COLOR THEORY: PRISM Quartet and Partch, conducted by Stratis Minakakis. Photo by Scott Friedlander.
PRISM friend,
We're happy to share a few recent reviews of two PRISM Quartet albums: Color Theory with Partch and So Percussion, and Wayne Peterson: Transformations with BMOP under Gil Rose. Check out all of PRISM's albums HERE, and Happy New Year!
Matt, Zach, Taimur, and Tim PRISM Quartet
"Mixing colors takes on new meaning in Color Theory, an album blending the hues of four saxophones with an experimental percussion quartet and the microtonal musical instruments of Harry Partch. The PRISM Quartet teams up with So Percussion and the Partch ensemble to explore the full spectrum of color in music, from the deepest blues to the boldest reds, oranges, and yellows." Maggie Molloy for Second Inversion’s Top 10 Albums of 2017 Read the complete article.
"None of these evocations would be possible without the stellar playing of all three ensembles. Their virtuosity is stunning, but never showy. These intense artists are dedicated to getting out of the way of the music and just allowing the composers to express their vision." Peter Burwasser for the Broad Street Review Read the complete article.
"You can hear faint traces of Mr. Peterson’s early fascination with bebop in the central section of 'And the Winds Shall Blow' (1994), a moody, intricate score for saxophone quartet with orchestral winds and percussion, with the Prism Quartet taking the solo sax lines. As in the other two pieces, constant movement and an elastic sense of color lie at the heart of this score, but in place of angularity and modernist anxiety, Mr. Peterson offers touches of humor and sheer virtuosity, which the orchestra and the Prism players provide dazzlingly." Allan Kozinn for The Wall Street Journal Read the complete article.
"PRISM Quartet are the estimable soloists here, often playing ensemble passages with such precision and fluidity that they sound like a single mega-instrument. The saxophone solo passages are where the flavor of jazz most keenly persists, and all of the PRISM members play them displaying a strong sense of jazz history, appropriately inflecting each successive homage to swing, bebop, and modern styles. In other places, quartet and orchestra alike are filled with contrapuntal intensity. Rose balances the many competing elements, artfully complex, and assures that each line receives due clarity." Sequenza 21
Transformations is Sequenza 21’s Best Orchestra Portrait CD of 2017. Read the complete article.
