Richard Anthony Jay: Imperfect Beauty
Reviewed By: Lisa Torem

Somerset composer, Richard Anthony Jay, serves up an ambitious follow-up to his 2009, eleven-track, debut, ‘This is What I Live For.’ There, he ignited his relationship with the Halle orchestra and Davy Spillane, and unearthed the intoxicating ‘Fragile’ and cinematic ‘Milan.’ Many of Jay’s contemporary, piano-driven arrangements draw parallels to pieces like Max Richter’s ‘Ember’ and Ludovico Einaudi’s ‘Nuvole Bianche.’

His newest release, ironically entitled ‘Imperfect Beauty’, is pretty perfect. It is a piano music lover’s dream-come-true. Jay works alongside the Halle orchestra, for a second time, making splendid use of their wealth of timbres.

Jay is a self-taught composer; still, his work is sophisticated. With an uncanny ear and extreme sensitivity to the boundaries of each instrument he oversees, he plays compositional hardball with the giants.

That said, ‘Imperfect Beauty’ is flawless. ‘In Winter’ surges forward with strident, glorious melodies.

‘The Tailor’ abounds with industrial percussion and shimmering strings; the result brilliantly shines.

‘Time’, like a Bach fugue, features two opposing, melodic forces that make invincible statements; ear candy for the lover of precise symmetry.

‘Silence’ with simmering dissonance and an erratic time-signature heralds an old-world charm. It builds, deliriously and mysteriously, upwards.

The striking arpeggios of ‘Going Solo‘ are the meat and potatoes of this lavish dish. Hypnotic melodies dip and collide. Smartly, simple ‘Rain on the Round Window’ is pleasantly reminiscent of French genius Eric Satie’s, carnival-like gymnopedies – and it is extraordinarily executed.

One hopeful melody rises above an accelerating, sonic storm; like free-floating, cirrus clouds come to life. ‘Boubat’ paints a picture of an enormous, orchestral sky. It also clocks in at more than five minutes, though, truthfully, it goes by in a flash.

‘Epilogue’ similar in simple beauty to ‘Rain on the Round Window’, soothes like a beloved psalm. Essentially, a mournful piano painstakingly inches its way through time, and, gradually, it is swept up by galloping strings. Haunting, halting and bittersweet, ‘Epilogue’ is a palpable closer. ‘Imperfect Beauty’ slows down our maddening world into manageable, meditative measures.