LIVE FROM NEW YORK | Stereophile | May 2020
“Ignore their hype-filled website, which calls them "chamber music's most dynamic ensemble"; New York-based chamber quintet SybariteS's latest genre-bending album is irresistible. Its 10 contemporary compositions-the oldest is an arrangement of John Coltrane's ''Alabama," which addresses the KKK's 1963 bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church-share a minimalist/pop penchant for repetition, a steady beat, and a presentation so visceral that it's destined to set feet tapping and heads bobbing. That the album was recorded live-mostly at the Cell, a new music-performance venue in the Chelsea district of Manhattan where Sybarites is in residence-makes the music even more propulsive.
Live from New York, It's Sybarite5 begins with William Brittelle's "Future Shock." Imagine a canon shot from a cannon and you'll grok this piece, which Brittelle describes as "beat-driven." Conceived for electroacoustic ensemble, "Future Shock" gets a lift from Grammy-winning guest percussionist Shane Shanahan, co-artistic director of the Silkroad Ensemble, who also performs on ''Alabama." Iranian santoor player Ehsan Matoori brings a pleasing tactility to his evocative "Tehran When Lonely" and "Naqsh-e Jahan," mezzosoprano Blythe Gaissert lends her decidedly operatic voice to Michael Dellaira and Nancy Manocherian's "Star Globe," and Steven Snowden's mysterious "Traveler 65" places foil on the bridges of violin and cello.
This album may not plumb depths, but its life-affirming essence transcends such considerations. The "surprise" track, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," is moving & beautiful.”
-Jason Victor Serinus