From the lush string orchestra of the first piece "Awareness" to the excellent performances of
the Balanescu and Parsley Club string quartets (respectively in "De Dode (The Dead Man)" music for a Bataille drama and in "Rembrandt Suite"), this melodic, evocative album fulfills the promise of the thorny rose on its cover - romantic harmonies with strange melodic turns, the sweet with the dissonant, the humorous with the plaintive, and the traditional with the "downtown" This CD, with additional winds and percussion, presents a turning point and a maturing of style in
Gordon's work. ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny