By David Hurwitz

It's really good to have a disc of Frederic Rzewski's instrumental music, even if two of the works recorded here are arrangements (authorized by the composer). Les Moutons de Panurge is a rambunctious game of counting sheep--a melody that grows by adding a note on each repetition, with the process then reversed, all at high speed. This gives the work a certain minimalist aspect, and it's brilliantly played by the sextet Eighth Blackbird, whose performances always represent just about the last word in virtuosity.

When one thinks of the minimalist tradition in American music, the names Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and John Adams come to mind. But other composers working this corner of the classical spectrum also deserve attention. One is Massachusetts-born Frederic Rzewski.

By Erik Eriksson

This contemporary music ensemble has impressed audiences and critics alike with live performances of exciting, often difficult-to-play repertory by present-day composers. With two Çedille Record releases already on the market (“thirteen ways” CDR 90000067 and “beginnings” CDR 90000076), eighth blackbird has established itself as an important presence among premiere ensembles performing the music of our time.

Coyly titled fred, eighth blackbird's newest disc is completely devoted to the beloved musical radical Frederic Rzewski. The premiere recording of Pocket Symphony, a piece written for the ensemble, opens the CD and gives each of the players plenty of room to show what they're made of.

By Joe McLellan
Classical Music Critic Emeritus of The Washington Post

Composer Frederic Rzewski, whose music fills this delightful disc, admits that while composing "I never know what I'm doing," but he finds that "a good sign because it means at least I'm not doing the same thing." He is one of the most interesting and listener- friendly composers who have come out of the minimalist movement, and evidently he does not repeat himself from one work to another, though his works often use repetition as a structural principle.

By Erik Eriksson

eighth blackbird on the Wing
Green Lake Festival of Music
Demmer Recital Hall, Ripon College, Ripon, WI

A new music group of bracing distinction, eighth blackbird (no capital letters) brought this Green Lake Festival of Music audience to a pitch of excitement in the first of a series of 2005 festival events. Even those who may not have fully anticipated the edge with which this sextet performs were won over by their craft, commitment and passion as applied to contemporary classical music.