Jenni Brandon's Songs of California contains some of the most imaginative, ingratiating recent chamber music for winds I've heard. Five Frogs (in six movements) is a pond-side exploration of the constituent members of the woodwind quintet at which Thoreau would have smiled. The bullfrog/bassoon swells contentently and flies buzz languidly (courtesy of the detached oboe reed). The disc contains thoughtful solo works for flute, Bb clarinet, and bass clarinet, and the concluding Sea Quartet for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and piano fuses the puckishness of Poulenc with a west-coast mellowness. Delightful!
~Steven Turpin, Morning Musicale host, Indiana Public Radio
~Steven Turpin, Morning Musicale host, Indiana Public Radio
