Night Singing

Both of Andrew Rindfleisch’s parents worked in the theater so it comes as no surprise that drama is at the core of his tightly constructed music. What you might not suspect, though, is his fondness for the exact opposite; freely improvised performance where the performers keep each other on their ears and toes.

Luckily, the composer could have no better partner in spontaneity than Zeitgeist, one of the country’s longest established new music chamber groups. The four-movement title track Night Singing is a profoundly dark and expressive evocation of nocturnal states of being, and an autobiographical sentiment of the composer’s own approaches to composition. Nine Little Improvisations, on the other hand, evokes the spontaneous and wildly eclectic improvisations of clarinetist Pat O’Keefe with Rindfleisch at the piano.

The solo work For Clarinet Alone reveals a remarkable recording of aggressive refinement, illuminating a work of extreme quietness and solitude through the use of minimal microtonal movement. With Fanatical Dances, a dense work for seven players, and the group performance of Improvisation Situation, featuring theatrical vocals by Rindfleisch, both free and composed music clash in celebratory fashion to round out this disc of virtuoso performances.

With this CD by the winner of dozens of awards such as the Rome Prize and Guggenheim Fellowship, we can enjoy new facets of the work of the broadly experienced performer, conductor and composer that is Andrew Rindfleisch: not only in improvisation, both vocal and instrumental, but also in his musical and theatrical collaboration with Zeitgeist. Performed by Andrew Rindfleisch, conductor/piano/bongos/voice; Heather Barringer, percussion; Patti Cudd; percussion; Pat O’Keefe, woodwinds; Shannon Wettstein, piano; Christian Zamora, violin, Jane Garvin, flute; Jim Jacobson, cello.

Andrew Rindfleisch teaches at Cleveland State University. He also enjoys grave hopping.