PASSAGE
London, 2018
Michael Logozar is an award winning American composer, based in Austin, Texas. Since the release of his debut solo piano album—Coming into View—in 2008, Logozar has been heavily active in the neo-classical musical scene, composing music that is both highly melodic and contemporarily romantic. Passage is Logozar’s latest release, and illustrates the composer’s new artistic direction towards a more intimate and contemplative music.
The notion of time is substantially developed in Passage—with pieces such as Timelapse which combines impeccable musical structure and enchanting echoing melodies overlapping each other, or Timeless which exposes an arrangement of strings and piano in a melancholic and cinematic fashion. Logozar’s interest for a more intimate sound is reflected in pieces such as Under the Willow or First Wings, which use recording techniques that highlight the sound of the piano, the keys and the felt. Interlude lays images of starry city nights, while the melodic Water Lily brings candlelight warmth, and the nostalgic Midnight in the Garden carries the idea of nocturnal balladeering. There is of course an Italian-Einaudi feel—Through the Storm—, or the recollection of the German contemporary classical music scene—Meandering. The strings complement the piano in a discreet and elegant manner, as illustrated in the title track Passage—a slow pace musical hiatus—or the ingenuous Windchimes. The First Light, which closes the album, adds some brightness to Logozar’s collection of melancholic shades.
Passage is a prime illustration of a composer’s desire to evolve and grow artistically; with new experimental pieces and ideas as well as reworks from Logozar’s previous albums, and through contemporary instrumentation such as the felt piano combined with live strings. Passage is full of enchanting music and melodic material, and definitely a work that should be explored by any contemporary classical melomane.