The sixth release from a storied composer, Raynald Grenier’s latest project ‘Symphony No. 1 in D Minor’ sees the classical conductor, symphonist, and instrumentalist at the top of his game. In a near four decade long career, he’s already mesmerized a host of audiences in his time. Here, on this lengthy and laborious 24 minute long three track EP, Grenier chooses a simple yet simultaneously grandiose cinematic splendour to beguile listeners into his opulent and dreamy soundscapes. Rooted firmly in the prose and structure of classical music, Grenier’s clear influences from the stalwarts of the genre are well founded on the record.
But it’s perhaps in the emotion that he’s able to exude, the levels of depth that he can convey in his compositions that make Symphony No. 1 in D Minor that resplendent a record to witness. The progression on each track, building, moving with intention and having within it so much depth and guise that almost bewitches you and takes you into imagining landscapes and scenarios is truly mesmerizing.