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Label:
  Songlines - http://www.songlines.com/
Serial:
  SGL SA1558-2
Title:
  Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet: Way Out East
Description:
  "Way Out East"

Wayne Horvitz (piano and electronics)
Peggy Lee (cello)
Ron Miles (trumpet)
Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon)
Track listing:
 
Genre:
  Jazz
Content:
  Stereo/Multichannel
Media:
  Hybrid
Recording type:
 
Recording info:
 

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Related titles: 3


 
Reviews: 1

Site review by ramesh January 23, 2008
Performance:   Sonics:  
This disc comprises eleven original compositions for the unusual combination of cello, trumpet, bassoon and piano/synthesiser. It should appeal to listeners of jazz, New Age, and tonal contemporary classical music. Moreover, the audiophile production qualities are coupled to musical values which are not routinely achieved in audiophile releases.

http://www.waynehorvitz.com/speech/wayouteast_notes.html contains the liner notes for this release, which is packaged with a beautiful gatefold monochrome photo of snow-laden trees, of which one third forms the booklet cover. In fact, the only reference to the Orient I can detect, despite the title of the disc, is the classical Chinese landscape aesthetic epitomised by the cover. Otherwise, the production is as North American as it can be. The composer and pianist states, 'I was searching for for an ensemble that could somehow bridge the gap between through-composed chamber music... and my lifelong love of small group improvisation.'

Horvitz's selection of bassoon, trumpet and cello gives his compositions a challenging tonal balance of two lower-register instruments counterpointed by upper-range brass, with only keyboard or electronics to link these instruments. Add to this the deliberate omission of a jazz/pop style drum or rhythm section, and it can be deduced that the ensuing impressions are of serene or contemplative compositions, favouring darker hues. Indeed, the mood of certain pieces is akin to the iconic Miles 'Kind of Blue', inflected in a contemporary idiom.

Although the composer claims that despite 'the occasional reference to blues or jazz language, this band is essentially a contemporary chamber ensemble that happens to improvise', I hear otherwise. Horvitz's tonal language contains no visible fingerprints of contemporary avant garde chamber ensembles, apart from some of the works where he forsakes the piano in favour of electronics. Indeed, this certainly improves the accessibility and marketability of this CD from the minute percentage of the public who buy the music of Elliott Carter, Crumb, Kurtag, Boulez or Birtwistle.

There is no underlying theme or common motif which I can detect in these pieces. However, the waltz or quasi-waltz rhythms of several pieces acts as a unifying reference. Interspersed between these more traditionally conceived works the composer places more experimental and edgy pieces where he utilises various electronic sounds. Here, the cellist [ who sounds classically-trained but moonlighting elsewhere ] follows suit by appearing to deploy avant-garde sul ponticello and sul tasto effects. This method of combining small-jazz improvisational numbers with quasi-avant garde pieces is very effective in terms of injecting variety and novelty. The excellent, rather breathy trumpeter is given the latitude to perform both swinging riffs and indulge in effects using various tongueings which Miles Davis might have admired.

The music is 'recorded and mixed in DSD to stereo and 5.0', although old fashioned analogue tape hiss seemed audible in a couple of numbers. There is certainly no harshness of the sort one gets with many digital recordings of trumpet. The quality of the recording is quite evident in the lower registers, where the bassoon is clearly separable from the cello timbre-- a facet which is audible in live performances but which can be surpisingly difficult to reproduce in PCM digital.

A fine disc worth seeking out.