Review

Robert S. Cohen
Dream Journal:

Upper Montclair, NJ, United States
Publisher: Leapfrog Productions
Date of Publication: 2011

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass

Robert S. Cohen is a graduate of Brown University, where he studied with Ron Nelson, Queens College and also did time at Columbia University. He has written music for orchestra, chamber ensemble, dance and theatre and has been the recipient of many awards and commissions, including a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship, an American Music Center Grant, a Meet the Composer Award, grants from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and a N.Y. Composer's Circle Award. He co-authored the book and composed the score for the 2000 Richard Rodgers Award winning Off-Broadway musical Suburb published by Dramatic Publishing.

Dream Journal drew its inspiration from the dream analysis of Sigmund Freud. Each of the four movements explores a classic dream scenario. Movement 1, Hunted, is a chase, where the protagonist is pursued by some unknown predator. With capture imminent, the dreamer abruptly awakens. Movement 2, Just out of Reach, depicts the melancholy longing of some past memory – a lover, a pet, a friend. Movement 3, Into the Bottomless Pit, is the fear of falling into the unknown, and in Movement 4, Floating on the Wind, one is flying through the air - blissful, free and content. Those readers familiar with the music of Tony Plog, especially the Four Sketches for Brass Quintet, will find a similar musical language in movements 1 and 3 of the Dream Journal.

The dramatic and effectively scored first movement, with its relentless ostinati, shifting accents/meters, chromatic harmony and half/whole step clusters, has the power to indeed make one feel hunted. It creates sonically the sort of suspense (even terror) you might find in a Hitchcock film, a Stephen King novel or a nightmare. The third movement employs a similar musical language, with its quick tempo, ostinati, canonic entrances, chromaticism and rhythmic variety. Those two movements are the highlight of the piece: interesting, well written and musically engaging. The slower second and fourth movements are far removed from the musical style of the two quick movements and are also less successful in conveying the stated images of their programs. Technically this work is playable by a good college level quintet.

-Karl Hinterbichler
University of New Mexico