Innova recordings © p 2010

Zeitgeist’s long artistic relationship with composer Andrew Rindfleisch has resulted in an entire CD of colorful and captivating musical works.

The four-movement title track Night Singing is a profoundly dark and expressive evocation of nocturnal states of being, and an autobiographical sentiment of the composer’s approaches to composition. Nine Little Improvisations, on the other hand, evokes the spontaneous and wildly eclectic improvisations of clarinetist Pat O’Keefe with Rindfleisch at the piano. The solo work For Clarinet Alone reveals a remarkable recording of aggressive refinement, illuminating a work of extreme quietness and solitude through the use of minimal microtonal movement. With Fanatical Dances, a dense work for seven players, and the group performance of Improvisation Situation, featuring theatrical vocals by Rindfleisch, both free and composed music clash in celebratory fashion to round out this disc of virtuoso performances.

Performed by Andrew Rindfleisch, conductor/piano/bongos/voice; Heather Barringer, percussion; Patti Cudd; percussion; Pat O’Keefe, woodwinds; Shannon Wettstein, piano; Christian Zamora, violin, Jane Garvin, flute; Jim Jacobson, cello.

"I had a real blast with this disc, with the invention, and, above all, humor. The strident opening cries of Nightsinging suggest some relentless, pounding journey of atonality, but as ideas are quickly set up and developed, the first movement dissolves into the gentler nocturnal setting, with the next three movements joined up thematically. The third movement, “Bach Dreams,” is an exquisite adagio for clarinet, with discreet use of percussion and repeated piano figures creating a lilting accompaniment. Rindfleisch finds a lot of scope in Zeitgeist’s setup of clarinet/bass clarinet, piano, and dual percussion. The sardonic, lugubrious character of the bass clarinet creates a finale of real humor and menace, revisiting much of the opening’s dissonance.

Nine Little Improvisations makes for a similarly inventive journey but with a bluesy, jazzy air apparent from the opening. With just O’Keefe and Rindfleisch bouncing ideas off each other and the titles of their nine doodlings added retrospectively, it is an improbably thought-through journey. The joy of these miniatures is in reveling in the clarinet effects, the buzzing and moaning sounds O’Keefe conjures trumping the more prosaic piano response. But for all the silliness, like “Salt Lick,” there are moments of beauty, such as “Music Box for Arnold,” and not once does the listener ever feel excluded from this musical in-joke.

There is a lot to like about Rindfleisch’s music. Sample the accessibly melodic and haunting “Bach Dreams,” then the spiky laughter of “Salt Lick,” and you’ll understand Rindfleisch’s insatiable curiosity and the sheer gusto with which Zeitgeist performs it all. Interesting notes, and it has all been brightly recorded with excellent balance between the main instruments."
—Barnaby Rayfield, Fanfare magazine

"Zeitgeist has been on the new-music scene for some 30 years and, while originally identified with the Minimalist movement, its impressively wide-ranging array of repertoire and commissions shows it moving far and wide in the intervening years. On this disc its members collaborate with Andrew Rindfleisch (b.1963) in five works that explore the continuum between predetermined, i.e., composed, music and improvised. Night Singing (2004) for clarinet doubling bass clarinet, piano, and two percussion is cast as a set of four tableaux evoking various nocturnal psychological states, the music very much sets up the clarinetist as the protagonist, the other instruments being supporters, persecutors, or commentators, in turn. After a startling opening, the first tableau careens between nightmarish anxiety and disintegration before opting for the latter. The next two movements, Suddenly, Bells and Bach Dreams, are more benign, the spirit of George Crumb hovering nearby. The final movement returns to the dark world of the first. Not in “busyness”—in most of it the bass clarinet plays alone or sometimes ominously shadowed by quiet bass drum rolls—but certainly in the way that tension is created through the soloist’s line. It’s a studied demonstration of the maxim that less is more.

In the much earlier Fanatical Dances (1992), Rindfleisch expands the Zeitgeist ensemble with the addition of alto doubling bass flute, violin, and cello. This is certainly the tersest, densest work on the disc and in some ways the most interesting. The success of the piece is that, while one can guess which bits are predetermined and which are improvised, the joins are well managed and, to the extent that they are apparent at all, well, they are supposed to be.

For Clarinet Alone (2009) is a solo for Pat O’Keefe, the Zeitgeist clarinetist. Marked pianissimo throughout, this recording takes close-miking to a new level. Five microphones were used, each on a different part of the instrument, and the composer was instrumental (pardon the pun) in mixing the recording. O’Keefe is accompanied by the composer on piano for the Nine Little Improvisations (2009)—little bursts of improvisations, one as short as five seconds, some tuneful and eminently repeatable, others qualifying for the adjective “interesting” rather than “profound.”

Rindfleisch joins Zeitgeist for Improvisation Situation, a reassuringly familiar romp; even the title delivers, and when the composer shouts “I want my money back!” we know we are on familiar territory. It’s all good fun. On the whole, it’s clear that the four players of Zeitgeist, hugely experienced at playing with each other, I am sure, provide a rock-solid quartet, intuitively bouncing ideas off each other, happily blending with the composer’s voice and bongo work, sometimes leading, sometimes responding.

The performances are captivating and engrossing, particularly Pat O’Keefe’s clarinets, and the music is always engaging and interesting: direct and clear.
—Jeremy Marchant, Fanfare magazine

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