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David KECHLEY
(b.1947)
Colliding Objects
1. Dancing - Four Movements for five percussionists playing
44 instruments (1982) [10:48]
2. Design and Construction - Trialogues, for trumpet, saxophone
& percussion (2010) [18:59]
3. Untimely Passages - a Slow Groove & Chaconne, for
marimba, flugelhorn & percussion (2011) [7:54]
4. Available Light - Midwinter Musings, for flute & harp
(2005) [14:57]
5. Colliding Objects - Interactions, for piano & percussion
(2008) [23:35]
Timetable (Matthew Gold, Joseph Tompkins, Matt Ward (percussion))
(1,2,5)
Eric Poland, Chris Thompson (percussion (1)
Tom Bergeron (trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet (2,3)
Steven Bodner (alto/baritone/soprano saxophone(2)
Candy Chiu (marimba) (3)
Linda Chatterton (flute) (4)
Ina Zdorovetchi (harp)(4)
Doris Stevenson (piano) (5)
rec. No details given. DDD
INNOVA 829 [76:23]
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Seattle-born David Kechley is Professor of Music at Williams
College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. This is his first CD
for Innova, but some of his music has appeared previously on
Albany Records, Reference Recordings and elsewhere.
The five works heard here, written for small percussion - and/or
wind-based ensembles, span thirty years of creativity, although
in fact only the title work is more than half a dozen years
old. To appear on Innova, composers must - at least in theory
- be "somehow non-conformist, individualistic, and groundbreaking",
but Kechley takes a surprisingly orthodox approach to writing.
Thus, in spite of certain (tasteful) nods towards the postmodernism
that many American musicians in particular have assimilated
with abandon, much of Kechley's music is lyrical and formally
limpid in an almost old-school way.
Where percussion instruments are the focus of musical attention,
rhythmic energy is always likely to be prominent, and such is
the case with Kechley, particularly in both Dancing and Colliding
Objects, where the effect is almost one of improvisation.
Yet with harmonies light and diatonic, melody is never far away:
in contradistinction to modernists and minimalist/crossover
flunkeys, Kechley is not afraid to reminisce. Available Light,
for example, looks back, consciously or otherwise, to the Neo-classicism
of Stravinsky and Poulenc, whilst the trumpet in Untimely
Passages is tunefully soulful. Yet Kechley still manages
to sound artistically contemporary, whether by dint of instrumentation
- marimba and exotic percussion usually work well! - or through
the subtle employment of vernacular or, in Design and Construction,
quasi-Futurist idiom. At any event, the discordant or atonal
expressionism suggested by the album title never materialises
and Kechley's music reveals itself as accessible and even quite
catchy.
Sound quality, as always with Innova, is immaculate. The digipak
case has no booklet - notes are printed straight onto the card.
This obviously limits the amount of information provided, but
the detail is sufficient for the casual reader, although language
lovers may wish to write to Innova for allowing "comes to it's
hypnotic close". No recording details are supplied, but as far
as dates go, 2011 (or 2012) is indicated.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at artmusicreviews.co.uk
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