Gabriel Vicéns - Mural
(Stradivarius Records, 2024)
For his fourth recording, composer Gabriel Vicéns hones a fine edge to seven original selections culminating four years of consideration and evolution. These are concert pieces that explore 12-tone serialism, experimentalism, and minimalism. This mood-altering music is intended to provoke thoughtfulness in the listener, challenging them to hear beyond classification and genre. The lengthy title piece develops slowly into an angular, sharp-cornered exposition for clarinet, violin, and piano, something akin to the airy music of Morton Feldman.
“Una Superficie Sin Rostro” is a contemplative solo piano piece performed by Corinne Penner, allowing Miles Davis amounts of silence between carefully selected notes. The performance adds drama to the listening experience by instilling anticipation into hearing the music. “Carnal” is a chamber duet between piano and violin performed by pianist Mayumi Tsuchida and violinist Adrianne Munden-Dixon that is, at once, tactile and exploratory. This is spacious music where Vicéns injects ample room for thought, just what art is supposed to do.