There are few more joyous things in one’s musical life than discovering a wonderful new voice on the flute, that fluttering instrument that when played well sounds like the very breath of life. Listening to Hadar Noiberg on From The Ground Up offers that very joy. Her sound is both fluid and crisply detailed. Her music here benefits greatly from her precision and clarity, with intelligent use of dynamics and an ear for the expressive potential of her chosen instrument.
Hadar Noiberg has a beautiful tone and superb intonation, and in all her music on this disc she applies a wonderful range of colour – there’s so much to enjoy technically speaking. The spiky, lonely atmosphere of some of this music comes off beautifully from Noiberg who is both magical and mystical all at once. And each tune she has written brings a joy all its own. ‘When The dawn’ is rhapsodic, ‘Troubled’ is dark and edgy, and ‘Song for Georgie’ is vivid and characterful. In the entire wonderful repertoire Noiberg’s technique is nimble, her tone sweet and her phrasing elegant, the immediacy of her musical language is appealing – all of which enlivens this wide-ranging anthology.
In bassist Haggai Cohen-Milo and the effervescent drummer Allison Miller we hear all the bite and astringency that a great and sensitive rhythmic duo should have. Both musicians are deeply melodic and empathetic. Hadar Noiberg benefits greatly from each of them. Anat Cohen appears in ‘Tuesday’ and her luxuriant tone and timbres are simply breathtaking heightened by the presence of Noiberg of course. Similarly, the guitarist Yotam Silberstein provides an extraordinary ebb and flow and transparency of textures to three of the charts here. There is everything to love about this disc on which music emerges lustrous, intense and vivid.
Track List: From The Ground Up; When The Dawn; When The Dawn Outro; Privacy; Troubled; Beit Ha’arava; Hope; Tuesday; Song For Georgie; Japan; Miniature.
Personnel: Hadar Noiberg: flute, alto flute, effects; Haggai Cohen-Milo: double bass; Allison Miller: drums; Anat Cohen: clarinet (8); Yotam Silberstein: guitar (4, 6, 8).
Label: Dot Time
DT 9041
Release date: November 2015
Running time: 53:07
Buy album on: amazon
