Short Reviews [Roz Vitalis - 2024 - "Semi-Acoustic at Kuryokhin Center"]

Over the last few years we have been fortunate enough to receive quite a few live albums from Roz Vitalis, and here we have another, which was recorded in February 2023 at the Kuryokhin Center in St. Petersburg. The hall provided the band with certain limitations, such as not being able to use a full drumkit, which meant that Yury Khomonenko could only use a cajon and a cymbal - but keyboard player Ivan Rozmainsky, in addition to synthesizers used the hall’s upright piano. The line-up was completed by Vladimir Semenov-Tyan-Shansky (guitar), AndRey Stefinoff (clarinet) and Max Lokosov (bass), with the set being mainly based on tracks from ‘Patience of Hope’ (2012), ‘Lavoro d'Amore’ (2015) and ‘The Hidden Man of the Heart’ (2018). There are also two pure piano pieces which have yet to be recorded and another, “Recovery”, which has appeared on another live release but has yet to be recorded in the studio. Roz Vitalis have long been one of my favourite Russian prog bands, based around the keyboards of Ivan Rozmainsky which often have a very classical bent and a quite different approach to many modern progressive bands. There can be quite strong RIO/avant influences in their music, alongside the classical, yet they rarely feel Russian and there is little in the way of folk influences. It is not mainstream, but it is not “out there” either and unlike many within the prog genre they are a band who are always instantly recognisable. Ivan often puts himself at the back, providing support, while woodwind often takes the melodic lead, so this always feel like a full band effort as opposed to a keyboard player with some supporting musicians. There is a lightness within, a hidden beauty through these times of strife and troubles. Ivan has been leading this band for more than 20 years now, and they are still producing music which refuses to conform and is always looking for new pastures. The arrangements are complex and interweaving, dynamic and passionate, feeling real and never over produced or commercialised. Fresh and exciting, this is progressive classical music from the heart and long may they continue.