Composer Marc Mellits is an apprentice to
Steve Reich whose own worklist stretches back into the early '80s. Endeavor Classics' Tight Sweater is the first all-Mellits disc and features four works performed by the new music ensemble
Real Quiet. If
Reich's Music for 18 Musicians is like an 11-course meal with appetizer and dessert, then the short movements that make up Mellits' suites, such as Fruity Pebbles and Tight Sweater, are like hors d'oeuvres. Mellits' post-minimalist spin is to deliver the tasty treat of minimalist style minus its messy forward development, which only works when the trajectory is seamless. Mellits' work is all "seams," just like the seams in the tight sweater pictured on the front cover, but unashamedly so, and it is clear that Mellits is hoping to acquire an audience through cutting to the chase and not making them wait for the payoff. The strategy seems to be working, as Mellits has collected positive concert reviews even from such tough publications as The New York Times.
Tight Sweater is the first all-Mellits CD, and likewise marks the debut on disc of
Real Quiet, a promising young postmodern chamber trio made up of pianist
Andrew Russo, cellist Felix Fan, and mallet percussionist David Cossin. This is a very strong, well-rehearsed ensemble and the "hot," pop-styled production helmed by Endeavor Classics' William Tenant helps galvanize the sound. Listeners more seriously attuned to the minimalist vein might well starve on Mellits' two- and three-minute creations, although the single-movement Disciples of Gouda stands as an exception to this rule in that it manages to sustain its ideas for a full eight minutes. Others, though, shouldn't be put off by some of the
Zappa-esque titles and bright, sexy packaging and should give Tight Sweater a test drive; it is eminently accessible music that has one foot in rock, yet is also satisfying as postmodern classical music that doesn't make you want to kill yourself.