Song of Songs
Anastasia Minster; Canadian Studio Symphony Orchestra; Felipe Tellez
Independent (anastasiaminster.com)
The title of this disc Song of Songs by Anastasia Minster may suggest it contains works based on The Song of Songs, that biblical book sometimes attributed (albeit erroneously) to King Solomon, legendary for his superlative wisdom and extraordinary wealth. But don’t let that distract you for it does – in a not-so-oblique way – reference themes of love, the heart and soul and metaphor of its biblical namesake.
Moreover, what the recording is may also not be everyone’s idea of an orchestral one – although it is quite extraordinary. Survey the performance of pianist and vocalist Minster, and you will discover someone incapable of being temperamentally innocuous, bland or emotionally disengaged from the black-velvet-dark content. With her silvery timbre – lustrous in the high notes and like molten lava in the lower ones – Minster rises to the challenge; nay she bursts through the glass ceiling of this impassioned, shadowy repertoire.
In the artistic execution – vocal and orchestral – and in the warmth and detail of its recording, the disc is flawless. I do miss printed lyrics and believe (too punctilious a demand on my part perhaps) that every vocal disc ought to come with a booklet of texts. In her defense, I have to say that this gorgeously poetic disc may be a worthy exception. Minster is an uber-articulate vocalist and it is not particularly difficult to follow these contemporary art songs without the guide of printed lyrics.
