Ken Thomson - Restless

Pitchfork 79

Like plenty of ambitious musicians in New York’s classical community, the clarinetist and saxophonist Ken Thomson has multiple artistic guises. He’s part of Asphalt Orchestra, a puckish street marching band that dances its covers of Björk and Meshuggah through the heart of the Lincoln Center complex. Slow/Fast is a vehicle for Thomson’s proggy approach to jazz writing and improvisation. Most recently, Thomson was inducted into the Bang on a Can All-Stars, a modern classical group that has recorded a Pulitzer-winning piece by Julia Wolfe, and commissioned new works by Tyondai Braxton and Christian Marclay.

Given those varied commitments, it’s impressive that Thomson has time to develop his chamber music on the side. In these pieces, you can tell that he’s firmly a member of the contemporary post-minimalist scene. Though there are also traces of his other interests. Thaw, Thomson’s 2013 album for the string quartet known as JACK, balanced sections of instrumental aggression alongside a movement flush with lyricism (and a hat-tip to jazz pianist Don Pullen).

That album presented two longer-form, multi-movement works. And on the first composition, Thomson sat in with the string quartet as a bass clarinetist—thereby suggesting a link to the rest of his discography. But Restless represents a full and complete break from Thomson’s identity as a performer. The four-movement composition that gives the album its title was written for cello and piano; the three-movement “Me Vs.” is for piano solo. One mark of the album’s success is that it’s still recognizable as one of Thomson’s projects, despite the fact that he never plays a note himself.

The opening section of “Restless” starts with slowly mutating piano arpeggios that whip up a grim mood, along with some vibrato-heavy writing for the cello. Fairly standard textures, when it comes to minimalist-influenced music. But by the track’s midpoint, Thomson’s harmonies are full of feints and surprising paths away from the opening material. The way some piano chords syncopate with the cello part provides an unsettling bounce, right at the moment when Thomson gives a long, brooding line to the latter instrument. (Cellist Ashley Bathgate and pianist Karl Larson give powerful performances here.)

The piece’s second movement, “Forge,” initially indulges in the harder-riffing attacks that Thomson has proved adept with in other contexts. Though instead of letting the punkish grind carry this whole section, the composer quickly softens the dynamic level. When used well, restraint can also shock.

“Me Vs.” likewise navigates between stormy realms and zones of prettiness, as gentle phrases gradually emerge from dense, atonal chord clusters in the first movement (subtitled “Turn of Phrase”). When the pounding dynamics return—as a listener has ever right to expect will happen—elegant use of the sustain pedal is there to remind us of the emotional distance traveled. The second movement (“Another Second Try”) offers a gently discordant, pensive quality, before the finale combines all the work’s diverse approaches. (The last movement also adds some technically arduous runs that Larson pulls off marvelously). Overall, the unique synthesis of dissonance and consonance makes the music feel personal—and like a worthy expression of Thomson’s core concerns as a musician, whether he’s holding an instrument in his hands or not.