6/11/2006
Hippocrates Swings
The Adventures of Hippocrates
Chick Corea, John Harbison, Marc Neikrug
Orion String Quartet
Koch International
As Edward Ellington so famously remarked: it doesn't mean anything unless it has that certain syncopation. That is a lesson seldom forgotten by jazz musicians when they decide to write "serious" music and Chick Corea proves true to form in the title piece of this CD comprised of works commissioned for the Orion Quartet by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, where the group is in residence. Corea's five-part work isn't really a string quartet but it is delightfully whimsical; sounding, in places, like some of Beth Anderson's hipper "Swales." And, man, does it swing. Harbison's four-movement Quartet No. 4 is the most conventional piece on the recording, relentlessly post-tonal and "modern," yet oddly user-friendly. Harbison has a talent for writing difficult music that is also highly listenable. Marc Neikrug's piano quintet, with the composer himself at the keyboard, is the most concentrated, intense and ultimately powerful of the three pieces on the disk although it could be a bit shorter. The Orion Quartet plays with amazing clarity and resonance. These guys are fabulous players who perform new music with great skill and empathy.
The Adventures of HippocratesChick Corea, John Harbison, Marc Neikrug
Orion String Quartet
Koch International
As Edward Ellington so famously remarked: it doesn't mean anything unless it has that certain syncopation. That is a lesson seldom forgotten by jazz musicians when they decide to write "serious" music and Chick Corea proves true to form in the title piece of this CD comprised of works commissioned for the Orion Quartet by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, where the group is in residence. Corea's five-part work isn't really a string quartet but it is delightfully whimsical; sounding, in places, like some of Beth Anderson's hipper "Swales." And, man, does it swing. Harbison's four-movement Quartet No. 4 is the most conventional piece on the recording, relentlessly post-tonal and "modern," yet oddly user-friendly. Harbison has a talent for writing difficult music that is also highly listenable. Marc Neikrug's piano quintet, with the composer himself at the keyboard, is the most concentrated, intense and ultimately powerful of the three pieces on the disk although it could be a bit shorter. The Orion Quartet plays with amazing clarity and resonance. These guys are fabulous players who perform new music with great skill and empathy.
Jerry Bowles is founder and editor of Sequenza 21, the contemporary classical
music web portal which won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Internet Award in 2005.
music web portal which won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Internet Award in 2005.
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