On the Edges

On the Edges goes by in six sections contrasting in pulse and energy. The first section is a toccata with two-handed arpeggios gradually turning into chords that get thicker and thicker before returning to the opening arpeggio motive. A dialogue follows where slow-moving chords are in counterpoint with quicker, arpeggiated figures derived from the toccata’s opening figure. Then there’s a quiet lyrical reflection – again based on the opening motive – eliding into a cadenza with arpeggiated figures that increase in range and intensity before dissolving into a trill. The next section turns the toccata’s opening motive into the subject of a four-part invention, the first in a series of three linked by thematic rotation: the counter-subject of one invention becomes the subject for the next. This cycle completes as the subject of the first invention becomes the counter-subject of the last, and ends as the three subjects are combined, segueing into an extended return of the opening toccata.

Reviews:
A vehement and indeed edgy toccata expanded by extensive cadenza-like improvisations and fugal interludes… A recalcitrant unity is stretched but never broken, and Zuckerman’s jouncy main idea is so insistent that all through its clever transformations it somehow remains faintly on the edge of recognition… –Mark Lehman, American Record Guide

On the Edges … applie[s] an almost ragtime sensibility to Bachian themes and suggest[s] an other-worldly common ground between those distant influences. –Allan Kozinn, New York Times

An attractive work that explores a variety of moods; it deserves success. –John France, MusicWeb

Zuckerman has come up with a fresh approach to neo-Classicism that resembles no other music I know. –Walter Simmons, Fanfare