Musical Witchcraft II

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Musical Witchcraft II - Utopia

Artist:	Musical Witchcraft II
Title:	Utopia
Label:	Periferic BGCD 116
Length(s):	47 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2002
Month of review:	[04/2003]

Line up

Attila Kollar - flute, recorder, tambourine
Gyorgy Bokor - bassoon
Laszlo Gomor - drums
Ferenc Kornis - percussion
Gabor Naszadi - acoustic guitar
Tamas Pocs - bass
Peter Sarik - piano, organ, synth
Edina Szirtes - violin, vocals
Zsolt Vamos - electric and acoustic guitars
Laszlo Vermes - drums

Tracks

1)	Suite Utopia - Utopia	3.33
2)	Suite Utopia - Prophets And Daydreamers	6.42
1)	Suite Utopia - Worlds Closed Into The Stone	4.25
4)	Suite Utopia - The Light Of The Stake's Fire	5.13
5)	In The Hiding Place Of Castles	2.51
6)	Secrets Of Morus	3.52
7)	Feast On The Tournament	2.23
8)	Inquisition	4.44
9)	The Tower's Room Lost In The Fog...	4.57
10)	Utopia From The City	5.07
11)	Fairy Tale Along The Loire	3.32

Summary

Solaris flutist Attila Kollar with this releases his second album on the subject of Musical Witchcraft. Where its predecessor was still released under Kollar's own name, Musical Witchcraft has now become the artist name.

The music

As composers do, they most often write music for their own instrument(s). Attila Kollar is mainly a flute player, so guess what kind of album this is? Don't get me wrong, he gives ample room to other instruments, such as guitar, various percussion instruments, violin and bassoon. However, this music does tend to feel rather gentle, as is the sound of the flute. Sure, there is the odd roaring guitar, or Kollar taking the Ian Anderson turn, making the flute sound less friendly, but these are just moments (especially found in the final part of the Suite). They can't quite hide the fact that this all is rather tame. Where a flute band like Focus also has a strong guitar player, or Jethro Tull also has vocal sections, this album is fully carried by the flute.

Conclusion

End result is a friendly sounding CD, which would probably find an audience with those into more folk directed material, than it would with prog lovers. I, for one, find this disc far too tame. In case you know the Withcraft debut: you will probably feel the same about this one, as you do about that. I do.