Search - Various Artists :: Fragmentos Del Pasado

IC B.
Reviewed on 8/26/2017...

Five works by Cuban composer Orlando Jacinto Garcia.

"...the five pieces collected on this CD may come across as rather minimalist at first listen, but in fact they are both complex and sensuously lovely, even when their harmonic movement is gradual and the gradations of movement are subtle.

This album opens with the title work, which is scored for a traditional ensemble of guitar plus string quartet, but uses battuto and plucked harmonics to produce highly unusual and deeply beautiful sounds. The other works are not quite as gripping; the piece for double bass and tape and the one for saxophone and tape are both more interesting conceptually than sonically, but "Timbres Artificiales," for solo guitar, uses scordatura in a way that is both surprisingly and conventionally lovely.

The album ends with a live performance of an orchestral work titled "Vedute Sonore da Bellagio," which is well performed under less than ideal circumstances. This is not a perfect album, but it's certainly an impressive one, and leaves the listener looking forward to the next collection of pieces by this composer."

About the composer:
Emigrated to Miami, Florida, 1961; then to Maryland. Doctorate in composition from University of Miami where he studied with Dennis Kam. Studied privately with David Del Tredici, John Corigliano and Morton Feldman. President and Founder of the South Florida Composers Alliance. Director of the New Music Ensemble and the Electronic Music Studio at the State University of Florida.

from AllMusic