Crackpot Hymnal (Bridge Records, 2013)
These days, we can carry the whole history of music in our pockets, with Beethoven, Nancarrow, Coltrane and the Beatles rubbing shoulders on our phones. What sort of music should we write? Whatever we want, of course, but for me the answer has to involve this new diversity. I want to make music that weaves between stylistic poles in a way that is unexpected and entertaining—not pastiche, but an attempt to find hidden roads connecting the familiar places we love. A music that takes up the classical disciplines of harmony, counterpoint, and development with just the slightest hint of a raised eyebrow, so that listeners are confronted with a strange superposition of sincerity and irony. This would be a music that eschews grand narratives, playfully constructing something new from the baubles left strewn about by our ancestors.
The CD has been called "lively" and "irreverent" (Charlotte
Mundy, WQXR), "imaginative," "colorful," "kaleidoscopic,"
and "eclectic" (Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found),
and "wholly entertaining," "brilliant," "wildly creative,"
and "consistently surprising" (Daniel Coombs, Audiophile Audition).
Thanks so much to all the performers and engineers who worked so hard on this!
- The Eggman Variations (2005)
- Typecase Treasury (2010)
- This Picture Seems to Move (1998)
- Another Fantastic Voyage (2012)
1. Corigliano Quartet with John Blacklow
Lina Bahn, violin
Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin
Melia Watras, viola
Amy Sue Barston, cello
John Blacklow, piano
2. The Amernet String Quartet with Kevin Weng-Yew Mayner
Misha Vitenson, violin
Marcia Littley, violin
Michael Klotz, viola
Jason Calloway, cello
Kevin Weng-Yew Mayner, piano
3. The Amernet String Quartet
4. The Illinois Modern Ensemble with Daniel Schlosberg
Daniel Schlosberg, piano
Stephen Taylor, conductor
Recorded by John C. Baker and Loren Stata (1), Andrés
Villalta (2–3), and Christopher Ericson (4)
Mixed by Adam Abeshouse, Andrés Villalta, and Dmitri
Tymoczko
Mastered by Adam Abeshouse
