Daniel Lippel: Sustenance

“In contrast, the six composers of the works on Sustenance have deliberately created a cohesive album-as-work. Where dim sum (and Dim Sum) is a whole bunch of little things to take in more or less at once, this work is a series of courses, each section discreet but in its larger place, in proportion and harmony with what comes before and after. In between songs and chamber pieces, Peter Gilbert has composed electronic "Passages" (perhaps the wine for each course?) not always explicitly musically derived from the pieces before or after but structurally and atmospherically linking them so that the whole 75 minutes plays without break. It's very interesting and beautifully performed. Elizabeth Weigle singing Vineet Shende's Sonetos de Amor is particularly outstanding. Orianna Webb's Sustenance Variations for Flexible Music, a quartet of percussion, piano, saxophones, and guitar, is exciting, even in the still passages, and entirely convincing. John Link's duo For Irving Lippel has some captivating, restrained moments where the resonances of guitar and vibraphone are allowed to shimmer and blur in an exquisite way. The whole forms a pleasing arc of textural and timbral density.”

American Record Guide March/April 2008

"Daniel Lippel keeps on keepin' on with this recording of contemporary guitar music, featuring a variety of distinguished, guest performers including flautist Erin Lesser, vocalist, Elizabeth Weigle, and the exciting ensemble Flexible Music. Going somewhat all over the map here, Lippel still manages to wow us with his instrumental prowess. Orianna Webb's Sustenance Variations is an exciting piece of compositional decision making, and Seung-Ah Oh's So-Ri I is a rewarding trip to the auditory snack bar. Fans of new guitar music can look forward to his next release, as Mr. Lippel continues to promote new music for our friend, the guitar."

On this album, we find contemporary music by American composers who were born in the sixties and seventies of the twentieth century.

The first four songs are Sonetos de Amor by Vineet Shende, composed to the words of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Their insturmentation is the classical guitar and soprano. They were made at various speeds, with the appropriate dramaturgical load and a part of Romanticism. An interesting phenomenon is the six-part composition "Passage" by Peter Gilbert. Each of these parts is divided by works by other composers. All of them have been kept in an ambient atmosphere, so they allow the listener to relax on more demanding fragments of the album. Sustenance Variations Orianna Webb introduces an atmosphere of anxiety and chaos, while the guitar brings us peace. However, it does not last too long, because other instruments distort it all the time. "Three Fell Swoops" by Adam B. Silverman would be perfect as a soundtrack for a movie whose plot is drawn by the dominant saxophone. In For Irving Lippel by John Link, thanks to the sound of the vibraphone, we are introduced into a bit of a fairy-tale atmosphere. The Bento Box by Joseph Pereira is distinguished by the hypnotizing power of the flute, and it is another example that would certainly prove to be a complement to the film image. Korean composer Seung-Ah Oh diversified the list of songs about So-Ri I, in which she used elements typical of traditional Asian music. The record is a great proof of the diversity of contemporary music, which draws full of various genres and styles.

- Mikolaj Furmankiewicz, Moosik Blog, 3.2018