Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Arabesque 3 - Harold Budd,
2. It's Steeper Near the Roses (For David Sylvian)
3. Enfant Perdu
4. Chrysalis Nu (To Barney's Memory)
5. Three Faces West (Billy Al Bengston's)
6. Arabesque 2 - Harold Budd,
7. Little Heart
8. How Vacantly You Stare at Me - Harold Budd,
9. Walk in the Park With Nancy (In Memory)
10. Rue Casmir Delavigne (For Daniel Lentz)
11. Arabesque 1 - Harold Budd,
12. Porcelain Ginger
13. Faraon
14. As Long As I Can Hold My Breath

Disc 2:

1. As Long As I Can Hold My Breath (By Night) - Harold Budd, Akira Rabelais

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25485 in Music
• Released on: 2005-01-18
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Import

Amazon.com
Harold Budd is often called an ambient musician, but if he hadn't recorded a few albums with Brian Eno (Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror, The Pearl) he'd probably be considered a composer of modern chamber music. In fact, he's the godfather of ambient chamber music, a style marked by achingly beautiful melodies, an unremitting melancholy, and a profound sense of space and atmosphere. Now 68 years old, Budd says that he's calling it quits, and he's left Avalon Sutra not just as a swansong, but a minor-key career zenith.

In a series of vignettes, most of them all too short, Budd weaves his piano amidst a string quartet, the winds of Jon Gibson, and ambient moods. Budd's music sounds haunted by memories, and many of his poetic titles seem drawn from his life. Several have dedications, like "A Walk in the Park with Nancy (In Memory)." A spontaneous musician, Budd often improvises his pieces in the moment. "Rue Casamir Delavigne" is built around a keyboard drone and Budd's inner conversation between acoustic and electric piano. But Avalon Sutra also catches some of these improvs in a freeze frame, where their inner logic can be contemplated in the string quartet arrangements of "Three Faces West" or "L'enfant Perdu." In fact, Budd's improvisations have always sounded fully composed--delicate drops of piano like melting icicles on a warming day. There is a second, bonus CD, an extended remix by Akira Rabelais. He takes one of Budd's miniatures and stretches it out into an extended meditation, "As Long as I Can Hold My Breath (At Night)," turning it into a slow-motion opus. When listening to either disc, carve out some time to become immersed in this subtly transformative world and you will be rewarded. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews

The luminous music of the heavens
Recent reports indicate that this isn't the final work from Harold Budd, after all -- but if it were, it would be an exceptionally graceful & moving farewell. His playing & compositional style have always been distinctive, so that within a few piano notes, his touch is instantly recognizable. And I agree with previous reviewers that this release has an especially autumnal, reflective quality, a sense of looking back over decades from the heights of a pure night sky. Yet there's a warm, enveloping quality to this music as well -- the additional of tasteful strings, electronic washes, and even a flowing saxophone, all provide a certain lushness to it. While definitely calming & exquisite, this is also deeply passionate, as far as you can get from bland, New Agey Muzak. Most highly recommended!

Warmth and hypnotic rythym without the cheese
Well, most ambient albums have a vague cheesiness about them. Even the best ones can suffer slighty from it. Either that, or the slowly creeping somewhat unsettled feeling that leaves you slightly disturbed after a while. This album is a welcome respite from that and likely the best "ambient" album I have ever heard. Warmer and more peaceful. More soulful. Not that I'm any expert. But the choral-like piano work is wonderful, and the rythmic qaulity is really hypnotic. In my mind, a small masterpiece. Not to say that it doesn't have some moments where it almost approaches the fromage barrier, but all in all a very beautiful album to listen to.

Just beautiful
Harold, if you take the trouble to read your reviews on Amazon, do us all a favour - don't retire!! This is a fine addition to a wonderful stable. All the good things the previous reviewers have said, I agree with.