DANIEL BERNARD ROUMAIN - ETUDES4VIOLIN&ELECTRONIX CD

SKU/Barcode: 700435717923

There has been quite an amount of press hype attendant to violinist and Haitian-American composer Daniel Bernard Roumain, (aka, DBR), whose Thirsty Ear disc etudes4violin&electronix is his first venture on disc outside of projects that appeared on his own label. Roumain has been profiled on NPR; appeared with numerous symphony orchestras and with his group DBR & The Mission, a chamber ensemble augmented with two turntablists; and gathered an impressive r sum of reviews, albeit many of them written by journalists who come to classical music with the idea that it's "boring" and they don't know much about it. DBR has some strong names in the classical field that are pulling for him, some appearing as guests on etudes4violin&electronix; in the violin and piano works he is partnered with Philip Glass and Ryuichi Sakamoto, and composer Peter Gordon -- who is a longstanding genre-bender -- also contributes to and co-produces this album. The "electronix" indicated in the title is provided by DJ Spooky, DBR, and one of the turntablists from within DBR & The Mission, DJ Scientific, although there is far less of that aspect in the total picture than what one might deduce based on its inclusion in the front title. Many classical music fanciers of longstanding might well listen to this and ask themselves "Just what's 'classical' about it?" Several of the tracks clearly have a dance beat, and the violin/piano duets are obviously informed by jazz improvisation, although the piano accompaniments in these pieces seem a bit underdeveloped. One cannot deny, however, that in these pieces and others as a violinist DBR is unquestionably in possession of some serious chops. However, as compositions these pieces could use a little more variety; throughout etudes4violin&electronix there is a sense of holding back, as though his pursuit of the serious compromises the groove he's trying to get into, or that the groove is impinging on the serious, "classical" part of his creative arsenal. etudes4violin&electronix does not leave the impression of breaking through into the next dimension as it does a disciplined musician pulling back on the reins of elements that don't quite fit together. Yet etudes4violin&electronix is a noble try; perhaps DBR is neither Antichrist nor Savior in classical music, just someone who, like many of his colleagues in the first decade of the twenty-first century, is anxiously trying to find "the next big thing," whatever it is. Nevertheless, he is creating several interesting things along the way, and while etudes4violin&electronix might appeal best to those who enjoy jazz violin, and it is heartening to see an artist like DBR continue to wield the classical cudgel.