Harmonic Constellations
Mari Kimura, violin
For Harmonic Constellations, violinist Mari Kimura has collected half a dozen works for violin and electronics, by a group of American composers each of whom has a distinctive compositional style, and who take different approaches to the challenge of composing for the violin and electronics. Of particular note is the premiere recording of the title track, a major new composition from Michael Harrison, which is scored for violin with 13 pre-recorded tracks and computer generated sine tones. The work is composed of nine constellations of complex just intonation harmonies that gradually shift and evolve over time.
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“…lovely and hypnotic. Michael Harrison's Harmonic Constellations (2016) is the title track of the disc and the longest work on the program. It pairs the live violin with a prerecorded part of both violin tracks and sine-tones… The result, over its 20-plus minutes, is lovely and hypnotic.”
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“…Long, sustained pitches—combined with minimal vibrato and keenly accurate intonation—produced a pleasing minimalist drone, for an otherworldly excursion into the farthest reaches of the string universe.”
“As Michael Harrison has pressed further into the map of his musical life, something magical has happened. The map is folding in on itself, with the seemingly distant now adjacent regions overlapping, simple lines becoming multi-dimensional.”