Philip Chiu/Lara Deutsch – Night Light

There is magic in Night Light. Magic that is imbued with sonic sparkles that range from mysterious to impressionistic to dreamlike. The pleasantly mischievous side of Digital Bird Suite still leaves room for softly melancholic passages that reach the target of aesthetic pleasure. It has to be said that the composer Takashi Yoshimatsu does not come from an academic ivory tower but rather from rock, jazz and screen music (the Astro Boy series). The technical demands on the flautist seem daunting, but Lara Deutsch, a rising star in the 2020 music scene according to BBC Magazine, deals with them without ruffling a feather!

I conversed with you in a dream by Canadian Jocelyn Morlock is aptly titled: evanescent, dreamlike, and mysterious, the piece has all the makings of a soothing nocturnal suite. Night, by Frédéric Lacroix, is a sometimes expressionist, sometimes impressionistic account of a journey across Canada. Urban lights rub shoulders with majestic trees, the crackling of a campfire, or the magnificent starry vault of a perfect sky overlooking the great spaces of this vast country. The harmonic envelope here is a little more full-bodied than in the previous pieces, but the whole remains highly attractive and above all emotionally accessible.

The programme ends with a return to Romanticism through Schubert’s Introduction and Variations on “Trockne Blumen,” Op. 160, D. 802. The two musicians give a poised reading, without any swaggering effects, but with emotional depth.

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Une publication partagée par Lara Deutsch (@laradeutschflute)

Deutsch and Chiu are among the finest performers of the new canadian generation, capable of impetuosity but subscribing to a sense of measure and balance. They are also impeccable technicians as well as being highly sensitive musicians.

I had no particular expectations before listening to this album. But the end result is that it is one of the most satisfying and stimulating albums I have listened to this year. A huge congratulations!