The Hannaford Street Silver Band's latest release, entitled Heavy Metal is a pot-pourri of new music featuring guest artists like Macerollo and Beverly Johnston.

This work has five movements, each built on a single simple concept.  The first movement is labeled "Stubborn and awkward" and is a battle of will between the accordion and the brass band.  The second is a chorale, with dense chordal passages being exchanged between the soloist and the band.  Of this movement the composer writes that he "set out to write a movement in which the concept of beauty somehow relfected the time we live in.  Often, we associate musical beauty with tonality and consonance.  In this movement, I wanted to create musical beauty from strikingly dissonant materials."  A tolling bell signals the end of the movement.  The third movement is a dramatic encounter, with explosive chords striving towards a resolution that never comes.  The movement ends with several repeated, naked, shattering chords.  The fourth movement is a soliloquy for the soloist, almost unaccompanied.  The finale is a violent toccata, aggressive and obsessive.

This recording is available from Opening Day Recordings.  To purchase your own copy, or for more information on other Opening Day releases, click here to be taken to the Opening Day website.

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