A.J.WILLIAMS : Intro; With Grace and Spirit; Rhymes; Prelude ‘ Never Over’ ; Remember; The Long Dream is Over; Quiet Music; Near Dark; Borrowed; Coda.
Aleksandr Loginov
Anglo – Russe: CD only available from Bergmann Edition
This Welsh – born composer player, writes in a very harmonic and melodic way throughout his pieces, but in a highly individual manner that means that when you are playing his works they don’t feel like anything else you may have come across before.
This latest recording by Russian Aleksandr Loginov uses some very quiet, reflective pieces from Williams’ back catalogue to create an album where almost everything is downbeat, but not in a bad way, but there are simply no fast, furious dancing pieces on this recording. There is an opening Intro and a closing Coda both excerpts from the title piece Quiet Music, so in reality there are 8 separate pieces on offer here.
The second track With Grace and Spirit is about as dance – like as the album gets and has a certain Spanish feeling to some of its harmonies. With plenty of grace notes in triplets and many moves out of its home key, this piece gives the listener a true idea of the originality of Williams’ music, and shows how good a player Loginov is, as this piece is far from easy.
Rhymes is an emotive work with a wide ranging melody that spans the entire fingerboard and with 2 (sometimes 3) voices the piece never sits still and in spite of the arpeggiation and other recognizable guitaristic styles being used here, still sounds completely original , and has a lovely melody to boot.
The Prelude ‘Never Over’( from the suite Recurring Dreams)has a constantly moving pattern of 2 voices where the top voice never stops even for a moment , while the lower one is made up of longer note – valued bass notes, and is another standout track
Remember has a number of harp – like cross string effects that add to the emotional feel of this moving item. The melody and harmonies are wide spread, and never sit still for an instant, even though the beat is not at all fast. Again you get the feeling that you have come across something very different to what else you may have heard.
The Long Dream is Over has an engaging melody and nice harmony work, whilst the title track is gently dissonant at times which does add a certain piquancy to its emotional style.
Near Dark is a minor key affair with some difficult moments that Loginov makes light of, whilst the music has a mysterious shadowy feeling at times, and is another standout piece.
Borrowed, the last completely new piece (excepting the Coda) closes the album and is a warm, moving piece of guitar playing that aptly shows off both Loginov’s playing and Williams’ compositional skills.
This is a lovely recording, full of slow or only moderately paced pieces for the listener who wants to have a quiet time, enjoying some beautiful music, superbly played and with a nice recording quality too.
Chris Dumigan