Search - Oregon :: Oregon in Moscow

A suitably ambitious memento of the group's 30-year association, Oregon in Moscow is not a concert recording but a far-reaching exploration of the ensemble's substantial orchestral influences. Recorded over six days in the company of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the two-disc project (covering more than 90 minutes) highlights the venerable group's attentiveness toward tone, dynamics, and phrasing as much as its facility for transcending genres and rhythms. Producer Steve Rodby seated the quartet (founding members Ralph Towner, Paul McCandless, and Glen Moore, plus new, fresh-faced percussionist Mark Walker) face-to-face in the same studio (Moscow's State Recording House GDRZ) during the overdub-free recording, a move that imbues the CD with a rewarding collaborative spark. On several occasions, Rodby mentions in the liner notes that orchestra members responded to Oregon's group improvisations with shouts and stomping feet. The recorded outcome is often serious-minded and somewhat less lyrical than, say, Northwest Passage, the disc that preceded this project by more than two years. Abstract at times ("Arianna") and liberating at others ("Zephyr," "Icarus"), Oregon in Moscow seems to invigorate every artist involved, and McCandless seems especially adventurous in the orchestral setting. It serves as a fitting, challenging reminder that beyond jazz, world rhythms, and categories not yet defined, classical stimuli are another fundamental element in Oregon's free-range musical amalgam. --Terry Wood