After Terry Riley's revolutionary In C, it certainly never seemed that
the compositionally brash cofounder of the minimalist movement would
take on a lyrical bent. But that's what he's done on this collection of
pieces for violin, guitar, and percussion. Violinist Tracy Silverman and
guitarist David Tannenbaum play warmly and sublimely on Cantos Desiertos,
finding pristine melodies and high, arching curves around which to
spread their finesse. Tannenbaum gets unbelievably rich tones from his
guitar, and his range is the one consistent ingredient throughout these
pieces. He duets with Riley's son Gyan, himself an accomplished
guitarist, on "Zamorra" and with percussionist William Winant on Dias de
los Muertos. Winant's marimba and gongs are especially appropriate for
Tanenbaum's resonant string work, fluctuating from an absolute crispness
to a milky froth. Where Riley's chamber works, such as Salome Dances for
Peace, are intensely rhythmic, these works veer much more stealthily
toward a kind of glorious flowering, even if the blooms are in dusky
colors and muted, curvy patterns. --Andrew Bartlett
The label, New Albion Records , November 17, 1999
The Wire magazine review October 1999
Guitar? We think of Riley as a keyboard man just as we think of Glass
and many another minimalists. Reading the composer's notes, though, the
impression is that these pieces are more in fealty to the traditions of
Spanish music than the guitar per se. Either way, the music sounds much
as you would anticipate: American chamber with Jelly Roll Morton's
beloved 'Spanish tinge', the Eastern modes which Riley sets his stars
by, and that unique pragmatism which [Glenn] Gould suggested was
manifest as music which "requires instructions rather than instruction."
It helps, for sure, that the players are superbly adept: David Tannenbaum
is the main instrumentalist, but violinist Tracy Silverman,
percussionist William Winant and second guitarist Gyan Riley partake of
the spirit with the same will to succeed. If the two closing solos by
Tannenbaum are the most concentrated music on the disc, that's because he
is clearly at one with Riley's rather cheerful mysticism, Californian
though it may be. However, the most absorbing piece is probably the
guitar-percussion work "Dias De Los Muertos", a musing on the Grim
Reaper that is neither gloomy nor macabre, but impishly comic: the
second part is called (in translation) "Death Appears in Black Fishnet
Stockings".
$15.00