Alarm Will Sound - a/rhythmia (2009)

This album by the innovative chamber ensemble Alarm Will Sound features newly written works, contemporary classics, and transcriptions of Medieval and Renaissance vocal music. With 21 members, the mixed group of winds, brass, percussion, keyboards, strings, and voices would qualify as a chamber orchestra, but most of the pieces deploy smaller subsets of the whole. The element that ties these pieces together is their rhythmic complexity, what the program notes describe as rhythmic disruptions caused by temporal distortions or the juxtaposition of conflicting pulses. Four movements from British composer Benedict Mason's suite, Animals and the Origins of Dance are interspersed among the 14 tracks. Mason's vignettes, with whimsical titles like "Jitterbug mécanique," "Dégringolade des Pingouins" (Tumble of the Penguins), and "Disgraceful Bossanova with Lemurs" are models of wit and brevity. Other attractive newer pieces include the Middle Eastern folk-flavored Dessert Search for Techno Baklava by David Wong (aka, Mochipet); Michael Gordon's driving, minimalist Yo Shakespeare; and Harrison Birtwistle's Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum. The arrangements of pieces by Ciconia and des Prez provide a nice variety and a reminder that complexity is not a modern development. The album also features two Studies by Conlon Nancarrow, the granddaddy of rhythmic complexity, music so difficult that it was long considered unplayable by human performers. The ensemble makes it sound like a piece of cake, and the performance of Yvar Mikhashoff's brilliant arrangement of Study No. 6 is exceptionally vibrant. The playing throughout the album is unbelievably precise, but also full of snappiness and spirit. Alarm Will Sound is definitely an ensemble to watch out for. The sound is ideal: clean, crisp, and lively, with excellent separation.