The new Simon Thacker and the Nava Rasa Ensemble CD is now available!
Nada-Ananda explores the meeting of Indian and Western
cultures with an outstanding nine piece intercultural ensemble.
The CD features the world premiere recordings of Nada-Ananda
by Shirish Korde, an Indian composer who has forged a compelling
and distinctive voice in the West with his native music as a
basis, and The Birth of Naciketas by the UK’s Nigel
Osborne, a great Western music creator profoundly influenced by
Indian music. These two beautifully contrasting works have been acclaimed in live performances
across the UK.
Hear samples of the tracks and read about the
inspiration behind the pieces below. The CD comes with
comprehensive 16 page liner notes.
Simon Thacker (classical guitar); Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth (Carnatic
South Indian violin); Sarvar Sabri (tabla); The Edinburgh
Quartet (Tristan Gurney - violin, Philip Burrin - violin,
Michael Beeston - viola, Mark Bailey - cello); Mario Lima Caribé
da Rocha (double bass); Iain Sandilands (percussion)
Classical
Music Sentinel
"The musicianship on this recording is quite remarkable. Guitarist
Simon Thacker
transcends the instrument and persuades it to produce music
loaded with subtle nuances and character... A veritable
melting pot of styles and influences that have truly merged
into one."
Music Web International
"I was deeply impressed by
this disc – not just by the undeniably high standard of
musicianship throughout, but also by the fascinating,
accessible and interesting compositions, which demonstrate
that successful collaboration between Eastern and Western
music is, indeed, possible."
The Guardian
"...an exuberant virtuoso display of rhythmic
complexity. Nada Ananda means joy of sound, an idea Korde captured in
his music."
Gendai Guitar Japan
"An ambitious project which has proven very successful
because of the musicianship and devotion of Simon Thacker
Classical Music Magazine
"the
virtuosity of Thacker is matched by sizzling sounds from
Jyotsna Srikanth's Indian violin and Sarvar Sabri's tabla
playing".
Glasgow Herald
"...featured marvellous
interaction between Thacker and Srikanth and culminated in
the kind of strikingly intricate, powerful unison playing
from all involved that made McLaughlin’s group Shakti such a
thrill."
Hi-arts.co.uk
"The extraordinary range of
cultural influences, musical forms and emotional states in
the selected works were beautifully fluid and seamlessly
communicated by Thacker and his fellow musicians."
Shirish Korde's Nada
Ananda["the joy of sound"] concerto for guitar
and chamber ensemble, is in three movements. The first
is in the style of a North Indian Alap and
the guitar writing the explores the expressive possibilities
and colours of the instrument, combining the ornamentations
and figurations of the sitar with the timbre of the
classical guitar, here shadowed by Carnatic violin. The first and the second movement are
based on the raga Lalit which, according to Indian
music theory, is generally played at daybreak. The third
movement, Joy, sees extended cadenzas for the guitar,
Indian violin and tabla lead to an explosive climax for the
whole ensemble.
Nigel Osborne's The Birth of
Naciketas for guitar concertante is based on an
episode in the Upanishads where Naciketa’s mother dies in
childbirth and his father makes a bargain with Death to save
his son’s life. The work is based on the ten thaats,
or scale patterns, which are considered by many to have been
the forerunners of the raags of Indian classical
music. The piece's ten sections correspond to the ten
thaats in a 24-hour cycle related to the times of day
associated with the scale patterns. The Birth of Naciketa
continues Nigel's search for an Indian classical modernism.
