Elizabeth Brown

Elizabeth Brown writes the only music I know of in which the flute might be playing London Bridge is Falling down while the cello is sliding through a long glissando underneath, yet nothing feels incongruous. Theres a kind of imaginary quality to her music. Its as if not only each piece but each passage is based on some strange conceit: a bird sing... s while a pianist plays Mozart and a cellist shakes like a bowl full of Jell-O. Each conceit morphs into the next in a stream of non-sequiturs, and yet every juncture is smoothly blended, no seam visible. Its elegant, quiet, thoughtful, well-crafted music, and as bizarre as hell. Imagine walking into a Magritte painting: fish protrude from the vase instead of flowers, the chairs are bolted to the ceiling, but the wallpaper is lovely and the furnishings tasteful. Thats a little what listening to Elizabeth Brown is like. Elizabeth Brown combines a composing career with an extremely diverse performing life, playing flute, shakuhachi, and theremin in a wide variety of musical circles. Her chamber music, shaped by this unique group of instruments and experiences, has been called luminous, dreamlike and hallucinatory.Read More