Marty Walker

All the music on this album, with the exception of Song(s) of the Sirens, was written specifically for remarkable clarinetist/bass clarinetist Marty Walker.

As Is Thought/Aurora, a casually dramatic work for bass clarinet, harp, and vibraphone, is like a miniature concerto in its structure, contrasting solo bass clarinet phrases with tutti lines.

Song(s) of the Sirens, a lush work for clarinet, piano, and woman’s voice, gradually and systematically builds in texture, harmonic richness, and melodic continuity as new musical elements grow on earlier elements, which reappear and cascade upon one another via digital delay processes.

Among Simple Shadows, a quiet work for two bass clarinets, trumpet, and piano, slowly undulates with hauntingly thin wind textures and muted rushes of piano tremolo.

Dancing on Water, a light, rhythmically quirky two-movement piece for clarinet and marimba (4 hands), alludes to fragments of Mexican folk music as it develops its melodic and rhythmic cells.

Elegant Detours, a solo bass clarinet work, develops an ascending three-octave figure from puffs of quiet pointillism through raucous sweeps of the instrument’s full range to a final exclamation of loud sustained tones.

On Tuesday, a gently rhapsodic four-movement work for bass clarinet and the rarely heard contra-alto clarinet, has a somewhat eerie feel to it, which is due in part to the unique combined timbre of two clarinets’ in their lowest ranges.

This CD by outstanding new music clarinetist Marty Walker presents the work of composers Daniel Lentz, Peter Garland, Jim Fox, Michael Jon Fink, Rick Cox, and Michael Byron. Ranging from lush music for ten clarinets and ten pianos to a technically thorny solo for bass clarinet, and covering much ground in between, the pieces collected here offer a diverse array of styles and technical concerns. However, there seems to be a simple underlying link that holds them all together.

“Recommended to adventurous and enquiring listeners everywhere.” —International Record Review

“Each piece carries a quiet charm that immediately draws in the listener’s attention. If, like me, you have a soft spot for the clarinet’s melancholy, you won’t want to miss this disc, shimmering like light ‘dancing on water.’” —Incursion Music Review (Canada)