RZA’s new album is titled “Work”
Who needs words when bassoons can sing? RZA’s orchestral album, A Ballet Through Mud, blends strings and woodwinds to create a cinematic experience. It feels more like something John Williams or Ennio Morricone would craft rather than Mozart. The title track, which is one of 11 songs, debuted last Friday. The whole album will be available on August 30.
The simple but powerful music has a movie-like quality. RZA thought up the idea as a teenager on Staten Island. During the pandemic, he found old notebooks and decided to turn them into a ballet. The Colorado Symphony recorded it with Christopher Dragon conducting. RZA did all the composing and orchestrating.
"I have been composing my whole life, although I didnĆ¢ā¬ā¢t know initially that was what I was doing," RZA said last month. "The inspiration for A Ballet Through Mud comes from my earliest creative output as a teenager, but its themes are universal Ć¢ā¬ā love, exploration, and adventure. I hope people use it to score their own lives, to transform a drive to the grocery store or sharing a meal with loved ones into something magical, to be inspired and let their imaginations take them into a different chamber, if only for a moment."
Fans love how creative RZA is.
Last year, the Colorado Symphony gave the first performance of A Ballet Through Mud.
