Reflections is an immersive, interactive experience created by Paul Smith to be performed with strings, piano, electronics and voices. This genre-bending album draws inspiration from plainchant to lullabies, African songs to early opera and contemporary choral music. Parts of the music are pre-prepared and written, while other elements are improvised and created for the first time in the performance on the album. In making this recording, Smith writes music inspired by his travels in Asia, Europe, Africa and America, and the voices of many of those people on that journey appear on this album.
1 Chant (Paul Smith, Neil Valentine, Clare Stewart)
2 Reflections (Paul Smith, Neil Valentine, VCM Foundation Choir)
3 Waves and the Boy (Paul Smith, Neil Valentine, Clare Stewart)
4 Beata Viscera II (Apollo5)
5 Dido Is Broken (Paul Smith, Neil Valentine, Andrea Haines, Eleonore Cockerham)
6 Queen of Nevers (Paul Smith & Neil Valentine)
7 Edo Lullaby Arr. Paul Smith (Voces8)
8 The Lake Isle of Innesfree (Neil Valentine & Clare Stewart)
9 O Gwen (Paul Smith, Neil Valentine, Clare Stewart, Voces8)
10 Nunc Dimittis (Voces8)
11 Let Your Mind Be Still (Paul Smith, Neil Valentine, VCM Foundation Choir, Voces8)
12 In Paradisum: Iayyo (Paul Smith, Neil Valentine, VCM Foundation Choir, Sam Dressel)
Reflections is an immersive, interactive experience created by Paul Smith to be performed with strings, piano, electronics and voices. This genre-bending album draws inspiration from plainchant to lullabies, African songs to early opera and contemporary choral music. Parts of the music are pre-prepared and written, while other elements are improvised and created for the first time in the performance on the album. In making this recording, Smith writes music inspired by his travels in Asia, Europe, Africa and America, and the voices of many of those people on that journey appear on this album.