Label: Unseen Worlds - UW24

2015年老舗XI Records、2017年Recitalに続く、ニューヨークを拠点とする作曲家Michael Vincent Wallerが2019年にUnseen Worldsよりリリースした3rdアルバム[Moments]。ピアニストR. Andrew Lee、ビブラフォン奏者William Winantによって演奏された非常に静謐で内省的な音源が並び、エリックサティ脈というのも納得の音楽性。特にビブラフォンが主体となる11曲目[Love I. Valentine]からの展開/流れは本当に見事。当店激推しのピアニストMelaine Dalibertとも親交のある作曲家。大推薦。









In essence, the sound of the piano comes in two parts: its attack and its decay. The striking of a hammer is followed by the resonance of a string or strings. (Much the same might be said about the vibraphone, as it happens.) This dual quality of sound comes to mind when listening to Moments by New York-based composer Michael Vincent Waller. Performed by pianist R. Andrew Lee and vibraphonist William Winant, Moments − his third album, following Trajectories (Recital, 2017) and The South Shore (XI, 2015) − draws on Western classical music tradition in its most archetypal forms through its use of modal melodies, triadic harmonies and metered rhythms. Yet the emotional heart of the music is not in attack, but resonance. The afterlife of sounds. Those elements that can’t be grasped and placed into easy historical categories. Behind his surface attacks Waller finds hazy, edgeless zones that draw us downwards, into introspection – an “inward gaze.” Waller’s music is often compared to that of Erik Satie, and there is certainly something Satie-like in its concision, its subtle asymmetries and its lack of ornament. But where Satie’s Gnossiennes, Nocturnes and Gymnopédies were blank canvases, deliberately signifying nothing, Waller’s pieces are vessels to be filled. That is partly an effect of titles: Waller’s pieces on this disc are all ‘moments’ of autobiographical poignancy – memorials, birthdays, homecomings; friends, teachers, family members. We are clearly invited to invest certain emotional expectations into these sounds.

Liner notes by Tim Rutherford-Johnson and “Blue” Gene Tyranny. Mastered by Denis Blackham for digital and compact disc. Mastered and cut for vinyl by Rashad Becker.