Sacred Places

by William RuhlmannFlutist Ron Allen structures Sacred Places as a travelogue, devoting the first eight of the nine tracks to particular spots on the earth -- Mount Shasta, Stonehenge, Ayer's Rock, Orissa, the Bodhi Tree, the Yunkang Caves, Jerusalem, and Machu Picchu -- and the ninth, "Gaia," to the planet itself. His musical approaches are not very surprising. "City of Temples," about the temples of Orissa in India, is dominated by sitar-like sounds and tabla, for example, while "Dreamtime," about Ayer's Rock in Australia, boasts a didgeridoo. He does not attempt to dominate the music with his flute playing, but rather creates textured pieces that give plenty of space to his ten fellow musicians. This is slow-moving, contemplative music to be sure, but it has enough different, unusual instrumental sounds and styles to maintain listening interest consistently without ever disturbing the reverential mood.