Portraits
Portraits features four works from SOLI's 2012 live program, Hot Off the Press. Diego Vega’s Divertimento (2008) blends lyrical lines and complex textures passed seamlessly between instruments. Peter Farmer’s Rag Out for Four (2012) mixes jazz and serial techniques in two vibrant movements. Erich Stem’s Moving On (2012) is urgent and emotionally charged, exploring shifting themes and moods. Elliott Miles McKinley’s Three Portraits (2012) plays with rhythm, tempo, and melody, moving from anthem-like clarity to jazzy-reggae grooves and electronic textures supporting insistent instrumental phrases (released 12/01/2012).
Tracks:
Three Portraits (2012) by Elliott Miles McKinley
1. I. With High Energy
2. II. Reggae-Pop
3. III. Grove Variations
Rag Out for Four (2012) by Peter Farmer
4 I.
5 II.
Divertimento by Diego Vega
6 I. Prelude
7 II. Tocatta
8 III. Danza-Lullaby
9 IV. Bambuco fiestero–Perpetuum mobile
Moving On (2012) by Erich Stem
10 I. Prelude
11 II. Liberation
12 III. Dance
“Erich Stem’s Moving On is exactly what the name implies. Whereas Vega’s and Farmer’s suites were deeply rooted in the classical, Stem takes that to the avant-garde, the concrète. Here we get hints of Schaeffer and Olivier Messiaen (whose “Quatuor pour la fin du temps” was the reason SOLI started making music together) and it works brilliantly to balance the more straight forward compositions that preceded. It’s a relief, yet an extremely disturbing one. It’s darker, more tense yet essential in making Portraits successful as an album rather than a collection of disparate pieces of music.”
Mohammed Ashraf, A Closer Listen, Online Magazine, New York, NY
