Parthenia and the music of Will Ayton
Donald C. Jones | Chicago | 02/11/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I received the Parthenia disc shortly after I ordered it, and I have heard it many times since then. I couldn't be more impressed. The disc is WONDERFUL, in many different ways. The playing is just totally fine, but the music is MARVELOUS! As I was listening to the music, I couldn't help but think of the Elizabethan composer and lutenist, John Dowland. Why? Because he was a fabulous MINIATURIST (in the art world, I liken his, work to Albrecht Dürer, the engraver), and the twenty-five pieces that make up this disc are exceptional musical miniatures. They are so very TASTEFULLY done that it's hard to believe that this is music of the twenty-first century! I don't mean to say that Will Ayton is imitating a style or a mode of music writing of a much earlier time. Rather, he has clearly found his own, unique and individual voice, and it is well expressed through his writing for viols. (I later discovered that he is also a player of the viol.) His choice of the Blake poems was so very wonderful, and your music brings out a true and deep meaning of his writings. I could not be more impressed, and I am totally determined that EVENTUALLY our newly formed quartet will play this very music. I'm also confident that we will also be playing some of his other compositions. I deeply appreciate knowing this work, as it gives us viol players the opportunity to play the music OF OUR OWN TIME, and I feel very strongly that musicians and lovers of music need to support the music makers/composers of TODAY. Therefore, if you love the sound of the viol and Western music from the time before the nineteenth century, you will very probably enjoy this disc."
A sleeping tiger
S. Perry | MA | 12/08/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I will admit right up front that I may not be the most objective reviewer of this album. I had the good fortune to study with Ayton at his day job as a college professor, and while he is an excellent composer, his true genius is in the classroom.
Having said that I will say that this is a fine recording which is suffused with a rich sense of the old meeting the new. The tonality of the instruments are distincly ancient but the material has a fairly modern lilt to it.
The main piece "A Reliquary For William Blake." at times flirts with minimalism and even has an occasional Asian touch to it. It is understated in a manner that clearly leaves the words of Blake to be the star, but never so much so as to be powerless or completely secondary to the script.
The other pieces have a similar quality, and seem to lull you gently and fluidly in one direction or another, sometimes more so towards peace and at other times towards joy.
In all it is a calm, yet moving collection of works, never fully sleeping, nor ever without it's claws.
"
Track Listings (26) - Disc #1