Chimeras (album)

Chimeras
Studio album by John Zorn
Released	April 22, 2003
Recorded	January 3 & 4, 2003, SUNY Purchase, New York "Postlude" recorded July 8, 2009, Jordan Hall, Boston
Genre	Avant-garde, Contemporary classical music
Length	33:44
Label	Tzadik TZ 7085
Producer	John Zorn
John Zorn chronology
Voices in the Wilderness (2003) Chimeras (2003) The Unknown Masada (2003) 2010 Reissue

Chimeras (sub-titled A Child’s Adventures in the Realms of the Unreal) is an album of contemporary classical music by American composer John Zorn featuring a 12 part piece inspired by Arnold Schoenberg's atonal composition "Pierrot Lunaire".^[1] In 2010 the album was revised and re-recorded, with an additional "Postlude".^[2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
Pitchfork Media	[4]
Free Jazz Collective	[5]

The Allmusic site awarded the album 3½ stars.^[3] Writing for Pitchfork Media, Alexander Lloyd Linhardt stated "the piece itself is thrillingly diverse, suddenly going from luminous to lugubrious and from classical to chaotic. It's a bold, unexpected new chapter in Zorn's corpus, or it would be if we didn't expect that from him".^[4] The Free Jazz Collective stated "it can be described as an absolute musical nightmare. It is dark, frightening, with light touches beaming through, like a lullaby arising out of violence, like a tiny light in the darkness giving you false hope of rescue, like friendly faces turning into gargoyles. Human warmth is present, but only as a delusion or deception... The music is as ambitious as it is pretentious, although it will not leave you indifferent".^[5]

Track listing

All compositions by John Zorn

1. "One" – 0:55
2. "Two" – 2:42
3. "Three" – 2:54
4. "Four" – 2:05
5. "Five" – 1:45
6. "Six" – 2:08
7. "Seven" – 4:38
8. "Eight" – 3:19
9. "Nine" – 2:45
10. "Ten" – 2:53
11. "Interlude" – 1:24 Track 4 on 2010 reissue
12. "Eleven" – 3:18
13. "Twelve" – 2:50
14. "Postlude" - 0:16 Bonus track on 2010 reissue

Personnel

• Ilana Davidson – voice (tracks 2-5, 7, 8, 10, 12 & 13)
• Elizabeth Farnum – voice (tracks 10 & 12)
• Jennifer Choi – violin (tracks 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 & 12)
• Fred Sherry – cello (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12 & 13)
• Tara O'Connor – piccolo, flute, alto flute, bass flute (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10 & 12)
• Michael Lowenstern – bass clarinet, clarinet (tracks 1, 4, 6, 9 & 12)
• Stephen Drury – piano, organ, celesta (tracks 1-3, 6, 8, 9, 12 & 13)
• William Winant – percussion (tracks 1, 3, 5-7 & 9-13)
• Brad Lubman – conductor

References