Book of Life Concerto By Lisa Swerdlow

 

Book of Life Concerto

By

Lisa Swerdlow

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

Before I even began the process of writing this review, I read the notes contained within the album, I was so deeply moved, as this is something that I am going through myself right now, recalling my life’s pathways, errors made, all the positives, the negativities, and all the times I kept quiet and did nothing, when I should have been making changes, but we don’t always have the tools, until we can grace that moment of reflection with age, wisdom, and learned experiences.

Here on Book of Life Concerto composer and performer Lisa Swerdlow tackles all of life’s avenues, byways and highways, and in doing so manifests a glorious and emotionally powerful concerto. With youth comes Possibilities, we are unbeatable, energetic, and hopeful that as time goes on everything will fall in our favour.

There is a delightful fluency within this arrangement that is both charming and confident in its construction, one that also contains elements of a multitude of opportunities that can deflect one from their perceived goal, Swerdlow’s dualistic presentation here is cinematic in its build and progression, a deeply moving construct that has wondrous classical motifs and symphonic gestures.

The inevitability of this next track is something that each and every one of us has felt perhaps many times over and called Disappointments. The depth here is heart rendering, but poignant in its inevitable outcome, as from what are disappointments, what we describe as failures, are also indicators of change that must be faced and addressed and learned from, before more progress can be attained. Swerdlow’s mammoth performance is so vast and all-encompassing that it fills the mind and heart with a profundity of emotive awareness that is so very palpable, from this well of demonstrative sagacity comes one of the most formidable arrangements of all time, almost Beethoven in its objective and mood.

The lighter tones of this next stunning reverie are something of a personal anthem to oneself, at this point of growth and of passed ages, with wisdom found, and experiences felt learned from and acceptance gained, what does one do now, for me, there is only one answer, keep on doing what makes you feel fulfilled, and I am, and will continue to do so. Here on Discoveries, Swerdlow balances out a wonderfully clever juxtaposition of uplifting tones against a symphonic back drop of decades passed, and the result is, we are back where we started, with more possibilities for positive life changes.

There are two other tracks of great beauty on the album, the first of which I found quite soothing and called Through it All, this classy melodic piece is both deeply reflective in the ambience it creates, and fluently meditative in the opportunity to gaze back over your shoulder at a life’s rich tapestry.

The concluding musical narrative is entitled Dawn Contemplation, and is a sublime composition with which to conclude an album with, a powerful and mood filled opus indeed, with grand orchestration that would grace any Hollywood movie.

One must tip the hat also to Doug Hammer for his classy orchestral genius on this album, the moving and passion filled arrangements within this release gifted us, the ever eager listener, moments we will never forget on Book of Life Concerto by Lisa Swerdlow.

Here for each and every fan of neo classical music is an album of outstanding natural beauty, one that is created with such an insightful truth and an intuitive intellect, and moulded into one of the most compelling bodies of work on the subject of life I have heard, perhaps Albert Einstein was right when he said “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”