Parlando by Christopher Clarino

With expertise in American Sign Language as well as being a virtuoso percussionist, it is perhaps no wonder Christopher Clarino has developed a hybrid artform that merges sound, body, and language. Parlando, his debut recording, takes this fusion further and explores the instruments’ potential for expressive ‘speech,’ where drums, cymbals, and metallophones transcend their conventional roles and become vibrant/vibrating storytellers in their own right.

The centerpiece of the album is Igor Santos’ Parlando, where both vibraphone and synthesizer combine to create one single extended instrument – a super-vibraphone of sorts – capable of infinite inflections in pitch and extended range.

Anthony Donofrio’s Meditation mirrors the narrative complexity of Italo Calvino’s novel in which a group of travelers – brought together by chance and struck speechless – share their stories by spreads of Tarot cards.

Barbara Monk Feldman, like her late husband Morton, is fascinated by the relationship of sound and silence. Glockenspiel, however, features layers of rhythmic complexity and ringing sonorities. Thomas DeLio, another Morton Feldman colleague, plays with sound as it decays in a colorful mini-concerto for orchestra bells.

Lastly, The Narrow Path by Michael Pisaro-Liu references a thousand-year-old scroll painting depicting tiny humans and enormous mountain and sky forms. The extreme perspective and depth is reflected in the vibraphone’s range and colors: there are mists and fogs in the gathering tones which create secondary vibrations. The fog begins to dissipate and tones ring more clearly at the peak.

Christopher Clarino – who holds a doctoral degree from UC San Diego, having studied with Steven Schick – is widely known for his interdisciplinary work. He has performed as soloist from La Jolla and Ojai to Carnegie Hall, West Point, and Bang on a Can. Among his landmark performances, he has given the US and Brazilian premieres of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s INORI, an evening-length work for solo gesturing performer with audio playback.

“I wanted this album to transcend conventional views of percussion as merely rhythm,” says Clarino. “Each piece forms a conversation—an exploration of sound as its own form of language. Parlando is an invitation to listen, to connect, and to experience percussion as it speaks to the soul.”

Christopher Clarino is widely known for his interdisciplinary work. He has performed as soloist from La Jolla and Ojai to Carnegie Hall, West Point, and Bang on a Can. Among his landmark performances, he has given the US and Brazilian premieres of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s INORI, an evening-length work for solo gesturing performer with audio playback.