Customer Reviews

Intermezzo

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've just read the professional reviews of this selection and I felt compelled to post a review from the non-jaded music lover's point of view. Nothing against the four professional reviews here, but Intermezzo is better than they make it sound. They talk about the instruments and the pace. ZZZZZZ. Let me talk about the sadness. I have been totally gone on Hearts of Space for seven years and buy everything I can get my hands on and this is one of my ten favorite titles. That doesn't tell you anything, but neither does the fact that it has some stringed instruments and some electronics. One reviewer said not to let the title "Allegro: Blood of the Raven" scare you. I think the titles of the selections give a more accurate idea of what the music is like than discussing the instruments. The cello here is *even sadder* than David Darling on Darkwood. This is not background music, but the kind of music you would drive out to the ocean on a rainy night in your car and listen all the way through as you contemplated whether to just keep driving into the ocean. But after listening, you would feel strangely relieved of whatever had been troubling you, because the music had (what's the word?) taken on the burden of your sadness and flown away into the ocean with it, leaving you feeling not all new agey, but emptied of (oh what is that state where you don't want for anything because of Beauty.) Sorry if this sounds too "what is that word" but I had to reclaim it from the professional reviewers that made it sound like just another CD that could be background music for an "art house movie." This music would stop a movie cold and the audience would think, "What are we sitting in a movie theatre for, when we are not flesh but pure Beauty" OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT...if I didn't love this title so much I wouldn't make a fool of myself with these futile attempts to describe its cosmicness and sadness.

There is no other CD in the world like this one. It is a treasure. It is just pure, excellent music. I purchased it on a buying spree and I wish I could find something that equals it. I was investigating dark ambient/space ambient and lucked out. I'm trying to find New Age Classical works that are this good, but I'm still searching.

"Intermezzo" is my first experience with Kevin Keller, bought on a whim due to the interesting album cover. When the album came in the mail, what I found was a substantial and satisfying fusion of modern classical music and ambient space music ala Steve Roach or Robert Rich.

It's a low-budget affair that lacks the polished, hi-fidelity production quality that gives Roach's music such spacial presence. The cello sounds flat and badly recorded. The synths often sound like cheap presets. People who listen to ambient music looking for immaculate sound design and textural beauty will not find it here. While all of this surely takes away from the experience, it's not something I can really fault Keller for, as during the mid-90's good production quality was not as easy to accomplish with little to no money as it is today.

"Intermezzo" also lacks the complexity and depth of great classical music. However, these compositions nearly make up for these shortcomings by being moody and emotionally powerful.

This album initially feels akin to the mysterious, lonely feeling of the soundtrack to the "X-Files" TV series, but upon further listening reveals more diversity and subtle mood shifts that transcend that description. It has a remarkably smooth flow from beginning to end. It's intensely melancholy and cinematic, infectiously hopeless.

As much as another reviewer objects to it being called a soundtrack to an Art House movie, it's easy to picture any piece here being used in film, and to imagine exactly what would happen in each scene: Haunting flashbacks to dark childhood memories, running through the woods in the pouring rain, sifting through old belongings in an abandoned house...

As cinematic as I think this album is, though, I very much agree with the same reviewer's description of driving to the ocean at night and listening to this while contemplating suicide. It's a more perfect description of the atmosphere here than I feel I can manage.

In conclusion, for all its technical shortcomings this is an extremely powerful and listenable album that is well worth the low price charged for it here on Amazon. I look forward to listening to more Kevin Keller. 4.5 stars.

Another great CD by Kevin Keller. I can not recommend it enough. It is haunting, and gets into your soul. I have bought one for everyone I know.