Hayden Wayne-The Nuzerov Quartets #6, 7 & 8

Hayden Wayne is not only a composer, librettist, and rock musician, but he also appears to be an amateur philosopher. Whether one reads his liner notes for this CD or peruses his comments on his New Millennium web pages, it's easy to regard Wayne as thoughtful and sincere in pursuit of his art, and quite earnest about expressing himself through his compositions and other creative projects. However, when Wayne asserts that his music represents the "New Classicism" (i.e., music that sounds as if Modernism never happened), he raises serious issues of style and aesthetics that many listeners may find problematic. The Nuzerov Quartets No. 6, No. 7, and No. 8 were composed in 2000, when Wayne was living in Nuzerov, Czech Republic, and his music at times takes on an eastern European folk flavor that blends reasonably well with his strongly rhythmic, rock-inflected style. Wayne's string quartets are tuneful, bluesy, and accessible, and one can enter his music at any point and feel comfortable with the familiar harmonies, simple tunes, and occasional touches of boogie-woogie and rock rhythms. Even so, there is nothing especially "new" here in terms of innovation or development: translating popular and folk elements into a classical format is an old, venerable tradition; and as for "classicism," a more proper description for his music would be neo-Romantic pop. Wayne has not exactly rejected everything about Modernism: for example, his love of Bartók is evident in his changing meters, modal melodies, and droning open fifths, and much of this music has a modified tonality that is not too far removed from Hindemith or neo-Classical Stravinsky. So these three Nuzerov Quartets (the middle set, sandwiched between the Nuzerov Quartets No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5, and No. 9 and No. 10) are perhaps acceptable as lightweight pop/classical hybrids, but no one will mistake them for major contributions to the repertoire. The Wallinger String Quartet gives jaunty performances of these pieces, with a coolness of tone that suits them better than an overly emotional approach; and while there is no concerted effort to make these pieces sound profound, the ensemble does treat the music respectfully, and some of the quieter passages have a rarefied beauty that is all the more effective for not being forced. New Millennium's sound quality is clear and crisp, but overly resonant in many places.
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