• Inner Sky

: Review

David Felder's works are fairly intense, and the multichannel mix allowed by the Blu-Ray disc (Albany 1418) helps this. Tweener takes its time emerging. Spurts of low brass, a spattering of marimba and piano, a single flute motive, and a dense background of strings all appear and retreat. Eventually, guitar enters the atonal fray and the tangled nest of sound gives way under its own weight. Canzone XXXI is brass-centered and somewhat imitative. Fanfares enter and are undercut by trombone slides. The motion is hectic, with continual outbursts as each instrument vies for attention. Rare Air, a set of four interludes for clarinet, bass clarinet and piano; Inner Sky, an airy, virtuosic flute piece with chamber orchestra; and Dionysiacs, a flute sextet exploring the ranges of piccolo through bass flute, are not included on the CD. Felder's program, on either Blu-Ray or CD, uses propulsive brass to offset his static fields of winds and strings while seeking the heights and depths of all the instruments involved.