Country : Brazil / Canada Label : Red Shift Genres and styles : Brazilian / Classical / Contemporary / Electroacoustic / Experimental / Contemporary Year : 2020

Going North

· by Michel Rondeau

A native of Brazil who lives in Banff, Luciane Cardassi is a pianist and composer who has been active for some 20 years in the field of contemporary music. Going North is a homage to her native and adopted countries that includes eight works by composers from both.

These works are part of the artistic movement known as magic realism, which aims to offer a renewed and expanded vision of reality by taking into consideration the strangeness, irrationality, and mystery it harbours. A good example would be, in literature, One Hundred Years of Solitude, a masterpiece by the writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, Colombia’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In cinema, the films by Serbia’s Emir Kusturica (Time of the Gypsies, Underground) and, closer to home, by Marc-André Forcier (Au Clair de la lune, Une histoire inventée) illustrate it well.

How does this translate into music? First of all, in the case at hand, by the presence of electronic and acousmatic spices hidden in the folds of this sometimes angular music, but also by the bursts of voices, narrative elements, and bits of dialogue in different languages, as in a collage, which is quite psychedelic at times but rather confusing because of its numerous tone breaks in the opening piece.

The more accessible “Berimbau” – as its title suggests – plays the Brazilian card to the fullest with an plethora of rhythmic elements produced by the instrument. An abundance of electronic effects, echoes, superimposed voices… it’s the most immediately inviting and exciting piece of the lot.

Elsewhere, the music is sometimes more stripped down and bewitching, sometimes more complex, making use of the wide range of techniques in piano playing, including those inside the instrument. Of course, this type of compositional work requires careful sound processing at the recording level. Clarity and sharpness, meticulous spatialization, judicious dosage of reverberation, the production reveals itself completely and allows one to abandon oneself at leisure to the secrets of magical realism.

Latest 360 Content

A party with post-punk Brooklynites TVOD

A party with post-punk Brooklynites TVOD

FIRE! Orchestra at FIMAV: Power Trio Meets Canadian Community of Avant-Garde Players

FIRE! Orchestra at FIMAV: Power Trio Meets Canadian Community of Avant-Garde Players

Blondshell – If You Asked For a Picture

Blondshell – If You Asked For a Picture

Hitting a Fever Pitch at the Ribbon Skirt LP Launch 

Hitting a Fever Pitch at the Ribbon Skirt LP Launch 

Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics – Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman.

Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics – Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman.

Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Boston Modern Orchestra Project / Gil Rose – Sirens

Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Boston Modern Orchestra Project / Gil Rose – Sirens

Howard Shore/Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France – Shore : Anthology

Howard Shore/Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France – Shore : Anthology

Quatuor Diotima – Boulez : Livre pour quatuor

Quatuor Diotima – Boulez : Livre pour quatuor

LMNL – Rainbow

LMNL – Rainbow

Strat Andriotis – Exits

Strat Andriotis – Exits

Richard Reed Parry – The Actor

Richard Reed Parry – The Actor

Tamara Stefanovich – Organised Delirium

Tamara Stefanovich – Organised Delirium

Galan Trio – Embrace

Galan Trio – Embrace

Jack Van Zandt – A Chaos of Light and Motion

Jack Van Zandt – A Chaos of Light and Motion

Tommy Crane – Reality Curated: Live at Ursa

Tommy Crane – Reality Curated: Live at Ursa

Thomas DeLio – Anti-paysage

Thomas DeLio – Anti-paysage

No Hay Banda – Steven Kazuo Takasugi : Il Teatro Rosso

No Hay Banda – Steven Kazuo Takasugi : Il Teatro Rosso

Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra; Vancouver Chamber Choir – Christopher Tyler Nickel : Mass; Te Deum

Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra; Vancouver Chamber Choir – Christopher Tyler Nickel : Mass; Te Deum

Hypercube – The Force for Good

Hypercube – The Force for Good

PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?

PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?

Duo AYA – Cycles

Duo AYA – Cycles

Papillon Social Club – Dur de la feuille

Papillon Social Club – Dur de la feuille

Coalescent Quartet – The Wall Between Us

Coalescent Quartet – The Wall Between Us

Subscribe to our newsletter