A Spring
bouquet of locally grown musical
delights
Howard
Dyck The
Record Three
CDs with strong local connections have caught my attention recently,
providing further evidence that this part of the world is now one of the
undisputed hotspots in Canadian classical music. Echoes:
The Sacred Dance This delightful recording by Waterloo classical guitarist Kevin Ramessar cuts a broad stylistic swath, and the result is entirely satisfying. The repertoire includes music by Barrios, Bach, Albeniz, Brouwer and Guiliani, as well as a couple of charming improvisations by the performer. Ramessar is clearly an accomplished guitarist. Intonation, agility, tone, phrasing – all of these key elements are securely in place. But he is also a thoughtful musician. He sets out the premise of the recording when he writes, “In the music we listen to, in the things we create… in relationships and even in ourselves, we hear echoes of something beyond, of a reality that transcends our own.” Listening to this thoroughly engaging CD and thinking about Ramessar’s ideas, I was reminded of Bach, for whom all music was a great cosmic dance between the temporal and the ineffable worlds. Ramessar’s playing captures the dramatic tension that results when those worlds intersect.
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