Kuremoto, Izumi: Late Chrysanthemums

Born in Japan and now residing in the States, Izumi Kuremoto is a musician/composer with a new triple album set titled Late Chrysanthemums. The CD comes in a nice four fold digipack with ethereal artwork, a precursor to the music found within.

The first disc is a DVD in 5.1 surround and includes the tracks "Opening" and "Venus" set to visuals. The first track "Opening" is an operatic piece with soprano vocals courtesy of Anoosh Barclay and Kristin Sampson. Judith McIntyre and Marc Tagle provide violincello and Kuremoto is credited with MIDI generated sounds. It is a very ethereal piece with the vocals front and center. To really enjoy this piece you need to be a fan of opera which I am not. That said, the music and vocals are expertly played although the emphasis is clearly on the vocals. The second tune "Venus" is a solo violin piece played by Ellen Gronningen and again the playing is top notch and is often quite somber. Party music this is not.

The second disc is the same as the first minus the videos.

The third disc contains two long pieces, "Three Movements for Harp & Strings" and "Late Chrysanthemums". The former features violin and harp, a dance of strings weaving around gently plucked harp. The third movement is much darker than the first two sections. Vibraphone and viola dominate the title track, another mood laden piece with a more experimental edge.

As classical and opera are not really my thing I likely won't get much mileage out of this album but for those of you into slow, sometimes brooding motifs you might want to check this out.

Track Listing:
DVD
1. Opening (25:32)
2. Venus (20:11)
CD 1
1. Opening (25:32)
2. Venus (20:11)
CD 2
1. Three Movements for Harp & Strings (25:55)
2. Late Chrysanthemums (23:04)

Added: June 21st 2017
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Artist's Official Site
Hits: 1832
Language: english

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