The twenty-piece new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound first emerged in 2001, performing works by the well-loved minimalist composer Steve Reich. However, it was likely 2005’s Acoustica, a chamber-music arrangement of the music of Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin, that brought the group to wider attention outside the relatively insular world of contemporary classical. The group has since demonstrated a sincere commitment not only to premiering new works, but also to shattering the old distinctions between what constitutes classical and pop composition.

Alarm Will Sound's latest recording, a/rhythmia, demonstrates this commitment in its tremendous variety.  The album's selections span over six hundred years, featuring compositions from the late fourteenth century alongside the more contemporary works of György Ligeti and Autechre. The opening track, “Jitterbug Mécanique,” is the first of five short interludes excerpting British composer Benedict Mason’s larger work, Animals and the Origins of Dance (1992). Following this short introduction, the ensemble jumps right into “Yo Shakespeare,” also from 1992, this time by Bang on a Can co-founder Michael Gordon. Gordon’s work is a sort of rock-influenced minimalism that makes effective use of interlocking rhythms to trance-like effects. His music can be somewhat abrasive as a result, but Alarm Will Sound injects the piece with the necessary energy and humor, keeping it lively and highly enjoyable. At over eleven minutes, it is the longest cut on the album, and it is smartly followed by another Mason excerpt which helps segue to the aforementioned Ligeti piece. Alarm Will Sound’s interpretation of this work is respectful and more serious in tone than the prior three pieces. Despite this, the Legeti piece that has been picked is an interesting one, allowing the group to continue to explore the themes of rhythm and tension.Mochipet’s Klezmer-sounding music evolves into centuries old pieces, but somehow the narrative flow of the record seems to cohere, if only barely. Without the Mason interludes, in fact, the concept would hang very strangely, but this clever device weaves together otherwise very different sorts of pieces.

With a/rhythmia, the group’s first record not dedicated to a single composer, and also the first release after acting as musical artists-in-residence at Dickinson College from 2004-2007, Alarm Will Sound has demonstrated its tremendous talent at interpreting contemporary new music. No doubt having six active composers in the group has greatly aided its ability to choose the most interesting music, so much so that this oddball mix actually flows beautifully. I am tempted to say that the selections here are curated in such a way as to make a/rhythmia almost a “mash-up”— albeit one with “classical” expression.

Autechre's “Cfern” is an excellent example of what makes AWS so special. The piece showcases the interesting plays of rhythm that animate the rest of the album, but it begs the listener to pay careful attention to the timbre of the instruments. This effect is not always successful when played by traditional minimalist composers, but it comes across quite well in an arrangement of an electronic artist who is given radical new meaning in an unexpected recontextualization. Something that began as completely inorganic—digital cut ups of machine sounds—is actually given a human quality when played by a twenty-piece ensemble, the timbre and breath of each player exaggerated in contrast with the original. This is of course not a new theme, having been explored in Acoustica, however the piece resonates further being sandwiched between Josquin Des Prez’s late fifteenth century tune and another Mason excerpt. Once again, artistic director and composer Alan Pierson demonstrates his tremendous skill at not only (re)arranging, but in organizing interesting narrative programs that transition in such a way as to manifest coherence.

The term “arrhythmia,” for which the album is named, usually refers to a medical condition where heart has an irregular beat, and this seems to be the driving force behind the selections on this record. The album closer, “Study No.3a For Player Piano,” by Conlon Nancarrow is perhaps a perfect choice. Nancarrow was a southerner who became a communist in the early twentieth century, fought Franco in Spain during the civil war, and lived most of his life after the war in Mexico to escape communist persecution in the US. He wrote incredibly demanding pieces for mechanical instruments, such as the player piano. Many of his pieces are thought to be beyond the ability of human performers, so here Alarm Will Sound shows just how proficient its members are, pulling off this piece with great nuance, particularly considering how deceptively challenging its rhythms are. Perhaps because of its boogie-woogie jazz melodies, the sophistication of the piece could easily be overlooked, though this is also a testament to the ensemble's successful execution of the piece.

Yes, AWS has certainly broadened the definition of what constitutes a “classical” composition, but the group still affirms a level of discipline, sophistication, and seriousness as well, qualities often lost (or willingly sacrificed) in other scenes. Everything it does manages to sound exquisitely vibrant and relevant, setting the bar for other new music ensembles.

-Joseph Sannicandro