Michael Byron – Music of Nights Without Moon or Pearl
September 15th, 2009Among many other things, Michael Byron is a modern classical composer who studied with James Tenney and Richard Teitelbaum, a music professor who taught at York University, and an editor of experimental music journals and books. His first full-length CD, Music of Nights Without Moon Or Pearl, from 2000, premieres three long pieces from the 1990s. The title track opens the disc with a beyond pleasant 18-minute piece of unintended, unofficial and beautiful minimalism—the aural equivalent of a gentle rain shower. A string quartet, playing the part of the raindrops themselves, lets loose an ever-cascading downpour of pizzicati (plucked strings) over an insistent, repetitive piano roll; electronic keyboard washes and carefree, meandering contrabass lines.