Dobrinka Tabakova String Paths

String Paths
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Artist: Dobrinka Tabakova, Roman Mints, Maxim Rysanov, Kristina Blaumane, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Raimondas Sviackevicius, Donatas Bagurskas, Viava Eidukaityte-Storastiene, Janine Jansen, Julia-Maria Kretz, Amihai Grosz, Torleif Thedéen, Boris Andrianov, Stacey Watton
Genre: Classical
Label: ECM New Series

The ECM label is making quite a fuss over the London-trained Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova – "richly melodic, texturally sensuous, often emotionally radiant" is the pitch. Tabakova favours melodic writing with folk-derived inflections, solid, wall-of-sound backgrounds, and immediacy of effect, whether it's in creating skeins of minimalistically patterned dissonance or rewriting the styles of centuries ago. To my ears, the immediacy has all the subtlety of the plot and titling of that notorious action thriller, Snakes on a Plane. And, like Snakes on a Plane, String Paths has top- name support – the performers include violinist Janine Jansen, viola-player Maxim Rysanov and cellist Torleif Thedéen.
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Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor