Search - Various Artists :: Soul Alone: The Art of the Solo

Music was originally a communal act. It was utilitarian and, in a way, magic - it made work easy. Music was also a reflection of the nascent social order, with one lead voice and the rest responding. The first solo music was therefore a powerful act of liberation, of spirit.This recording contains a great diversity of solos; more than a millennium separates the oldest from the most recent; there are solos for flutes, reeds, brass, lutes, zithers, fiddles, piano, percussion, and voice; the music comes from the Near East, the Far East, Australia, Europe, and the Americas. But despite the contrast of instruments and styles, what gradually becomes apparent is the similarity beneath the surface of these works. Soul Alone: The Art of the Solo suggests that there is some fundamental distinction about the way musicians express themselves in a solo setting - something that defines the Art of the Solo.This is some of the most personally felt music the world's greatest traditions have to offer. If the act of making music is a personal one, so too is listening. Music was always meant to be listened to - by other people, or by something else, whether you call it God or nature or by another name. And that is the reason for Soul Alone: The Art of the Solo. Because after all, music can be performed alone, and heard alone, but it is still a communal art, meant to be shared. Perhaps it only truly becomes music when it is shared.