(Modern Creative, Avant-garde, Fusion) Steven Mackey - Heavy Light - 2004, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Steven Mackey (b. 1956) has a rock background like Tüur, and when he plays electric guitar figurations in Heavy Light from this deftly played and atmospherically recorded New World CD, that background comes to the fore, or at least to the middle-ground. He says he is using rock as a form of vernacular, or folk-reference, in a serious context. So sometimes, think Zappa. Mostly, though, the three works here sound like serious, witty, chromatic chamber music, with the whole of the last century on board.
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Mackey’s music is part of the unclassifiable miasma of music after minimalism that isn’t wholly tonal but isn’t just noise, is somewhat repetitive but isn’t based solely around repetition, and is “serious” and “classical” but doesn’t ignore the influence of other styles of music. If this sounds vague, it’s because there’s so much variety out there, and we’re too close to it to really be able to tell any trends. Mackey is always quick to point out that he comes from a rock background, being a guitarist who grew up in the '60s. So if he is an innovator, it’s because he brought the electric guitar into the concert hall as a solo instrument.
In the one composition here with guitar, the title track, Mackey’s tone and thrashy technique nearly become a problem, but through the miracle of mixing, the guitar is never louder that the cello or flute, making its huge sound a bit more intimate and bearable. The piece itself is a hodgepodge of styles, with a few ensemble passages that sound straight out of Iran, a few guitar solos straight from Joe Satriani, a few fairly straight-forward “new music” moments, and a strange feeling of rock’n’roll hiding just under the surface.
The other two compositions feature the MOSIAC ensemble, a sextet of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion. This type of group (minus percussion) is known as a Pierrot ensemble, named after a Schoenberg piece, and is perhaps the most popular chamber ensemble of the moment. Micro-Concerto takes full advantage of the versatility of the modern percussionist, embodied here by Daniel Druckman. He spends most of his time clattering between innumerable different percussion instruments, often playing multiple instruments at once. It’s a feat of virtuosity that would be a kick to see live. And Indigenous Instruments is the folk music of an imagined culture that likes to detune its instruments in strange ways. Mackey’s invented world is not an exotic one, predicated more on Aaron Copland than an African tribesman, though there are moments where Mackey explores the nuances of his detuned instruments that sound more exotic. But this piece is ultimately the most satisfying because of the way it reinvents this standard ensemble with extended techniques and unusual sounds, and because ultimately microtones are just more fun than equal temperment.
By Dan Ruccia, www.dustedmagazine.com

MOSAIC: Zizi Mueller, flute; Michael Finckel, cello; Emma Tahmizian, piano; Daniel Druckman, percussion; Michael Lowenstern, clarinet; Shem Guibbory, violin; Steven Mackey, electric guitar (soloist in Heavy Light)