Time Seems to Pass

James Romig

Khasma Piano Duo: Ashlee Mack, Katherine Palumbo, pianos

Parallax Music Press CD/Download

Composer James Romig’s piano duo work Time Seems to Pass, a nearly forty-minute opus commissioned and performed by Khasma Piano Duo (Ashlee Mack and Katherine Palumbo), is something of a turning point in his work. In recent years, Romig has undertaken several residencies at parks and similarly verdant venues. Concurrently, his music has become more expansive. Under girded by the rationale of extended twelve-tone techniques in the pitch and rhythmic domains, Time Seems to Pass’s surface is prevailingly gentle and gesturally supple. Individual lines move independently, interweaving a complex interaction that yields a sonorous sheen of resulting harmonies. Khasma perform the work delicately but with a strong sense of rhythmic coordination.

For an overview of Romig’s other music, Leaves from Modern Trees (also Parallax) is a strong compilation of his chamber music from 1999-2016. Khasma may also be heard on their debut recording Switchback (self-released), which features compositions from their 2014 Call for Scores by Michael Ippolito, Marti Epstein, Symeon Waseen, Lawrence Moss, Cosimo Colazzo, and Jean Ahn.Links to listen further and buy here.