LA Times published a review of Anthony Davis’ (CRF 2011) “Restless Mourning” by classical music critic Mark Swed.
“Hiding in what should have been plain sight, this grippingly poetic and politically candid 9/11 response hits home…Blues permeates ‘Restless Mourning,’ never in obvious ways. Nothing in the work is obvious, which alone separates it from the typical 9/11 memorial. Davis’ harmonic vocabulary is elaborate, unpredictable, his own. Instrumental colors, bright or dim, are made of many hues. There are electronics used for their mystery-making. The vocal writing can be declarative and songful at the same time. Solo singers and grouped voices do not dramatize text but rather take it to other realms. Davis ends not somberly but with the glorious hope that mingled ghosts might illuminate the skies in a manner far different than what the terrorists produced. Blue has become, once more, cerulean.” Read the full review here.
Photo by Michael Baker.