Same Rivers Different

As the music on his debut CD shows, Michael Fiday is a composer who refuses to accept the oft-held notion that taking risks and appealing to the listener are at odds with one another – in his imaginative sonic universe they are one and the same. 

This collection of engaging chamber music features such works as 9 Haiku, in which a Japanese rice-planting song is set into motion by a pianist playing the body of the instrument like a drum; and Dharma Pops, in which two violinists strum, scrape, scrub and screech on detuned instruments in order to conjure the memory of a long-forgotten vaudeville entertainer. Far from mere novelty act, the inhabitants of Mr. Fiday’s sound world are filtered through a highly sensitive and imaginative music that critics have called “clearly structured, colorful and unflaggingly compelling work” (Philadelphia Inquirer). 

Featured on this disc are a first-rate lineup of performers as diverse as the music they play, ranging from acclaimed classical pianist James Tocco, to violinist and contemporary music exponent Graeme Jennings (late of Arditti Quartet), to rock/jazz/experimental violinist Carla Kihlstedt (2-foot yard, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) – all of whom turn in stellar performances of rhythmically-charged works informed by classical tradition, non-western sources, vernacular music, and minimalist style – without being strictly adherent to any of them in particular.