Virgil Donati is an amazing drummer. Understatement. And now he is also a classical composer. He wedded these two talents together for "The Dawn Of Time", an album which is breathtaking in its ambition and achievement.
Any drummer who has attended a classical concert must have tapped a foot or two to some powerful rhythms – and wondered why the band doesn't have a proper drum kit and instead limits itself to a few timpani and a couple of cymbals.
But Donati hasn't just added drums to a series of orchestral pieces, he has enmeshed the drums into the music, giving them equal billing with the other instruments and sometimes taking centre stage. On top of this he has mixed up some stunning time signature changes and juxtapositions. And, as with Frank Zappa's orchestral work, he has created something new and urgent inside an established genre.
No comments:
Post a Comment