Hanneke Cassel - Trip to Walden Pond

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from her "Trip To Walden Pond" 2017. Cassel Records
Out of Boston this enthusiastic fiddler, performer, teacher, and composer who has played for over twenty years provides remarkable Scottish music with Americana edginess and just delightful tone that reaches into your soul.

The album “Trip to Walden Pond” (the place in Concord, Massachusetts where Henry David Thoreau built his original cabin) is an inspiring magical place. From this historical environment, Hanneke Cassel takes her inspiration as well from her own heritage. The opening track “Passing Place/ Silver Special” is uplifting and filled with the musical cross-bred richness of Appalachia and its European – British - Nordic cousins. This is the purest form of folk music and these melodies are infectious. Don't be distracted by the fact that these songs are all instrumentals -- they are well-recorded and arranged. It isn’t overpowering yet it is exuberant music.

There is a generous blend of contemporary and traditional threads through every note. And Ms. Cassell is quite rousing on her instrument. Her fingers and bow become one with the wood and strings. It’s as if her veins are the strings that run down and out of her wrists and onto the neck of the fiddle. Dramatic? Yeah, a little. But accurate.

According to the press release, the music is written from personal experiences and inspired by Scottish and Cape Breton tunes. While at times Ms. Cassel is exuberant this LP is soulful, sad and filled with celebration as well. Raised in Oregon, and a Berklee graduate Ms. Cassel is a multiple award-winning fiddler who has performed and taught in many foreign countries – she is that good. Ms. Cassell has many albums to her credit since 1998.

Track 2 starts slow and pensive with piano (Dave Wiesler).“Conchas Chinas/ Walks with Yih Wen/ Simon Desilets of St. Louis” – is played wonderfully but to fully appreciate the performance you must listen to the tone of her fiddle. It’s almost as if it has a life of its own and it speaks to the listener. Mike Block (Ms. Cassel’s husband) provides the cello, and Jeremy Kittel (viola). The interchange is all instrumental but it speaks volumes. It did for me, and I am not a big lover of instrumental music. But, I was interested.

Hard to believe human hands are even behind any of this. As for the fiddle, maybe it’s how Ms. Cassel has it prepared: it’s a Bob Childs fiddle, with a Thomas Dignan bow and D’Addario Vivo strings. (OK all you inspiring fiddlers out there, run out and buy some of these items but, don’t forget the years of practice Ms. Cassell has probably endured).

The title track sounds more than one fiddle and it’s ignited.“Trip to Walden Pond” includes performances by Block’s cello, Jeremy Kittle’s fiddle and it joins Hanneke. This is a well-arranged piece. Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbKRKUqw9Zc

Now, some instrumental albums can be taxing since no vocal ever surfaces. But it’s the diversity of the melodies and the skill of the performers that holds the attention of the listener. You don’t have to think hard here, you just have to listen. In some ways, this is a better stress reliever than any medication or alcohol.

“Yulianna/Carley’s Glenfinnan Wedding,” sounds a little like the music a chamber orchestra or the Brodsky Quartet would do at a lawn party, or prior to a church service. The focus should be on the exquisite arrangement of instruments and the layered sounds – always giving enough air to each so their rich tones reach out without being hard on the ears. The marriage of deep cello and windy fiddle is pleasant. I could suggest spiritual but it’s more ethereal. Nothing bombastic, nothing overwrought or heavy. This could be listened to intently and appreciated and it could be unobtrusive background music that psychologically can be soothing. Excellently performed.

As I mentioned, even though they are instrumentals and can wear an average listeners ear over time an attentive ear will hear the subtle differences. “Gretl in the Garden / Artsy Smartsy Phoebe” sounds very fable-like, Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Handsel and Gretl, Mother Goose etc). I especially enjoyed the pickup in the tempo three minutes into the tune. All very fairy tale oriented, at least to my ears. It almost reminds me a little of the remarkable Stackridge instrumental off the “Pinafore Days,” album called “God Speed the Plough.” That was an intense melody with fiddles.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P91xJmWca8U

“Buddy’s Strathspey (for the Cape Breton fiddle hero Buddy MacMaster) / Horse Tigers / Golden Locks” – steps away from the fable-oriented innocent melody and sounds closer to a saloon song from the days of Charles Dickens....

by John Apice November 24, 2017 No Depression

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