Catharsis is the compilation of 18 instrumental compositions and recordings for Classical Guitar and Chinese lutes from 2003-2009 by Jonel Boljanac. Some of the music took time to develop, mature and express the dynamic experiences of life and the psyche of a man's personal and professional challenges, creative insight and evolution. The music travels through various landscapes of past, present and future in the context of a musician and composer's eyes of eastern and western affiliation and influence, with the process and purgation of mental, emotional and spiritual Catharsis.
A variety of Classical Guitars and Chinese Lutes with various tuning methods and pitch calibration with different string materials were used for an array of tones and texures for each individual piece. Tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 15, 18 features a Romanian Hora Classical Guitar set up to Baroque configurations. Tracks 8, 12, features a Cordoba Spanish Classical Guitar tuned to A=432Hz. Tracks 5, 17 features a custom built Grobert Classical Guitar. Tracks 9, 10 features The Pipa Chinese lute in a symphonic setting. Tracks 11, 12, 13, 16 features the Liuqin Soprano Chinese Lute. Tracks 12, 13 features Guitar and Liuqin together.
The music has several dimensions in that they can be listened to and viwed through the complexities and dimensions of each instrument as Etudes of study and learning (for guitar and all instruments), as well as a themed landscape of artistic expression and evolution of Classical, Flamenco and Eastern musical traditions.
Some of the tracks feature all alternate plectrum picking, fingerpicking and Jonel's trademark 'all alternate picked multi-octave arpeggios' at high speeds, who is currently one of the few guitarists in the world displaying this technique.
As with the previous recordings Lightning Tree - Volume 1 (2000), En-Lightning (2003) much time, energy and the desire for individual expression through roads untraveled for a listener to experience through a variety of genres and settings were incorporated into Catharsis.
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