Elliot Simpson, Justin Christensen - The Wayward Trail (2015) [Hi-Res]

• Title: The Wayward Trail
  
• Year Of Release: 2015
  
• Label: MicroFest Records
  
• Genre: Classical
  
• Quality: flac lossless / flac 24bits - 96.0kHz +Booklet
  
• Total Time: 01:06:09
  
• Total Size: 254 mb / 1.2 gb
  
• WebSite: Album Preview
  

Tracklist

01. 15 Zwiefache
02. Steel Suite: I. Prelude "Tastar de corde"
03. Steel Suite: II. Balkan Dance
04. Steel Suite: III. A New Waltz in Pelog
05. Steel Suite: IV. Gigue "Maggie's Jigs"
06. Songs & Toods: Schneidertood
07. Songs & Toods: Dismission of Great I
08. Songs & Toods: Sweet Betsy from Pike
09. Songs & Toods: Eskimo Lullaby
10. Songs & Toods: 85 Chords "The Historical Tuning Problem"
11. Forward


The last two album reviews featuring just intonation were John Schneider’s Harry Partch and Ben Johnston recordings. Through his MicroFest Records label comes this excellent album by American-born guitarist Elliot Simpson. If you’re not familiar with MicroFest, “Grammy winning producer John Schneider and Grammy nominated pianist Aron Kallay, themselves critically acclaimed performers of ‘microtonal’ music, created MicroFest Records to share their love of exciting repertoire that is simply unavailable anywhere else” (MicroFest). This album is no exception and is extraordinary for its music, the instrument, and quality performances by Simpson.

The album is filled with a variety of music from composers at the forefront of new music and microtonal writing. The works can draw a historical influence back to composer Harry Partch who was a pioneer in the field and “would come to refer to his complex stylistic development as a ‘wayward trail’.” My personal favourite from the album is the beautiful work by Zimmerman filled with spacious and sparkling harmonics. It’s a wonderful piece to become lost in as the drifting motifs delicately bounce about in alternating duple and triple meter. Steel Suite by Doty is a bit more rustic but delivers some interesting folky dances and energy. Coincidently, I’ve been working on transcriptions of Dalza (fl. 1508) which is, as I far as I know, the first reference to “tastar de corde” (in Italian, literally, “testing of the strings”) meaning a prelude exploring chords. The work by Larry Polansky throws us a more dissonant flavour along with exploring what that means on the unique instrument. The folk tunes that appear gave me an occasional giggle but many of the musical settings were very touching. I’m assuming it’s Simpson himself singing on the album. The Trumpet on 85 Chords is played by Justin Christensen. Forward by Ezequiel Menalled is an extended and spacious exploration of the harmonies and further microtone possibilities as the performer tampers with the tuning of the open strings. The lovely recording quality and the clear sound of the instrument make this a wonderful closing of the album. Fantastic playing by Simpson, I love the sound of the instrument. Steel-strings record better than nylons, the album sparkles in the higher register but also has a rich low-end.

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