Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon
Performers: Joel Fan, Ljova, Wu Tong, Jonathan Gandelsman, Yo-Yo Ma, Silk Road Ensemble, DaXun Zhang,
Alim Qasimov, Colin Jacobsen, Joseph Gramley, Mark Suter, Nilanjana Dey, Shane Shanahan, Nicholas Cords, Max Mandel
Composers: Traditional, Fikret Amirov, Zhao Jiping, Kayhan Kalhor, Sandeep Das, Silk Road Ensemble, Mammad Ordubadi,
Uzeyir Hajibeyov, Zhao Lin, Jit Dey Indra
Conductors: Alan Pierson
Original Release Date: April 5, 2005
Label: Sony Classical
Copyright: (P) 2005 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
Description:
Beyond the Horizon is a fitting companion to the ensemble's 2002 release, When Strangers Meet. Both CDs marry multi-cultural music traditions to classical performance discipline. The music heard on Beyond the Horizon provided the soundtrack for a Japanese television series about the ancient Silk Road trade route from the Far East across the far expanse of Central Asia to Mediterranean Europe. Ma and his diverse ensemble developed the CD's repertoire by working closely with composers of such cultures as China, Iran, Azerbaijan and India among others.
Yo-Yo Ma has said that the music on this album crosses boundaries of time and space, revealing the unity among seemingly different traditions... that it evokes the memory of the nomadic peoples who traveled and lived along the Silk Road.
Split into three sections entitled Enchantment, Origins, and New Beginnings, the CD's music blends haunting melodies with disciplined arrangements. Traditional western instruments like the harp, violin and cello commingle with the exotic sounds of the sarangi, sheng, kamancheh, tabla, pipa, dudak, tar and many others. The uninitiated have nothing to fear from such an imposing assortment of instruments, as each is described and pictured with its player in the liner notes.
Track Listings:
01.Enchantment- Mohini (Enchantment)
02.Enchantment- Oasis
03.Enchantment- Distant Green Valley
04.Enchantment- Akhalqalaqi Dance
05.Enchantment- Echoes of a Lost City
06.Origins- Mountains are Far Away
07.Origins- Yanzi (Swallow Song)
08.Origins- Battle Remembered
09.Origins- Summer in the High Grassland
10.New Beginnings- Kor Arab (The Blind Arab)
11.New Beginnings- Shikasta (Minstrel's Song)
12.New Beginnings- Night at the Caravanserai
13.New Beginnings- Gallop of A Thousand Horses
14.New Beginnings- Tarang (Currents)
15.New Beginnings- Sacred Cloud Music