Search - Baird Dodge :: Charles Dodge: A Retrospective (1977-2009)

The music on this disc was written over a period of more than thirty years. Over the course of those years, so much has changed in technology, in music, in life in general. But throughout the work represented here one can recognize the remarkable, entirely original voice of Charles Dodge (b. 1942). He is truly a composer who writes music that does not sound like anybody else's. He has never been part of any "ism" or movement; he is his own category. And although his stylistic approach and his interests have changed over the course of the years, that voice retains the same unique, focused nature, a restrained expressivity, and an unapologetic economy of means. This voice is supported by a technique so flawless that it recedes entirely into the background, drawing no attention to itself while allowing the music to speak with exceptional clarity. Dodge has always been a true musician, an artist for whom the computer is only a means to an end, not an end in itself. And we as listeners are fortunate to have the opportunity to experience that artistry here, in three works that showcase it in all its nuanced simplicity, its variety, its similarity, and its surprising beauty.