The avant garde in any field of endeavor inevitably challenges conventional expectations. That, in part, is precisely the point of its existence: to alert, provoke and stimulate aesthetic or conceptual attention.
Judi Silvano's new album, GARDEN WINDS, with a brisk nod to Stravinsky midway, invites appreciation from those who are vulnerable to surprise and, no less, who are comfortable with confident auditory exploration. This ten track musical adventure succeeds in its playful, restrained, yet probing self-confidence. Flutist Haruma Fukazawa is lithe, quick, and exuberantly daring. Her bassoon companion, Clair de Brunner, is flawless, bold, and truly soulful in both grounding the trio’s daring and, no less, framing the puckish sense of a voyage accomplished by the ensemble’s sincere spontaneous freedom.
The Argentinean writer, Jorge Luis Borges, insisted that “classical writers do not distrust language.” The central issue in every field of artistic expression is authenticity.
Dante’s voyage through the secular hell of human travail explicates the ferocity of commitment and belief…dedication to clarity of awareness; the delineation of values that transcend capitulation to banality’s common dreck.
This is a musical tour de force that startles, then engages, and finally charms something one might call the soul’s restless need to feel honored by candor’s courage to share vivacity’s enduring surprise.
September 20, 2026 / La Costa, CA
