleasant melodiousness that occasionally prevails over maudlin arrangements. --John Diliberto