Scenes In Tin Can Alley
Blue Griffin, 2022
8/10
Listen to Scenes In Tin Can Alley
The esteemed pianist Josh Tatsuo Cullen delivers a solo piano listen, where he interprets pieces found in manuscripts from Forence Price’s (1887-1953) summer home in 2009, and it makes for the first commercial recordings of these compositions.
The title track opens the listen with bright and flowing keys, where the keys dance with much agility in the profoundly absorbing climate, and “Thumbnail Sketches Of A Day In The Life Of A Washerwoman” follows with complicated and radiant progressions as Cullen showcases incredible fluidity and warmth.
“Village Scenes” arrives in the middle and embraces intimacy in the reflective tone, while “Preludes” unfolds across 5 chapters of rich and rhythmic playing that is both calm and intense. “Three Miniature Portraits Of Uncle Ned” exits the listen, and showcases swift, meticulous playing that’s quite mesmerizing, as well as calmer, stirring pieces of vulnerability.
Not only did these pieces deserve to be heard, but they spoke to Cullen in a very direct way. He handles them with the utmost care, and it makes for a perfect addition to his body of work that also includes the work of Mozart and Beethoven.
Travels well with: Catalyst Quartet- Uncovered Vol. 2: Florence B. Price; Margaret Brouwer- Reactions