SHAPES IN COLLECTIVE SPACE | THE ARTS DESK - REVIEW

Classical CDs: French chamber music, Viennese waltzes and a disc of viola duets

by: Graham Rickson | February 2025

Tallā Rouge are Aria Cheregosha and Lauren Spaulding, a self-styled Persian/Cajun viola duo who currently hold a residency at Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks. Shapes in Collective Space is a collection of ten contemporary pieces, presumably in first recordings, a reflection on “life’s fleeting yet profound moments”. Karl Mitze’s dancing “Seesaw” is an exuberant opener: listen through headphones and you can hear the players switching lead and accompanist roles every few bars, the coordination peerless. Gemma Peacocke’s “Fluorescein” has a brightness reflecting its title, Peacocke making simple triadic harmony glow until the work dissolves in the final bars. inti figgis-vizueta’s title track begins in a mood of uncertainty, inching cautiously towards warm positivity. Gala Flagello’s “Burn as Brightly” has unstoppable energy, while time stands still in Akshaya Avril Tucker’s “Breathing Sunlight”. The four sections of Kian Ravaei’s “Navazi” are spread out over the disc, and Leilehua Lanzilotti’s “silhouette, mirror” doesn’t so much stop as evaporate. Cheregosha and Spaulding play beautifully throughout. I’m a brass player, so a disc of viola duets is way out of my comfort zone. I shouldn’t have worried: this is an immediately accessible and musically absorbing disc, beautifully recorded.