VA - Ferdinando De Sena: Spaulding's Bounce & Other Chamber Works (2016) [Hi-Res]

Composer Ferdinando DeSena presents a selection of chamber works offering a mixture of musical elements. DeSena’s distinct musical style draws on all his diverse musical influences including jazz, popular, and classical avant garde. The popular and jazz fingerprints on his music are subtle, but can be found in his instrumentation and instrumental writing; on this album his combinations include the flute, guitar, sax and even harp and electronics to express unique sounds.

The title track Spalding’s Bounce, an homage to Esperanza Spalding, presents a modern culmination of transcendental groove-like material that is heavily syncopated, suggesting bebop.

Anima Mea, one of several duos on the album, is titled after the beginning of “The Magnificat”, a Latin Marian prayer. The piece is a tremendous achievement in two-part, free counterpoint; the subtle differences in timbre between the flute and alto saxophone achieving clear, compelling phrases.

The versatile role of the guitar is presented in Deceptive Clarity, serving both as a melodic force equal to the flute, and as a reflective swath of jazz, Latin jazz, popular and classical guitar music from the twentieth century.

Art Market is structured as a “sextet” for synthesizer. Beginning with 12-tone equal temperament with Pythagorean harmonics, the resulting nine overtones are synthesized and mixed to create each of the six “voices”.