This album offers premiere recordings of a pair of contemporary works, which spring from connections among the two composers and
the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble. The two pieces go together extremely well: both combine minimalist gestures with aspects of early music, but the two are entirely different in effect.
Meredith Monk's "Basket Rondo" combines solo passages with voices "woven" together in a manner reminiscent of medieval organum, while
Eric Salzman's "Jukebox in the Tavern of Love" is designated a set of madrigals and replicates the textures of that English-Italian Renaissance form. But
Salzman's piece is a little comic drama set in a New York tavern during a power outage, featuring as characters the bartender, a nun, a dancer, an orthodox rabbi, an Irish poet, and a Consolidated Edison employee. The work gets major points for sheer originality, and both pieces are enjoyable for anybody. Recommended. ~ James Manheim