Welcome, Spring [Alf:00-28729]

Andy Beck adds a third to his song cycle about the seasons with Welcome, Spring. Text painting is vivid when an agile piano ostinato trickles its watery pattern, when an unexpected tonal shift symbolizes the change from winter to spring, and when vocal "pedals" gradually "bloom" one after the other over a pianistic transition to the textured finale. Poetic and musical nuances are plentiful and purposeful in all voicings.