Into Silence

Into Silence

Description: 
Time, silence, light, reflection, and transcendence
Composers: 
Jane Antonia Cornish
Performers: 
Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir
Caitlin Sullivan
Claire Bryant
Hamilton Berry
Vicky Chow
Anna Elashvili
Catalog Number: 
#976
Genre: 
new classical
Collection: 
strings
piano
Location: 

New York, NY

Price: 
$15.00
Release Date: 
Aug 25, 2017
Liner Notes: 
View
1 CD
Into SilenceiTunes Artist's PageiTunes Album Page
Song TitleTimePrice
1.Memory of Time06:20$0.99
2.Into Silence I06:47$0.99
3.Scattered Light04:35$0.99
4.Elegia06:04$0.99
5.Into Silence II02:40$0.99
6.Luminescence05:18$0.99
One Sheet: 

Time, silence, light, reflection, and transcendence are all explored in Jane Antonia Cornish’s new album, Into Silence. A breathless fragility on the precipice of liminal space imbues the album’s six over-arching linear meditations; each work an inquiry into the transitory beauty of the unknown, through self-reflection and the conscious reorientation of perspective. These hallmarks of Cornish’s aesthetic experience, along with the exquisitely balanced unfolding of her material, all contribute to a highly expressive and brave musical narrative that is unafraid, and, once heard, cannot be unheard. 

The six works featured here are not only unified conceptually, but also through their instrumentation; each features a subset of an aggregate ensemble of violin, piano, four ‘cellos, and electronics. Throughout, Cornish brilliantly uses a carefully planned unveiling of instrumental sonorities to actuate and propel the over-arching design of the album’s broader narrative.  

Memory of Time (solo violin and four cellos) explores a distant nocturnal pathos as the solo violin’s expressive presence floats, suspended, over the ‘cello ensemble’s irrevocable sighs. The titular Into Silence I incorporates piano and electronics into the sonic tableaux of the proceeding work, reorienting the seemingly unappeased yearning of the introductory material with a tender earthbound comfort. Scattered Light, scored for ‘cello alone, expounds an unbridled moment of cadenza-like virtuosity. As the harmonic rhythm increases and intensifies the work concludes in an evaporated calmness. Elegia returns to the sound-world and material of the album’s opening work (Memory of Time), now examined through the aperture of elegiac reflexivity. A meditation on solitude, Into Silence II, for piano solo, probes some of the album’s most inner-directed moments of isolation. Luminescence (scored for solo ‘cello, three ‘cellos, and electronics) is a culmination of the entire album’s exploration of liminality. The electronic component returns with an exquisite and arresting subtly of hushed empyrean filigree. A solo cello momentarily transforms the sighing motif of the opening into a hopeful upward reach towards transcendence. The work ends in deliquesce silence, and the album concludes with a return of the opening motif, exemplifying the elegant notion that silence is the path to transformation. 

Jane Antonia Cornish is a British Academy Award winning composer who grew up in England and lives in New York City. In the world of film scoring, Cornish composed the music for many films, including the drama “Fireflies in the Garden”, starring Julia Roberts, Ryan Reynolds and Willem Dafoe.

Reviews: 

MUSIC WEB INTERNATIONAL

"This is one of those lovely albums that takes you to a specific place, creating a unified atmosphere and resolutely refusing to shock – making it ideal for relaxing candle-lit baths and enhancing moods of tender contemplation: ‘useful’ music in this and previously mentioned regards, and none the worse for that. Entering such a ballroom of beauty is a rewarding and wondrous experience, but I will always have the feeling there is a palace beyond that has yet to be discovered." [FULL ARTICLE] - Dominy Clements

ICON

"Grandly soothing without being soporific, Into Si- lence is a virtual blessing for a world gone mad." [FULL ARTICLE] - Mark Keresman 

CD HOTLIST 

"The beauty of Cornish’s compositions runs far deeper than their lyricism; it lies in her use of empty space, her insightful way with instrumental texture (something that film composers learn better than almost any others), and her willingness to put ostentatious virtuosity aside in favor of clarity. Each of these pieces is written for some combination of violin, piano, cellos, and electronics, though the electronics are incorporated so seamlessly into the overall soundworld of these works that they are almost completely imperceptible as such. The music is deeply quiet and stunningly beautiful. I highly recommend this disc to all libraries. (And now I’m off to find as many other recordings of Cornish’s work as I possibly can.)" [FULL ARTICLE] - Rick Anderson

El Correo

"The way the mood is now, it would not be a bad idea for the whole country to listen carefully to our song of the week, to see if that lowers the tension a bit and we stop pestering our lives...she cultivates an austere aesthetic, serene and discreet, very close to the silence that appears in the title, which, more than breaking, is reinforced by the subtle harmonies and melodic lines" [FULL ARTICLE] - Carlos Benito 

WORLD MUSIC REPORT

"The music of Jane Antonia Cornish is a fabric woven by almost invisible – in her case – virtually inaudible notes and phrases, and when any sound is brought forth from the musicians mesmerised into playing her music, the sound is transcendent. Notes seem to dally in the air pregnant with silence. Phrases are strung together like necklaces of pearls magnificent in their crystalline polyphonic clarity. And on the two-part centrepiece of this album, “Into Silence” there is a leisurely unfolding of movements that presage something close to the ecstatic...This well-recorded disc will be a welcome addition to any library of modern music – especially one with music by Jane Antonia Cornish swelling in its ranks" [FULL ARTICLE] - Raul Da Gama 

STATIONARY TRAVELS 2017 IN REVIEW

"At its most plaintive, Into Silence peers into your soul while at its most ardent & resonant, it is pure, transcendent beauty. A very special record, this." [FULL ARTICLE

KATHODIK

"pervaded by a contemplative musical idea, very delicate and ethereal." [FULL ARTICLE] - Luciano Feliciani

NIEUWE NOTEN

"With a strong visual, cinematic tonality. On 'Into Silence I' the piano (Vicky Chow) comes with a slow, but emphatic cadence, like a slowly flowing river, against a subtle sound landscape shaped by the strings and the electronics." [FULL ARTICLE]

ARTS & CULTURE MAVEN

"a gorgeous collection of reflective and emotional music that explores notions of time, silence, light, reflection, and trascendence.” [FULL ARTICLE]