Nicholas Chase Bhajan Lorentz Chase - Cb0046 - Contemporary - by Cold Blue

Bhajan, described by one critic as “a pas de deux between violin and electronics,” is composer Nicholas Chase‘s free-wheeling yet meditative four-part work for electric violin and live electronics. Influenced by musics from around the globe, the work bewitches the ear with a breadth of sounds that ebb and flow as if guided by an elusive but inherent sense of logic. It features violinist Robin Lorentz, with the composer performing the electronics part. Chas writes about the work, “‘Bhajan’ is the general term for any variety of Hindu devotional song, typically sung, with a strong melodic component. My work Bhajan…embodies ideas about temporal freedom, melodic non-structure, and fusions of musical genre, disparate ethnicities, and instrumental combinations, and explores…ideas about breath and timing I’ve come to through study of Hindu spiritual/Vedic thought on sound and sound’s role in the making of life. It is deeply influenced by Indian raga, and it resonates with the soundscapes of my Arab heritage, while tonally it remains, intentionally, within the Western classical vocabulary.” [CD in 6-panel wallet]