Album link and reviews:
Bandcamp: “The best contemporary classical music on Bandcamp August 2026”: link
“When I first heard Julius Eastman’s music upon the release of the essential Unjust Malaise in 2005, I don’t think I was aware of any working four-piano ensembles, but three pieces with that instrumentation were included. In the years since, the novelty has vanished—especially after encountering other multiple piano groups, whether the Switzerland’s Kukuruz Quartet, which made an entire album of Eastman’s music, or the British group Piano Circus, a sextet that actually formed back in 1989. Despite the hurdles that come from such instrumentation, New York’s Grand Band managed to record the music on this impressive debut release at a concert in February of 2020, just weeks before the pandemic shut down the world, creating a serious hurdle for highly in-demand musicians. But hearing the performance is worth the wait, beginning with Kate Moore’s “Sensitive Spot,” a work written in part to celebrate human imperfection when unison parts are played. Beginning with a shimmering drone that ebbs and flows between calmness and staccato fury, it’s the tiny flaws and irregularities that give the hypnotic motion its character. Julia Wolfe’s “my lips from speaking…” is derived from the indelible piano pattern that opens the Aretha Franklin classic “Think,” building variations, chopping up motifs, and erasing bits of the original phrase over 16 glorious minutes of halting motion. The group commissioned Missy Mazzoli for “Three Fragile Systems,” a dynamic translation of keyboards into machines, creating a rich tension between humanity and rigid mathematics. The album concludes with an epic reading of Eastman’s “Gay Guerilla,” a modern classic of undeniable power, drive, and spirituality.” (Peter Margasak)
anearful: link
Grand Band Live (Cantaloupe) “Six pianos on one stage might sound like a lot, but when you’re performing Gay Guerilla by Julius Eastman, it might not even be enough. But as performed by Erika Dohi, David Friend, Paul Kerekes, Blair McMillen, Lisa Moore, and Isabelle O’Connell, it sounds like just the right amount. In addition to that piece, there’s also an expansive Missy Mazzoli work called Three Fragile Systems, commissioned by the band in 2018, and Julia Wolfe’s modern classic, my lips from speaking…, composed in 1993 and based on the opening chords from Aretha Franklin’s Think. Still thrills over 30 years later. The album opens with Kate Moore’s 2006 Sensitive Spot, originally composed for piano and multitracked electronics, but it works a treat in this context. While I wish we didn’t have to wait six years for the album, the fact that it was recorded at a concert in February 2020 is haunting. Even without that detail, however, there’s plenty of resonance in this exciting release.” (Jeremy Shatan)