Azar
Outremer
Jardine de lune
The gentle sleep
Rue - bleue
D'arc d'harpe
De pourpre et d'argent
A green for her voice
Blood of cherries
Of asphodel
With
a fortified discography as sublime and musically proficient as Dead Can
Dance, Ataraxia return with their latest full length album in two years,
and this reprise is no less in stature with its predecessors. By Ataraxia's
own admission, Saphir is an album dedicated to the magical gardens of
myth and legend that inspires music of nature's spirituality: a portal
for entering the realms of dream and fantasy. In such locales harmony
and nature go hand in hand, a cradled animism protective of humankind's
right and ability to have such freedom as to dream by inspiration of the
nature's intrinsic aesthetics.
If you are familiar with Ataraxia's music you will find no dismay in experimentation
for there is only room for refinement of skills well honed for their chosen
theme. Romanticism, Classicism, Medieval, Folk and Baroque filaments form
a backbone for the dark and beautiful expressions from Ataraxia.
Classical guitar deftly arpeggiates flickering, somber chords that weave
into elements of flamenco flourish and defiance. Far from being pigeon-holed,
Vittorio Vandelli adds restrained chaos with brush strokes of acoustic
guitar before striking harmonic melodic pieces that either define the
main expositions of other instruments or become a reflection of song melody
itself. The percussive elements on this album, courtesy of Riccardo Spaggiari
accompany Ataraxia with such subtlety that the listener could nary feel
as if his mastery was not ever removed, from the unrelenting thunder of
timpani to the lilting finger rolls and pinched bells of the many classical
percussive instruments used on the entire album, truly showing that percussion
is not only meter to music but has its own varied voice equal of any instrument.
Giovanni Pagliari piano and keyboard skills conjoined in dance with acoustic
guitar pattering, to blissful waves of synth and back to piano as necessary
as any of the musical strains. Francesca Nicoli's voice as ever scales
soprano heavens to graveled hells, tumid with emotion, carried as ever
with a strength and operatic resolve that outshines any delicate sensibilities;
hers is a sun over the land of musical accompaniments.