Search - Keeril Makan, Kronos Quartet, Paul Dresher Ensemble :: Keeril Makan: In Sound

Fantastic

Kevin Savo | Avon, CT | 07/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album blew me away. I had know idea what to expect. I randomly bought it without hearing any of it, and I am very impressed. Keeril Makan's music is hard to explain...imagine if Morton Feldman and John Zorn teamed up to write some of the most disturbing and beautiful music youve ever heard. Its full of strange dissonance and odd time signatures. Not only is it interesting on an intelecual level, but its also completely mesmerizing to listen to."

Great New Compositional Voice - Don't Miss This!!

Thomas Gleim | Gaithersburg, MD United States | 02/13/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Keeril Makan is a young American composer currently on the faculty of MIT. I hadn't heard of him before I bought this disc, but after hearing it several times, I wish to hear much, much more of his music. His voice is original, his writing both innovative and profoundly communicative. In fact, I enjoyed this music as much or more than that of any other contemporary composer I've heard for quite some time.



Makan explores new directions of sound production and expression, weaving music that is, by turns, haunting, eerie, angry, primal, rebellious, hopeful, determined, beautiful, disturbing, and many, many other things. I guarantee you that you won't hear these miraculous pieces and not feel a deep, visceral reaction down in your very core. This is music of both the head and the heart, and you won't soon forget it once you let yourself come under its powerful spell. For detailed notes on the individual pieces, visit the composer's website (keerilmakan dot com).



All three pieces are first-rate, but I think my favorite is _The Noise between Thoughts_, which the composer describes as a reaction to U.S. geopolitical violence, especially since 9/11, carried out in the name of a morally bankrupt capitalism. Funny, but even before I read this description on Makan's website, the piece reminded me of nothing so much as George Crumb's _Black Angels_, also for string quartet and electronics - that one written in the 1970s as a protest against the Vietnam War. (Not that Makan's music sounds like Crumb's, although they both make aggressive use of avant-garde string techniques and amplification to channel political anger.)



The performances are exemplary. While, naturally, there are no other recordings to compare them to, it's difficult to imagine that this music could have found any more sympathetic interpreters than it has on this release. And the engineering is audiophile-grade. Tzadik (tzadik dot com) is becoming the first choice among labels offering the best in modernist and contemporary composition. Their website has given me many ideas for other music I want to explore.



The release comes with a short booklet (English only) containing an essay by the composer and information on the artists and the recordings. It earns my highest recommendation.

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