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4.5
Dan DeanTo employ “Tour de force” is risky business in a review, let’s admit it. The description might even be considered the first refuge of a scoundrel music critic; a cliché that takes its place among those most other abused hyperboles —“genius,” “awesome,” and lately “robust.” Ugh.But Dan Dean’s most recent CD, Fanfare for the Common Man, merits such praise as befits a staggering accomplishment by a gifted musician. A musician possessed of an exceptional pair of ears as well as degree of tenacity: Dean performs all the sounds on the recording, largely and most impressively using only his voice.Falling back entirely on his own resources as performer, arranger, recording engineer, and producer, Maestro Dean presents a select number of works spanning some four-centuries stretching from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, to the Modern era.More impressive than the technical facility displayed here, in terms of both performance and that of the multi-track layering, is the very personal realization of these beloved works; the expressions of phrasing, dynamics, vocal grain and timbre, the subtle flexions of tempi, and formal constructions unique to these arrangements.One surely should add to navigating the aforementioned challenges, the careful shaping of vocal intonations where sonic evocations of particular instruments are intended, e.g., cymbals, brass, continuo parts, and so on (right down to addressing their sound envelopes, formants, non-pitched sonic elements, etc.). Moreover, consider the “selective orchestration” of choosing the particular vowels and consonants (and various species of vocal articulations) in Dean’s personal vocalise: imagine trying to score just the right vocables for the Brandenburg sitting cheek by jowl on the recording with Holst’s “Mars,” as well as with a Debussy prelude.Ironically, Dean’s Fanfare conveys a most personal expression—through that most human and first instrument—channeled to us through the medium of digital sound technology. And for all that, Dean breathes new life into these treasured works.Dr. John Hanford
