Common Sense Composers' Collective: Spark

Not quite a school, a movement, or a tribe, the composers that decided to form the Common Sense Composers’ Collective in 1993 nevertheless share musical and professional dreams and values that find strength together. As critic Kyle Gann once put it: “Like aliens in a sci fi movie scouring one planet after another for resources, Common Sense approaches an ensemble, raises money to commission all eight members, plays and maybe records the pieces, then moves on… This way, when one Common Sense member gets a commission, they all do… Smart thinking.” Now in its third decade, the Collective has still got it going on, as its fifth album, Spark, amply demonstrates. It is kindled by the Oakland-based Friction Quartet, that spent many months breathing their own unique fire into these works. The group performs them here as if they had known these compositions all their lives. Their ability to move from virtuosic precision to a deep, timeless, almost telepathic mode of communication is remarkable.