Mine but for its sublimation, is a sixty-minute solo piano piece- it’s a skeletal to taut affair, built around subtly shifting repetition, patterns, and atmosphere.  I guess you’d compare it to some of Morton Feldman’s works for solo piano pieces, though the work is more eventful, as well as having its own distinctive qualities.

Timothy McCormack is a Cleveland Ohio Ohio-born composer. His work moves between the very dense and noise-touched, to the stark and pared back. His physical discography dates back to 2007, with the release of Forking Paths- an improv jazz release with Piotr Michalowski. He’s also released Krast- a 2020 album on the  Kairos label focusing on modern classical ensemble and string-focused compositions.

The piece is played by respected Birmingham, Alabama-born pianist Jack Yarbrough. Who has collaborated closely with composers such as Bunita Marcus, Richard Barrett, Marti Epstein, Victoria Cheah, Jack Langdon, John Eagle, Kory Reeder, and Bahar Royaee.

The piece runs at just over one hour and three minutes. It’s a (relatively) eventful work- we start off with tactical/ evenly mid-range patterns.  Progressing into more jarring and stabbing notation, onto lower end/ doomy shapes, though to tolling & tautly reverbed stabs/ light to seared drifts. The composition manages to balance mood and progression well, with along its length some interesting/ surprising shifts in tone & delivery.

Yarbrough approaches the playing of the piece with true focus and depth, shifting his playing style and intonation wonderfully. As the composition shifts from the lulling, onto brief moments of violence, through to taut angularity and caught emotional resonance.

Mine but for its sublimation, is a wonderful realised and played example of the solo piano form- being both eventfully engaging, and emotionally shifting in its unfold.  I’ll most certainly be keeping my eye out for future work from either Mr McCormack or Mr Yarbrough.