Lei Liang Stephen Drury Arditti String Quartet - Lei Liang BrushStroke (10 tracks) +Album Reviews

Poetry

Alexandre Lunsqui | NYC, NY | 10/09/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When listening to Lei Liang's CD ("Brush-Stroke"), an image suddenly came to mind: the figure of a diamond. Following this image, I tried to envisage the itinerary of these pieces, from their initial ideas, where the sonic material is still uncut, to their final forms, where each facet of their crystal-like structures is carefully engraved. But complex shapes and rich palettes of colors and textures would be meaningless if they were not part of something of a much higher order. And here I am talking about POETRY, which is how Lei Liang's music resonates in my ears."

An Emerging Force to be Reckoned With!

William A. Verdone | NYC | 09/04/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lei Liang's music is completely captivating and this listener can only wish for more of his music to be "out there." The 10 compositions on this CD are magnificent, and for me in particular, the one called "Brush-Stroke," is an 11 minute masterpiece! The tonalities he uses, the evocative mixtures of sound and voice, spun in a gossamer web of nuance, then creating an eruption of sound - then "vanishing into the void" is nothing less than brilliant! "Serashi Fragments" is uneasy music, full of darkness, mystery, and drama, and is a "tour de force" in string composition, incorporating Bartok pizzicato's, glissando's, and amazing harmonics. As I mentioned before, Lei Liang is an up and coming dynamo on the Contemporary Music scene, and all of us who enjoy his music, his compositional style and orchestration, and his superb musicianship look forward to more exciting and truly original pieces written for a variety of instrumental combinations. I, for one, will always sing his praises, promote his music, and will make it a point to attend concerts where his music will be featured. Listen to him, and you will be musically rewarded. An emerging force -- indeed!

William A. Verdone"

Snockeling VS Deep Sea Diving

Guanlong Cao | 09/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Snorkeling VS Deep Sea Diving

Most tourists attracted to tropical resorts like of Jamaica, Barbados, Bahamas, love snorkeling. It is fun. Breathing through a tube a couple of feet under the surface, peering a few more feet down: the crystal blue water, the flickering light, the waving sea weeds, the cruising schools of fish... they are as happy and content as crabs.

But I dare you to go deeper, much deeper. Dark, chilly, mysterious, shocking, but you will be rewarded with an unprecedented, insurmountable excitement and enlightenment.

No, I am not trying to book you up for a vocation; I am talking about Lei Liang's "Brush Stroke," a collection of pioneering instrumental music pieces.

When the CD slowly feeds into the slot, like the deep sea probe sinks, you will certainly start to feel the familiar splendid symphony hall in the Christmas season is disappearing, and a sequence of subterranean scenes are ominously developing from the dark: piano stamps like a grouchy king, violin squeaks hysterically, harpsichord runs like palace on fire, saxophone blows a whistling African tribal language extinct long ago...

Each sound, listening separately, can be unpleasant, provoking, or even annoying, but collectively, they miraculously weave into a sound wave with an unearthly harmony, yes, harmony, vibrating your archetype never been shaken before. Sort of like that you open up a dust sealed folder in an attic, exposing a yellowish picture of a young woman holding a chubby baby. That is your mother you have never seen before. You sobbed. That is the power of Liang's music.

As a writer, Liang's music knocked the sock off me, I mean the thick sock that suffocated my frontal lobe responsible for all kinds of tricks. An entire chapter of my new novel is the direct result of listening to "Memories of XiaoXiang."

Well, after all, whatever I have said here, I bet most tourists, bragging about their wonderful snorkeling experiences, are still as happy and content as crabs. Why go deeper?

Guanlong Cao, author of "The Attic", University of California Press"

Concentrated, Beautiful, and Wild

Adam M. Roberts | Cambridge, MA USA | 08/06/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The just-released CD (Mode Records) of music by the young Chinese-American composer, Lei Liang, is a complete joy. While Liang's music does have its influences, from traditional Chinese music to American and European modernism, the works on this disc are crafted from a synthesized and digested personal language which reveals itself throughout this CD.

The first piece on the disc, "Serashi Fragments", played outstandingly by the Arditii Quartet, underlines this synthesis: it is both a tribute to the Mongolian fiddler Serashi and includes fragments of what sound like traditional Chinese melody to my Western ears (2:25 for example) but is at the same time highly organized and tightly constructed, reflecting Liang's modernist training. The work is texturally varied, emphasizing melodic and frenetic writing, sharp punctuations, a hint of traditional Chinese music, and wild glissandi, and yet manages to integrate these ingredients into a dense but congealed seven-minute experience.

Liang's music is both extremely clear in its unfolding, and yet paradoxically highly unpredictable due to his concentrated attention to detail, making each moment unique. That being said, certain characters tend to repeatedly rear their heads. The music is most often either slow (even timeless) and contemplative, or wild, bordering on the out-of-control. These characters can be heard in, among others, "Brush-Stroke", played beautifully by the Callithumpian Consort, which is a journey from the contemplative to the crazy, as well as in "In Praise of Shadows", a solo flute piece performed with great sensitivity by Paula Robison. This piece follows a rough ABA' form, with two sections of contemplative, slowly unfolding, highly-arcing melodies outlining a jazzy, wilder section which focuses on noiser sounds such as key clicks punctuated by outbursts, finally climaxing on a high, shrill note.

The performances in general are excellent. High praise goes to Aleck Karis for his rendition of "My Windows", harpsichordist Takae Onishi for "Some Empty Thoughts of a Person from Edo", Saxophonist Chen-Kwan Lin for "Memories of Xiaoxiang" for saxophone and electronics (the only work with electronics on the disc), and the Callithumpian Consort for "Trio", for cello, piano, and percussion.

The works, which range form solo to large ensemble pieces, give an overall impression of an artist on a quest to integrate the many parts of his musical personality without resorting to pastiche. Composed from 1996-2007, the pieces collectively form a self-portrait of an idiosyncratic composer who delves deeply within himself to find his personal musical language but is in touch with his heritage and the outside musical world. If you are looking for music by a young composer with a strong, personal voice, look no further. The concentrated, beautiful, wild music of Lei Liang is proof that contemporary music is in good hands."

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