• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Spellbinding Music

Genre-bending & spine-tingling

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Contact

Alexandra Stréliski: Inscape

September 13, 2019 By guillaume

Growing up between Paris and Montréal, Alexandra Stréliski is a classically-trained Canadian pianist and composer whose music was heard in two recent Jean Marc Vallée films – Dallas Buyers Club (2013) and Demolition (2015). HBO subscribers will be familiar with Alexandra Stréliski’s music as some of her compositions – and her version of Bach’s Concerto in D Minor – have featured on the Sharp Objects (2018) and Big Little Lies (2017-2019) miniseries, both directed by Jean Marc Vallée too. Careful listeners will also have recognised her track “Plus Tôt” playing on the Center Parks UK TV ads over the last few months. Following on from her self-produced Pianoscope solo début in 2010, Inscape is the pianist remarkable sophomore album, released on Secret City Records on 5 October 2018 last.

Alexandra Stréliski - Inscape (2018)
Alexandra Stréliski – Inscape (2018) – Artwork © Elisabeth Gravel

Inscape: the unique inner quality of the self, as portrayed in a piece of art.

Adorning the cover of the album is a lone astronaut in a vacuum whose visor reflects a landscape that doesn’t mirror his (or her) immediate surroundings. Instead, the reflection seems to come from within. “Are you part of the universe, or is the universe part of you?” asks a voice-over in the “Plus Tôt” YouTube clip. This spiritual questioning forms the basis of all the stunning piano-based compositions on Inscape. The record title itself is a portmanteau word expressing an “interior landscape” or perhaps an “escape from within”. The term was originally coined by English Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins in an attempt to express individuality and uniqueness in things and beings.

Beautifully illustrated by Elisabeth Gravel, every song on Inscape is accompanied by a series of abstract landscape paintings, each evoking a different state of mind. All the pictures are connected. When reconstructed and assembled into a mosaic, they form a much wider new landscape, reflecting the inner complexities of the self, with all its hidden emotions, fantasies and imaginary worlds. Like on many 19th century American landscape paintings depicting a newly discovered and awe inspiring wilderness, a tiny human silhouette stands on the edge for scale – the musician as an adventurous astronaut staring at life’s (metaphorical) “peaks and valleys”?

Artwork © Elisabeth Gravel via Instagram
Artwork © Elisabeth Gravel via Instagram

I found myself in a space filled with grey areas that I didn’t know how to escape. It was a crucial turning point for me. A year of creative evolution during which I reconnected with my deep nature, my essence, my X.

The music on Inscape finds its origin in an emotionally stressful year in the musician’s personal life whereby the pianist changed jobs, became separated and went through a depression. From “Plus Tôt” (earlier) illustrated with Super 8 footage to “Le Nouveau Départ” (the new departure) via “Burnout Fugue” and eight other moments, each composition seems to chronicle a particular period or emotional state in the pianist’s tumultuous journey. All track introductions are very short and the pianist sustains the same melodic urgency throughout the album.

Closely placed microphones capture all the action, hammer and pedal sounds from the piano on almost every track to offer the listener a true immersive experience. Is the clickety-clack of the piano keys also a deliberate attempt to mirror all of life’s small imperfections laid bare here by the pianist – warts and all? Paradoxically, only the superbly upbeat “Burnout Fugue” has a “clean” classical grand piano sound when its title would normally suggest weariness and breakdown.

“Interlude” is the only piece on the album featuring ebbing and flowing electronic layers in the background. On slower numbers like “Ellipse” or “Blind Vision”, the natural reverberation almost emulates a hammered string instrument.

Following a clear narrative arc, Inscape is a magnificent collection radiating with passion and spirit by a perceptive musician in a vulnerable space – in front of a piano.

https://www.alexandrastreliski.com/

All compositions are also available as sheet music from the musician’s website.

You May Also Like:

  • Jean-Louis Matinier & Marco Ambrosini: Inventio
    Jean-Louis Matinier & Marco Ambrosini: Inventio
  • Jóhann Jóhannsson: Orphée
    Jóhann Jóhannsson: Orphée
  • Snorri Hallgrímsson: Orbit
    Snorri Hallgrímsson: Orbit
  • Anouar Brahem: Blue Maqams
    Anouar Brahem: Blue Maqams
  • Tambour: Chapitres
    Tambour: Chapitres
  • Songhoy Blues: Music in Exile
    Songhoy Blues: Music in Exile

Filed Under: Contemporary, Modern Classical Tagged With: Alexandra Stréliski, piano

Subscribe to Spellbinding Music

Never miss a post and subscribe to Spellbinding Music via email. Receive weekly and enchanting musical updates straight into your inbox - and it's free!

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

About

Spellbinding Music is a blog which curates contemporary, modern classical, roots, electronic, jazz and folk music…and everything in between. ... [Continue Reading]

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Most Read this week

Follow via Email

Search

Recent Posts

William Susman – A Quiet Madness (2021)

William Susman: Collision Point/A Quiet Madness

Matthew Halsall - Salute to the Sun (2020)

Matthew Halsall: Salute to the Sun

A.G: Lonea (2020)

A.G: Lonea

Saffronkeira with Paolo Fresu: In Origine: The Field of Repentance (2020)

Saffronkeira with Paolo Fresu: In Origine: The Field of Repentance

Paolo Fresu & Daniele Di Bonaventura - Altissima Luce (2019)

Paolo Fresu & Daniele Di Bonaventura: Altissima Luce

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin & Ultan O’Brien - Solas an Lae (2020)

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin & Ultan O’Brien: Solas an Lae

From the Archives

Vanessa Wagner: Inland

Nadah El Shazly - Ahwar (2017)

Nadah El Shazly: Ahwar

Brigid Mae Power - Head Above the Water (2020)

Brigid Mae Power: Head Above The Water

Jherek Bischoff - Cistern (2016)

Jherek Bischoff: Cistern

Sly & Robbie meet Nils Petter Molvær - Nordub (2018)

Sly & Robbie meet Nils Petter Molvær: Nordub

Anna Mieke - Idle-Mind (2019)

Anna Mieke: Idle Mind

Slow Moving Clouds - Starfall (2018)

Slow Moving Clouds: Starfall

Footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 Spellbinding Music | Website by Pagecrafted

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT