LOPEZ, GEORGE - DAS AUGE DES SCHWEIGENS (CD)

In an hour plus made up of two suites of seven total tracks, George Lopez's Works for Ensemble starts with a buzzsaw of violins and other random orchestration that is frightfully absorbent and thrilling. Not wasting a single second to pour dramatic curves into his 'Das Auge Des Schweigens' this has the well versed latitude of a compelling film score, something between Hitchcock and Spielberg (as 'Jaws' and 'Fantasia' collide). Bass drums slam doors and ravage the scene with bullet shattering percussive rips as violins shave the edge of eerie drone. Vibes jangle with mystery. Slippery guided melody loops rise and levitate. Plotted and dissonant at times, an alarming passionate is constantly emitted by Lopez. Works for Ensemble is imbued with dense, undead spirits looming, entrapped. There's a whole lot of gesture, tiptoeing and sneaking around corners awaiting a chance to bust a move. The breath in the work is astonishing, regenerative and the true bellows of a belly plump with constantly expelled air. As macho as it is pixielike, Lopez's visionary 'Blue Cliffs' eclipses as the sun rises and wanes with the moon. M I C R O V I E W By TJ Norris