Trees: the Hidden Secrets of the Forest
Pharoah S. Wail | Inner Space | 12/07/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Why, when I bought this disc at the same time as the Music of the Dancing Boys disc, did I wait so long to review it? I have no idea. Stupidity, I guess. Of course my stupidity extends past this because I've still never picked up the 2 other volumes from this series, Minority Composers and Sultan Composers.
This is a disc of, for lack of a better way to put it, mellow Ottoman art-music inspired by 18th and 19th century styles. The basis for some of the the contour of the suite itself is a bunch of smaller compositions by 19th and early 20th century composers. Based on my own music collection, Tanburi Cemil Bey is the biggest name here but I'm not a specialist in this music. For those of you with greater knowledge of this music than I, the other composers whose works are presented here are Haci Arif Bey, Zeki Arif Ataergin, and Munir Nurretin Selcuk.
To be honest, the first time I listened to this disc a couple years ago I thought it was boring. As I continued to listen to it and dig deeper inside it, I found it to be fascinating. The thing with this disc is that if you only listen to "the whole", you miss all the details. On one hand, this would be a fine disc to play in the background while having company over. I hear this music as having 2 horizontal, parallel lines of "emotional parameters" that everything fits inside. There are no extreme emotional peaks, and no extreme emotional depths. It's a very constant music. As I said, if you only listen to the whole of this music, or if you ONLY listen to it as background music, you will miss what is really happening. Alone, with or without headphones is, for me, the ultimate way to listen to this disc.
The details in question are all of the smaller melodies that oftentimes double each other in support of the overall mood and feel of the music as a whole. The minor rythmic fluctuations also change the internal mood of the pieces, subtle as they are. This is a style of performance that largely could not happen in the West, because there are no stars in this band. What I mean is, the "emotional parameters" of the music do not allow for showing off or trying to be the flashy star soloist of the band. The Lalezar Ensemble is brilliant in its willingness and ability to sacrifice musical self for the greater good. Everyone in the band is a textural cog in the machine.
Since some of you will know the instruments and some of you won't, I'll give both the traditional and english names. Here we have the kanun (triple-strung zither), kemence (spike-fiddle), tanbur (lute), ney (end-blown flute), and percussion, along with vocalists.
I never even considered reviewing this disc within the first 20 times I listened to it, and after having it for a couple years now and listening to it again last night, the time was right. The next time I order cds, the other 2 discs in this fine series are coming home to me. I really have nothing else to which this and Dancing Boys compare, so I have given them 4 stars because for all I know, maybe the other 2 discs in the series are even better.
"
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1