KUNIKO - cantus - The Irish Times

Japanese percussionist Kuniko is on a minimalist mission. She's already recorded three of Steve Reich's Counterpoint series, and here adds the fourth, New York Counterpoint, arranged for multi-tracked marimbas. But the main focus here is Arvo Pärt, who, like Reich, has co-operated in the making of the arrangements. Für Alina comes for vibraphone and crotales; Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten for marimba (blended from more than 200 tracks); Fratres for marimba and vibraphone; and Spiegel im Spiegel for marimba and bells. Varied recording venues and microphone perspectives are used to create soundworlds of a delicacy and richness well beyond what the instrumentations suggest. One original work, Hywel Davies' Purl Ground for quietly humming marimba, completes the disc.