This is the third in a trilogy of albums devoted to short pieces by English composer Oliver Davis; the first two have had strong influence from folk dance music as well, but here the rhythmic impulse is especially strong. Certainly the music is light and accessible, but it's a good deal more subtle than its purely diatonic surfaces and minimalist-like basic thematic material might suggest. Consider first of all the roles played by the solo instruments in the music, which consists mostly of little concertos. Some of the ...
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This is the third in a trilogy of albums devoted to short pieces by English composer Oliver Davis; the first two have had strong influence from folk dance music as well, but here the rhythmic impulse is especially strong. Certainly the music is light and accessible, but it's a good deal more subtle than its purely diatonic surfaces and minimalist-like basic thematic material might suggest. Consider first of all the roles played by the solo instruments in the music, which consists mostly of little concertos. Some of the pieces began as semi-improvisatory playing by violinist Kerenza Peacock, to which Davis added orchestral music: the violin thus offers not a dramatic contrast to the orchestra, but a sort of organic kernel of its music. To this novel structure Davis adds fine control over texture (sample the first movement of the concerto Arco), which achieves that state only after a pizzicato opening, and a mix of styles that variously suggests Copland, the English pastoralists, and Eastern European...
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