The Island
title • The Island
year • 2011
genre • avant-garde, classical
country • Romania / United Kingdom
cd • S 62610
tracklisting:
1. Diary 4:12
2. I'm Hungry 2:22
3. Friday 2:37
4. Temptation 5:45
5. Pierre the Pirate 3:01
6. About Mary 3:56
7. Sheep Shelter 3:10
8. Granny's Menace 4:59
9. Small Pirate Song 2:35
10. Another Pirate Song 3:59
11. Cannibals 2:30
12. Cry 3:51
13. Mabogo 5:22
14. Tropical Phenomenon 2:33
15. Smash Them Granny 3:49
16. Again, Diary 0:06
17. Dream 1:35
18. End 2:45
Since its formation in 1987, the Balanescu Quartet has acquired a reputation as one of the leading contemporary ensembles in the world The driving force behind the quartet has always been the virtuoso violinist and composer Alexander Balanescu, who leads his musicians across musical frontiers into new unchartered territory. The new cd, however, is very special, even within the quartet’s repertoire: together with the Romanian singer Ada Milea Alexander let himself be inspired by the play ‘The Island’ by the Romanian surrealist writer Gellu Naum.
After Alexander Balanescu’s return to Romania in the ‘90s, after an absence of over 20 years, his roots became more and more important to him. At the end of that decade he came across Ada Milea, whose work he thought to be highly original and courageous.
In the new millenium they wanted to work on something that neither of them had attempted before. Ada came up with the idea to use the play ‘The Island’ by the great Romanian surrealist writer Gellu Naum. In turn ‘The Island’ is based on the story of Robinson Crusoe.
The Island is a special project, even for the Balanescu Quartet. It can be considered as a mini-opera with text and music in perfect harmony. The texts are hilarious and slightly absurd, the music is thrilling and fascinating.
“A wild, rumbustious and often extremely amusing land inhabited by a mermaid prostitute, grandparents and a pirate with wooden legs, in which Balanescu’s soft, dead-pan voice of Crusoe, contrasts with the extraordinary vocal gymnastics of Milea” Oxford Times