NIGHT DREAMS & WISHES

A month ago I searched in the web the list of concerts from one of the Classical music orchestras in the city I live. I read that some days later they were going to play Gustav Mahler's Third Symphony. I contacted in Facebook one friend who plays contra-bass in that orchestra to comment about it with him. Some minutes before the start of the concert he very kindly gave me a courtesy free ticket to attend the concert, because it was going to be difficult for me to find one ticket to buy then. This Symphony is not played very often by the Classical music orchestras around the world (due to the use of two Choirs and a Female singer, and the number of musicians used in the Orchestra), so it was an opportunity that couldn't be missed (with me attending the same venue in 1975 with my father to listen to the same orchestra play that Symphony' 44 years ago). That Symphony is almost 100 minutes in length and it is the longest Symphony in the 'current repertoire' that Classical music orchestras play around the world. Mahler is not a very accessible composer for many people around the world, but this Symphony, despite its length in minutes, is very much appreciated and it is maybe one of his most accessible works. I enjoyed the concert very much. In fact, due to the length of the work in minutes it is played alone by Orchestras in a concert date. And this Symphony also has some very elaborated musical parts that are not easy for the listener who listens to it for the fist time.

The second album from MODERN - ROCK ENSEMBLE, called 'Night Dreams and Wishes', is almost 80 minutes in length. And it was an unexpected mail delivery to my house one day, because, as I explained to the person who contacted me by Private Message in the Prog Archives Forums, I stopped visiting this website since July 2018, due to some technical problems which the website had to post some reviews since 2017 for some Prog Rock reviewers like me. So, it was an unexpected mail delivery because I didn't know that this person have sent me a PM in Prog Archives to say to me that they have sent me the CD via Air Mail. So, I opened the mail envelope and I saw this CD, with a very good cover design (with a three- fold Digipack cover, which also includes a poster with the lyrics), similar to the cover design from their first album ("Touch the Mystery" from 2016) which they sent me in early 2017. If the cover design was done with a lot of care' the music in this second album was also done with a lot of care. With a length similar to a 2- LP set from some Prog Rock conceptual albums from the seventies (for example, more or less like 'Tales from Topographic Oceans' by YES, or 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway' by GENESIS), the music in this 'Night Dreams and Wishes' album in general is very elaborated, but with some parts being more accessible for the listener. The general concept of the album, called a Suite, is somewhat autobiographical (if I understood it well by reading the notes in the CD cover) , and it is divided in three main themes, with all music and lyrics composed by Vladimir Gorashchenko: a) The night dreams that a person has during sleeping time; b) The childhood memories, with some of them not being very pleasant for the composer of the music and lyrics in this band (and which is more like a solo project, really, with some very good contributions from his very good musicians guest friends); and c) The enemies of all these dreams for the individual (politicians, dictators), with whom the individual has to fight to grow as a person, not matter how hard the war could be. In the end, the individual person wins to grow and to have his personal dreams and wishes become a reality. The music in the first theme of this album is very enjoyable for my taste, being very melodic and quiet in most places, but it gradually becomes heavier, darker and sometimes aggressive in the other two parts of the album, more particularly during the war the individual has to fight with the enemies. Finally, one of my favorite parts from this album is the song titled 'Wake Up', when the individual wins the fight and realizes that his dreams and wishes became true. 'Be yourself despite anything', as the cover notes say.

Maybe the album is too long in length (like 'Topographic Oceans', 'The Lamb' or Mahler's Third Symphony) to be listened to just once. One really has to listen to this album several times to find a whole musical picture. But it is a very good album, maybe a bit excessive in some parts. If their first album was more like a compilation of individual tracks, this second album really took a lot of time to be recorded (30 months, 26 participants, and six recording studios, like the poster notes say). There are some musical parts which sound like being influenced by JETHRO TULL (due to the use of some flutes). Other parts sound like being influenced by New Age Music, or by the early KING CRIMSON of the late sixties and early and mid seventies (some sax and guitar parts, even some Mellotron sounds), or even with some influences from ELP (some organ solos), or even from STEVE HACKETT (some guitar parts). Anyway, there are some very complex musical arrangements (female vocals, Church Organ sounds). It is really an album very influenced by the Prog Rock music of the seventies but using some 'modern sounds' and without losing the musical identity of the composer and the musicians of the band. In conclusion, like their first album, it is a very good album, but more elaborated.