Michael Byron Halcyon Days Winant Moore Ray Kallay Duo - Cb0065 - Contemporain

Halcyon Days is an album that draws together a collection of Byron’s vibrant early music for percussion and piano. Except for the final piece (Tender, Infinitely Tender, written in 2016), these pieces are from a previously under-documented period of Byron’s work—the mid-1970s, when he composed unique and remarkable minimalist-styled works. This album treats us to clangorous clouds of polyrhythms and simple, direct, quiet works that explore rich harmonies and bespeak a sense of transcendent motionlessness. Drifting Music and Music of Every Night are performed by Winant alone, via overdubs. The three-movement percussion quartet Music of Steady Light is performed by the William Winant Percussion Group. Byron writes about the album: “Poet Anne Tardos wrote that ‘Time doesn’t pass. We pass.’ Most of the pieces on this CD were composed in the 1970s. It seemed like everything was beginning then. Lifelong friends were made, and improbable ideas were shared; composing neither began nor ended. This CD features virtuoso percussionist, and my oldest friend, Bill Winant. Over the last 50 years he has performed and premiered every percussion piece that I’ve ever composed. These pieces, and this CD, are dedicated to him.” [CD in 6-panel wallet]