TOYCHESTRA (AND FRED FRITH) What Leave Behind

Description

In the mid-90s, Dan Plonsey spent five years presenting weekly concerts at the University of California, Berkeley. Two of his favourites were a solo concert by Fred Frith--now a visiting professor of music at the selfsame establishment--and a performance by The Toychestra. Wanting to hear more, he composed a 25 minute 'Concerto for Guitar and Toy Orchestra' featuring both camps. One feels that Plonsey himsel would probably smile at the description of the piece in this context. Most music for toys is either done for laughs, or simply sounds insubstantial and one-dimensional. It's true that someone playing a toy bugle, say, is unlikely to move you like Don Cherry in full flight, but the all woman sextet--who weave zither, violin and melodica in with audio learning toys, recorder, whistles and xylophones--produce an appealing noise. Fittingly, their parts are not too complicated but instead overlap in vivid, colouring book hues.