Let the swirling storm take you away
by Munnin
Mr. Newberry is not a neo-romantic attempting to re-create music of the past nor a academic non-tonal composer. Instead he is a composer who is solidly melodic without ignoring the 20th century. He embraces the entirety of the tradition while making what is unquestionably his own music
As you can see by his naming of the movements he does not shy away from traditional classifications yet you will find each of them more of a slight re-definition of those definitions. I don’t feel the string quartets are the best introduction to Mr. Newberry’s work; but rather his piano compositions, but this is what we have available to us.
This work was composed in a rush directly after the Katrina disaster. He had some of the pieces already but after the disaster he could only hear in it echoes of New Orleans. So in homage to it he reworked it into his 7th String quartet. Everything he wrote that did not belong in the 7th seemed to demand completion and hang together so he created with that the 8th.
The first movement of the 7th (allegro) and the grove movement of the 8th are my favorites. I find the allegro movement to be the most typically Newberry-ish work with its tendency to move in and back to the edge of coherency while maintaining a distinctively melodic edge.
The Grove moment is so much fun for me the only fault I can find with it is that it’s too short. As to the rest well I risk going on too long so suffice it to say I am looking forward the release of more music soon.
