A gorgeous release from Brian Hayslett and gives a series of intense and moving cello pieces that come along with vocals and all have a little bit of a story to tell an emotion to give.
The Cello Unlocked album features several amazing performers including Judith Weir and Caroline Shaw who was a Pulitzer Prize winner but also brings to light vocalists like Joan La Barbara and this is all along with the record's seven composers spanning 11 tracks.
The cello is an instrument that has a way of reaching into the soul and all of these pieces of music utilize such a graceful intensity to do such things, and some of these songs sound like the instruments are weeping while others sound like they're dancing across a field but either way you get that very full-bodied intensity and throughout this record, you have these faces that you go through.
Bryan Hayslett is an assistant professor of cello and academic studies at Middle Tennessee State University and also serves as a section cellist for the Palm Beach Orchestra but made his debut in Carnegie Hall in 2009.
This record runs the gamut of these beautifully accentuated and performed pieces of music and with every single piece you have a little something different to bring to the table and a fresh emotion that it comes along with.
These are the kinds of elements that you end up getting attached to with a record like this and just the instrument itself, the flow and natural feel of it, the way it comes through with such power and such bellowing and immense textures is something that has a way of hitting different than a lot of other instruments especially when it's performed the right way.
Everything about this record has a way of picking you up and putting you into a different atmosphere and it is very easy and fun to get in golfed in the music and soundscape of these songs.
This is the type of album that you listen to in full so that you can soak in all these different levels of emotion and intensity that it gives off along with being able to not miss out on any of these amazing performances cello-wise and vocal-wise for that matter.
This is quite a graceful record that you should be listening to at home alone so that you have no interruption, and you can let the music take you places you haven't been before.
You will most certainly get washed away with these pieces and have a newfound appreciation for the cello if you don't already.