Music can possess the power to take hold of our emotions, guiding us along an imagined journey that stirs our inner being, a concurrently unique and familiar experience. New York composer Rain Worthington writes music to captivate the listener, creating textural and lyrical worlds that are inhabited by various colours and tones...

Dream Vapors is a new Classical album by Rain Worthington, who delivers on an emotional level, offering us segments of pure tranquil beauty and others of tremendous fear and tension. This isn't a heavily padded offering of easily digestible sugar coated orchestrated pieces, and in places it's not a very comfortable album to listen to. It's a project that deserves the listener's complete attention - and to be honest, once you start listening to it you'll find it hard to concentrate on anything else.

As is usually the case with music of this nature, the emotions it will stir in the listener is a very personal experience - it's doubtful that any two people will walk away with the same feelings. It's very much like holding up a mirror to yourself in that it reflects back your own memories and thoughts when listening to each piece.

The album contains 7 movements (52 min, 56 sec). For its pure diversity of emotions, in parts I was drawn to comparing it with the work of Bernard Herrmann (especially on 'Shredding Glass') and Gustav Holst ('Fast Through Dark Winds').

This is Worthington's debut album - which makes it even more impressive. I look forward to hearing more from her in the future.

10

Darren Rea