Cole Reyes - Circular Reasoning

 Cole Reyes - Circular Reasoning 

While groovy, the nature of Reyes' piece makes it too likely to turn into background music, overlooking the incredible amount of talent and musical subtlety of the performers.

Cole Reyes is young composer of tonal and tonal-adjacent music based in the Brooklyn area. Circular Reasoning, an 11 minute work for string quartet, begins by catching the listener's attention with percussive rhythmic grooves. Performed by the Bergamot Quartet, the piece implements a vast array of timbral colors for a string quartet, all shown within a relatively strict tonal template. Reyes' usage of slow glissandi over multiple bars call to mind the accidental warping of a dying record player, an interesting and effective method of modulation. 

Moments of slight relaxation occur in the work, but for the majority, Reyes presents us with a moto perpetuo sound for 11 minutes. After a short while, the fluttering, out of breath high runs and the low, power chord-esque ostinati achieve the opposite of their desired affect, making it too easy to become acquainted to the musical sound world and tune out. While groovy, the nature of Reyes' piece makes it too likely to turn into background music, overlooking the incredible amount of talent and musical subtlety of the performers.

(Listen to the recording here)


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© 2022 Brutal New Music Reviews
originally written and published 20 July 2022

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