Word: pianos
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...both. On V. however, the vocals are done by the Cambridge Singers and are recorded in the resinous Ely Cathedral, giving them a chilling quality never achieved in earlier Fresh Aire chants. The last song on the first side, entitled "Chant," (through it is not one), has a piano refrain which is very much like "Midnight on a Full Moon," the playful toy piano piece at the end of III. The rest of "Chant," however, recalls the monumental medieval style of "Fantasia" with its variations on a horn call theme. Though the horn sounds are fantastic (as they should...
...sound like portions of Alan Parson's robot music, but the song is infused with Steamroller-style life through the flowing keyboard lead, which sounds like a space-aged vibraphone played by a master planist (a strange coincidence, as the keyboardist is Jackson Berkey, Juliard graduate and Baldwin grand piano champion...
...great pianist, however, including Berkey, will be somewhat stiffled when playing primarily keyboards. This is the first Fresh Aire album without a single piano "Interlude," a shame, as these short demonstrations of pure style were one of the band's great trademarks. One reason for the omission could be last year's release of Interludes, a collection of all of Berkey's interludes from the first four albums--a possible reluctance to continue along the same line. This, however, would not explain the additional lack of organ Tocattas which started off their last two albums. In pursuit of what...
...MORE REASONABLE explanation can be found in the album's theme--there are no purely piano interludes on the moon. That is why "Release," which starts out very much like "Interlude I" (from I), complete with the appropriate pauses, changes into an enchanted theme of discovery like the one which accompanies the opening of the Ark in "Raiders of the Lost Ark. "Furthermore, living long before Stanley Kubrick. Kepler seems to have missed the age of Tocattas in space they were probably reserved for such mundane things as Summer and Winter (the themes of III and IV, respectively...
...builds to a rocking theme with the horns playing a theme of success, or victory which recurs several times on the album it sounds almost like the theme at the end of a western. The high flute with a synthesized back ground, a low clarinet, and flowing strings with piano portray a beautiful image of an "Earth Rise," (described "The most pleasant of all occupations on Levania is the contemplation of its volva...