Max Lifchitz provides the clear and sympathetic accompaniment. Flanking the songs are two light quintets, each of which consists of a chain of five short character pieces. In Five Bagatelles, Allen Brings drops the horn in favor of a piano. In post-Hindemith vein, the writing is light, fanciful, and tuneful. The intellectual meat of the disk is left to the first and last pieces.
Angels is brim-full of textural ideas performed with precision and compelling musicianship.
Although in one continuous movement, the piece divides clearly into strongly-characterized inner sections. This is fine, imaginative music by a composer very much in command of her musical resources. Hilary Tann has recently completed From Afar, a large orchestral work to be premiered by the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra in January 1997.