Jim Fox Black Water Pezzone - Cb0037 - Contemporary - by Cold Blue

Black Water—boisterously churning music for three pianos—is rich with dense, sometimes shimmering, sometimes rumbling tremolos set off by moments of twinkling quietude. Fox’s music is usually noted for its quietude and ambling pace. In the mid-1980s, however, he drifted from these defining stylistic penchants for a couple of years, penning music that often bounced along, energetically and loudly, at a good clip. His clangerous Black Water is rich with dense, sometimes shimmering, sometimes rumbling tremolos and loudly struck chords covering the full range of the piano, set off by brief moments of quiet, twinkling serenity. Fox writes, “Black Water was composed during a 1984 stay at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony and premiered at the New Music America festival the following year. (It takes its title from an Alberto Manguel–edited anthology of short stories I was reading at the time.) The piece uses various simple processes (some audible, some not so obvious) to construct a churning eddy of ever-changing/ever-returning sound. Black Water, in company with a few other somewhat loud and boisterous pieces of mine from the same mid-eighties period, formed a short departure from the generally lean, quiet music I’m known for. A half-dozen or so years ago, I decided to revisit some of my pieces from this period and record studio versions of them, starting with Black Water. All three piano parts for this work were recorded by Bryan Pezzone.” (18-minute CD single, in digipak)