Movement IV (Clearlight, 2003)

You'll find more about Cyrille Verdeaux and his musical creature Clearlight elsewhere in my blog. Suffice to say here that this talented keyboardist and composer came back in 2003 with another spiritual and symphonic work full of magic and involving a dozen musicians. I know I should consider the whole album as a single suite divided into six movements, but I think some of them are stand alone tracks, especially this fourth one.

"Infinite Symphony" was the eighth studio album by Clearlight.

The concept of "Infinite Symphony" is based on Indian religions and links this work to other compositions by Verdeaux. But don't worry: "Movement IV" isn't a new age track, just inteded for relaxation and spiritual isolation. This is a solid progressive composition, where a variety of instruments and themes build up an epic mood where the piano, the winds and the electric violin (played by Trevor Lloyd) play a leading role. I feel an inner energy in this music and I appreciate the open minded arrangements of such a flushing instrumental. Definitely, Clearlight are hard to die.

Clearlight Symphony - 1st Movement (Clearlight, 1973)

Clearlight is a musical project by the French artist Cyrille Verdeaux, started in 1973 with the "Clearlight Symphony" whose 20 minutes first movement I'm introducing here. Classically trained, Mr. Verdeaux plays a lot of keyboards in this track, meaning all the models he could find in 1973. But this track also features important contributions from as good musicians as Steve Hillage (guitars) of Gong fame and Tim Blake (adfditional synths and percussions), who played with Gong too and also with Hawkwind. This movement begins with two classically inspired sections (the first and the third section, but Verdeaux didn't divide his track, so I'm doing it myself) and a free experimental and psychedelic second section.

Cyrille Verdeaux also released a "Clearlight Symphony II" in 1990.

I really like this strong melodic / experimental contrast, so that when Hillage comes in - in what I'd call the fourth part of the suite - all is ready for an emotional peak. Then, the piano introduces another experimental phase, including a piano / electronic keys interplay and at last the grand finale appears with all the bombastic effects you can imagine. I'm sure many of you will like this track (and the whole album) as Cyrille Verdeaux really put in it a bit of anything an old prog fan is looking for.