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In the Sea of Ionia

by Daniel Lentz

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about

In the Sea of Ionia is a wildly spinning, charismatically eclectic album containing four of Lentz’s recent piano works: (1) 51 Nocturnes (2011), a set of very short, contrasting nocturnes that are played without pauses, as one continuous work; (2) Pacific Coast Highway (2014), a primarily textural three-piano piece built of polyrhythmic layers of continuously shifting/drifting harmonies; (3) Dorchester Tropes (2008–09), a four-movement piano solo; (4) In the Sea of Ionia (2007–08) a piece for seven pianos that builds in activity, pace, and intensity (reaching near-frenetic proportions near the end) and employs what Lentz has for many years called “cascading echoes”—thematic cells that return (like a tape echo) throughout the work.

As with much of Lentz’s music, most of these pieces are kaleidoscopic, restless, and given to changing directions and tempos without warning—darting, from one moment to the next, amid new materials and reprised materials, a moment of lovely placidity suddenly giving way to an unrestrained burst of notes or vice versa. In contrast to his earlier work, Lentz’s most recent music relies less on process-driven constructions that boil over with musical phrases and cells (although there is still some of that here). Instead, much of this work presents a more straightforward approach to the piano. Whether one’s focus is on these recent pieces or on earlier ones, Kyle Gann’s shrewd observation about Lentz’s work holds true: “When it comes to attempts at musical seduction, Daniel Lentz’s music is way out in front.”

All the piano parts on this recording—from solo to seven pianos (via overdubbing)—are performed by Grammy-nominated new-music pianist Aron Kallay.

Aron Kallay, a fixture on the Los Angeles new-music scene, is a pianist whose playing has been deemed “exquisite…every sound sounded considered, alive, worthy of our wonder” (Los Angeles Times). He has been praised for being “perhaps Los Angeles’ most versatile keyboardist” (LAOpus) and “a multiple threat: a great pianist, brainy tech wizard, and visionary promoter of a new musical practice” (Fanfare magazine) and for possessing “that special blend of intellect, emotion, and overt physicality that makes even the thorniest scores simply leap from the page into the listeners laps” (KPFK Radio).

REVIEWS:

“Speaking broadly, composer Daniel Lentz is deemed a kind of maverick ‘Minimalist,’ West Coast division. But…subtleties of an artist’s voice can get glossed over in the simplifying process of ‘general deeming.’ Let’s just say he broaches sonic beauty and Minimalist-colored/rhythmicized ideas, but on his own terms…. [H]e has plenty to say…and a sensitive, sturdy ally in pianist Mr. Kallay…. With a vocabulary borrowing from influences as varied as Ravel, Brian Wilson and Bill Evans, Mr. Lentz’s music is not as pretty as it might sound—or is not ‘only’ pretty. Ulterior strategies are afoot. Sentimentality grazes past and is hustled into new shapes, in a place where lyricism is served on the rocks.” —Josef Woodard, Santa Barbara News-Press

“Daniel Lentz has been composing and releasing music for many decades, yet the music he’s creating today is as vital as anything produced in the past. While his omnivorous output ranges from the wildly exuberant to the preternaturally calm, it’s always infused with the joy of music-making and the creative spirit.” —Textura

“Very beautiful.”—Nova Express

“There’s something very American about Daniel Lentz’s music. I’m not always sure exactly where it is in the music. Sometimes it’s in the occasional motive…sometimes it’s in the harmonies that sound slightly ‘jazzy,’ as much as I dislike using that word…. Wherever this American sound resides in the music, it shouts at us from titles like Pacific Coast Highway—my favorite piece on the record. The title work is nearly 20 minutes and, in its slower sections, sounds more like what a composer-pianist might play to himself when alone…. This is a credit to Aron Kallay, whose performances are masterly and lend brilliance to music that was already rich.” —American Record Guide

“Lentz has been composing music for some 45 years and much of it has a minimal streak. It’s, however, not the kind of minimalism of Reich or Glass, but just a sparseness in between notes, slow moves, but not always highly repetitious. The four pieces here are from recent years, and two of these are for multiple pianos, I assume played one by one by Kallay, recorded using multi-track. Now here we have piano music recorded on a fine grand piano, with fine microphones…. Lentz’ piano music is not necessarily Satie- or Debussy-like, but may also have a more ‘romantic’ notion, maybe that Californian breeze that I often hear in the releases by Cold Blue Music. Maybe I’m just imagining that. The title piece, for seven pianos, has a nice complex character, almost with mild delay put forward on the pianos, but it isn’t, and it’s a great piece. The release opens with 51 Nocturnes, played without a gap between them, and has a fine late-night feel to it. The four movements of Dorchester Tropesremind me Satie and Debussy, with the more melancholic touch it has. The four pianos of Pacific Coast Highway are perhaps the closest Lentz comes to the ‘other’ minimalists. It makes all of this quite a varied release, but all of it of excellent quality.” —Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly

credits

released January 13, 2015

Aron Kallay, piano

51 Nocturnes (2011) was composed for Theo Stephan.
Pacific Coast Highway (2014) was composed for Jim Fox and Cold Blue Music.
Dorchester Tropes (2008–09) was commissioned by Dr. Richard Marcus, with its movements dedicated to Carol Ruth Marcus (Messatossec), Leonard Share (Ponkapoag Bog), Jack Faxon (Moswetuset), and Esther Weinstock (Pocapawnet).
In the Sea of Ionia (2007–08) was commissioned by Steve Behrends.

Produced by Daniel Lentz and Jim Fox
Recorded, edited, and mastered by Scott Fraser, Architecture, Los Angeles, July–October 2014
Design by Jim Fox
Cover photo and main interior photo by Richard Friedman

All music © Daniel Lentz (BMI)
CD p & B 2015 Cold Blue Music
Cold Blue Music, Venice, CA
www.coldbluemusic.com

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Daniel Lentz Santa Barbara, California

Composer Daniel Lentz ‘s music can be wild and relentless, intricate in its musical processes, and lushly beautiful—often all at once. “When it comes to attempts at musical seduction, Lentz’s music is way out front.” (Kyle Gann, Village Voice) “Lentz’s music inhabits…a musical ‘state of becoming.’” (John Schaefer, New Sounds, WNYC) Lentz’s work has appeared on nine Cold Blue CDs. ... more

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