Composition As Explanation
Cedille, 2024
8/10
Listen to Composition As Explanation
A world premiere recording, Eighth Blackbird offer their take on David Lang’s Composition As Explanation, where the strings, winds, percussion and keys blend together with a meticulous nature.
“There Is Singularly Nothing” opens with dialogue that welcomes Lisa Kaplan’s warm piano playing, and “Those Who Are Creating” follows with harmonizing vocals versus talking that draws us in.
Deeper into the record, “It Is Understood By This Time” spotlights Lang’s spoken word, while “And Now To Begin As If To Begin” features Lina Andonovska’s flute and Maiani da Silva’s violin to its advantage in intimate and mesmerizing ways.
Arriving close to the end, the strategically placed percussion from Matthew Duvall across “The Problem From This Time On” makes an impression, and “The Time In The Composition” exits with a busy mood of swift talking, bouncy keys, animated strings and dreamy percussion.
An effort that’s culled from the influential 1926 lecture of the same name by modernist icon Gertrude Stein, Eighth Blackbird’s tremendous talents that also include Zachary Good’s clarinet and Ashley Bathgate’s cello cultivate a theatric and chamber presence that few others could replicate.
Travels well with: Mary Elizabeth Bowden- Storyteller; Pacifica Quartet- American Voices