Storring, Nick – “Music from Wei”

carsonstreet   9/5/2022   A Library, CD

Nick Storring’s eighth album takes the one-person-orchestra approach for which he is acclaimed and translates it to a single instrument: the piano. Recorded on everything from the innards of an old upright piano to a Disklavier (a computer-controlled acoustic piano) housed at Yamaha’s Toronto offices, and using playing techniques that span conventional to idiosyncratic, Storring conjures a vast and vivid color palette. Music from Wéi was composed for the choreography of his frequent collaborator Yvonne Ng. This layered, multi-tracked score moves fluidly between tender lyrical phrases and driving interlocking figures, and from thick textural swarms to supple transparency. Nick is not afraid of near silence during these relaxed passages. You can almost see the dancers moving gently to the music.