Credits:

Benjamin Shwartz

Description:

A collection of works by composer Vasco Mendes, born in Portugal in 1977. He says that ever since he began his career as a composer, he has been obsessed with three themes”drama, ritual, and mechanism”and that these are all interconnected and influence his work. He explains that the pieces on this album are all like letters to himself, composed to bridge the gap between abstract concepts and the real world. The opening piano concerto attempts to overcome a sense of oppression by treating the pianowhich can evoke a feeling of confinementas nothing more than a sound-producing machine. Group Together, Avoid Speech, composed of three movements, was written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Grupenkin Orchestra. It was written for the orchestras nine principal players. Unanswerable Light is a meditative worka memorial to the composers deceased friend. The soloist in the piano concerto is