Zupko, Mischa - In Transit
Red Walls of Fog opens with a dramatic and weaving saxophone cry which sinks into a more settled, but slightly unnerving texture. The piece turns slightly impressionistic for a time, exploring a number of harmonies for extended periods of time before pushing through into the next. The saxophone again grows in intensity before resolving upwards like a turbulent ascent in an aeroplane finally culminating in a peaceful view of the clouds below. Red walls are left behind and stillness remains. At least that is until Mango Café, a twisted Latin dance with bursts of tribal menace, begins. The writing for piano and saxophone is detailed with a wide-ranging palette of ideas. Odd moments of overly pleasant tonality flit in and out of focus, but the unsettled and schizophrenic mood is always predominant. Altissimo squeals and fearsomely tricky licks spew forth in a mini cadenza before a very ominous piano groove wraps up this movement. What follows is a movement exploring loneliness, so what we hear is both introverted and painful. A trill here sounds like a shudder and the material moves at a gravely nihilistic tempo. Pointlessness and the vanity of existence seem to be the focus here, less lament and more suicide note. The penultimate ‘Rush Hour’ begins rather like Ryo Noda’s 'Mai' but moves explosively into faster and frantic passages. At one point it sounds like the busyness has passed and the crowds have dispersed, and we’re left alone on the platform having missed the only train. The Dream seems to decide that everything will be okay but does stray worryingly into the wrong end of smooth jazz. An odd end considering the more serious material of the work as a whole. There does seem to be a rash of this kind of material in classical saxophone repertoire. The music lands up existing in a no-man’s-land which very few players will be able to successfully reconcile. The Christmas of 1914 was exceptional in its coming together.