Fanfare Magazine March/April 2001

SOLO FLIGHTS
• Philip Bush, Sarah Cahill, David Del Tredici, Jed Distler, Robert Helps, Sara Laimon, Kathleen Supové, Andrew Violette (pn)
•CRI CD 864 (74:33) Live: New York, 1995-99
Music by DISTLER, DEL TREDICI, GODOVSKY, HELPS, HOVDA, KAMINSKY, MAMLOCK, THOMSON, VIOLETTE, and ZORN
Every year the Composers Collaborative puts on a Solo Flight Festival of new piano music. This CD is the product of five from 1995 to 1999. The range of music is broad, from the elegant serialism of Ursula Mamlock to the would-be madcap antics of David Del Tredici and John Zorn. My personal favorite is Jed Distler's lovely, somber The Woman Who Danced. The presence of Godowsky in a recital of new music is explained by Jed Distler in his notes as being an encore that Robert Helps performed, which so carried away his listeners that it was felt appropriate to include it here.
Performances are assumed to be fine. The recordings, made over several years and in several venues, also feature fine sound. Applause is disconcertingly included after some selections and not others. I rather wish they had just omitted it, but it is a minor point either way.   
John Story