The Power of Indifference

What a haunting and brilliant recording! Maya is an amazing composer and performer, with a unique presence. If you can take the power of her work here, then she will repay repeated listening sessions.

Much like her earlier work, Reid, deeply loved by me and played repeatedly in DSD 256.

There are some artists whose music I find so compelling they force me, compel me, to stop and listen and absorb. Such is the impact of Maya Fridman — Cellist, Composer, Singer. Born in Russia, making her home in the Netherlands, fierce advocate of support for Ukraine in this current war of Russian aggression, Maya is a unique voice in whatever artistic venture she undertakes. Her new album The Power of Indifference is a darkly powerful, compelling, challenging presentation of music, poetry, ideas, and sounds.

Maya Fridman is best known for her genius as a Cellist, winner of multiple awards. But she has not been willing to pursue the typical artistic avenue of performing the standard repertoire in concert or recital. Instead, she has regularly searched to express her own voice as an artist championing contemporary music (works by De Graff, Schnittke, Vasks, Andreissen, Cassado, Tanaka, Sollima, Shalygin) and her own musical expressions (such as her transcription for Cello and Piano of Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel and her many improvisations on Cello).

In The Power of Indifference, Maya has created an album that his purely her own, exploring the depths of emotions dealing with anger, loss, regret, fate and indifference. This is a dark album. There is no sunshine and light. But instead there is intensity and power and utter commitment. It is an album that many will not like (Ann is unsure of her reactions to it). But it is an album that I find utterly compelling and engaging.

I am now on my fifth listen — and I find more and more within it upon each listen. I encourage you. Give this music your full attention when you listen to it. And come back to listen to it a second time. Don't do a "one and done" and think you've heard enough to make up your mind about it — you will only have skimmed the surface of what are very deep waters.

The production of this album is a very different venture for Brendon Heinst and TRPTK. All of my experience with TRPTK over the years has been with purely acoustic instrument recordings in natural acoustic venues, all superbly captured and produced. This album is far more produced. Using electronic sounds and effects, multiple overlapping tracks, combining acoustic instruments and electronic effects. Maya has integrated her cello and voice, multiple additional cellists, chorus, percussion, ambient sounds and manipulation of acoustic sounds (including voices) to create a unique listening experience that is both strange and strangely compelling and beguiling, if you will. If I recall correctly, Maya and Brendon said they spent over 60-days in the studio mixing this album. I can believe it.

Kudos to Maya for her bravery and vision in creating this album. Congratulations to all involved for this excellent result. I recommend the album to all who are willing to undertake some challenging musical exploration.

If you are unsure and wish to explore before making the investment in the album, full track previews are available to stream on NativeDSD in 48kHz resolution. Just keep in mind that the power of the album is in the whole — the tracks build and build over the course of the album for a very immersive experience.