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Terje Isungset / Arve Henriksen: World of Glass
ByEstonian music producer Madli-Liis Parts initiated another sonic adventure for the duo as part of the grand finale concerts of Tallinn's year-long status as 2011 European Capital of Culture. In these concerts, Isungset and Henriksen played 30 fantastic glass instruments, prepared over a period of two years by celebrated Estonian artists led by Eeva Käsper and Mare Saare, all lit with bright, intense blue light.
In preparation for these concerts, Isungset and Henriksen assisted the artists in shaping these unique instruments over two visits to Tallinn, suggesting ideas such as adding holes and polishing the glass thinner to produce a more gentle and resonant timbre.
World of Glass offers 15 miniatures from the sonic universe made possible by these glass instruments. As with Isungset and Henriksen's previous improvised engagements with ice instruments, the two succeed in forming an expansive, versatile interplay of tribal, otherworldly folk sounds, performed with gentle dynamics of a nuanced resonant range.
The glass instruments stress the quiet intensity of Henriksen's fragile, almost ethereal trumpet and vocal sounds. Isungset wisely uses the overtones created by his instruments to deepen the peaceful, hypnotic effect of the soundscapes. The poetic interplay intensifies slowly over the course of the recording, with pieces conceptualizing distant thunder storms or disturbing, restless atmospheres, but concludes with a fascinating, meditative improvisation that highlights this magical, most beautiful experience.
Track Listing
Cave; Looking Through; Transparent Shadow; Crystal Clear; Surface; Optical Density; Silica; Obsidan; Float; Crunchy Crystal; Melting Glass Process; Blow; Murano Stories; Prism; Clearness at Departure.
Personnel
Arve Henriksen: glass horns, glass trumpets, vocals; Terje Isungset: glass percussion.
Album information
Title: World of Glass | Year Released: 2015 | Record Label: All-Ice Records