Search - William Bolcom;Steve Mackey :: Concertos for Saxophone Quartet

Musical mashups

Dean R. Brierly | Studio City, CA | 05/16/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I've never been a big fan of music that attempts to fuse classical music with pop and jazz elements, which is precisely the intent of William Bolcolm's "Concerto Grosso." I've always felt it's like trying to mix oil and water. Having said that, Bolcolm's four-movement concerto is one of the more successful such works I've encountered, and achieves a level of balance and harmonic integrity that will doubtless please fans of crossover classical. In some respects, it sounds like a contemporary interpretation of George Gershwin. I didn't hate it; I just couldn't connect to it emotionally. The other work on this disc, Steven Mackey's "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral," was a bit more pleasing to my ears. It's a much more minimalist composition that relies on a dramatic "plunging" theme (the composer's own word) that appears in various contexts throughout all three movements. Mackey conjures some interesting sounds and textures, at one point evoking bagpipe music, and brings things to an increasingly aggressive climax that borders on industrial noise. It's not an easy listen by any stretch, but its chilly, hard-edged contours are continually fascinating."