Spontaneous River Reviews
Conductor and ensemble work together effortlessly in this beautifully balanced and thrilling collaborative effort; it's unlike anything else in Hwang's recorded output.
-- Point of Departure, Ed Hazell - January 9, 2012 more...
(google translation from German) The whole thing sounds like a living organism, the individual facets constitute autonomous expressions that come and go.
-- Jazz N'More, P B - December 1, 2011 more...
Writing for strings would seem to be natural for Hwang and it’s clear he’s in his element, subdividing the violins, matching guitars with cellos, passing melody lines deftly throughout the orchestra.
-- The New York City Jazz Record, Robert Iannapollo - November 11, 2011 more...
…this is complexly engaging music that covers much ground. It fills the interstices between new improvisatory music, modern jazz and avant orchestral-compositional practices. And it does so in ways that enthrall, excite, agitate and make tranquil, intrigue and overwhelm, and open up passages to new soundworlds.
-- Classical Modern Music, Grego Applegate Edwards - November 9, 2011 more...
Symphony of Souls is more than the nexus of improve and organization; it is a transformed method and a commitment to discharge art from the broad-shouldered boundaries of the page and the chart. It is about communication, energy and sheer passion. And it smokes.
-- blogscritics.org, Jordan Richardson - November 7, 2011 more...
The eleventh is the jazzier of all the movements maintaining the dramatic feel of the whole symphony.
-- Jazz Times, Wilbert Sostre - November 6, 2011 more...
"Symphony of Souls" is a massive effort and as I listen, I hear different themes evolving and growing. There are deep, dark and churning seas of strings moving at different levels.
-- Downtwn Music Gallery Newsletter, Bruce Gallanter - October 13, 2011 more...
What the listener hears is a spectrum of sounds made possible only by a well trained group of musicians who respond to Hwang's ideas and directions - solo riffs, chorale like movements of blocks of sound that seem to fragment or disintegrate as the individual performers reach the point of spiritual release that allows them to offer the improvised commentary on the total scheme… Music is written to speak to the soul - and this does.
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Compositions and Conducted Improvisations for a Convergence of NYC String Improvisers Thursday, July 24th The Living Theater, New York City
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