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Fred van Hove

Journey

Psi Records CD

Belgian pianist Fred Van Hove is a household name on the European free improvisation scene. His solo concerts are justifiably famous, as this 2007 date recorded live at the Jazz á Mulhouse festival demonstrates.

Divided into two tracks, timed like the album sides of old, Journey is nevertheless best imbibed as a single long-form musical unit. Mozartean flourishes and spicily dissonant turns pirouette across the keyboard as a delightful amuse-bouche before Van Hove slides – the operative word – into the main course: a pitch-blurring tangle of glissandi. These are succeeded by thunderous, rapturous verticals served up in thick walls of sound. The pianist’s Journey thus inhabits both sides of the experimental music fence – classical and jazz – bringing to bear a cultivated technique in passionate explorations: a most satisfying combination.    

Arvo Pärt
In Principio
Estonian National Symphony; Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir; Tallinn Chamber Orchestra; Tõnu Kaljuste, conductor
(www.ecmrecords.com)
 

ECM celebrates the Silver Anniversary of their New Series this year. Given that the recording which launched the imprint was Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa, it seems especially fitting that the composer’s In Principio features prominently among its 2009 releases. Pärt’s compositional language has often focused on the barest, essentials, crafting an Eastern European version of minimalism based on bell-like sounds and sweeping ostinati. But he has extended his compositional reach during the past quarter century, as is amply attested by the recent works presented on this disc.

The title composition, scored for chorus and orchestra, is particularly intriguing. It is among the most dramatically gestural pieces from the composer since his Berlin Mass and Te Deum. Shades of Adams and Glass surface here and there in its vivid orchestration, but In Principio also calls to mind the sumptuous verticals in Bruckner’s motets and the boldness of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Mein Weg re-imagines an organ work from the 1980s as a fresh-faced minimalist tone-poem for chamber orchestra. More gradual in its evolution processes, but no less lovely, is La Sindone, a haunting, string swept meditation on the shroud of Turin. Für Lennart in Memoriam also places its emphasis on string textures, with a plaintive violin melody that serves as a supple valediction.
 

Perhaps the disc’s most memorable performance is the choral work Da Pacem Domine; it recalls the soberness of Bach’s Lenten chorales and the austerity of chant from the Orthodox liturgy, all over a glacially shifting ground bass; a memorably poignant plea for peace. Here, as throughout, Tõnu Kaljuste leads with skill and tremendous sympathy for Pärt’s work.          

Polk Miller & His Old South Quartette

Tompkins Square

Recorded in 1909, the Edison cylinder sides of Polk Miller and His Old South Quartette are something of a Holy Grail for aficionados of American roots music. Miller, an artilleryman for the Confederacy and successful pharmacist during postwar reconstruction, returned late in life to his interest in music. Beginning in the 1890s, he toured as a lecturer on “Old Times in the South,” performing as a banjoist with a quartet of African American vocalists. Miller displayed affection and respect for this material, presenting it without any patronizing or Minstrel show artifacts.

His 1909 recordings with the Quartette are an important early example of an integrated musical act presenting folk material in authentic fashion. What’s more, there’s some glorious singing here – “Oysters and Wine at 2 AM,” “Rise and Shine,” and “Jerusalem Mournin’,” are all rousing, timeless treasures. Despite the unadorned presentation, there’s plenty of subtlety in the material; “The Laughing Song” uses laughter as a percussive device. “Bonnie Blue Flag,” a secessionist ballad, mixes Scottish influences with Southern folk styles and deft banjo-picking, adorning the result with supple call and response vocal harmonies. The crowning achievement of the collection is a thrilling version of “The ‘Old Time’ Religion;” essential listening for anyone with an interest in American vernacular music.

The Phantom Band

Checkmate Savage

Chemikal Underground

On their debut, Checkmate Savage, Scotland’s Phantom Band crafts longish popular songs that combine art-rock interests with energetic immediacy. None of the songs are less than four minutes long – several push the eight-minute mark – yet there’s never a sense of padding or pretension. Rather, razor sharp riffs and motoric Kraut rock-inspired beats are married to asymmetrical formal explorations. Wire, Talk Talk, Can – they’ve clearly listened to all the good guys. Blown up large, as on “The Howling” and “Half Hound,” there’s a powerful anthemic quality that suggests this is a group that could go places: soon!