Recognized with a Pulitzer Prize in 1974 and regarded as a classic of the contemporary ensemble repertoire, Donald Martino's Notturno (1973) appeals more for its iridescent colors, delicately traced counterpoint, and fluid instrumental exchanges than for its less-obvious serial devices and intricately wrought but inaudible palindromes. Kaleidoscopic timbres, skittering gestures, and portentous pauses are familiar features of avant-garde chamber music of the 1970s, and are typical of the "night music" genre that hearkens ...
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Recognized with a Pulitzer Prize in 1974 and regarded as a classic of the contemporary ensemble repertoire, Donald Martino's Notturno (1973) appeals more for its iridescent colors, delicately traced counterpoint, and fluid instrumental exchanges than for its less-obvious serial devices and intricately wrought but inaudible palindromes. Kaleidoscopic timbres, skittering gestures, and portentous pauses are familiar features of avant-garde chamber music of the 1970s, and are typical of the "night music" genre that hearkens back to Bartók. Yet Martino's swirling, shimmering sounds are not necessarily evocative of nocturnal scenes, but describe -- most artistically and effectively, if abstractly -- the churning emotions and thoughts of the composer in the moments before sleep takes hold. The three-movement flute solo Quodlibets II (1979) is beautiful in an angular, cerebral fashion, but it is easily overshadowed by the first work here and the grumpy, dyspeptic composition From the Other Side (1988)....
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