Well, we’re just feeling simultaneously satisfied and anticipatory, aren’t we?
Such is the emotional consequence of following a composer and musician like Sean McCann, whose prolificacy makes some of us wonder just what we’re artistically doing with our lives, but whose self-admitted patience when it comes to actually completing a musical piece has left lovers of 2013’s Music for Private Ensemble in a vaguely masochistic state of ongoing giddiness. The foreshadowed Music for Public Ensemble (his “next major recording project”) is still in draft stage, which means that we’ve been making do with his recent Maxwell August Croy collaboration and the exploratory Ten Impressions for Piano & Strings, which came out in January.
And now we can also add A Castle Popping, a new LP continuing the conjured-seemingly-out-of-nowhere tradition. This one is a collection of recordings from 2013 and 2014, but even though it’s not meant “to be taken as a formal ‘album’,” McCann and his Recital imprint promise not to engage in any unforeseen thoughtcrime investigations. The album was mostly recorded in hotels during business trips to Las Vegas and Spain, and it also contains McCann’s first composition for a quartet (“Victorian Wind”). Plus there’s a compl(i/e)mentary CD-R Tub of Deep Green Ink included in the purchase package, which is also a compilation of older material (2011-2014).
Good on McCann for ensuring we’ve had our neoclassical fill! Here’s a strand from Rapunzel:
A Castle Popping tracklisting:
01. Eleven Nights in Spain, pt.I
02. Eleven Nights in Spain, pt.II
03. Cosmopolitan Voice Piece
04. Victorian Wind
05. Belt-Laced Eyes
06. May 29th, 2014 Piano Piece no.2
• Recital: http://www.recitalprogram.com