Trios for Deep Voices

Christopher Roberts

Roberts-double bass

Mark Morton-double bass

James Bergman-double bass

Roberts’ inspiration for these trios is his immersion in New Guinean traditional music, though his own pieces sound nothing like New Guinean music. They are recognizably contemporary American classical music. “Kon Burunemo” could be an updated version of Dvorak’s American quartet. “Flying” conveys the effort and the exultation of the act itself. The other three tracks come off as rather too severe for me. They don’t have the almost homespun and naïve charm of the two works above. Advocates of mainstream American classical modernism will be more receptive to these. Roberts has a strong individual voice. If he repeats the idiosyncrasies of those pieces in the future he’ll be a composer to reckon with.

Cold Blue

CB 0030

www.coldbluemusic.com

Richard Grooms