We’re huge fans of winter music at A Closer Listen, so we are enamored by Cantus for Winter in Six Parts, a pure winter suite whose outer sleeve pays tribute to classic 20th century LPs. The implication is that the music will be selegant and stately, and while listening, one’s expectations are fulfilled. The music billows and drifts like snowbanks under wind, and as such is well-suited for playing while indoors, watching the flakes fall and the season unfurl.
The suite is in no hurry to start, slipping into the consciousness like the first inklings of a winter chill. “Part One”s first wide, drone-like chords emerge like fat squirrels checking one last time on their winter stashes. Even when one starts to hear the wind and snow, all is calm; the schools are closed, the larders are full, the candles are ready in case they are needed.
One of the nuances of the suite is that the tracks flow together; the precipitation is louder in the second part, but has increased so gradually that one would have to watch the counter to measure the moment of shift. The crackle of logs implies safety, while the strings communicate comfort. In the third movement, one strains to identify the sound of church bells, but wonders if the ears are playing tricks and the sound is but a lovely illusion. Every once in a while, the insulated sound of the storm emerges from between the chords, including a bit of thunder snow in Part Five.
Part Six (also known as Side B) is a looping, 19-minute meditation on time and perception. An early Bandcamp supporter (Manuel) writes, “I could listen to the final orchestral loop for hours.” The movement is patient and confident, developing in increments. The precipitation is audible throughout, suspending time like a watch without a battery or a clock without hands. As the landscape is draped in white, all physical markers disappear as well.
zakè releases a lot of music, but this is one of his finest releases to date. Everything is done right, from the concept to the execution, the physical sleeve to the suite. To hear winter music during its season is the icing on the cake, or to quote Christina Rossetti, snow on snow. (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 