{"id":16214,"date":"2025-03-20T13:33:04","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T17:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/?p=16214"},"modified":"2025-05-13T13:53:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T17:53:02","slug":"simone-porter-releases-debut-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/simone-porter-releases-debut-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Simone Porter Releases Debut Album"},"content":{"rendered":"

Violinist Simone Porter has released ad tendo<\/em>, her debut solo violin album on Bright Shiny Things. The recording is inspired by philosopher Simone Weil’s insight that “Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.” The Latin root of the word \u201cattention,\u201d ad tendo<\/em> translated means \u201cI stretch toward.\u201d Each work on the album animates this stretch by exploring how different types of attention can yield greater spiritual alignment. ad tendo<\/em> features works by Andrew Norman, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Hildegard von Bingen\/ Olivia Marckx, Heinrich Biber, and the premiere recording of Reena Esmail’s Drishti (\u0926\u0943\u0937\u094d\u091f\u093f).<\/p>\n

Visit Bright Shiny Things to preview and order.<\/a><\/p>\n

TRACK LIST<\/strong> Listen here<\/a>
\nDrishti (\u0926\u0943\u0937\u094d\u091f\u093f) by Reena Esmail
\nI. Shimmering II. Tense, volatile III. Searching IV. Diaphanous V. Swiftly
\nVI. Yearning VII. Brewing VIII. Wild, erratic IX. Luminous X. Reaching<\/p>\n

Lachen Verlernt by Esa-Pekka Salonen<\/p>\n

Improvisation on O Virtus Sapientiae by Hildegard von Bingen\/Olivia Marckx<\/p>\n

Sabina by Andrew Norman<\/p>\n

Passacaglia in G Minor, C. 105 “Guardian Angel” by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber<\/p>\n

CRITICAL ACCLAIM<\/strong>
\nViolinist Simone Porter is deeply engaged in classical tradition, and her solo debut album concludes with Biber\u2019s Passacaglia in G Minor, which dates to 1676. But the concept behind this arresting collection elides any genre or era, focusing instead on a quote from philosopher Simone Weil: \u201cAbsolutely unmixed attention is prayer.\u201d Indeed, this stunning effort feels like a spiritual invocation through sound, rendering contemporary works by Reena Esmail, Andrew Norman, and Esa-Pekka Salonen indivisible from the Biber, or from Olivia Marckx\u2019s gorgeous \u201cImprovisation on O Virtus Sapientiae,\u201d which is based upon Hildegard von Bingen\u2019s 12th-century work \u201cAntiphon for Divine Wisdom.\u201d The collection begins with Esmail\u2019s 10-movement \u201cDrishti,\u201d which is the yoga term for \u201cfocused gaze.\u201d The piece unfolds patiently, braiding phrases that collide Western classical tradition with Hindustani music; but in the end, it\u2019s about sound. Porter articulates the score with a mix of visceral energy and ethereal beauty, producing an almost weightless profundity that still manages to hit like a ton of bricks. The performance is virtuosic, but it also conveys Weil\u2019s concept masterfully. Salonen\u2019s chaconne \u201cLachen Verlernt\u201d\u2014its title borrowed from Schoenberg\u2019s Pierrot Lunaire\u2014 breaks the spell a bit with its slashing intensity, a kind of midway crescendo that\u2019s followed by Marckx\u2019s swirling but measured beauty and Norman\u2019s delicate yet insistent, light-streaked \u201cSabina,\u201d inspired by a morning mass at Rome\u2019s Santa Sabina Basilica.
\nBandcamp<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The ten short sections of Reena Esmail’s Drishti<\/em> explore open strings, harmonics, double stops and long melodic lines, often inflected with portamentos: perhaps an acknowledgment of Esmail’s Indian heritage. Porter is completely secure in the technical demands of the music, and also has an unerring sense of pacing, so that nothing outstays its welcome, and the movements – sometimes tenuous, sometimes aggressive – add up to more than the sum of their parts, with the subtleties of the performance beautifully realised in the warm, detailed recording. Salonen describes Lachen Verlernt<\/em> as a chaconne, where ‘the harmony remains the same throughout the whole piece; only the surface, the top layer of the music changes.’ That harmony often nudges tonality, and is expressed through double stops, accurately and effortlessly despatched. O Virtus Sapientiae<\/em> by Hildegard von Bingen is the basis of Marckx’s Improvisations<\/em>, unfolding over a drone at first, then gradually fragmenting and extending the basic melodic tape, but never losing its harmonic root. Less immediately gripping is Norman’s Sabina<\/em>, moving from a ghostly opening to a frenetic climax, and back again, but lacking a strong melodic identity. After that, going back over 300 years to the closing Passacaglia<\/em> from Biber’s Mystery Sonatas<\/em> comes as quite a shock, but its devotional character reflects the concept of the album, taken from Simone Weil, and spoken right at the end: ‘Attention taken to its highest degree is the same thing as prayer. Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.’
\nBBC Music Magazine, Five Stars<\/em><\/p>\n

Simone Porter will perform the album live as part of the Death of Classical series in New York City, at The Crypt under The Church of the Intercession, on May 29<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Violinist Simone Porter has released ad tendo, her debut solo violin album on Bright Shiny Things. The recording is inspired by philosopher Simone Weil’s insight that “Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.” The Latin root of the word \u201cattention,\u201d ad tendo translated means \u201cI stretch toward.\u201d Each work on the album animates this stretch by exploring … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3636,3803,5160,3669],"class_list":["post-16214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-album","tag-debut","tag-simone-porter","tag-violin"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16216,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16214\/revisions\/16216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/16215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}