Ear Magazine - 1987

Night of the Morning Star

Composer/pianist Mark Birnbaum, in Billy Joel attire, played "Night of the Morning Star."  This "one-movement, romantic tone poem" brought to mind elements of Gershwin on drugs: harmonic lines that step off the edge into moody darkness.  Much of this also recalls the stridency of many instrumentalists, finding an unusual range of scale and calling it a suite.  But much also reflects the intent of the author to stretch a convention or two in the midst of an otherwise lyrical exercise.

By Carl VP Groome
Ear Magazine March 1987