Philip Swanson - Lengthening Shadows - Songs for Solo Piano (2006)

Increasingly in contemporary music, critical and commercial categories have become problematic or irrelevant for many artists, yet most who wish to transcend stylistic boundaries often risk confusing their audiences. Philip Swanson's 2005 release Lengthening Shadows is a CD of moody but generally upbeat pieces for solo piano that, by turns, sound like light classical, smooth jazz, or new age musings; yet because of the amalgamation of styles, one may well wonder what to make of this album. Swanson does not define his music -- indeed, his liner notes consist only of a quotation from Rilke, and a brief biography -- but his degrees and performance credentials show him to be academically oriented, with jazz and popular music as sideline pursuits. But there is no mistaking the release of this recording on a classical label, MSR Classics, nor can one ignore its marketing as a classical title. As a result of this dubious identification, those who come to Swanson's music expecting classical pieces may feel misled, and diehard classical fans will dismiss this disc as a weak attempt at crossover music. But there are more substantive criticisms to be made of Swanson's use of unexciting materials and lazy techniques, which are simple to the point of being simplistic and often unimaginatively derivative of fusion jazz improvisation. One is constantly reminded here of Keith Jarrett or Chick Corea in their mellowest recordings, particularly in the unrelieved white key harmonies and excited tremolandos that fill in the gaps between melodic fragments. One wishes this album might be at least as stimulating as Jarrett's Staircase, say, or Corea's Piano Improvisations, but Swanson plainly lacks their originality, keyboard proficiency, and expressive fluidity. While his effusions seem pretty and poignant, especially in short excerpts, little separates his sweeping arpeggios, pan-diatonic harmonies, and flashy roulades from the most insipid cocktail piano playing or sophomoric noodling. Ultimately, Swanson's bland music holds little interest because it lacks memorable ideas, and the blurring of styles and genres matters less than the emptiness of expression. One may be disappointed at first to find that Lengthening Shadows is a weak crossover disc, but after hearing it through, one may also feel cheated and annoyed that it is so emotionally shallow, technically unexceptional, and intellectually vapid.