Awake

NOW Ensemble (Artist), Judd Greenstein (Composer), Sean Friar (Composer), Missy Mazzoli (Composer), Mark Dancigers (Composer), David Crowell (Composer), Patrick Burke (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Judd Greenstein, Sean Friar, Missy Mazzoli, Mark Dancigers, David Crowell, et al.
• Audio CD (April 26, 2011)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: NEW AMSTERDAM
• ASIN: B004P96WGI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,707 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Formed in 2002 by a group of then students at the Yale School of Music, the NOW Ensemble launched the New York-based New Amsterdam Records label three years ago in fine fashion with their well-received, semi-eponymous debut offering, Now.

Their sophomore offering, Awake, delivers a more-of-the-same compendium of new chamber works that intelligently builds on the scintillating (if not always immediately digestible) blend of what Time Out New York described as the 'formal elegance of chamber music with a pop-honed concision and rhythmic vitality.'

Don t be frightened by that mention of 'pop' music. And banish any suspicion that this might be a project whose ambition lies in the deadening doldrums of 'crossover' that most exposed of all refuges for contemporary classical musicians who lack the confidence to deal with the here and, fittingly enough, for this eight-piece ensemble, the now. Indeed, that two members of the octet are composers Judd Greenstein (who co-founded New Amsterdam Records) and Patrick Burke says much, and reassuringly so, about where the creative centre of gravity for the project lies.

It's Greenstein's Change that opens the program in elegantly ebullient mood, a solo flute's dancing clarion call refrain supported, taken up by, and joyfully elaborated upon by the ensemble with improvisatory vitality and wit.

Burke's atmospheric Awake gives the disc its title and concludes it in no less esoteric fashion. Javanese gamelan is the cuckoo in the nest here, but it sings with a beguiling beauty not usually associated with the avian interloper, albeit as momentum builds, it acquires a frenetically strident signature that is much more characteristic.

Sean Friar's Velvet Hammer makes much play with a notion that, on paper at least, might appall, by imagining the consequences of giving ensemble members access to the effects pedal much loved by electric guitarists. What results is an animated piece punctuated by moments of multi-hued repose.

Taking the concept underlying the album to its most extreme expression, Mizzy Mazzoli's Magic with Everyday Objects is a piece,
in the composer's words, 'on the verge of a nervous breakdown'. Dismantling even as it builds, it's a helter-skelter ride of sliding chords that tumble uncontrollably out of tune, and tangled, turbulent melodies that repeat themselves to the point of hopeless confusion, threaded together by an almost ridiculously sentimental piano line. It's by no means easy listening, but its edge-of-oblivion intensity burns with a dark, scorching flame.

There's something appropriately liquescent about David Crowell'sWaiting in the Rain for Snow. A meditation on the crystallization of rain or ice into snow, it's a hymnal to a hidden process, the sense of transformation etched and sculpted by intricate, repeated figures in guitar and piano overlaid and compounded by shifting, drifting patterns in woodwinds.

Completing the eclectic program is Mark Dancigers' Burst, which makes free use of electric guitar and idioms drawn from 'African popular music circular rhythms and pentatonic melodies' laced through conventional ensemble writing 'influenced by Mozart-esque counterpoint'. There's an obvious challenge in the music's mix of old, new and the exotic, and one that is rewarded by repeated listening as its interweaving of superficially contrary elements coalesce into something fresh and vibrant.

The same could be said of the NOW Ensemble's intelligently questing approach to programming, and to the articulate and committed performances of all involved. --TheClassicalReview.com, Michael Quinn, April 11, 2011

Product Description

NOW Ensemble's sophomore New Amsterdam release is a spirited follow-up to the group's eponymous New Amsterdam debut. Released in 2008 to rave reviews around the country, including five star reviews on AllMusic.com, Time Out New York, and Time Out Chicago, NOW helped establish the group as the premiere indie classical chamber ensemble. Awake looks to expand the group's palette, featuring new work by ensemble members Judd Greenstein, Mark Dancigers, Patrick Burke and
commissioned work by Missy Mazzoli, Sean Friar, and David Crowell.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Music happening NOW May 23, 2011

By JZigman

Format:Audio CD

Anybody with an interest in where "contemporary classical" music is going, or what is new in the "scene," would do well to purchase this album. New Amsterdam Records has consistently released high quality records filled with fresh compositions that transcend genre boundaries, and this most recent release is a prime example of such work. I'm in the classical music department of Houston Public Radio and this album has quickly become one of the department's favorites this summer. It may well become one of yours.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars MUST listen May 25, 2011

By etale

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you ever wondered what kind of music Mozart and Beethoven would be writing if they were alive today, this album is for you.
It is without a doubt the blistering edge of modern classical music. While challenging in places, the serious listener will be
greatly rewarded. Yes, there is an electric guitar, and its deployment will both astound you and force you to reinvent your
ideas about this instrument in particular. A phenomenal sophomore offering by the absolutely compelling Now Ensemble.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Toward a Meeting Ground of Classical, Rock, and Jazz June 14, 2011

By Dr. Debra Jan Bibel TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Ravel introduced the saxophone to classical music with his Rhapsody. Lou Harrison incorporated gamelan in his Indonesian inspired compositions. John Adams included a banjo in his Gnarly Buttons. It is thus no surprise that the electric guitar has also found its way into the classical avant-garde. Bang on a Can, which includes electric guitars and bass, performed Reich's 2 × 5 in a recent recording. The matter is not of instrumentation but of compositional development. As I listen to this album by Now Ensemble, a group of five playing flute, clarinets, bass, piano and electric guitar and two chief composers, I hear classical rock and classical jazz fusion, something similar to the edges which guitarist Pat Metheny explores. The six tracks, three composed by the Ensemble, can be examined individually but the album as a whole needs to be considered also. Judd Greenstein of the ensemble gives us Change, a bright, cheerful layering of staccato riffs and phrases full of movement and projection. Sean Friar's Velvet Hammer is pulsing, nervous, moody, and noisy. Missy Mazzoli's Magic with Everyday Objects has a narrow poetic theme that I liken to a melody bus driving through chaotic terrain, across crumbling bridges, and volcanic flows. The Ensemble's Mark Dancigers continues with Burst, a Torke-like cheery composition with two cycles of introduction and lyrical sections. Waiting in the Rain for Snow by David Crowell is an extensive developed work that is propulsive and lyrical, the steady serial changes of instrumental emphasis and increasing harmonies suggestive of transformation, liquid to ice in this case. Awake by the Ensemble's Patrick Burke begins with gamelan instrumental and rhythmic layering and expands by tempo and harmony to a steady clarity, another instance of change/transformation/transcendence. Individually, these works are fairly narrow in approach but are novel sonic explorations and together the album has coherence. These are pioneering composers; although the avant-garde points the way, but rarely endures, I can envision a major meeting ground of rock, jazz, and classical that will sound very similar to what we hear on this album.