Avalon Sutra
Harold Budd is often called an ambient musician, but if he hadn't recorded a few albums withBrian Eno(Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror,The Pearl) he'd probably be considered a composer of modern chamber music. In fact, he's the godfather of ambient chamber music, a style marked by achingly beautiful melodies, an unremitting melancholy, and a profound sense of space and atmosphere.  Now 68 years old, Budd says that he's calling it quits, and he's leftAvalon Sutranot just as a swansong, but a minor-key career zenith.In a series of vignettes, most of them all too short, Budd weaves his piano amidst a string quartet, the winds of Jon Gibson, and ambient moods. Budd's music sounds haunted by memories, and many of his poetic titles seem drawn from his life. Several have dedications, like "A Walk in the Park with Nancy (In Memory)." A spontaneous musician, Budd often improvises his pieces in the moment. "Rue Casamir Delavigne" is built around a keyboard drone and Budd's inner conversation between acoustic and electric piano. ButAvalon Sutraalso catches some of these improvs in a freeze frame, where their inner logic can be contemplated in the string quartet arrangements of "Three Faces West" or "L'enfant Perdu." In fact, Budd's improvisations have always sounded fully composed--delicate drops of piano like melting icicles on a warming day. There is a second, bonus CD, an extended remix byAkira Rabelais. He takes one of Budd's miniatures and stretches it out into an extended meditation, "As Long as I Can Hold My Breath (At Night)," turning it into a slow-motion opus. When listening to either disc, carve out some time to become immersed in this subtly transformative world and you will be rewarded.--John Diliberto