Live From New York | Gramophone | July 2020

“For those unfamiliar with Sybarite5, they are a cutting-edge string quintet comprising the traditional quartet line-up plus double bass. Based in New York, their brash and vibrant style is a reflection of their home city and, in particular, the Cell Theatre, where these live recordings of works written for them were made. The end result is a fusion of classical jazz and world music, not unlike the Cosmos Ensemble in England, if less Balkan-folk-focused. 

Sybarite5 are at their best in fast-paced, toccata-like music, best exemplified by Marc Mellits’s Groove Machine, a recasting of the finale of his Second String Quartet (2006), which more than lives up to its name, and William Brittelle’s Future Shock (2017). Britelle’s catalogue boasts three numbered similarly titled works, scored respectively for viola, cello and string quartet, all with electronics. The present unnumbered item is purely acoustic, given here in an arrangement with added percussion, played by Shane Shanahan, who also plays in the group’s own reworking John Coltrane’s haunting Alabama (1963). Evocative as Sybarite5 are, their Alabama lacks the sheer intensity and outrage of Coltrane’s own.

Trumpeter-arranger Brandon Ridenour’s NuPac Kanon & Jig is a virtuoso, fun take on Pachelbel that leaves 17th-century mannerisms far behind. Steen Snowden’s Traveler 65 (2016) compellingly describes the trajectory of the chimpanzee-astronaut launched into space in January 1961 but recovered alive, if psychologically damaged. The two pieces for santoor (the Iranian dulcimer) and quintet by Ehsan Matoori (b1979) — with the composer performing — and Aleksandra Vrebalov’s My Desert, My Rose are delightful, providing welcome changes of pace and texture as does Michael Dellaira’s Star Globe, radiantly sung by Blythe Gaissert. The sound is a little cramped, reflecting the close acoustic of the Cell Theatre, but vivid. No notes, or text for Star Globe, are provided.”

-Guy Rickards, Gramophone (July 2020)