Stretto Perpetuo

Stretto Perpetuo is part of Boyce’s large scale Book of Etudes project. Boyce works closely in collaboration with engineer Ryan Streber, and it shows. The precision and clarity of the recording spotlights the full timbral mastery of cellist Schyler Slack: a heavy bow that is caustic, almost severe; a throaty and muscular pizzicato, a wonderfully bitey articulation that sounds like a bad scraped knee feels. Boyce balances the sharp edges with starry, gentle chord sequences for the piano. Pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute’s wide panorama of tone - pastel, rounded tones for the highly-voiced chords, and steely hardness for the midrange punches - enlarges the piece such that it sounds like more than a duo. But the insistent ostinato returns, with its sleight-of-hand syncopations. Even a gossamer coda is infiltrated by that ostinato, seemingly trying to start something, only to spirit off into the distance.