Mario Davidovsky - Flashbacks - Music & Performance - CD

While a musician-owned label is no guarantee of musical quality, in the case of Bridge Records, it is safe to say that anything guitarist David Starobin releases is a sure winner, especially if he performs on it. He is a nimble and sensitive player, and a high standard of production is evident in this excellent recording.

Starobin brings his expertise to this CD of Harvard University professor Mario Davidovsky's works for various small ensembles. His performance on Synchronisms No. 10 is an intricately choreographed duet with pre-recorded electronic sounds. Not in the least superfluous, the electronics provide an elegant expansion of the tonal palette and also set unwavering rhythmic events requiring exhaustive rehearsal to achieve the synchronisms promised in the title.

This praise is not meant to overshadow the other fine performances of Davidovsky's music on the CD, in particular the New York New Music Ensemble and Speculum Musicae. Like Synchronisms, Davidovsky's ensemble music also requires rehearsal beyond that of individual parts, rehearsal almost of a group mind to achieve the blending of sonic events in which unique textures suddenly arise and sustain, gradually mutating as one instrument emerges into its own solo line. The musicians recorded here get the point, and pass it on in performance.