PAUL MORAVEC: Time Gallery (The) / Protean Fantasy / Ariel Fantasy
Ensemble: eighth blackbird
Artists: Sheppard Skaerved, Peter - violin; Shorr, Aaron - piano
Naxos 8.5b9267 WORLD PREMIER RECORDING
The CD starts out stunningly with clocks and bells but I'm sorry to say what follows never delivers the anticipated goodies. Think of the intros to Money and Time on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and you'll have an idea of some of the exciting devices that are employed to introduce the sections of Time Gallery. Sadly I find the ensuing pieces somewhat introspective and dull. Well thought out and constructed no doubt but noodly in the worst sense, failing to maintain one's attention enough to avoid straying into writing a shopping list or planning to wash one's hair. There is some variation in the tempo of the pieces but I'd say the effect is for the listener's mood to swing between between utter boredom in some parts and irritation at the busy-ness of others. This is equally true of Protean Fantasy and Ariel Fantasy. As the winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Music, I'm sure Paul Moravec must have something to offer us, but I don't think this can be it.
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