So at Number 23 on the Echoes Music Chart for January of 2014 is Nightfall from Adam Hurst. Now of the 25 artists/albums listed there is really only one artist whose name I recognize and Adam is not it. Moby is really the only artist whose name I’ve known for more than a few months! Artist’s whose music i have recently explored include: Bombay Dub Orchestra(7), David Helpling and Jon Jenkins (10) and Darkside (9).
Anyway I went to Spotify to hear what Adam’s music sounded like. The above picture, which is the cover of his album Elegy gave me my first clue!! Cello music!! duh! So I turn on Nightfall and was immediately entranced by his music! When I went to read his biographies at various sites, I read this description
The original music of Adam Hurst is at once haunting, ethereal, evocative and romantic
And I’ll add mesmerizing! It seems I just can’t stop listening. I turned on Nightfall, when I started writing this post, and now I am listening to the second track,of his 2012 release Festivale one of his gypsy sounding tracks! His music has a World flavor and in his compositions you may hear hints of Middle Eastern, Indian, Native American and Celtic music!! Hurst who calls Portland, Oregon home has released 13 albums. In addition to that (yeah right!) he has also composed the entire score for the ballet Broken Sparrow as well as scoring three independent films, Cloth and Bone, Anima, and Ambrosia!!
Hurst studied cello at Skidmore College while in highschool and Brown University while in college. He holds a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design (1997). He taught cello at Providence College as an adjunct from 1998-2002.
Here’s a quote from Adam’s website that about sums up the way I feel about the music……
There are some artists whose work literally stops you dead in your tracks. You catch your breath, transfixed, afraid that if you breathe it might fade and dissolve. Encountering art at this level triggers an immediate, intimate familiarity, yet it is unlike anything you know, only what you have hoped would be. The experience is transporting, ecstatic, poignant and achingly beautiful all at once, in a moment of meeting that you will never forget. This was my experience in first hearing tusic of Adam Hurst, and even more so in seeing… him playing the gypsy cello.” -Robert Gould, Musings from the Realm
So now for some music!. Here’s Adam performing “Sparrow” Oh. I forgot he also plays piano and guitar on his albums!!
