Clocks in Motion: Oneira: Music by Jennifer Bellor
Aerocade Music
Clocks in Motion could hardly have chosen a better composer to inaugurate its Clock Shop initiative than Jennifer Bellor. The three sparkling pieces she created for the Madison, Wisconsin-based ensemble set the bar extremely high for whoever comes next. The idea behind the project is for a single composer to collaborate with the group over a four-year period to create, workshop, perform, and ultimately record multiple percussion works. To that end, Bellor composed the quartets on Oneira between 2018 and 2021. Enhancing its appeal, the release weighs in at a breezy thirty-six minutes, with not a moment wasted.
Based in Las Vegas where she's on the music faculty at the University of Nevada and is Artistic Director of the new music series Nextet, Bellor received ample praise for her splendid 2019 release, Reflections at Dusk, with its stirring evocations of Nevada sunsets. A graduate of Cornell University, Syracuse University, and the Eastman School of Music, Bellor has seen her music performed by Washington National Opera, American Composers Orchestra, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Transient Canvas, and many other ensembles. Commenting on her three-part Of Maker and Movement, Cleveland Classical wrote, “Bellor writes ravishingly and imaginatively for percussion,” words certainly borne out by Clocks in Motion's recorded treatment.
Formed in 2011, Clocks in Motion is comprised of Christopher G. Jones, John Corkill, and Sean Kleve, who are joined on the release by guest percussionists Megan Arns on Of Maker and Movement and This We Have Now and Kyle Flens on the title piece. In addition to Bellor, the quartet has collaborated with Marc Mellits, Andrew Rindfleisch, Laura Schwendinger, and others.
The album's soundworld is established the moment Of Maker and Movement's first part, “Pendulum Surround,” introduces the release with a radiant blend of marimbas, vibraphones, and glockenspiels. Timbral contrasts between them are, of course, pronounced, and adding to the presentation are melodic patterns produced by a glimmering, synthesizer-like instrument. “Quartz Revolution” is distinguished from the first movement by bowed vibraphone textures and a time-suspended, meditative ambiance that gradually morphs into a dreamy sequence sprinkled with tinkling glockenspiels. True to its title, the animated “Dance of Hands” is enlivened by shakers, hand drums, and metronomic marimbas. Speaking of dreamy, Oneira, a Greek word meaning ‘dream,' suitably entrances with contrapuntal patterns that flow as lullingly as ocean waves, after which This We Have Now distances itself from the other pieces by weaving a harpsichord-like timbre into its intricate tapestry.
Accompanying each track is text by Shawna Pennock that's more fantastical story than liner notes of the conventional kind. While that makes for an entertaining read, it offers little by way of musicological analysis or illumination. Bellor's music speaks for itself handily enough, however, so all that's required is to give one's attention to the music. True to form, her writing is melodically alluring as well as rousing and infectious. While it's possible to detect traces of Classical Minimalism and Balinese Gamelan in the material, she possesses a natural gift for eluding reductive categorization. Stated otherwise, her writing is more identified by an expressive personal signature than allegiance to a particular genre or tradition. Without restricting itself necessarily, the music eschews dissonance for a vibrant, harmonious sound that dovetails excellently with the quartet's vibrant playing.December 2022