The acclaimed ensemble Trio Casals present Moto Bello [Beauty in Motion], the next chapter in the series that brought 2015’s Moto Continup and Moto Perpetuo in 2013. The new album celebrates the synergy of Trio Casals and the vibrant works of ten contemporary composers including Diane Jones, Beth Mehocic, David N. Stewart, Sidney Bailin, L Peter Deutsch, Giovanni Piacentini, Adrienne Albert, Clive Muncaster, Joanne D. Carey, and Bruce Babcock...

Collecting together 16 tracks (1 hr, 21 min, 19 sec) from 10 different composers, Moto Bello is the latest release from Trio Casals, who describe it as a journey through individual experience, international scenes, and philosophical pondering.

Each piece is an exploration of movement and of the beauty in all forms of motion - dissonant and jagged, soft and freely flowing, or standing tentatively between the two. In reality that description sounds like self-indulgent nonsense. It matters not what the background to each piece is, because none of them are likely to engage with you on an emotional level. Every now and then you'll hear a fleeting moment of bliss, but it's soon swallowed up in the chaos that is modern classical music: disjointed, experimental classical music at its best (or worst depending on your point of view).

Personally it wasn't really an album I connected with on any level. The 10 composers could have been 1 for all the diversity and character each track had (i.e. there was little diversity and nothing in the way of character).

For a brief moment I was hopeful that 'Ocean Air - I. Afternoon' was going to blossom into something of merit... but it didn't.

If you like experimental music with no aesthetic quality, you're in luck. Having said that, you can't fault the musicians who do a wonderful job with the material.

3

Darren Rea