David Friesen - This Light Has No Darkness [CD]

Lushly orchestrated by Kyle Gordon for a 33-piece chamber orchestra, bassist David Friesen's compositions soar in this new 12-part work, originally conceived for the National Academic Symphonic Band of Ukraine. Following 2020's "Testimony," which featured that ensemble, Friesen began on this masterwork with the premier set for the Philharmonic Hall in Kyiv in May of 2022. With that date becoming an impossiblility, Gordon instead sculpted the orchestra in his Los Angeles studio with a sample library and an ear trained in producing for expansive, sweeping film and TV soundtracks. Interacting with the duo of Friesen, pianist Paul Lees along with percussionists Charlie Doggett & Rob Moore, the suite unfolds as a spiritual light that offers forgiveness, hope and purpose, through movements such as "Perseverance," "Innocence," "Tides Turning," and the hymn-like "Return To The Father," written for his wife of 58 years who passed away during a tragic week that included the invasion of Ukraine.