Various Artists - Millennial Masters, Vol. 1 (2022)

"I've reviewed a few pieces from Stephen Yip across several different compilations, and I am always pleased by what I hear. In the Garden continues this with dynamic contract, good use of slides and extended techniques and changing timbres. The bass clarinet is often in the foreground, with the flute and piano. The piece is dark and chromatic, but not too dense or too dissonant. Repeated motives characterize instruments and, like the Zen garden it imitates, create specific scenes for the listener to interpret. David Lipten's piano music is fiery and angular. Best Served Cold takes off right from the start, abruptly changing directions, repeating motives, or diving into the low register. It is in stark contrast to Ever Since, though they maintain the same mood owing to similar tonal language. Snap is a race against time with repeated notes beginning in the piano's upper register. The material slowly brings the piece into the middle octaves, but it cannot stop it from jumping multiple registers. Piano Gesang, by Igor Shcherbakov, is a haze of free atonality. Like the other composers on the disc, Shcherbakov concerns himself with color, though he uses it to mask a romantic melody that keeps attempting to break through."