Maya Homburger & Barry Guy - Tales of Enchantment [Intakt]

Maya Homburger - baroque violin
Barry Guy - double bass


Intakt 2012

Improvised music attracts the rebelious minds with roughness, wildness, vitality and spontaneity. Its intention and direction are born from chaos. On the contrary, classical music strived always for th orderly perfection of sounds - pure, harmonious and balanced. The two opposite worlds are integrated within the music of this duo - Maya Homburger's an acknowledged violinist while Barry Guy's is a one of the leading musicians of European improvised scene.

When the couple play together the musical boundaries disappear and in the middle of the classical vs avant-garde opposition you can see the bounding element of the two traditions - a will of human soul to express itself.

"Tales of Enchantment" is a title of the Barry Guy's suite dedicated to Elana Gutmann, the album features as well a composition cycle "Hommage a Max Bill". Guy's contemporary music stress the mysterious harmonies, dark tones, dramatic narration filled with suspense, revealing also the notion of unpredictable, explored by the modern classical music.

Somewhere in the middle of the cd Barry Guy's plays a solo piece "Going Home" which sounds very much like a negro spiritual song, thus connected to the religious theme of the compositions that surround the suites.
Among the presented there's work by the duo's favourite H.I.F. Biber (Mystery Sonata No 5 "The Agony in the Garden",Mystery Sonata No. 9 "The Carrying of the Cross" and Mystery Sonata No. 15 "The Coronation of the Virgin") as well as Gyorgy's Kurtag "Hommage a J.S.B" and  breathtakingly beautiful medieval hymn "Veni Creator Spiritus" that opens the cd.

The clarity, the harmony of those compositions is in full display in the virtuoso performance given by Maya Homburger and Barry Guy. Majestic and pure, soul uplifting music. Tales of enchantment stay true to its title.