Strange Imaginary Animals (2006)

At first glance, the album Strange Imaginary Animals may look like a whimsical musical menagerie, perhaps an avant-garde update on Carnival of the Animals; but this 2006 release from Çedille is more intellectually demanding and esoterically puzzling than its improbable title and cover art may suggest. These six colorful works for chamber ensemble are gathered together ("unified" is too rigid a term) around a rather elusive concept -- the imagination -- and each piece forces the listener to think creatively about its ... Read More

At first glance, the album Strange Imaginary Animals may look like a whimsical musical menagerie, perhaps an avant-garde update on Carnival of the Animals; but this 2006 release from Çedille is more intellectually demanding and esoterically puzzling than its improbable title and cover art may suggest. These six colorful works for chamber ensemble are gathered together ("unified" is too rigid a term) around a rather elusive concept -- the imagination -- and each piece forces the listener to think creatively about its possible meanings, however arcane or absurd. Take, for example, Jennifer Higdon's Zaka (2003), a dynamically rhythmic tour de force in which the performance and its reception are influenced by its name and definition: "za-ka (zô' kô) v. To do the following almost simultaneously and with great speed: zap, sock, race, turn, drop, sprint." Or consider Gordon Fitzell's Violence (2001), which is a surprisingly delicate and quiet piece that explores the underlying aesthetics of violence, instead... Read Less