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| TolkienMovies.com Reviews of New Tolkien Music Titles From Caprice Caprice, _Elvenmusic_ (CD 2001) [Prikosnovénie] Caprice, _The Evening of Iluvatar’s Children_ (CD 2003) [Prikosnovénie] For Tolkien, a defining characteristic of the realm of Faerie is its arresting strangeness, an alterity which for mortals is at once perilous and intensely attractive. Amid the massive proliferation of Tolkien-inspired music in our time, one can point to many successful attempts to translate the hypnotic magnetism of the secondary world. (Of recent vintage one might cite the work of Arturo Stàlteri, Giuseppe Festa, and The Tolkien Ensemble.) Few, however – I would say none – have managed to capture _both_ the beauty _and_ the peril of Middle-earth in a single melody. Indeed, for all their variety, musical interpretations of Tolkien’s legendarium tend rather to blunt strangeness into familiarity (at least for me who must listen to more Tolkien music than most). It is against this backdrop that I am excited to introduce Caprice, a Russian neo-classical ensemble that is in the process of recording a trilogy of CDs that set Tolkien’s verse to music (the first two of which are now available; the third is due for release late in 2004). Caprice is the brainchild of keyboardist Anton Brejestovski, who has convened an impressive cadre of professional musicians from the Russian National Symphony, the Bolshoi Theatre and other prestigious quarters to realize his vision of “Elvenmusic.” The descriptor is to be taken literally, for Brejestovski’s goal is to imagine what Tolkien’s poems might sound like if they were sung by Elves. It is this deliberate attempt to approach these poems from a vantage point _within_ Faerie that imbues the result with its uniquely “perilous” quality. The music of Caprice drifts effortlessly across a landscape of moods expressive of Tolkien’s own versatility, ranging from the epic tapestry of Amroth and Nimrodel to the light-hearted Bath Song and the stately Athelas epigram. In a spirit of ecumenism, a number of poems from the _Adventures of Tom Bombadil_ have been included, adding dimensions of whimsy (Princess Mee), gothic horror (The Mewlips, Shadow Bride) and unrequited longing (The Last Ship). All of the lyrics are rendered by the ethereal voice of Inna Brejestovskaya, which saturates even the least perilous of the poems with an element of indefinable otherness. The Tolkien Ensemble sounds tame by comparison to the restless spirit that moves Caprice. No aficionado of Middle-earth should let pass an opportunity to hear this strikingly different interpretation of Tolkien’s poesy. The Caprice CDs are released on the French label, Prikosnovénie. In North America they can be purchased through Middle Pillar Distribution. Also, be sure to visit Caprice’s home page. |
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