Album Review For Richard Spasoff
“Relaxing Artistic Music to Soothe your Soul”
Composed, Performed and Recorded By Richard Spasoff
Review written by Kerry Barnes
INTRODUCTION
A new album from Richard that explores his rich and bountiful body of work. It spans many albums and once again stamps his musical hallmark on the world!! Fifteen tracks of Relaxing music to soothe your soul. Here we go.
Track 1. “Acape”
The shortest track on the album so far, and awash with a Largo tempo. I’m feeling really ‘soothed already!’ ……think I’ll make myself a lovely cup of hot chocolate with floating marsh mallows!! Swathes of string arrangements brush my cheek as they go and a solo flute plays a lovely Legato. Piano chords and scale fragments tinker in the blue wash, creating warm burrows in the sand. A high soprano voice registers and wails on high and reminds me of the British iconic show “Dr. Who” and I wonder where the ‘daleks’ are!!! Richard makes a statement in the closing of piano chords in Minor and Major tonality and say’s ‘all is well with the world’ as I look up to a beautiful blue sky.
Track 2. “Cool Breeze”
I feel this breeze of piano and synths with their lovely blend and the mezzo-forte soundscape really works here. Everything is twinkly and light like white washed waves lapping at the feet of a golden sand. The pianistic broken chords are in ‘filigree’ touch and shape the phrase work beautifully. Richard uses ‘unison’ blends between instruments for further reinforcement of melody. (a device that I use in my own music!!) The harmonic language presents in ‘major 3rds’ now, very pretty indeed!! A classical guitar perfectly plucked serenades me as it navigates pitted craters of sand and moon and the music settles in furrows, rests and fades out. Gorgeous stuff!!
Track 3. “Elegance of Night”
As grey turns to a bluey black, an ‘elegance of night’ falls upon the land. A wash of melodic fragmentations call upon the constellations in the sky. A bird settles down in it’s comfortable nest, trilling into the darkness. Richard has really captured a ‘nocturnal’ creep, it beckons the owls, foxes and hedgehogs into a gentle musical galaxy, as violins and violas wrap their prey in embrace. Richard is very good at bolstering his sound world with sweeps of ‘unison’ playing, again something I include in my own writing. There’s always something special about a sea- faring evening, it seems to bring out creativity in composers and musicians and they communicate this to us very deeply. At 3.03 ish, a delicate fade-out appears, and signals all crustaceans to sleep. Well done Richard.
Track 4. “Gaga”
Mmmmmm, ‘Gaga’ ……I can only come to one conclusion here??? Richard has lost his mind in an adulteration of love for someone or something!!! …..or this music indeed!! Starting positively with a C major chord, standing it’s ground, and to be followed by a synthy-sky, bright blue and pulsating a little. I’m glad that Richard has chosen a mezzo-piano dynamic for this piece of 2.50 as it allows a pretty tapestry to develop. Richard also uses to good effect what we call a ‘stretched-outmordent’, where 3 notes usually in the treble area play 1. The note, 2. The note below, and back to 3. The original note again. These are also employed in Baroque music but much quicker. They really suit here too. Something else that is much quicker too…..the way that Richard abruptly cuts us off with his final note, like his ‘gaga’ brain has had enough!! …….and wants to rest in the incoming ‘heart-of-hearts’ ….we shall see.
Track 5. “Heart of Hearts”
A vocal-vowel of mystical proportions greets us and a deep ‘Fargo’ makes itself known. The melodic range is widespread and spacious, peppered with twinkly little piano notes. The string work is in ‘chordalformation’ and is even lovelier the lower it gets. Oh, we now have a completely different texture, quite suddenly. A gentle percussion, quite happily bubbles along. It’s light and it too is mystical in being. A return of the somewhat wandering vocal appears, but it knows of an ending Coda only, that one and final process of relaxation where we exhale and think of sandcastles in the sky. Beautiful indeed.
Track 6. “Heavens Carousel”
Once again, Richard’s hallmarks dominate the scene immediately, and I fully understand the musical workings of his psychic mind!!! We start with piano chords and strings in pretty arrangement, like shells dotted on a calm sandbank. I’m loving the vertical harmonies and horizontal melodic riffs. But the one thing that stands out in this piece is the sudden switching from minor to major tonality, which is quite disconcerting!! This Carousel ride is making me dizzy but yearning for more!!! It only takes one or two notes for the whole feeling to shift, and I sense that this was the original idea in Richard’s mind for this piece. There are also two notes between instruments sharing a unison moment. I’m loving the ‘accented’ piano notes which add texture and rhythmic contrast. More evidence of scale workings are here, and I suggest that they also exist within Richard’s piano practice at home or in studio. The very last two piano notes are quite toe curling, the first is out of key and so very tantalising, and has to be ‘resolved’ ……then as if by magic, they ARE!!!!
Track 7. “Highest Degree Of Love”
Ooh, a lovely wah-wah sound, was not expecting that! It climbs and climbs, and at the same time, there is evidence of ‘contrary-motion’ in the mid registers, a lovely contrast. I hear little twinkly hammers, as they hit a delicate glockenspiel which is aslo very lovely, and really evoke this ‘highest degree of love’, right up there with the stars!!! Richard experiments with ‘rising-and-falling’ before a deep plunge into the bassier area, burrowing in the gritty sandscapes. Ah, the wah-wah is back!! ……must be on a loop!!! With my headphones on I experience a very moving stereo sound, exporting me like bookended seaweed on a beach far away. A musical descent of resonant piano chords, all twinkly again, float their way down to an ending ‘out of key’ note with no resolution, and leaves me CRAVING!!!!! Naughty Richard!!!
Track 8. “Kisses In The Wind”
This track is like a study in trio and quartet playing, a lovely grouping of piano, violin, cello and saxophone, kissed now and again with the strings of the orchestra. Lovely. It’s form is almost like free-jazz in that everyone is free to do their own thing almost, bit like improvisation and free ‘kisses in the wind’! There’s lots of call and response to give us a conversational perspective on proceedings and holding freedom gently in place. Am loving the dry scrapings of the cello, with it’s resin clouds white washing the instrument, spinning it round on that long spike emanating from it’s hour-glass figure, sexy!!!! To end in fine ideation, another unison puts us to bed with more kisses, Nighty-night!!
Track 9. “Light Of My Soul”
The opening 3 notes are exactly the same as Johann Straus’s Blue Danube Waltz, thought I might start a dance from Vienna!! Quite a ‘synthy’ mood to this one, and those twinkly little silver hammers are at it again!! I notice we are free from a time signature, giving me that LSD feeling!! Phrases full of ‘light’, imitate each other with symmetrical mirroring and Richard combines chordal structures with poly-phonic stranding. Very inventive indeed!!
Track 10. “Love and Light”
A show of chromatic scale form here along with some dotted major 3rds, very nice work. Richard obviously has these techniques in his piano shopping cart!! I like the contrasting effects of the smooth chromaticism and the staccatoed major 3rd chords of the right hand, which make for an interesting terrain. I spy some little tom-toms in buoyant mood enjoying the ride!! They interject a ‘spikingly percussive energy and a ‘1234’ rhythm. Ooh, suddenly, rays of ‘light and love’ come piercing through and strike their coded message, a very bright blue with white-washed edges. This piece has a child like aura to it I think, drawing young people to share in Richard’s unique musicality, his music is definitely a shared experience!!
Track 11. “Masquerade”
The ‘minor’ tonality is immediately posed, in broken chord form. This piece is totally dominated by the string section of the orchestra and has the main thread throughout. The sound is very strong and attentive like a ‘masked man’ who remains a mystery to all in the ballroom!! Ooh, I’m getting a touch of Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”, how wonderful, beautiful harmonies and sweeping panoramics. There are traces of the Baroque form “Concerto Grosso” where part of the orchestra is given the star-turn, and goes round sharing and highlighting. I think this track stands out for emotional quality for me, and therefore draws us to it’s musical content. A natural fading closes proceedings, and as the masquerade’s dying embers flicker, we are allowed a fleeting glimpse of the man himself, …….could this be Richard????
Track 12. “Raindrops From Heaven”
I am deeply saddened by this track. It’s so expressive and has a lot of feeling in the performance. I feel Richard’s innermost thoughts, as a gentle and persistent percussion acts like the repeated notes of Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude in D Flat major. Actually the whole setting has a Chopinesque quality to it. For me it is over too soon, but I feel a large lump in my throat that continues the emotion forwards. Gorgeous Richard.
Track 13. “Seabreeze”
The overriding theme of this whole album has been ‘relaxation’ and I think ‘seabreeze’ captures the mood beautifully! My mind is cleansed from all ill winds as I listen to waves lapping at the mouth of the shore, it’s long and wide and expansive, I breathe deeply here. A little toy-piano twinkles it’s notes, tickled by white washing clouds. The string arrangement is strong and competent, reinforced by all playing the same tune, thick and middle ranging. My emotions are running quite high, and punctuated by brief ‘fermata’ in a mezzo-forte sound world. Phrases are lovely, evenly spaced. I’m getting flavours of Debussy and Johan Strauss, namely the ‘girl with the golden hair’ and the ‘blue danube waltz’ ……just the first 4 notes and I wonder if this was Richard’s intention, to savour some French and Austrian vibes, works extremely well. We bookend with the glorious sea, as we did in the beginning with perfect proportions. Gorgeous Richard.
Track 14. “The Whisper”
WOW!!!!!......a beautifully uplifting ‘pop’ track!! Love it!! A very happy keyboard percussion plays in delightful mood, and an even more delightful wooden-flute sings of a life full of love and music. I sense some fragments of Fugal-Form and Counterpoint, a symbiosis entwined with itself. Oh, yes, and some pretty little major 3rd playing too, adding light and a ‘leggiero’ touch. Am loving the 7 beat pattern, which pauses just momentarily, then comes back in again, I want to dance up on my dining room table!!!! A dotted and staccato flute pierces the patterns and I have an enormous smile on my face, from ear to ear!! A handful of mechanical ‘portamente’ slide themselves into the Coda. I’m in wonderful mood Richard, thank you!!!
Track 15. “Until We Meet Again”
Ah, a very poignant piece to finish. It has a beautiful ‘rolling-pattern’ in the bass area, consisting of 3 notes where the 3rd note is held across a four-four measure. A slightly buoyant little boat greets me and sings of flute patterns, while a little bird flies higher playing a tin-whistle saying “I’m here too you know!” I sense a fond farewell and a touch of nostalgia in this 4.54 presentation. Until we meet again Richard, I shall keep your music in my heart always, and remember the places it took me to. B R A V O R I C H A R D ! ! !
“Relaxing Artistic Music to Soothe your Soul”
Composed, Performed and Recorded By Richard Spasoff
Review written by Kerry Barnes
INTRODUCTION
A new album from Richard that explores his rich and bountiful body of work. It spans many albums and once again stamps his musical hallmark on the world!! Fifteen tracks of Relaxing music to soothe your soul. Here we go.
Track 1. “Acape”
The shortest track on the album so far, and awash with a Largo tempo. I’m feeling really ‘soothed already!’ ……think I’ll make myself a lovely cup of hot chocolate with floating marsh mallows!! Swathes of string arrangements brush my cheek as they go and a solo flute plays a lovely Legato. Piano chords and scale fragments tinker in the blue wash, creating warm burrows in the sand. A high soprano voice registers and wails on high and reminds me of the British iconic show “Dr. Who” and I wonder where the ‘daleks’ are!!! Richard makes a statement in the closing of piano chords in Minor and Major tonality and say’s ‘all is well with the world’ as I look up to a beautiful blue sky.
Track 2. “Cool Breeze”
I feel this breeze of piano and synths with their lovely blend and the mezzo-forte soundscape really works here. Everything is twinkly and light like white washed waves lapping at the feet of a golden sand. The pianistic broken chords are in ‘filigree’ touch and shape the phrase work beautifully. Richard uses ‘unison’ blends between instruments for further reinforcement of melody. (a device that I use in my own music!!) The harmonic language presents in ‘major 3rds’ now, very pretty indeed!! A classical guitar perfectly plucked serenades me as it navigates pitted craters of sand and moon and the music settles in furrows, rests and fades out. Gorgeous stuff!!
Track 3. “Elegance of Night”
As grey turns to a bluey black, an ‘elegance of night’ falls upon the land. A wash of melodic fragmentations call upon the constellations in the sky. A bird settles down in it’s comfortable nest, trilling into the darkness. Richard has really captured a ‘nocturnal’ creep, it beckons the owls, foxes and hedgehogs into a gentle musical galaxy, as violins and violas wrap their prey in embrace. Richard is very good at bolstering his sound world with sweeps of ‘unison’ playing, again something I include in my own writing. There’s always something special about a sea- faring evening, it seems to bring out creativity in composers and musicians and they communicate this to us very deeply. At 3.03 ish, a delicate fade-out appears, and signals all crustaceans to sleep. Well done Richard.
Track 4. “Gaga”
Mmmmmm, ‘Gaga’ ……I can only come to one conclusion here??? Richard has lost his mind in an adulteration of love for someone or something!!! …..or this music indeed!! Starting positively with a C major chord, standing it’s ground, and to be followed by a synthy-sky, bright blue and pulsating a little. I’m glad that Richard has chosen a mezzo-piano dynamic for this piece of 2.50 as it allows a pretty tapestry to develop. Richard also uses to good effect what we call a ‘stretched-outmordent’, where 3 notes usually in the treble area play 1. The note, 2. The note below, and back to 3. The original note again. These are also employed in Baroque music but much quicker. They really suit here too. Something else that is much quicker too…..the way that Richard abruptly cuts us off with his final note, like his ‘gaga’ brain has had enough!! …….and wants to rest in the incoming ‘heart-of-hearts’ ….we shall see.
Track 5. “Heart of Hearts”
A vocal-vowel of mystical proportions greets us and a deep ‘Fargo’ makes itself known. The melodic range is widespread and spacious, peppered with twinkly little piano notes. The string work is in ‘chordalformation’ and is even lovelier the lower it gets. Oh, we now have a completely different texture, quite suddenly. A gentle percussion, quite happily bubbles along. It’s light and it too is mystical in being. A return of the somewhat wandering vocal appears, but it knows of an ending Coda only, that one and final process of relaxation where we exhale and think of sandcastles in the sky. Beautiful indeed.
Track 6. “Heavens Carousel”
Once again, Richard’s hallmarks dominate the scene immediately, and I fully understand the musical workings of his psychic mind!!! We start with piano chords and strings in pretty arrangement, like shells dotted on a calm sandbank. I’m loving the vertical harmonies and horizontal melodic riffs. But the one thing that stands out in this piece is the sudden switching from minor to major tonality, which is quite disconcerting!! This Carousel ride is making me dizzy but yearning for more!!! It only takes one or two notes for the whole feeling to shift, and I sense that this was the original idea in Richard’s mind for this piece. There are also two notes between instruments sharing a unison moment. I’m loving the ‘accented’ piano notes which add texture and rhythmic contrast. More evidence of scale workings are here, and I suggest that they also exist within Richard’s piano practice at home or in studio. The very last two piano notes are quite toe curling, the first is out of key and so very tantalising, and has to be ‘resolved’ ……then as if by magic, they ARE!!!!
Track 7. “Highest Degree Of Love”
Ooh, a lovely wah-wah sound, was not expecting that! It climbs and climbs, and at the same time, there is evidence of ‘contrary-motion’ in the mid registers, a lovely contrast. I hear little twinkly hammers, as they hit a delicate glockenspiel which is aslo very lovely, and really evoke this ‘highest degree of love’, right up there with the stars!!! Richard experiments with ‘rising-and-falling’ before a deep plunge into the bassier area, burrowing in the gritty sandscapes. Ah, the wah-wah is back!! ……must be on a loop!!! With my headphones on I experience a very moving stereo sound, exporting me like bookended seaweed on a beach far away. A musical descent of resonant piano chords, all twinkly again, float their way down to an ending ‘out of key’ note with no resolution, and leaves me CRAVING!!!!! Naughty Richard!!!
Track 8. “Kisses In The Wind”
This track is like a study in trio and quartet playing, a lovely grouping of piano, violin, cello and saxophone, kissed now and again with the strings of the orchestra. Lovely. It’s form is almost like free-jazz in that everyone is free to do their own thing almost, bit like improvisation and free ‘kisses in the wind’! There’s lots of call and response to give us a conversational perspective on proceedings and holding freedom gently in place. Am loving the dry scrapings of the cello, with it’s resin clouds white washing the instrument, spinning it round on that long spike emanating from it’s hour-glass figure, sexy!!!! To end in fine ideation, another unison puts us to bed with more kisses, Nighty-night!!
Track 9. “Light Of My Soul”
The opening 3 notes are exactly the same as Johann Straus’s Blue Danube Waltz, thought I might start a dance from Vienna!! Quite a ‘synthy’ mood to this one, and those twinkly little silver hammers are at it again!! I notice we are free from a time signature, giving me that LSD feeling!! Phrases full of ‘light’, imitate each other with symmetrical mirroring and Richard combines chordal structures with poly-phonic stranding. Very inventive indeed!!
Track 10. “Love and Light”
A show of chromatic scale form here along with some dotted major 3rds, very nice work. Richard obviously has these techniques in his piano shopping cart!! I like the contrasting effects of the smooth chromaticism and the staccatoed major 3rd chords of the right hand, which make for an interesting terrain. I spy some little tom-toms in buoyant mood enjoying the ride!! They interject a ‘spikingly percussive energy and a ‘1234’ rhythm. Ooh, suddenly, rays of ‘light and love’ come piercing through and strike their coded message, a very bright blue with white-washed edges. This piece has a child like aura to it I think, drawing young people to share in Richard’s unique musicality, his music is definitely a shared experience!!
Track 11. “Masquerade”
The ‘minor’ tonality is immediately posed, in broken chord form. This piece is totally dominated by the string section of the orchestra and has the main thread throughout. The sound is very strong and attentive like a ‘masked man’ who remains a mystery to all in the ballroom!! Ooh, I’m getting a touch of Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”, how wonderful, beautiful harmonies and sweeping panoramics. There are traces of the Baroque form “Concerto Grosso” where part of the orchestra is given the star-turn, and goes round sharing and highlighting. I think this track stands out for emotional quality for me, and therefore draws us to it’s musical content. A natural fading closes proceedings, and as the masquerade’s dying embers flicker, we are allowed a fleeting glimpse of the man himself, …….could this be Richard????
Track 12. “Raindrops From Heaven”
I am deeply saddened by this track. It’s so expressive and has a lot of feeling in the performance. I feel Richard’s innermost thoughts, as a gentle and persistent percussion acts like the repeated notes of Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude in D Flat major. Actually the whole setting has a Chopinesque quality to it. For me it is over too soon, but I feel a large lump in my throat that continues the emotion forwards. Gorgeous Richard.
Track 13. “Seabreeze”
The overriding theme of this whole album has been ‘relaxation’ and I think ‘seabreeze’ captures the mood beautifully! My mind is cleansed from all ill winds as I listen to waves lapping at the mouth of the shore, it’s long and wide and expansive, I breathe deeply here. A little toy-piano twinkles it’s notes, tickled by white washing clouds. The string arrangement is strong and competent, reinforced by all playing the same tune, thick and middle ranging. My emotions are running quite high, and punctuated by brief ‘fermata’ in a mezzo-forte sound world. Phrases are lovely, evenly spaced. I’m getting flavours of Debussy and Johan Strauss, namely the ‘girl with the golden hair’ and the ‘blue danube waltz’ ……just the first 4 notes and I wonder if this was Richard’s intention, to savour some French and Austrian vibes, works extremely well. We bookend with the glorious sea, as we did in the beginning with perfect proportions. Gorgeous Richard.
Track 14. “The Whisper”
WOW!!!!!......a beautifully uplifting ‘pop’ track!! Love it!! A very happy keyboard percussion plays in delightful mood, and an even more delightful wooden-flute sings of a life full of love and music. I sense some fragments of Fugal-Form and Counterpoint, a symbiosis entwined with itself. Oh, yes, and some pretty little major 3rd playing too, adding light and a ‘leggiero’ touch. Am loving the 7 beat pattern, which pauses just momentarily, then comes back in again, I want to dance up on my dining room table!!!! A dotted and staccato flute pierces the patterns and I have an enormous smile on my face, from ear to ear!! A handful of mechanical ‘portamente’ slide themselves into the Coda. I’m in wonderful mood Richard, thank you!!!
Track 15. “Until We Meet Again”
Ah, a very poignant piece to finish. It has a beautiful ‘rolling-pattern’ in the bass area, consisting of 3 notes where the 3rd note is held across a four-four measure. A slightly buoyant little boat greets me and sings of flute patterns, while a little bird flies higher playing a tin-whistle saying “I’m here too you know!” I sense a fond farewell and a touch of nostalgia in this 4.54 presentation. Until we meet again Richard, I shall keep your music in my heart always, and remember the places it took me to. B R A V O R I C H A R D ! ! !