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Track Listings
| 1. Arabesque 3 |
| 2. It's Steeper Near The Roses (For David Sylvian) |
| 3. L'enfant Perdu |
| 4. Chrysalis Nu (To Barney’s Memory) |
| 5. Three Faces West (Billy Al Bengston’s) |
| 6. Arabesque 2 |
| 7. Little Heart |
| 8. How Vacantly You Stare At Me |
| 9. A Walk In The Park With Nancy (In Memory) |
| 10. Rue Casimir Delavigne (For Daniel Lentz) |
| 11. Arabesque 1 |
| 12. Porcelain Ginger |
| 13. Faraon |
| 14. As Long As I Can Hold My Breath |
Product Description
Review
He leaves behind a body of work that at its best, is possibly unparalleled in its simple beauty. At its worst, it can verge on the insipid. His forlorn, meditative piano playing has become an immediately recognisable sound, whether processed into ambient soundscapes (as on his collaborations with Brian Eno)or left alone to trace delicate, autumnal minimalism.
Whatever the delights of his back catalogue, to my ears Avalon Sutra is possibly Budd's most consistently ravishing work.It owes a lotto the largely acoustic textures of The Pavilion of Dreams, his 1978 debut for Eno's Obscure label.Influenced equally by the more meditative moments of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders as well as minimalist Cage piano works like In a Landscape, it mapped out an area that he's not often returned to since.
Augmented by the woodwinds of Phillip Glass collaborator Jon Gibson and the occasional appearance of a string quartet, the composer's piano offers gentle, rippling arpeggios and skeletal, yearning melodies characterised as much by the space between the notes as the notes themselves. The four duets with Gibson are tiny gems; melancholic but never maudlin.
The pieces with string quartet makes me wish Budd had done more in this vein, or that maybe he'd stick around and do some more. For the remainder of the record the piano is left alone, sometimes with the haze of distant electronic textures. Nothing outstays its welcome; nothing is out of place.
A second CD is given over to a 'remix' of the final track, "As Long As I Can Hold My Breath". Built round loops of processed strings and augmented by that spectral piano, it's one of those pieces that takes on afurniture-like quality when played at low volume. In true Eno style,it becomes part of the environment. Then it finishes, and things seem different, emptier. Goodbye, Mr Budd. We'll miss you. --Peter Marsh
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Customer Reviews
It is a denser more personal work than some of his more recent works. The first disc features 14 tracks which have a strong theme running through them. It's a rich mix of ambient, piano and string arrangments interwoven with some beautiful sax and flute work. You get the sense of someone taking a retrospective view of their life as there are musical references to the 1940's, 50's and 80's here. It's a walk round a garden on a Summer afternoon. It's restful but also mildly challenging in parts.
The second disc is one long piece extending the last track of the first side out over an hour. It's called 'As long as I can hold my breath'. It works as a cyclical ambient piece and uses, in same way that Eno's 'Thursday Afternoon' does, recurring reference points.
Overall it's a rather beautiful experience which grows with repeated listening.
This is perfect home listening of a more classical, soundtrack nature. Warm & delicate instrumentation is the order of the day. Not being familiar with Harold Budd I was initially put off by the 'Avalon' in the title which I thought might have suggested New-Age noodlings! No such worries. I suppose you could describe this as New age/Classical? I don't know. To be honest I'm quite new to this kind of music so I'm struggling to find a good way to describe it. I suppose it would make an almost perfect soundtrack to a David Attenbourough documentary. I say that because it reminded me quite a lot of the 'Life on Earth' soundtrack & to my ears this album has a very similar feel & kind of warm fuzziness about it. That is to say that the production feels very subtle. High, sharper sounds seem to be kept deeper in the mix so as not to appear to sharp & abrasive thus retaining the warm & gentle feel that this album exudes. Triangles & other similar percussion instruments are often heard as quite distant background sounds, which gives the music an incredible depth. Meanwhile the strings, piano & woodwind instruments are brought to the fore where they soothe & move in equal measures. The whole album is an incredible listen & comes very highly recommended for fans of modern classical, soundtrack & ambient pieces from the likes of Brian Eno.
This package also comes with a second CD containing 'As long as I can hold my breath'. A single piece which lasts for some 70 minutes! Like the main album this is a beautiful piece that's even more subtle & hypnotic. Perfect meditation music? I wouldn't know about that but it's frankly impossible not to be 'transported' by this piece well within the 70 minutes that it lasts for! A truly beautiful & amazing work. On top of all this the 2 CD's come beautifully packaged & feature some very appropriate cover photography/artwork.
The first, Avlon Sutra, is a 14 track trek through the hinterlands of ambient. But where much that comes under that banner fails to hold the attention, AS uses melody, rhythmic pulse and textures to provide an unfolding and rewarding experience. The album is just over 3/4 hour long.
The second album takes the last track from AS (As Long as I Can Hold My Breath) and treats it to lengthy and varied explorations, moving further and further away from the source as he does so, only to return renewed. Coming in at a shade under 70 minutes it might seem a rather ominous, but it isn't. You can have it on in the background, or you could focus totally on it. Both approaches work, though the rewards are obviously greater in the latter...
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