Martin Butler Tin-Pan Ballet
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Martin Butler
Label: Lorelt
Magazine Review Date: 5/1994
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 67
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: LNT104
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Tin-Pan Ballet |
Martin Butler, Composer
Lontano Martin Butler, Composer Odaline de la Martinez, Conductor |
| Bluegrass Variations |
Martin Butler, Composer
Martin Butler, Composer Ruth Crouch, Violin |
| Jazz Machines |
Martin Butler, Composer
Lontano Martin Butler, Composer Odaline de la Martinez, Conductor |
| On the Rocks |
Martin Butler, Composer
Martin Butler, Composer Martin Butler, Composer |
| Going with the Grain |
Martin Butler, Composer
Lontano Martin Butler, Composer Odaline de la Martinez, Conductor |
Author: kshadwick
I am not entirely sure that the fact that all the pieces on this disc of works by Martin Butler (b. 1960) were commissioned says something about the music therein, but I'm tempted to think so. The title-piece, Tin-Pan Ballet, was written for a specific instrumentation possessed by the Australian group Flederman (flute/piccolo, trombone, cello, piano, Yamaha DX-7 synthesizer and percussion). It may or may not surprise you that the resultant music is strongly reminiscent of Stravinsky in his neo-classicist clothes. It's fun, and one can imagine it being good music for a short ballet. Bluegrass Variations reminds one of those often meretricious attempts by French composers in the earlier part of this century to capture the essence of early jazz, although this music is altogether more knowing. The same may be said of Jazz Machines, which seems to be borrowing language and syntax from improvised music, but leaving the spirit behind. Frank Zappa had a much surer grasp on this sort of thing in his compositions. On the Rocks is a more convincing pastiche of Debussy, partly because the conscious borrowings are combined with a deliberately antithetical musical setting—that of turn-of-the-century salon music and post-Copland piano musings.
None of the above would lead me to recommend a trip to the record shop, but the last piece, Going with the Grain, demonstrates that Butler has more going for him than whimsy and facility. It is, as Butler suggests in the booklet-notes, a ''mini marimba concerto in three movements'', and deals with more substantial musical matter than anything which precedes it. For a start, the work—however 'mini' Butler feels it is—runs for 21 minutes, which is as long as many Mozart piano concertos, and is written in closed form, with a resultant density of musical language, given the traditional relationships within a concerto, which is quite rewarding. The rarity of marimba concertos should not deter anyone from listening to a beguiling instrumental display, and Butler's scoring for the chamber group which makes up the other voice is equally refreshing. A timely reprieve, then, for an album which was until then diverting but hardly illuminating.'
None of the above would lead me to recommend a trip to the record shop, but the last piece, Going with the Grain, demonstrates that Butler has more going for him than whimsy and facility. It is, as Butler suggests in the booklet-notes, a ''mini marimba concerto in three movements'', and deals with more substantial musical matter than anything which precedes it. For a start, the work—however 'mini' Butler feels it is—runs for 21 minutes, which is as long as many Mozart piano concertos, and is written in closed form, with a resultant density of musical language, given the traditional relationships within a concerto, which is quite rewarding. The rarity of marimba concertos should not deter anyone from listening to a beguiling instrumental display, and Butler's scoring for the chamber group which makes up the other voice is equally refreshing. A timely reprieve, then, for an album which was until then diverting but hardly illuminating.'
Martin Butler Tin-Pan Ballet
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