Audiophile Audition‘s Lee Passarella published a wonderful review of the Concord Chamber Music Society’s release of music from Chris Brubeck, Michael Gandolfi, and Lukas Foss. We’ll share some quotes centering on each composer, but we encourage you to read the review on AudAud.com.

From Audiophile Audition:

“…Musically, the entrance of the players one by one gives the piece a nice, improvisatory feel, like a jam session coming together in an especially ad hoc manner. It’s attractive, and it’s fun…The fusion of jazz and classical music often falls flat, but here the two musical disciplines feed off of and energize each other…”

“…Michael Gandolfi’s Line Drawings takes its inspiration from the drawings of Picasso. Gandolfi explains, “None of my pieces is tethered to a precise Picasso drawing but they are written in the spirit of the Picasso works: concise, clear, written with a sense of immediacy and sureness of ‘stroke,’ light and ‘airy.’” This translates into five movements that have some of the simplicity and repetitiveness of minimalism and, in the faster pieces, some of the restless, jumpy energy of Gandolfi’s one-time teacher, Oliver Knussen…”

“As the title wittily implies, it’s a sophisticated take on the country dance known as a reel…Violinist Wendy Putnam shows she’s as comfortable with bluegrass fiddling as she is with jazz riffs. Pianist Vytas Baksys is with her all the way, bounding up and down the keyboard like the proverbial kitten on the keys.

All of the Concord Chamber Music Society players seem to be having a great time with these lively, intelligent pieces, and as a result, I had a lot of fun listening. The wonderfully realistic sound from Reference Recordings makes for smooth listening too.”

Read the full review on AudAud.com

And don’t forget to purchase securely from ReferenceRecordings.com before September 23rd to save 20% when you purchase one other item!