Groovebox
The Ahn Trio
Eltamina -- How did you like the Battle/Marsalis duets CD? That's the music that I want to greet me when I shuffle off this mortal coil and present myself before the pearly gates -- with Gabriel on the Baroque trumpet.
About the closely guarded ages of the Ahn girls, I think that they don't want to admit how old they are because they still want to trade on their "infant prodigy" origins. According to their web site, they first appeared on Korean television in 1979, some time after "they got tall enough to reach the keys of the piano." Since the youngest plays the cello, she must have been at least big enough to finger that large instrument. Let's say she was 6 and the twins were 8. That makes them 29, 31 and 31 now, for a grant total of 91.
I now have two of their CDs. They also recorded some straight classical stuff earlier in their career, before their mission jelled to explore and introduce a more "modern" sound. It is my impression that the pianist is the true talent of the group. The string players hold up their ends adequately, but I think that it is the sure interpretive touch of the pianist that gives the group its distinctive flavor.
So, here is my review of the Ahn Trio's new release, Groovebox. I will just do the central piece, a six-part work titled Swing Shift (tracks 8-13) by contemporary composer Henji Bunch. It is supposed to represent a dusk to dawn pub crawl in New York City. The work was composed especially for the Ahn Trio, and it was intended to have a dance accompaniment, although the liner notes do not make it clear whether this was ever performed. Anyway, it does have some dancy rhythms that makes it a real possibility for skating music, IMHO.
The six movements can be naturally grouped in three sets of two. Each of the three can stand alone. Overall, this work is quite a lot like the Concerto for Piano Trio and Percussion, also by Bunch, which was featured (track 1) on the trio's last recording, Ahn-Plugged. That work, in three continuous movements (fast, slow, fast -- also very "skatable") is animated by an array of percussion that, in retrospect (i.e., compared to the present work), now seems maybe a little "special effect-y." I loved the special effects, however, and, on the other hand, I wonder if Swing Shift could have been spiced up a little in that way. Instead, the trio has to supply the percussion itself, sometimes with with repetitive driving chords in the left hand and cello pizzicato, accompanying lyric phrases in the right hand (sometimes cross-hand) and violin. At the beginning of the last movement they get some neat percussive effects out of muted (or “prepared?” cello).
I think that the performance succeeds in “presenting the style of electronic synthesized music, performed on traditional instruments.” Especially in the grand finale, the music does have the spirit of a fixed electronically generated rhythm against which the soloists improvise single note melodic conceptions. On the other hand, it exploits what I would call “classical” ideas such as counterpoint and the development and recapitulation of thematic material.
The first movement (which is how I think of tracks 8 and 9 together), starts unpretentiously (unlike this review :lol: ) and gathers momentum throughout, introducing more and more complex rhythms. The “slow movement” (tracks 10 and 11, although there are tempo changes) features a lot of very pretty but still “modern” harmonies, and interesting non-standard chord progressions and melodic fragments. Track 11 is especially well crafted. It starts with an extended cello solo, then the violin joins in for a pretty duet, then the violin takes over against piano chords. This is probably the most complex movement, although its elements are very transparent.
Tracks 12 and 13 could stand alone as a little one-act piece. 12 begins with a beautifully lyric string duet, with the piano contributing slow arpeggios in the upper register. The interwoven melodies are quite nice -- this is the most “classical” sounding part of the work. Then in 13 the percussive “electronic” drive cuts in, a pulse that becomes more and more demanding until the end. Both the rhythm and the interaction of parts become more and more interesting, and lead the piece to an exciting climax. This movement (12 and 13 together) was really quite excellent, and succeed well in conveying the composer’s conception.
Rating: 4 (out of 5) stars.
