David Darling continues his extraordinary solo cello voyage launched on Journal October (1979) and continued with Cello (1992). The cinematic qualities of Darling's solo music has led to its use in films by Jean Luc Godard and Wim Wenders. Dark Wood inspires a different art form: the CD booklet contains a short story, 'Disturbing the Night', specially written to accompany the music by Barry Lopez, American author of the acclaimed Arctic Dreams. Lopez wrote the story as a literary counterpoint to the evocative music of Dark Wood. The music experiments further with the unique multi-tracking techniques used on Cello, creating haunting harmonies and rich textures.
This CD by a spin-off group from the Ensemble Micrologus uses the colourful life of the notorious Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of the Borgia Pope and twin sister of the bloodthirsty Cesare as a peg on which to hang a selection of appropriate 15th- and 16th-century repertoire. Lucrezia’s short life was packed with incident, and as the daughter of one of Italy’s foremost families she had direct contact with many of the musicians whose music features here. Her family intrigues also meant that she moved constantly throughout Italy, experiencing the great centres of culture such as Rome and Mantua. Patrizia Bovi, who sings and plays the bray harp, and Medusa, who play a variety of stringed instruments take the same the same forthright approach to the repertoire as does Ensemble Micrologus, and there is a pleasing sparkle and energy about this CD.