Chiaroscuro

Album Review

Stephen van Handel is one of those artists you wait patiently for their next work so you can immerse yourself in the clear waters of a new vision, of a greater perspective. Following the inspired Pearls of the Soul, his new Chiaroscuro is an exploration of the darker and more uncertain sides of human nature. Chiaroscuro can be translated as "extremes of light and dark," and in this work we experience not only rich, dark symphonic pictures, but feel beacons of hope as well. The opening song is "The Calling," van Handel's envisionment of "one soul that has gone ahead and waits for another." Sounds of flute, harp, and orchestra combine in a romantic, touching tribute to the connection between kindred spirits. Samples from a concertina that was his great-grandfather's are mixed with piano and orchestra in the musical fairy-tale, "Chanson and Incidental." "Adagio" was written with a number of digitally sampled stringed instruments to create the sound of a string chamber group, and has an underlying tone of both beauty and sweet sadness. The 11-minute "Chiaroscuro" is a "symphonic poem," beginning with the militaristic "On the Brink of Chaos," turning to a dark and plaintive "Aftermath," and ending with a triumphant "Anthem of Defiance," which envisions world peoples breaking through the walls of state control and outmoded ideologies. Calling on the legacy of Gershon Kingsley and others who blend the deeper elements of space motifs with classical idioms, van Handel's music is an inter-cultural cry to awaken and arouse ourselves into creating a more sane universe. ~ Backroads Music/Heartbeats, All Music Guide