Eric Montalbetti - Montalbetti: Orchestral Pictures - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Eric Sol n - Orchestral Works [COMPACT DISCS] date 11/30/2010

Named for the year in his life when the bottom fell out following a long-term romantic partnership, Martin Frawley sequenced Undone at 31 chronologically to emphasize his journey. Those familiar with his time as co-leader of Melbourne's Twerps will take comfort in hearing his deceptively simple songwriting is still intact, but the big reveal here is how new instrumentation and influences seamlessly expand his playground. It might take several listens for one to realize Frawley is singing InchSomething About MeInch over just violin, Moog, and a Graceland-esque bassline, or to appreciate the PB+J pairing of Fender Rhodes and lap steel on InchWhere the Heart Is,Inch which serves as Undone at 31's twist ending. Frawley's album does not shy away from morbid musings and raw emotions that come with a breakup, and like Shoot Out the Lights or Sea Change, Undone at 31's tunefulness and exploration combined are what elevate the music above the melancholy subject matter.

In his five Stanze, composed in 2016, Mauro Montalbetti openly declares his special affinity with the author of Boléro, placing him within the select circle of his greatest loves. What strikes one most is the refined and yet frank way in which this devotion is expressed in the music and is revealed in the writing, in the way it unfolds majestically, so to speak, across the staves and the pages. In other words one is struck not only audibly but also visually by the limpidity with which the five pieces pay homage to their source, namely Maurice Ravel's Miroirs. Miroirs, that is mirrors. A title that at the time - we are in 1905 - encapsulated the genius with which the composer played with the ambiguities of symbolist and impressionist poetics, of the eternal torments concerning the expressive and semantic qualities of music. Because the mirror reflects, represents, but also deceives, creates illusions.