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review by Bill Binkelman On his latest release, Australian keyboard player Nick Davis turns even more toward a traditional classical sound and less toward the new age side of things than on his last release, Eclipse. Tales of a Summer Past is resplendently melodic and sounds like a combination of traditional chamber and classical orchestral music, with all instrumentation being sampled versions of strings, horns, brass, and reeds, as well as (of course) piano. The mood is, for the most part, spring-like, full of sunny refrains and warm romantic sweeps of strings, lilting flutes and cheerful horns. Davis' piano playing is featured both as solo instrument and also accompanying the other instruments. Most of the song titles are indicative of the piece's tempo and/or tone. The opening "A New Season Dawns" begins appropriately quiet with a rolling piano intro and high soft strings, but builds as the sun rises, adding celebratory massed horns, a second piano, and more dramatic strings, along with thundering timpani and crashing cymbals. "Heart's Desire" has a stately "English garden" feel to it, with its genteel cadence and semi-formal mood to the strings, both solo (in what sounds like a viola) and violins. "Train to Vienna" is sprightly, even jaunty (although not particularly evocative of a train trip). The song features solos on violin and flute, as well as piano performing the background melodic work. "The Harvest Feast" sounds like Vivaldi or Teleman, albeit with the addition of piano among the chamber string ensemble that plays on most of the track. The mood here is light and lively and its one of the better selections to my ears. Davis shows he can quiet things down, too, on songs like "Moonlight Rendezvous," featuring quiet solo piano and, later, graceful flute, cello, and gently plucked violin strings. He can also turn darker and moodier, such as on "Summer Rain" (one of the pieces that could be called more new age than classical although an oboe does add a classical element to the piano and strings). This is probably my favorite song on the album, as I enjoy the contrast of emotions the piece evokes. "Reminisce" begins with some Renaissance-era guitar; it's an uptempo number but one shaded with more than a hint of sadness. Plucked and bowed strings later in the songs move the piece in a more overt orchestral sound, along with a lovely solo flute line. There are thirteen tracks in all on Tales of a Summer Past, and no two sound completely alike, except the last one which is a refrain of an earlier song ("Farewell to a Friend"). Davis does an admirable job balancing all the assorted sampled instruments/keyboards and has almost universal success in their sonic quality (occasionally, the solo violin could be upgraded slightly, but the solo wind instruments, notably the flute, sound great, as do the massed string sections, especially the violins). All in all, Davis has done a very good job in recreating the sound and feel of romantic classical music, especially from the Baroque period, and many tracks are wonderfully expressive of the warmer emotions: happiness, love, joy, cheer; he is also able to portray regret and longing nicely on a few selections. For new age music fans that enjoy this type of cross-over music (classical performed on electronic keyboards) Tales of a Summer Past will likely reward you with many pleasant hours of listening enjoyment. |
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