Marco Oppedisano's "Selected Works (1999-2017)"

Subtitled "Acoustic, electric and electroacoustic music with guitar -- how's that for truth in advertising? -- this hour of digital tuneage features works by the NYC-based axe-slinger (whose improv videos, viewable on YouTube, were one of the things that made the first wave's lockdown tol'able here at the house) performed by other guitarists, as well as the composer. 

The four movements of "Urban Mosaic (for solo electric guitar)" are played by Kevin R. Gallagher, a Juilliard-schooled, award-winning classical guitarist who returned to electric playing in the late '90s. The movements -- "Behind the nut," "Ebow," "Guitar solo," and "Fingerstyle ballad" -- recall Anthony Braxton's "language musics" in the way they focus on different aspects of the player's process. The confluence of heavy metal sonics and extended techniques beguiles the ear, and sets the table for the very different palette of "Movements for solo classical guitar," played by Turkish guitarist Hale Burgul, which range from quietly ruminative to restlessly searching.

"Move for bar. sax, mar., el. gtr., and pno." juxtaposes contrasting textures of wind, percussion, and strings, unified by Oppedisano's melodic invention. This recording teams the composer with the Glass Farm Ensemble. "Trio with playback for bass flute, cello, el. gtr. and playback" combines the sonorities of live instruments with sampled sounds in the "hyperrealist" manner the composer learned from his teacher Noah Creshevsky (to whom he pays tribute in "Snapshots for Noah Creshevsky").

As an instrumentalist, Oppedisano's voice is inflected with metal, fusion, and blues, but his composer's mind makes him much more than a mere shredder. The pieces showcased here, written over a couple of decades, track the development of a cinematic approach that can be dark and foreboding or, as on "Maisie's Gift," dedicated to Oppedisano's daughter and featuring found sounds from a playground, evocative of more innocent and wistful emotions. It's a sound world worth visiting.