String Quartet Tribute To Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon CD

While most of the releases in the extensive String Quartet Tribute To series are overall tributes to a particular artist or band, Vitamin does issue the occasional string quartet take on an influential album. Here, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon is in the spotlight, with its nine tracks arranged for two viola, cello, and two violins. Throughout, the music is claustrophobic and anxious. After a drifting opening take on "Speak to Me/Breath in the Air," the skittering, hysterical violins of "On the Run" are even more arresting. Interplay between the cello and violins creates an atmosphere of tension in "Time," while "Money" appears in an entirely different (and strangely unsettling) arrangement from the guitar-led version on Vitamin's string tribute to Pink Floyd's entire canon. The tribute ends as Dark Side of the Moon itself does, with the stirring strings of "Eclipse." Though the lyrics have been removed, the wonder, fear, and reality analysis inherent in the album is felt through the string arrangements. And that's likely the most effective tribute of all. ~ Johnny Loftus

Personnel: Eric Gorfain, Daphne Chen (violin); Leah Katz (viola); Richard Dodd (cello).

Arranger: Eric Gorfain.

Personnel includes: Eric Gorfain, Daphne Chen (violin); Leah Katz (viola); Richard Dodd (cello).

Tributee: Pink Floyd.