Through McKinley’s perfect union of word and melody, he demonstrates how the two arts are inextricably bound.

The work, titled Three Poems of Pablo Neruda, is scored for mezzo-soprano and full orchestra. In its role of accompanying the singer, the instrumental parts are so unobtrusive as to go almost unnoticed, as in the opening of the first song, “Black Vulture” (tenebre e tragico). At other times, the orchestra borrows thematic material from the solo line, intensifying its expressive impact. Still other orchestral passages are onomatopoeic in their tonal portrayal, as in the prestissimo e barbaroso introduction to the second song, “The Chilean Tinomou” (a bird indigenous to Central and South America).

McKinley’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 3 is a jazz piece of four movements which segue without pause. It is a mono-thematic work, at least by virtue of the idiomatic “blue-note” ingredient characteristic of jazz music, and omnipresent in this work. Nevertheless, the quasi-cyclic movements are individually distinguishable by McKinley’s rhythmic treatment of his melodic and harmonic materials.

Jazz artistry presumes the ability of the musician to improvise. It is composition extempore, and McKinley’s prowess in this area is formidable. The same Muses who channel their inspiration through his fingers to the piano keys are at work here as well; creativity is merely redirected through his pen, encoding the music, fortunately allowing for its re-creation.

Symphony No. 4 is a three-movement work for full orchestra (minus trombones). The score calls for a battery of pitched and untuned percussion instruments subtly exploited in the generation of rhythmic color which contributes to the propelling force felt from the opening notes to the very end of the piece. In addition, McKinley’s intimate understanding of the capabilities of all the instruments enables him to synthesize their individual sounds into a single unique voice capable of a seemingly infinite range of expression. He thus has the means with which to evoke the imaginations of his listeners, as he does by titling the movements respectively, “Dawn Blues,” “Sunrays,” and “Night Fancies.” Whether the titles served to inspire the composition or whether they were decided by the composer as an afterthought is not totally irrelevant. The more romantically inclined may enjoy the piece as a musical description of a 24-hour slice of life.

Excerpts from the Liner Notes (by Robert Shankovich)