North-Sound Winds - Martin: Four Wind Quintets (2019)

The latest release from this venturesome label showcases Robert Martin's refreshingly modern musical interpretations of traditional musical shapes and structures. Expertly performed by the North/South Winds under the direction of conductor Max Lifchitz, the album features premiere recordings of 4 compositions for wind quintet written over a period of 30 years. The works were inspired by the composer's travels throughout the US and abroad. Robert Martin began composing when he was asked to write a march played at his high school graduation. After receiving his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Music Composition from Peabody Conservatory, he worked at various jobs including as apprentice in pipe organ restoration. Much of Robert Martin's music concerns itself with the human reaction to the faint and fading glimpse of reality that all things will evanesce. Critic Mike Strizic writes: "Other modern composers have been content to let dissonance do their work for them, with little thought to resolving that dissonance into a cohesive whole. Martin, by contrast, appears to firmly grasp the summative nature of his work- he refuses to shoe-horn his material into formulae that do not enhance its essentially expressionist nature, and for that I applaud him."