David Leisner prides himself on being a composer/performer -- a common role for musicians in history and still so in popular music, but much rarer in classical circles nowadays -- yet his writing abilities are not an equal match for his skills as a guitarist. Self-Portrait, his 2006 release on Azica, features Leisner performing five original solo works that allow him many opportunities to display his impeccable execution and impressive virtuosity, despite the physical disability of focal dystonia. But his music as a whole ...
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David Leisner prides himself on being a composer/performer -- a common role for musicians in history and still so in popular music, but much rarer in classical circles nowadays -- yet his writing abilities are not an equal match for his skills as a guitarist. Self-Portrait, his 2006 release on Azica, features Leisner performing five original solo works that allow him many opportunities to display his impeccable execution and impressive virtuosity, despite the physical disability of focal dystonia. But his music as a whole suffers from a lack of direction and stylistic uncertainty, as if he had too many possibilities to choose from and too many ideas to work out. Leisner's Nel Mezzo: Sonata (1998) is a tonal work, like everything he writes, yet its long chromatic runs and disquieting dissonances make it feel amorphous and ungrounded, and the mood throughout is dark and dyspeptic. The music's character is quite different in Four Pieces (1985-1986), which are lighter, cheerier, and more folk-like in tone;...
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