David Dalle
Thursday October 12th, 2023 with David Dalle
Music from the shadows: Kamancello, Shahram Nazeri, Jacob Cooper and the String Orchestra of Brooklyn.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I will not be able to host my program this week. Here is a sombre, poignant, and achingly beautiful program from July 2020. Today's show focuses on two new recordings, both featuring stringed instruments, both extremely poignant, haunting music. The first is the new release from Kamancello, the duo featuring Shahriyar Jamshidi on kamenche and Raphael Weinroth-Browne on cello. They perform 100% improvised music together, some of the most extraordinarily beautiful music I've heard. Their new album is entitled "Of Shadows", all recorded live in one take without any editing. We will hear it in its entirety. The second album is "Afterimage", the debut recording by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn. It features two substantial works by two different young American composers, Jacob Cooper and Christopher Cerrone. Both works are based on famous compositions from the 18th and early 19th century. We will hear Jacob Cooper's "Stabat Mater Dolorosa" which is based on the opening movement from the famous 1736 "Stabat Mater" by Pergolesi. The original work by Pergolesi is scored for Soprano and Alto voices with strings and basso continuo. It makes frequent use of harmonic suspensions where one voice moves a step away from the other creating dissonance which is then resolved, causing harmonic tension which moves the music along and greatly heightens the emotional impact of the music. The first movement is usually performed in under four minutes, but Jacob Cooper stretches out the dissonant suspensions in a nearly 30 minute lamentation, exquisite and breathtaking. To keep the Persian connection, we will hear the piece book-ended by two songs from Shahram Nazeri's gorgeous 2010 album "Perplexity".