Search - Jennifer Higdon, Gordon Fitzell, Steven Mackey :: Strange Imaginary Animals

They got the strange part right!

Sor_Fingers | Boulder, CO USA | 03/17/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is definately Eighth Blackbird's strangest release thus far. This recording includes many cage rattling works in the new music world I've ever heard. While there are many works on this album that are exciting additions to the new music scene, there are a few cuts on this album that are either out of place or simply unmoving.



The Jennifer Higdon work on this recording, "Zaka" is easily the strongest track. The piece is very rhythmically exciting and Higdon uses a lot of interesting colors throughout the piece. The way the piece unfolds is absolutely captivating. We hear pianos being strummed, mutted piano sounds, screaming winds and fantastic percussion work. This piece is really the cornerstone of the record, and it's worth buying for the 13 minutes of excitement that this piece exhibits. Unfortunately, the record goes downhill from here.



The next works, Gordon Fitzell's "Violence" and Steven Mackey's three movement "Indigenous Instruments" are both fine pieces, but do not possess the accesability and ease of listening that Higdon's work does. Violence is a stream of generally quiet sounds and light timbres. The piece really depicts the destruction instead of the aggression of violence. Indigenous Instruments has many pleasing moments in it, but unfortunately, there are many places where I get lost in the music.



The last three tracks on the album constitute the weakest parts of the album. David M. Gordon's "Friction Systems" is 15 minutes of outright unpleasing dissonance. Not that dissonance doesn't have a place in music, but where there is tension, there needs to be release of some kind. Fitzell's other piece on the album, "Evanescence" isn't even dissonant, it's just noise. It's too hard to tell what actual instruments are being used here. The last cut, credited to Dennis DeSantis just seems out of place. It seems to be some electronic remix of other material on the album. It sounds like it belongs on some bad electronica album. It just doesn't belong.



More and more, I'm discovering that Eighth Blackbird is a very hit or miss ensemble. Their Rzewski album is absolutely spectacular. It's a shame that none of the others really match up to its prowess, this one included. While there are a few great pieces on this album, there are a few that just don't work. At least the material progresses from strong to weak. So put it in your CD player, enjoy the Higdon and when something starts smelling funny, then you know when to turn it off."

Grammy Award-Winning

Valerie Jeanne | Chicago | 02/13/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I like everything about this CD, and now there are two more reasons to like it:

1. This CD just received a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance.

2. Producer Judith Sherman was also awarded a Grammy for Best Classical Producer."