Thomas - Rhapsody in Blue - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Thomas - Chamber & Piano Works [COMPACT DISCS] date 07/08/2014

In his musical travelogue from 1773, the English musician and musicologist Charles Burney described Bohemia as the Inchconservatory of EuropeInch. The country, now part of the Czech Republic, was then part of the Austrian Empire and from here came many outstanding composers who, if they did not stay in the country, worked not only in Vienna and other Austrian cultural centers, but also at the courts of all Europe and in the German, Italian and French metropolises. The word InchBohemianInch encompasses the Czech and German language areas of the Czech lands. No wonder that Czech and Bohemian music has fascinated many musicians and musicologists for three centuries.

Enchanted Invocation is a work for solo percussionist playing vibraphone and 5 crotales. Augusta Read Thomas writes InchI love composing. In a good way, my nerve endings for sound are always dialed up high - actually, they are on perpetual alert. If I hear one note or chord or if, for example, I play one on an instrument, I get lit up as if electric shock ribbons instantly race from my ears and fingertips to my imagination and then my creativity and craft play high-speed ping-pong! Where the ball is bouncing back and forth 100 times a second. The outcomes are unpredictable to me. I stay absolutely flexible. Everything is malleable, springy, stretchy, coil-able, color-able, twistable, bouncing, zig-zagging, and splinter-able. It feels like I am dancing with contrapuntal flickering sonic lights that accumulate into a spinning pinwheel spawning sound and form. I slide, skate, swivel, and spin with my materials - crafting nuance and finesse - and then I sculpt, shape, chisel, fashion, and form. At the end of all of that, I feel as if the piece wrote me -not as if I wrote the piece! My music has it's own inner life. If I listen carefully, the piece I am composing will tell me what it next needs.Inch