Open Window [Audio CD] Darling, David

Open Window is a compilation of works cellist David Darling has previously released on Musical Massage projects for the Relaxation Company. Eight of its tracks are edited selections (between five to seven minutes each) of pieces Darling composed for Balance and In Tune, reflective instrumentals that originally ran 15-plus minutes. Fans of Darling?s more abstract ECM releases may find these pieces here a touch too serene for their tastes, though Open Window is not exactly easy-listening music. Featuring an assortment of guest instrumentalists (on oboe, English horn, clarinet, flutes, percussion and piano), the disc?s centerpiece is its overall texture, not simply Darling?s cello, yielding a sort of melancholy mellowness that can elicit introspective daydreaming (or just nodding off). The opening three tracks, with understated rhythms and a slight Middle Eastern flavor, are the disc?s high points, as the softer focus of subsequent tracks drift progressively closer to dreamland. --Terry Wood