Wheeler, Scott (Donald Berman, Piano) / Scott Wheeler: Portraits & Tributes
Album: Scott Wheeler: Portraits & Tributes   Collection:Classical
Artist:Wheeler, Scott (Donald Berman, Piano)   Added:Mar 2017
Label:Bridge Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2017-03-28 Pull Date: 2017-05-30 Charts: Classical/Experimental
Week Ending: Jun 4 May 21
Airplays: 1 1

Recent Airplay
1. Feb 28, 2022: Mixed Up Class
Flow chart
3. May 29, 2017: Mixed Up Class
Alphabet dance
2. Jun 01, 2020: Mixed Up Class
Birthday card for Tony
4. May 15, 2017: Mixed Up Class
Green geese

Album Review
Larry Koran
Reviewed 2017-03-26
Scott Wheeler (b. 1952), on faculty at Emerson College, is best known as a composer of vocal and theater music. He uses the piano as “a sketch pad . . . a place to explore ideas in two-minute pieces,” a method he also attributes to his teacher, Virgil Thomson. The portraits and tributes included here were composed to honor friends and mentors. “Typically they combine musical spellings of people’s names with numerical measure grids . . . creating a challenge that is an invitation to joy.” The results are spiky, whimsical, contain offbeat, but not unpleasant harmonies and often unsteady rhythms, and sometimes refer to pop tunes (Midnight Bells, Portrait of Steve) or jazz riffs (e.g., Cliff Walk, Calamity Rag). In the booklet, the composer provides detailed descriptions of each piece.

Track Listing
1. Alphabet Dance 1:35   14. Study In Concord 2:49
2. Birthday Card For Tony 1:44   15. Stone South 1:54
3. Pseudo-Rag - Gs 1:54   16. The Fifth Of July 2:23
4. Bleecker Study 2:43   17. Flow Chart 11:12
5. Cowley Meditation 3:27   18. Arietta 2:16
6. Cliff Walk 3:03   19. Shimmer 2:18
7. Life Study 2:07   20. To His Music 2:06
8. Epithalamion 2:52   21. Portrait Of Steve 2:01
9. Morningside 3:53   22. Pastorale 1:48
10. By The Sea 2:16   23. Cookie Waltz And Gallop 1:34
11. Calamity Rag 3:37   24. Sketching 2:11
12. Midnight Bells 2:04   25. Island Lullaby 1:24
13. Firefly Lullaby 2:44   26. Green Geese 3:13
  27. Free Ranging 1:14