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Strange Imaginary
Animals
Jennifer HIGDON (b.1962) Zaka (2003) [12:50] Gordon FITZELL (b.1968) violence (2001) [9:46] Steven MACKEY Indigenous Instruments (1989) [17:34] David M. GORDON Friction Systems (2002; rev. 2005) [14:37] Gordon FITZELL evanescence (2006) [11:18] Dennis DESANTIS (b.1973) strange imaginary remix (2006) [5:33] eighth
blackbird (Matt Albert (violin and viola);
Molly Alicia Barth (flutes); Matthew Duvall (percussion);
Lisa Kaplan (piano); Michael J. Maccaferri (clarinets);
Nicholas Photinos (cello))
rec. Ball State University, 15-18 August 2005. DDD CEDILLE CDR 90000
094 [72:00]
An exciting programme,
the majority being world premiere recordings, and by an exceptional
ensemble which specialises in contemporary music – what more
do you want to get the juices flowing?
Jennifer
Higdon is one of the US’s most performed living composers. Zaka,
is a colourful, energetic and rhythmically stimulating work
in its outer sections. The quieter central moments are expressed
in flowing lines and open fifths in the piano part – always
a good way to work out some counterpoint without losing your
audience. Gentle percussion effects and some massaging of
the piano strings add a mildly exotic flavour, but this is
music which has a clean and direct effect, having its feet
firmly on solid, technically adept ground.
With
the title Violence, Gordon Fitzell “was interested
in exploring the concept of aesthetic violence … What elements
conspire to wage aesthetic war in a work of art?” The music
is therefore not of a ‘violent’ nature, but engages the listener
in an exploration of sonorities, sustained pedal tones, the
tapping of strings – rhythm and harmonics at the same time – melodic
gestures rather than recognisable lines. The mind is stimulated
to ask questions. Mine told me that the conflicts were partially
of instruments being asked to imitate or express things other
than that which might be expected of them, or taking on or
arguing against musical stereotype. You will probably make
other conclusions, but in doing so will be proving the success
of Fitzell’s idea.
Indigenous
Instruments is Steven Mackey’s “vernacular
music from a culture that doesn’t exist”. De-tuned instruments
give the opening movement some interesting quarter-tone
effects, the notes becoming declamatory and vocal – like
a noisy crowd of “strange imaginary animals”. There is
some humour in the writing, and some powerfully expressive
moments as well. The piece is in three movements which
run into each other, the first being animated – literally.
The second movement is slow and atmospheric, solos rising
above a bed of irregular sustained repeated or rocking
notes from the piano. The other instruments eventually
take over this organic cycle of resonance, allowing the
piano to break free and embrace the now static notes of
the ensemble in wreaths of wider intervals. It’s like a
very slow chorale – a guaranteed hit with this reviewer.
The third movement opens with grunting and fidgeting strings,
who rut in the undergrowth while flute and piano occasionally
fly overhead in haughty distaste. The conclusion is like
gently bestial Tippett – beautiful, but remaining rhythmically
unruly.
Of
the cryptic programme notes in the booklet to this CD, David
M. Gordon’s would seem to be the least informative – being
a ‘wordsearch’ panel with the composer’s name and the title Friction
Systems highlighted. In fact, you can have all kinds
of fun spotting words which are relevant to the piece: ‘Prepared
Piano’ being just two, and very much a central element in
the colour of the piece. After a hard-hitting opening, quarter-tone
dissonances from strings and winds and gamelan-like sounds
from the piano enhance a mystical, exotic character. ‘Drama’ is
another word which one can spot in the grid, and there is
indeed a theatrical quality to this piece, with tense build-ups
and heavy gestures in the bass line. The prepared piano has
an extended cadenza towards the end of the piece, the intensity
of which builds to a climax via a reprise of the repeated
notes of the opening, using some quarter-tone writing which
reminded me a little of some of Alain Louvrier’s music.
Gordon
Fitzell’s other work on this disc, evanescence, introduces
a nice electronic contrast with the other pieces, processing
the sounds of the instruments to create an other-worldly,
displaced feeling. The words ‘violence, metamorphosis, sublimation,
evanescence’ are the sum total of the programme notes, but
they do seem to illustrate what the piece is about in an
ultra-compact fashion. It would have been nice to have been
told how some of the effects were created – the impression
being of a kind of ‘remix’ of violence. Nice vocorder
nuances aside, the only thing I really missed was Ringo Starr’s
voice repeating the words ‘number nine.’
Dennis
DeSantis’s strange imaginary remix appropriately runs
straight on from Fitzell’s electronic work, and with DeSantis’s
groovy pedigree it is no real surprise to find this last
track being a catchy and remarkably well put together assembly
of edits from previous works on the disc. Fluty tongue-rams
- sampled, otherwise the player would end up with a tongue
the shape and size of a milk-bottle - serve as a pushy rhythmic
basis along with some computer-generated but well balanced
drum effects, and the open piano sounds in Jennifer Higdon’s
central section wind through the latter stages in a slow,
ever-evolving spiral. I shall be keeping this track handy
for that silly dance I have to do when putting on formal
dress for a gig – all sedentary musicians over forty will
know what I’m talking about …
This
imaginative and superbly produced CD has some top contemporary
music played by a crack ensemble, and has the essential quality
of not taking itself too seriously. I give it the modern-music ‘feel-good’ award,
and shall be recommending it to anyone prepared to listen
to the ramblings of a strange imaginary reviewer.
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