Michael Vincent Waller writes modern classical music that contours rare afternoons, ambling thoughts and sympathetic processions of change and loss. Waller’s compositions work patiently from a place of unassuming aesthetic possibility, navigations of emotion predicated on entangled systems of soft strings, winds and piano, emerging faintly, questioning, inverting, surprising.
“The South Shore”, available now on XI Records, collects pieces written from 2011-2014 that touch on classical minimalism and a contemporary adaptation of the avant-garde, employing artful counterpoint and slyly subversive structures of tension and resolve. They flow gracefully from the hands of 25 different musicians, ensembles including Christine Kim and Pauline Kim Harris (Project SiS) with Conrad Harris, Daniel Panner, Charity Wicks, the Dedalus Ensemble, the 20<21 Ensemble, and more.
Pieces range from blushingly romantic (the 9-minute “La Riva Sud”, a showcase for a truly somber piano), to drone-influenced studies in quiet peace like “Organum” and passionate celebrations of tone and timbre; the sanguine body of the cello on “Tacca Prima”, the thin, affective possibilities of a flippant flute on “Vocalise”. Waller’s abilities as a composer enable him to walk an invisible line between a hundred different dispositions, moving effortlessly from crushing sadness to wistful peace, to curious places of inquisition and wonder.
• Michael Vincent Waller: http://michaelvincentwaller.com
More about: Michael Vincent Waller
