"21st Century Music"
by
ELIZABETH AGNEW
Emil Sein. Spirals of Time [Carlos
Delgado. Song for Timisoara. Riccardo Santoboni. Gleams Favillae,
for Clarinet Solo. Youngmi Ha. Circles of Time. Klaus Sinfelt.
Five Pieces for Alto Saxophone. Barbara Jazwinski. Visions, for
Solo Clarinet. Martin Rokeach. North Beach Rhapsody. Chianan Yen.
Golden Blackphone. Ron Mazurek. Round Dance. Dinu Ghezzo. Wind
Rituals]. Emil Sein (saxophones, clarinets, ethnic winds, and
wind objects). Capstone.
The contemporary musical world is a dizzy place of soaring heights
and deep chasms, full of rules to be made and rules to be broken.
Multi-woodwind performer Emil Sein has responded to this multiplicity
by presenting a full array of creative works on a new Capstone
album, Spirals of Time. On clarinet, he laments in Carlos Delgado's
Song for Timisoara, soars in Riccardo Santoboni's Gleams Favillae,
and percolates somewhere in between in Youngmi Ha's Circle of
Time. The change-up is provided in Five Pieces for Alto Saxophone
from Klaus Sinfelt, a dark, economical angularity.
Sein returns to clarinet in Visions, where Barbara Jazwinski takes
a mystical route somewhat in the a capella spirit of Messiaen.
Martin Rokeach evokes the spikier side of this same French composer
in the ensuing North Beach Rhapsody, as the clarinetist is engagingly
joined by pianist Jeanne Golan in a work that becomes jazzier
and more American as it progresses.
Chianan Yen's Golden Blackphone returns to that more traditional
world of multiphonics, glissandi, and a Fibonacci series. A really
sassy environment is evoked in the ensuing Round Dance of Ron
Mazurek, who gets the feet moving in an array featuring cellist
Julia Sein, pianist Andrei Delaenu, and an invigorating electronic
tape. Dinu Ghezzo's Wind Rituals concludes evocatively and exotically
with Sein playing soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones;
piccolo, Bb, and bass clarinet; ethnic winds; and wind objects;
with the composer providing further mystery in piano and percussion.
Return to Dinu
Ghezzo Home Page at NYU.
e-mail: dinu.ghezzo@nyu.edu