Beiser, Maya: Provenance

Album Review

Taking the well-established route of solo explorations in between any number of collaborative appearances, cellist Maya Beiser continues in her exploration of a wide variety of compositional impulses. The earliest track that surfaced from the album was also the most familiar — a reworking of Led Zeppelin's stately "Kashmir," which keeps the familiar elegance of the hard rock warhorse while bringing out the sense of the song's roots in Middle Eastern musics. Here it appears as the calm conclusion for Provenance, but the other selections are the more compelling as a result. Djavan Gasparyan contributes "Memories," very much in the vein of much of the Armenian composer's work on duduk; hearing Beiser apply her preferred instrument to the slow swoop of the composition is equally compelling listening. In contrast, "I Was There," written by Kayhan Kalhor, balances between a similarly slow unfolding of an arrangement, a sense of a steady muse via Beiser's performance as well as that of her collaborators on percussion and electronics, and sudden quick bursts of energy, always set against distant sonic textures. The addition of guitar as a counterpoint is a sudden thrill as the whole arrangement then becomes more upbeat and gently celebratory set against the steadier drumming. It's the standout of the disc as a whole, though the melodramatic "Mar de Leche," thanks to its guest vocals adding a romantic tinge, has its own compelling edge as well.