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eighth blackbird - strange imaginary animals (2006)

Posted By: Piterets
eighth blackbird - strange imaginary animals (2006)

eighth blackbird - strange imaginary animals
Contemporary Classical | 2006 | 71:57 | EAC (individual APEs, no cue, no log) | Front cover | 348 MB


Winner of 2 GRAMMY Awards

* Category 104: Best Chamber Music Performance - strange imaginary animals
* Category 97: Best Producer of the Year, Classical - Judith Sherman


NOW Ensemble re-defines chamber music for the 21st century, fusing "the formal elegance of chamber music with a pop-honed concision and rhythmic vitality." (Time Out New York) Their critically-acclaimed debut album, called "outstanding" by The Washington Post and the recipient of several five-star reviews, is aptly titled Now

Review by Blair Sanderson At first glance, the album Strange Imaginary Animals may look like a whimsical musical menagerie, perhaps an avant-garde update on Carnival of the Animals; but this 2006 release from Çedille is more intellectually demanding and esoterically puzzling than its improbable title and cover art may suggest. These six colorful works for chamber ensemble are gathered together ("unified" is too rigid a term) around a rather elusive concept -- the imagination -- and each piece forces the listener to think creatively about its possible meanings, however arcane or absurd. Take, for example, Jennifer Higdon's Zaka (2003), a dynamically rhythmic tour de force in which the performance and its reception are influenced by its name and definition: "za-ka (zô' kô) v. To do the following almost simultaneously and with great speed: zap, sock, race, turn, drop, sprint." Or consider Gordon Fitzell's Violence (2001), which is a surprisingly delicate and quiet piece that explores the underlying aesthetics of violence, instead of making an overt display of aggression. Things become even more paradoxical with Steven Mackey's humorous Indigenous Instruments (1989), which portends to be new music from a nonexistent society; David M. Gordon's mechanistic yet elastic Friction Systems (2002; revised 2005), which is elucidated in the liner notes by nothing more than an anagrammatic grid; Fitzell's mysterious sound sculpture Evanescence (2005), which was apparently inspired by the four words used to describe it, "violence, metamorphosis, sublimation, evanescence"; and Dennis DeSantis' Strange Imaginary Remix (2006), which resembles a dance mix of electronica snippets. The music in each piece is as technically challenging as the ideas behind them are abstruse, though nothing here is especially hard to listen to, except for Gordon's Friction Systems, which is the album's most brazenly dissonant track. For the most part, these composers write in an accessible postmodern style, with vivid tone colors and brilliant virtuoso parts for the musicians. The engaging contemporary ensemble eighth blackbird -- consisting of pianist Lisa Kaplan, percussionist Matthew Duvall, violinist Matt Albert, cellist Nicholas Photinos, flutist Molly Alicia Barth, and clarinetist Michael J. Maccaferri -- performs the works with vibrant energy and considerable charm and wit, and the recordings are outstanding for their clarity and depth. Taken as a whole, this CD may not draw a wide audience, but it is the kind of album that will appeal to fans of Exquisite Corpses, recreational surrealism, and conceptual art. www.allmusic.com


Tracks:

1 Jennifer Higdon Zaka, for chamber ensemble 12:54
2 Gordon Fitzell Violence, for chamber ensemble 09:54
3 Steven Mackey Indigenous Instruments, for ensemble I. 06:17
4 " II. 05:39
5 " III. 05:42
6 David M. Gordon Friction Systems, for chamber ensemble 14:38
7 Gordon Fitzell Evanescence, for chamber ensemble 11:18
8 Dennis DeSantis Strange Imaginary Remix, for chamber ensemble 05:35



Performers:
Tim Munro, flutes
Michael J. Maccaferri, clarinets
Matt Albert, violin & viola
Nicholas Photinos, cello
Matthew Duvall, percussion +
Lisa Kaplan, piano

# Audio CD (November 28, 2006)
# SPARS Code: DDD
# Number of Discs: 1
# Label: Cedille
# ASIN: B000K2UF26


Download Links:
Part 1
Part 2


Coming up next:

Jennifer Higdon

City Scape / Concerto for Orchestra (2004)