Christopher Whitley is a Canadian violinist who makes both serious contemporary music and improvisation. His performance of Nicole Lizée’s Don’t Throw Your Head In Your Hands won this piece the JUNO 2024 for best classical composition. Almost as Soft as Silence is a set of gentle improvisatory wanderings in a focused (and open) tonal palette, evoking transparent pastel colors that invite contemplation.
Whitley’s touch on the strings is delicate, restrained and subtle. The suggested sonorities are born and blossom with a mastery and spirit reminiscent of the mystical minimalism of Pärt, Tavener and Kancheli.
The fifteen tracks are rarely longer than three minutes each, which is appropriate given the modesty of the harmonic material.
A soothing, intelligent album.
