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Berginald Rash - clarinet, Fiona Gryson - harp - 'Dathanna: Hues and Shades' album - CD Review, 27th of February 2024

Erik Satie - 3 Gymnopedia; Nicolas-Charles Bochsa - Theme with variations; Camille Saint-Saëns - Sonata op. 167 in E flat major; AlamiroGiampieri - Il carnevale di Venezia.

This album includes, among others, pieces by Gabriel Pierné, Erik Satie, Louis Cahuzac, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Charles Bochsa, EugèneBozza, Camille Saint-Saens and Alamiro Giampieri, in chamber arrangements for a unique combination of instruments - clarinet and harp. The recordings were realized between 2019 and 2023 at the Academy of Sound in Dublin, by two talented Irish musicians - Berginald Rash and Fiona Gryson. Released on February 9th by Orchid Classics, this is the debut album of the two artists who have been working in Dublin since 2016 and form the duo called Dathanna - a word that means "colors" in Irish. The two musicians look for sound colors, timbral originality and emotion in their chosen repertoire and in their performance.

Berginald Rash and Fiona Gryson started recording this album in the late 2019, then had to stop rehearsals and recording due to the pandemic. "This record has evolved - a splendid, sometimes frustrating journey that began as a dream to celebrate and reveal the beauty, timbre, fusion between two distinct tonal textures, and became much more: an invocation of perseverance and triumph . ", say the two performers about their album.

Fiona Gryson is an acclaimed performer and harp teacher, Music Director of the 'Music on the Farm' concert series at Cornstown House, leader of the Fingal Harp Ensemble and the Dublin Conservatoire Harp Band, where she currently trains for her PhD's thesis. She has a rich concert activity and has performed as a soloist with most of the major orchestras in Ireland, she has also collaborated with members of the ConTempo and Vanbrugh quartets. For the past eight years, Fiona Gryson has been performing artistic projects with clarinetist Berginald Rash, with whom she recorded her debut album, an American-Irish musician based in Dublin. He could be heard on the stages of prestigious festivals such as Lucerne, Ghent and the BBC Proms. In addition to his successful concert career, he is also a prolific teacher, has given masterclasses in the United States of America and is a BBC Radio 3 presenter.

Larisa Clempuș