{"id":6221,"date":"2023-11-23T07:25:12","date_gmt":"2023-11-23T07:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/?p=6221"},"modified":"2023-11-23T07:25:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-23T07:25:12","slug":"album-review-admiratio-magna-frank-clare-words-sammy-stein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/2023\/11\/23\/album-review-admiratio-magna-frank-clare-words-sammy-stein\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: &#8220;Admiratio Magna&#8221; &#8211; Frank Clare. Words: Sammy Stein."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/magna-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/magna-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/magna-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/magna-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/magna-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/magna-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/magna-2048x2048.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/magna-435x435.jpg 435w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/magna-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Admiratio Magna\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/4yg2BZgCFVc8MqYWmnowko?si=HnPE83uPQJ-vrvfyTRWgTQ&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<iframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/4yg2BZgCFVc8MqYWmnowko?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameBorder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n<p>Frank Clare is a neoclassical pianist and composer. His debut album \u2018Admiratio Magna\u2019 is inspired by his appreciation for 19th-century classical music, philosophy, science, and mindfulness.\u00a0The album explores themes including the cycles of creation and the power in stillness, and curiosity. Clare began playing piano when he was 15. Finding he was better at composition than playing other peoples\u2019 music, he did just that. Moving every couple of years because his father was in the army, Clare absorbed the places he lived in as he grew up. He says, \u201cI feel that all those places are part of me, and at the same time that I come from nowhere.\u201d His first stage performance was not as a musician but in acting and making people laugh, which he enjoyed. He says of his music, \u201cA lot of my music tells stories and some of it&#8217;s satirical. Parts of \u2018Admiratio Magna\u2019 are satires of classical music, and at the same time, it&#8217;s a tribute to classical music. I&#8217;ve written in several styles, Americana-ish, jazz-ish, punk-ish, New Wave-ish, classical-ish. I think my music is naive. I moved to Prague in 2016. I&#8217;m of Czech descent. I felt that after all the moving while growing up I could make a home where my ancestors came from. I love Prague. I love living in Europe. I&#8217;m surrounded by history, architecture, beauty. Being here influences me and helped me compose \u2018Admiratio Magna\u2019. I don&#8217;t sit down and write music. I get an idea and over time it grows. It could take a week, or it could take 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps because he did composition and playing other peoples\u2019 music the other way around, than is usual, composing first, Clare\u2019s music is deeply personal and also very creative. He brings attention to detail and passion. Something that is striking is the use the pauses and spaces Clare naturally leaves between phrases, as if there is time to pause and take a breath, before allowing the music to capture your senses once again.<\/p>\n<p>Clare sums up his feelings, \u201c \u2019Admiratio Magna\u2019 is Latin for The Big Surprise. What blows me away is that anything exists at all. Matter. You, me. Washing machines. The Grand Canyon, the Milky Way. Chocolate croissants. Anything. Everything. The Big Surprise. From nothing to everything and back again. \u2018Admiratio Magna\u2019.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The album is divided into three parts \u2013 the first part comprises three pieces, \u2018A Gathering of Possibilities\u2019, \u2018Inceptus\u2019, and \u2018The Bells of Noumania\u2019, and is called Vox Intus Omnia (The Voice Behind Everything). These pieces create the start, a sense of the verge and being on the edge or, as Clare puts it, \u201cthe space between heartbeat and breath.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2018A Gathering of Possibilities\u2019 is thoughtful, packed with the spaces \u2018in which to breathe and dream\u2019 and the music develops from spaced notes to a melodic and intrinsically linear piece of movement. As the piece develops, elements are added and create a textured, imaginative concept of a number, yet still containing the peace and space craved by many. There are rhythms and depth, space, and patterns.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u2018Inceptus\u2019 is warm, and melodic in parts with those well-placed spaces still present and serving to provide punctuation and annotation to the music. (Think Bach in places).<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The repeated motif, worked in different mannerisms hints at connection through of thoughts and different approaches.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The Bells of Noumemania\u2019 is delicate, with twinkling bell effects from the right hand, with chords entering to give breadth and depth while in the second half the melodic left hand provides texture and colour to the music.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Part Two is one extended number, \u2018La Grande Sorpresa\u2019 and represents ignition, excitement, and catastrophe. It is packed with grand phrasing and drama. It is inspired by Italian opera, although phrases from Beethoven\u2019s \u2018Fur Elise\u2019 can be heard now and again.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>There are constant surprises throughout the number, not least in the explosive ascents and descents of the keys, done loudly and softly, offering contrast and textures to the notes as the phrases weave in and around during the track. There are phrases reminiscent of Saint-Saens and influences from a number of compositional stylings that create a beautiful track with once again, space to reflect and draw in breath.<\/p>\n<p>Part Three is called Apotheosis and starts with the delightful \u2018L&#8217;Extase\u2019 (ecstasy). With a French flavour, the track is light, twinkly, and playful. It seems to celebrate life (and most of the notes on the right of the piano keyboard at one point or other). \u00a0\u2018Die Apotheose\u2019 is inspired by German classical music (according to Clare). It is dramatic, rich, and darker than previous tracks. There is a sense of change in the piece, as it works its way through a lighter central section and towards the dramatic ending. It signifies apocalyptic changes and transformation. \u00a0\u2018Goodbye Hello\u2019 is a gorgeous piece that reminds us that there are new starts after an ending and hope for new beginnings.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the album, there are ghosts of past classical musicians, but never do they solidify enough to become the central influence. Their influences touch and grace the tunes but do not change them to become their music \u2013 the music is all Clare.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This hauntingly good work is classically derived music, with a deeply personal touch. The listener has to be awake to new sounds, a different approach and one that is subtle and, like many music masters of the past, knows exactly how to use the space in music to add to the lyricism. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frank Clare is a neoclassical pianist and composer. His debut album \u2018Admiratio Magna\u2019 is inspired by his appreciation for 19th-century classical music, philosophy, science, and mindfulness.\u00a0The album explores themes including the cycles of creation and the power in stillness, and curiosity. Clare began playing piano when he was 15. Finding he was better at composition &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[223,146,229,139,30,37,142,117,227],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-americana","category-classical-music","category-composer","category-jazz","category-music","category-piano","category-producer","category-punk","category-sammy-stein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6221"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6224,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6221\/revisions\/6224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}