Cindy Cox -- Press Quotes

...”En circulo,” a superb new chamber work by Berkeley Composer Cindy Cox, is a study in formal discipline. Scored for an octet dominated by brass and woodwinds, the piece does two things in strict alternation.

One is to hover in a sort of fluid suspended animation around a single pitch, approaching it and backing off from it in a series of gentle waves. The other is to gather the kinetic energy formed during those episodes and dispel it in a rapid rhythmic whirl.

Yet if the form is straightforward, the process is not as schematic as that description makes it sound. Cox creates a wealth of instrumental color out of her somewhat monochromatic ensemble, and her command of musical transitions keeps the listener eagerly engaged with the process in spite of having a pretty good idea of what’s coming next.

Most striking is the way Cox builds up each fast section on the skeleton of the preceding slow one—taking that section’s single note as a given and then adding levels of complexity to turn it into something richly dynamic. And as always with Cox’s work, there’s a layer of ingratiating charm that makes the music a delight to listen to.

Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle 2/25/09

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What fell from the sky after intermission were dozens of surprise packages from grab bags packed by two Santas, Lee Hyla and Cindy Cox.... What a great second half this was. The theme of falling ended, not with doomsaying the end of the world, but with the “All fall down!” cry of Ring-Around-the-Rosy folks out on the grass enjoying a summer day’s blue sky.

Her music, in my experience, is always buoyant, puckish, rhythmically alive and crisply engaging.

Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle
June 7, 2003

[Columba aspexit: chamber works of Cindy Cox, CRI 886] Cindy Cox writes music that demonstrates an extremely refined and imaginative sense of instrumental color and texture... This is well-wrought, imaginative, and not easily classifiable music.

Robert Carl, Fanfare
Sept/Oct 2002

Cindy Cox’s fascination with puzzles as well as her vast knowledge of other intellectual fields is apparent on this recording [Columba aspexit: Chamber works of Cindy Cox] of complexly designed chamber works from the late-‘90s. The music deals with perception, seeing themes from all angles both through structural elements (palindromes, reflections, combinatoriality), and personality, with movements named “spiky,” “cheeky and cheerful,” and “delicate, fragile.” The narrative drive of each piece couples with the formality to yield great depth of meaning and a playful appeal.
                                   
NewMusicBox, American Music Center
Soundtracks: May 2002

Possibly the premiere of Cindy Cox’s De rerum natura (“On the Nature of Things”) made everything else on Saturday’s program seem tame. Cox, a member of the University of California at Berkeley composition faculty, writes music that is instantly appealing but that also challenges listeners as well as performers. The title, taken from Lucretius’ classic poem, inspired Cox to explore the orchestra’s sonic potential.

Diverse timbres—low and high, brass and bell—emerged one by one in a celebration of the orchestra’s inexhaustible novelty. I found myself craning my neck to figure out what instrument could possibly be making such unique sounds. At a few points all activity stopped suddenly for a ghostly quivering, a vibraphone tremolo. At another, a high rasp like a bird of prey’s call turned out to be muted cellos. Even in this orchestra’s inadequately rehearsed performance, the power of Cox’s new work shone through.

Sarah Cahill, San Francisco Classical Voice
Feb.26, 2000

Cindy Cox—whose “Cathedral Spires” the National Symphony Orchestra took along on its recent European tour—was represented by “Into the Wild”, a dark, fertile musical fantasy with some haunting and desolate chords.
                                                                       
Tim Page, The Washington Post
April 6, 1998

Say what you want about this generation of composers (Cox was born in 1961)—they know how to orchestrate. Prismatic colors were everywhere; Cox’s music sometimes called to mind a hybrid of Olivier Messiaen and Carl Ruggles—an odd couple indeed, but the composer’s vigor and conviction made it work. She writes in a style that might be described as narrative dissonance; while there are many clashing harmonies, the music maintains a continuity of mood and manner that makes it relatively easy to follow. The performance, under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, seemed committed and assured.

Tim Page, Washington Post
Jan. 10, 1997

Cindy Cox’s “Barriers: Two/One” (1988) was a vibrant, interestingly constructed showpiece.

Allan Kozinn, The New York Times