Favorite Albums of 2012: #16

Nashville-based ALIAS surveys the smart, personable music of Kenji Bunch. The set includes the complete “String Circle” series…an evocation of the experience of running the New York Marathon (“26.2”) and the delicious “Boiling Point,” a chugging churning new music equivalent to the cartoon-assembly-line sound of Raymond Scott’s “Powerhouse,”… Hot steamy pleasure.

Violist Kenji Bunch…is particularly clever in Boiling Point, the title piece on a Delos CD of five Bunch works…it is quite listenable and is very well performed by members of the excellent ALIAS Chamber Ensemble. There is conceptual cleverness in the other two pieces on this CD: Drift does in fact drift among clarinet, viola and piano, as themes come and go…And 26.2, for string trio and French horn, is a tribute to the New York City Marathon…Bunch’s music is eclectic, not only in its classical roots but also in its reaching into non-classical forms of music for inspiration. When as well played as it is here, it is unpretentiously enjoyable. © 2012 Infodad.com href="http://transcentury.blogspot.com/2012/11/percolating-along.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read complete review

It’s strongly…tonal music that reflects numerous diverse musical influences, and it’s beautifully crafted and always interesting.

Bunch…describes the CD as a collection of some of his favourite and most deeply personal chamber works of the past decade.

Each of the five movements of String Circle for string quintet (with two violas) pays tribute to a particular kind of American string music: the highlight is a brilliant all-pizzicato movement evoking banjos and ukuleles.

Drift is a charming trio for clarinet, viola and piano; 26.2, for French horn and string trio, celebrates and depicts the composer’s first running of the New York City marathon with his wife…4

Very interesting and varied contemporary works. Lots of strings—styles range from bluegrassy, classical, indie classical. © 2012 WRUV Reviews Read complete review