Two master musicians, Matthew Barley on cello and Adrian Freedman shakuhachi, embark on a night-time journey of musical improvisation… gently expanding musical phrases intertwining with the spirit of the night and finding repose in the dawn.
“This album came into being gradually over a period of more than 10 years. Matthew and I first met and played together informally in 2006. There was an immediate rapport, and a sense of synergy between us and our instruments. The rich tonal colours of the shakuhachi and cello seemed to compliment each other perfectly, and I sensed an almost telepathic connection with Matthew in the spontaneous melodies arising from our free improvisation.
Three years later in 2009 we gave a recital of improvised music at Kings Place Hall in London, together with the tabla player Sanju Sahai and the Hang player Ravid Goldschmidt. We had to wait three years for the next chance to play together, again a concert of improvised music at Kings Place Hall, this time a simple duo for shakuhachi and cello. We then set the intention to record an album together.
Two years later, one moonlit Autumn evening, we hired a small church with a beautiful acoustic in the Devonshire countryside. There we spent a transformative night playing music from dusk to dawn in an inspired flow. We came away from the session with 7 hours of recorded material. It was another two years before this raw material had been crafted into these seven pieces.“
Adrian Freedman
Track Listing/Duration
- 1. Twilight Sonic Space 11.41
- 2. Through the Veil 11.57
- 3. Night Pool 7.39
- 4. Intertwined 6.51
- 5. Yearning for the Moon 12.34
- 6. First Light 4.23
Total playing time: 55.05
Album Credits:
- All tracks composed by Adrian Freedman and Matthew Barley
- Adrian Freedman plays Miura Ryuho and John Kaizan Neptune shakuhachi
- Matthew Barley plays a Cesare Gigli cello from Rome, c.1750
- Recorded at St. John’s Church, Totnes, Devon by Adrian Freedman
- Recorded, edited and mixed by A. Freedman
- Mastered by Simon Heyworth and Andy Miles at Super Audio Mastering, UK
- Produced by Adrian Freedman
- Outer cover painting: Aya Sophia Freedman
- Inner cover painting: Noriko Moonbird
- Cover design and layout: Amy Behrens-Clark
“Exquisite balance between sound and stillness. A meditative conversation between two musical masters. Calming and captivating.”
Brian MyoZen Schutz“These two instruments together, I’ve never heard anything like this. It’s as if the cello was the big blue whale and the shakuhachi was the seagull. And they do this very special dance. Sometimes the cello reaches a pitch that resembles the strings of a viola, and that’s when the whale swims near the surface of the water. And they go on this adventure at night, bathed by a full moon that blesses their nocturnal journey. As with most Night Journeys, the act of surrender to unknown mysteries is for me a great way to go”.
Gabriela Dworecki Domingues
Taking a cue from it’s title, I’ve been listening to this new album late at night, when the stillness has thoroughly permeated the house, on a pair of good headphones reclining in total darkness. Under these favorable conditions, I found myself sinking into an inner journey where attention and presence were both demanded and amply rewarded. It felt like stepping into a forge where elementals are mixing, melding and separating, shooting bright sparks into the surrounding darkness. These were the many tender and musical moments encountered along the way, one of my favorites being a segment on the Night Pool track which gave me a glimpse of a Japanese countryside, the shakuhachi playing a charming folk tune and the cello magically transforming into a koto-like instrument. Yet, as alluring as these glimpses are, we don’t get a chance to get lost in them, being instead always drawn back into the impetuous current of creative energies, where the soundscape itself and its impressively rich colours and textures takes centre stage. The result of this journey was a meditative state more centering than transporting, which stirred my own creative energies. I highly recommend this album to musicians and meditators who are interested in the act of creation and the adumbral boundaries between presence and representation, story and silence, form and emptiness.
Radu Valc
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