Record companies, artists and publicists are invited to submit CDs to be considered for review. Send to: Jerry Bowles, Editor, Sequenza 21, 340 W. 57th Street, 12B, New York, NY 10019

Latest Posts

Ernst Pepping and Allan Pettersson: Moral Dilemmas in Symphonic Music
"The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and... "
Tell the Birds
Soundtrack to an Apocalypse
Feast Your Ears: New Music for Piano
Gone For Foreign
Fred Lerdahl: Time After Time
Nothing Sacred
Two From Wayne Horvitz
Two Fresh Cantaloupes

Record companies, artists and publicists are invited to submit CDs to be considered for our Editor's Pick's of the month. Send to: Jerry Bowles, Editor, Sequenza 21, 340 W. 57th Street, 12B, New York, NY 10019


Archives
Saturday, December 18, 2004 Saturday, December 25, 2004 Friday, December 31, 2004 Wednesday, January 05, 2005 Monday, January 10, 2005 Thursday, January 13, 2005 Thursday, January 20, 2005 Sunday, January 23, 2005 Monday, January 24, 2005 Saturday, January 29, 2005 Wednesday, February 02, 2005 Thursday, February 03, 2005 Monday, February 07, 2005 Tuesday, February 08, 2005 Friday, February 11, 2005 Monday, February 14, 2005 Wednesday, February 16, 2005 Tuesday, February 22, 2005 Monday, February 28, 2005 Sunday, March 06, 2005 Monday, March 07, 2005 Wednesday, March 09, 2005 Sunday, March 13, 2005 Friday, March 18, 2005 Monday, March 28, 2005 Saturday, April 02, 2005 Monday, April 11, 2005 Sunday, April 17, 2005 Tuesday, April 19, 2005 Monday, April 25, 2005 Monday, May 02, 2005 Monday, May 09, 2005 Tuesday, May 17, 2005 Tuesday, May 31, 2005 Monday, June 06, 2005 Thursday, June 16, 2005 Sunday, June 19, 2005 Sunday, July 10, 2005 Wednesday, July 13, 2005 Sunday, July 24, 2005 Friday, July 29, 2005 Monday, August 08, 2005 Monday, August 22, 2005 Wednesday, August 24, 2005 Friday, September 16, 2005 Sunday, September 25, 2005 Tuesday, October 04, 2005 Tuesday, October 18, 2005 Monday, October 24, 2005 Tuesday, November 01, 2005 Monday, November 07, 2005 Saturday, November 12, 2005 Wednesday, November 16, 2005 Tuesday, November 29, 2005 Friday, December 16, 2005 Monday, January 09, 2006 Thursday, January 12, 2006 Thursday, January 19, 2006 Tuesday, January 24, 2006 Thursday, February 02, 2006 Monday, February 13, 2006 Wednesday, February 15, 2006 Wednesday, March 01, 2006 Sunday, March 19, 2006 Sunday, March 26, 2006 Friday, March 31, 2006 Sunday, April 09, 2006 Monday, April 10, 2006 Thursday, April 20, 2006 Friday, April 21, 2006 Thursday, May 11, 2006 Thursday, May 18, 2006 Saturday, May 20, 2006 Friday, June 02, 2006 Tuesday, June 06, 2006 Friday, June 16, 2006 Monday, June 19, 2006 Sunday, June 25, 2006 Monday, June 26, 2006 Monday, July 10, 2006 Thursday, July 13, 2006 Thursday, July 20, 2006 Friday, July 21, 2006 Sunday, July 23, 2006 Thursday, August 03, 2006 Wednesday, August 09, 2006


Powered by Blogger

Friday, June 02, 2006
In Transit

In Transit
Timothy McAllister, saxophone; Kathryn Goodson, piano
music of Roshanne Etezady, William Albright, Milton Babbitt, Gregory Wanamaker, and Mischa Zupko

It's a little hard to think that the saxophone has been kicking around since the middle of the 19th century. Though its intended home was the European orchestra, it found a more hospitable environment in American jazz and popular music. This recording seems motivated in part by a need to show that the classical world hasn't entirely forsaken the instrument.

The program is very diverse, allowing young composers to appear alongside the works of a couple more established names. By far, the highlight of the disc is William Albright's Sonata. I knew the piece had a reputation as a major piece within the saxophone repertoire, but after hearing it, I see no reason why its status has to be qualified as "within the saxophone repertoire."

The piece is a four movement meditation on how death affects the living. Each movement uses a different historical style, but Albright's dramatic sense was strong enough to make them all cohere. I got the sense that his polystylism wasn't a case of academic posturing, but that it came from a desire to find the most appropriate means for expressing himself. Most of his compositional decisions seemed to stem from this urge for communicativeness.

The other "name" composer on the disc is Milton Babbitt, whose Accompanied Recitative is the shortest work on the program. It's charming and lively music that has something of the excitement of opening a bottle of champagne. At only 1'47", it seems to end just as quickly. The soprano sax's rich and warm timbre seems particularly suited to Babbitt's style.

Roshanne Etezady's Streetlegal is supposed to evoke the thrill of high-speed street racing. Frenetic figures are the ready-made symbol for this kind of motion, but they're not given enough of a context to sound out-of-control all the time. When everything is agitato, the effect washes out after a while. Though it would be cheesy and perhaps a little too literal, I wanted to hear the saxophone indulge in some more honky squawks.

Sonata Deus Sax Machina would've fit into the Composers Forum Discussion on punny titles (Babbitt's piece here is pretty much on the up and up, come to think of it). According to the liner notes, the composer meant to evoke the "drive and energy of mechanical motion," not the plot device that early opera was so fond of.

This title gets a thumbs down from me for being knowingly misleading, but it's better than the composer going for something along the lines of Sax Appeal. In Wanamaker's defense, the work lives up to his intentions. I wanted each of the movements to be a little longer, though. There was something abrupt about each of them. They also felt strangely isolated from one another, despite the motivic connections between them.

The album's title piece is also concerned with travel and motion. The notes describe it as a travelogue, which in musical terms translates to five character pieces. At around 25', it's the longest piece on the disc. It feels fair to make a comparison to On the Road. Mischa Zupko's music has a similar romanticism and meandering quality to it.

The performances on all the tracks are extremely committed. McAllister and Goodson obviously care a lot about this music (it's worth noting that they commissioned all three of the younger composer's pieces). Even when there are weaknesses in the writing, their playing sells the music. There's something satisfying in itself from hearing people play with this level of dedication.

 



Search WWWSearch www.sequenza21.com