Marimbist
Linda Maxey and the percussion trio Galaxy perform an attractive selection of virtuoso pieces on this collection. The music of Japanese composer Minoru Miki served as a catalyst for the two other works, Serbian composer Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic's Uneven Souls and American composer and percussionist
Michael Udow's Coyote Dreams. All three works are characterized by a propulsive rhythmic vitality and elements of mysticism. Miki's Marimba Spiritual, written in response to African famine, consists of two movements, the first soulful and ruminative and the second furiously agitated. Zivkovic's piece includes a wordless men's chorus that contributes significantly to its mood of mystery and menace, and its flavor of the exoticism of Eastern European folk traditions -- it's a tremendously atmospheric and haunting piece. Coyote Dreams was shaped by
Udow's fascination with the sounds of the desert of New Mexico and with Native American myths. Its relentless, driving energy gives it a thrilling urgency, punctuated by an expansive, meditative, and eerily unsettling middle section.
Maxey plays with high energy and polish, as do
Roger Braun,
Anthony di Sanza, and
Udow. Equilibrium's sound is clean and spacious.