What the Press Is Saying

About Dan Becker

"[Gridlock] was probably the most technically polished and assured piece of the night. …It featured a constant and driving pulse, unthinkable a few years ago."

" There's even a bit Stravinsky and a bit of Copland in the interlocking motifs and syncopation of Dan Becker's Gridlock which is, in its persuasive feel for instrumental color and texture, an engaging romp (to coin phrase)."

(About Common Sense CD) : "… the smoothness of this new chamber style in the hands of Dan Becker, Belinda Reynolds and John Halle is itself impressive.'

(About Common Sense CD): "…eminently likable …Smart, funny, …the music here draws on minimalism as though it were already a relic ready for rediscovery. The results are deeply enjoyable. In the Mondrianish Gridlock, …Dan Becker celebrates square cut rhythms and angular geometry."

(About Gridlock): "…repeated figures unpredictably varied through asymmetrical rhythms, often calling Phillip Glass and Stravinsky to mind at once."

"The most elegant work [of the evening] was Dan Becker's S.T.I.C. …the quintet confined themselves to a small repertoire of melodies, chords of open fifths, and chirpy cadences, yet the piece grew and expanded and turned corners with a logic I tried to pinpoint and failed. Nothing could have been clearer than what the piece was doing at any particular moment, nor more mystifying than how it got there. …frustratingly enjoyable."

"Becker's clever Uprising… [was] a musical pun, with various sections of the orchestra raising pitch against other bodies of sound… in the minimalist tradition of Philip Glass and John Adams."

"Becker's Tamper Resistant ….turned a faceless excerpt from Telemann into musical saltwater taffy"

(About Tamper Resistant and American Baroque): "…a sort of Philip Glass meets Monteverdi collaboration"

"[Dan Becker's Tamper Resistant] was parody in its highest sense: the restructuring of an existing work to illustrate the relationship between its creator and its re-creator. … [Telemann's] teasing serenity was elevated to new levels of complexity by the interplay of focused and prankish syncopations, present in the original work yet cleverly magnified for an almost calypso effect."

"Dan Becker's Point of Balance employs musical light and shade with subtle nuances and massive chords juxtaposed to obtain a delicate equipoise."

"Dan Becker's Point of Balance [for solo piano] was one of arpeggiated angularity and romantic rhapsody… Bravura gives way ultimately to introspection and a bit of blues. It's a piece not afraid to change its stripes, like Rzewski in its refusal to be pinned down to anything but virtuosity and quality."

"Dan Becker's Point of Balance combined written and improvisational passages, … punctuated by fierce arpeggi with a rapid-fire toccata passage near the end."

"Composer Dan Becker's Five Re-Inventions [were] a deconstruction and reconstruction of several two-part Inventions by J.S. Bach. They turned scales and arpeggios into demonic furies."

"Dan Becker's Five Re-Inventions were transformations of Bach Inventions, very witty and enjoyable. … the game was to recognize the Bach-objects and ponder their recombinations and minimalist repetitions."

(About Five Re-Inventions): "…overlapping pianos multiplying by the second. …Somewhere in heaven Glenn Gould is having wet dreams."

About Belinda Reynolds

"[Reynolds' music] stands out…for its elegant polish, the persuasive pacing of its metamorphosis, the complete absence of false steps or miscalculations."

"Alto flute and piano intertwine…as diaphanous as chiffon and as gently floating in Belinda Reynolds' SHARE."

"Belinda Reynolds' opener, [CIRCA], is a sensuous textural experiment…"

"Reynold's PLAY for piano and marimba … came along as a welcomed intermezzo relief from the intensities surrounding it."

"Belinda Reynolds' beautiful, spirited CIRCA serves as a …manifesto- artful minimalist counterpoint clothed in the transparent textures of Baroque chamber music…"

"Belinda Reynolds' COVER… showed a strong command of ensemble writing and the gradual building of texture. The piece closed with a refreshing and humorous perfect cadence..."

"These composers are not slumming. Belinda Reynolds' Weave was as rigorously structured as a Bach invention…"

"Belinda Reynolds' 1990 Interference Patterns was a ravishing interlude of soft harmonics with a destination clearly in sight. The piece was an island of contemplation in a sea of busyness."

"Smart, funny…the music draws on minimalism as though it were already a relic for rediscovery…The results are deeply enjoyable."

"Multitudinous Verses …made an almost "romantic" impression, with long phrases and great expression…creating miniatures of luring sensuality. How beautiful electronic music can sound!"

"Reynolds made full use of the character of each instrument, adding touches of both rustic and refined joviality. The end result was some of the most forward music of the evening."

"The most entertaining essay was Belinda Reynolds' Over and Out, which diffracted a dancelike pattern…through a continual variety of meters and tempos with a convincing sense of direction."

Over and Out by Belinda Reynolds featured a kaleidoscopic development of a series of lines and fragments…sort of like a hip 'Moldau'."

"Belinda Reynolds' 1992 piece, Initiation, was original…For all this aggressive propulsion… the music is strangely calming."

"Belinda Reynolds' Multitudinous Verses' multilayered harmonies were sensuous and gentle, evocative at times of the gamelan…its mood was poignant and compelling."