Illuminations
Sawyer Editions
January 2024
Performed by Trevor Saint (glockenspiel), Michael Jones (percussion), Shaoai Ashley Zhang (piano), and Taylor Long (percussion)
Recorded at Bard College and University of California San Diego
Recorded by Matt Sargent and Tornike Karchkhadze
Mixed by Matt Sargent
Mastered by Andrew Weathers
Cover image “Ghost Music Study 6” by John M. Adams
Best of Bandcamp Contemporary Classical, January 2024
“Fourth Illumination” features Duo Refracta, with Michael Jones on vibraphone and Shaoai Ashley Zhang on piano, articulating a kind of post-Morton Feldman hypnosis in which bowed and struck vibraphone keys interweave with sparse, contemplative piano lines. Trevor Saint opens up a higher pitched sound world on “Second Illumination” with his glockenspiel—the instrument he often played in his work with the great Alvin Lucier—unleashing tones that feel resolutely electronic, its bowed tones rippling and ringing hypnotically. Vibraphone turns up alone on “Sixth Illumination,” played by Taylor Long, injects greater melodic material into the formula, but it still invites deep contemplation. - Peter Margasak