Anne Vanschothorst, harp; Saskia Laroo, trumpet; Ernst Stolz, viola da gamba; Arthur Bont, percussion; Bob van Luijt, bass; Big Round Records, 2014.
4.5 harps
(Note: recording reviews prior to 2014 were based on a 5-star system.)
It’s not harp, but muted trumpet that sets the mood for Anne Vanschorthorst’s minimalist, soulful album Ek is Eik. The curtain finally opens, and we find ourselves entering a Narnia-esque dream world. Or maybe it’s our own world seen in a whole new way.
The title is loosely translated to “I am oak” from Afrikaans. Ancient oaks that were home to birds and provided dappled cover from the sun were all cut down one day in Anne’s very neighborhood. The starkness of the empty landscape provided a ghostly reminder of our separateness and short time on this planet. Anne brings together emotion and vivid images for this surreal journey.
In the past days I have done my hatha yoga routine accompanied by this music. It found its way into my iPod while I wandered my own neighborhood in early spring, wispy drizzle falling on last year’s crumpled leaves, a small dirty mound of ice encrusted snow melting as crocuses bravely push to the sun’s rays. I have sat quietly at the end of the day with Ek Is Eik in my stereo as the sun set and street lights came on, not wanting to break the spell and illuminate my own lamps. And I have enjoyed an aching longing to return to its simplicity when I’ve needed to set the disc aside going through the pressing tasks of my day, tasks that somehow seem less urgent and important now that I’ve heard such stunning music.
Is it music—I mean, only music?
Anne’s meditative scores are usually a part of something larger, a multi-media project, a Discovery Channel world so intimate we can only enter via an access code of sounds. Bravo to the stellar assisting artists trumpeter Saskia Laroo, gambist Ernst Stolz, bassist Bob van Luijt, and percussionist Arthur Bont.
John Keats wrote:
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
Anne takes us by the hand to see all that is beautiful around us, and what a marvel it is!
