Beiser, Maya: Almost Human

Album review

The writings of Belgian poet Henri Michaux (1899-1984) are tinged with surrealism. The world he conjures in his prose poem "I am writing to you from a far-off country" is viscerally disturbing in its juxtaposition of the most mundane and familiar elements of life with unnervingly alien details, "Here, we have only one sun a month, and just for a little while," "Dwarves are born here continually," "You know the story of the flea in the drawer? Yes, of course. And how true it is, don't you think?" Cellist Maya Beiser became fascinated with the poem in her teens and American composer Eve Beglarian wrote a piece for her in 2006 that incorporates the poem. Beiser plays the cello and recites the 12 sections of the poem, accompanied by electronics and a wordless vocalise sung by Alexandra Montano. The original performances also included video images by Shirin Neshat, projected on nine screens placed around the cellist. The piece is hauntingly evocative and emotionally unnerving. Beglarian's music draws on folk traditions of her Armenian heritage as well as a variety of world musics, and effectively takes the poet's soulful imagery to an even deeper level of expressiveness. Beiser's performance of the wrenching score is passionate, but beautifully controlled; the matter-of-factness with which she describes her far-off country only heightens its frightening otherness. Joby Talbot's Motion Detector and Falling, both for cello and tape, are effective and dramatic, but they come across as anticlimactic when hearing them after Beglarian's stunning tour de force.
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