Sequenza21/

Mirian Conti

Benjamin Lees Piano Music, 1947 - 2005

Toccata Classics

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Toccata, Six Ornamental Etudes, Three Preludes, Sonata Breve, Odyssey

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Benjamin Lees’ piano music can be muscular and powerful, sweet and tender, or lilting and playful. Miriam Conti handily tackles each and every possible mood in the five pieces on this disc. The opening Toccata is brash and forceful with a surprising loss of energy towards the end. The Six Ornamental Etudes are charming pieces that, while not as showy as other etude collections, still balance the fine line of chop-builder vs. showpiece. The Three Preludes follow a traditional fast-slow-fast structure and a large-scale narrative shape that makes the set feel more like a single multi-movement work than a collection of separate pieces. Sonata Breve packs an awful lot of music and technique into a work containing the word breve in the title. Each of the three Odyssey’s are mature, broad, and expansive works that showcase Miriam Conti’s talents quite well (the last two of the three were composed for her, after all).

Lees’ pitch language has that chromatic-yet-tonally-grounded sense of Prokofiev mixed with just a touch of the American Populists from the mid-20th century. In many ways, I think Lees’ music is what Elliott Carter’s music would sound like had he not gone all wonky in the 50s (disclaimer: I love wonky Carter). Each work has a strong rhythmic and narrative profile, and thunderous moments are well balanced by tender contemplation. Miriam Conti’s technique and musicality are mercurial and able to match the demands of each piece without question.

The Music of Vítezslava Kaprálová

Virginia Eskin, piano
Stephanie Chase, violin

Koch International Classics

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April Preludes, Legend, Burlesque, Five Compositions for Piano, Elegy, Sonata Appassionata, Vriations sure le Carillon de L’Eglise Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, Little Song

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Czech composer Vítezslava Kaprálová lived only 25 years (1915 - 1940) yet her musical language is surprisingly mature and well crafted (much better than what I was doing when I was in my 20s, that is for sure). The works on this disc, all from the 1930s, show a variety of stylistic influences synthesized into a personal vibrant language. Her music sounds to be equal parts of early Bartok, pre-atonality Berg, and of course Janacek. Each piece is remarkably expressive (of course it helps that the performers here are so wonderfully expressive as well) with equal amounts of moribund and ponderous music balanced by spunky and fiery compositions.

Sunleif Rasmussen

String Against String

Da Capo Records

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String Quartet No. 1, String Quartet No. 2 “Sunshine and Shadows,” Grave in Memorium Karsten Hoydal, Violin Concerto No. 1 “Songs of Seasons,” Echoes of the Past
Performed by The Sjaelland String Quartet, John Storgårds, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, and Juha Kangas

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The string music by Faroese composer Sunleif Rasmussen has a wonderful shimmer, effective use of timbres, and a silky but tense form that holds each piece together. The two string quartets, effectively performed by the Sjaelland String Quartet, are both mature and stunning compositions. The second quartet’s picturesque title apty describes the overall feeling of light and dark colors and harmonies.

The two violin features, the Violin Concerto No. 1 and the solo violin piece Echoes of the Past sound thematically and emotionally linked even though the concerto was composed almost a decade later. Rasmussen’s string writing is vibrant and idiomatic, propelling each piece through delightful soundscapes. Grave for clarinet, strings, and percussion, is an ominous and sombre work but still as richly colored as anything else on this recording.

Le livre des Mélancolies

Jean-Guy Boisvert, clarinet and Quatuor Bozzini

ATMA Classique

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Jean-Guy Boisvert, clarinet and Quatuor Bozzini (Clemes Merkel, Nadia Francavilla, violins; Stéphanie Bozzini, viola; Isabelle Bozzini, cello)
…River to the Ocean…, Piotr Grella-Mozejko
Le livre des Mélancolies, Jean Lesage
Slow Dances, Tim Brady

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These three works for clarinet and string quartet by contemporary Canadian composers (Grella-Mozejko was born in Poland but lives in Canada) are lithe and supple compositions which have been flawlessly executed by the performers. …River to the Ocean… is a haunting and colorful journey with an organic formal process (even the jarringly bright major chords sound natural and justified, although surprising).

Le livre des Mélancolies is a more tangled and twisted chamber piece than its predecessor. The string quartet is more actively engaged with the clarinet sound which makes the clarinet feel less like a soloist and more like another timbral possibility of the ensemble. Speaking of colors, they abound in this work (and the disc as a whole). Each of the three movements stays in a largely meditative emotional space, although each does so in its own sumptuous manner.

The four movement Slow Dances harnesses more direct energy than the previous two pieces. Especially in the second movement, “A Sort of Tango,” there is finally some aggression and power to jar me out of the haze created by the earlier pieces. Don’t get me wrong, I was in a blissful sort of absinthe haze. It was nice to be shaken out of it by a tango (of any sort).

Each of these three pieces is performed with great care, color, and musicality. Quatuor Bozzini makes easy work of the constantly shifting timbral demands in each piece and Jean-Guy Boisvert matches the ensemble at every single point along the way.

Urban Requiem

Youngstown State University
Symphonic Wind Ensemble

Naxos

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Spin Cycle, Scott Lindroth
Introduction and Rondo-Capriccioso, Camille Saint-Saëns (arr. Lee Brooks)
October, Eric Whitacre
Urban Requiem, Michael Colgrass
Overture on Russian and Kirghiz Folk Songs, Dmitry Shostakovich (arr. Guy Duker)
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, John Philip Sousa

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Another solid entry for Naxos’s Wind Band Classics series has been made by the Youngstown State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble directed by Stephen L. Gage. Everything about this disc was done well: performance, music selection, programming, the whole works.

The opening track, Scott Lindroth’s Spin Cycle, is one of those colorful, peppy, wildly orchestration works that are so popular among wind ensembles (performers and audiences alike). The title alone tells you what to expect. The piece uses charming amounts of colorful fluff and energy but doesn’t wear out its welcome. The Saint-Saëns arrangement replaces the solo violin with flute and clarinet, allowing for some nice timbral shifts and octave doublings. Kathryn Thomas Umble and Robert Fitzer (flute and clarinet, respectively) perform the work in such a way that I don’t miss the violin at all. Nor does this arrangement make me think this work was originally for orchestra. Eric Whitacre’s October is a deceptive piece. The basics of the work are very simple (nice somber tune, mellow mood, well balanced on color and substance) but the execution is much harder than it seems. Intonation traps are abundant and the YSUSWE does an admirable job navigating those traps. The ensemble also does a great job with the work’s overall narrative shape and linear flow.

The meatiest piece on the disc is the 30 minute Urban Requiem for sax quartet and wind ensemble (saxophones are performed by James Umble, Allen Cordingley, Kent Engelhardt, and Joseph Carey). The piece is crazy. There is a sinewy stream-of-consciousness flow to the form. Murky and foreboding passages are followed by spastic and energetic bursts (with little warning). Avant garde riffs give way to comical dance bits. Basically, the whole piece is a series of WTF moments but the overall effect is compellingly performed and expressed. The performance is completely engrossing and well worth every second.

Another arrangement on the disc, Shostakovich’s Overture on Russian and Kirghiz Folk Songs, brings us back down from the wild ride of the Colgrass. Again, this arrangement is well scored and makes the ensemble sound good without making you think they need a big string section. The closing Sousa march is, as they usually have been on this series, a rousing way to finish things off. I’m grateful for the selection of this particular march since it isn’t one that I hear as often as others. Sure, most Sousa marches sound the same, but there are some really nice harmonic twists and some darker brass fanfares in this particular number.

Build

Compositions of Matt McBane

New Amsterdam Records

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Andrea Lee, cello; Ben Campbell, bass; Matt McBane, violin; Mike Cassedy, piano/Rhodes; Adam Gold, drums
In the Backyard, Magnet, No Response, Imagining Winter, Drivin’

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Somewhere between minimalism and jazz lies the music of Matt McBane. The tracks on this disc are familiar yet fresh, comfortable yet compelling. The music is not easily classified as being one thing or another and that might be the main reason I keep listening to it. The first four shorter works are have a breezy and effortless quality to them. They would be at home at a jazz club, in a coffee shop (big one), or a chamber concert stage. McBane has a fantastic intuitive sense that is backed up by a serious amount of compositional craft.

Drivin’ is the big piece on the disc. At just under 14 minutes, it is almost as long as the previous four tracks combined. At first the music sounds like Steve Reich with a drumset. A hypnotic pulse groove in the piano drives away while flat drones in the strings emerge and start to groove in a very Reich-ian sort of way. As the piece evolves, though, McBane makes it clear that while he has clearly heard a lot of Reich, he is no wannabe. The piano transforms into a melodic entity that sounds more like a jazz solo than minimalistic process. Angular melodies sprout up everywhere. Spiky rhythms permeate the whole piece, binding it together, as every performer gets their own feature. If you listen, you hear that the rhythmic profile of the piece is treacherous. The performers make it sound easy, effortless, and improvisational.

McBane’s music is somewhere between a lot of different influences. I hope he stays there for a long time because it is definitely worth hearing.

Stentorian Consort

Myths and Legends

Albany Records

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David Begnoche, Barney McCollum, Brent Phillips, Jonathan Whitaker, trombones
Myths and Legends, Eric Ewazen; Quartet, Leslie Bassett; Consort for Four Trombones, Charles Wuorinen; Quartet, Fisher Tull; Quartet, John La Montaine; For Jim, Phillip Schroeder; Toccata, Phil Snedecor

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This disc of world premiere recordings of American trombone quartets showcases many of the trends, some might say stereotypes, of writing for multiple trombones. The disc boasts not only world premiere recordings, but also the complete recordings of trombone quartets by Pulitzer prize winning composers (Bassett, Wuorinen, and La Montaine). Each piece is well crafted for the ensemble and well executed by the performers. The Ewazen work is further example of the composer’s solid brass composition style featuring bold fanfares, warm and lush chorales, and jaunty rhythmic changes. Bassett’s Quartet favors the bold and dramatic as well, which is what I expected from most of the works on this disc.

Wuorinen’s Consort is a complicated and energetic work with a stronger harmonic and narrative profile than most of the rest of the pieces on this recording. The Stentorian Consort hits every note and shape perfectly. Fisher Tull and John La Montaine’s offerings bring back the boldness and chorale trends, with the exception of the stunning throbs that permeate the slow movement to Tull’s Quartet.

Phillip Schroeder’s For Jim is unlike anything else on the disc and I thank him for it. Any and all of the previous trends and stereotypes of music for trombone are thrown out the window and yet he still delivers a piece that sounds best when played by trombones. The sultry and twisting movement is haunting, graceful, and elegant in ways that none of the previous pieces could be. Phil Snedecor’s Toccata is a wonderful and fresh closer that takes all of the previous kinds of gestures heard on the disc and mashes them into a joyful two-minute work that must be a heck of a lot of fun to play.

Studies for Player Piano
Conlon Nancarrow
The Original 1750 Arch Recordings
Supervised by the Composer

Other Minds (4 CD set)

I first encountered the original LPs of Nancarrow’s amazingly intricate Studies when I was in college and hosting a new music program on WHPK-FM. Nancarrow’s background (he was in the Lincoln Brigade that fought against Franco’s fascist government in Spain, which made his continued presence in the US untenable), along with his incredibly focused devotion to his music for player pianos (which required a very laborious and time consuming process), was as compelling then as it is today. At that time, however, while I respected his music and genius, his works just didn’t grab me. I was awash in minimalism, coming out of a background in 12-tone music, and Nancarrow’s music didn’t register with me.

My ears have since matured, fortunately. Several years ago, I obtained the Wergo set of the Studies, and I’ve been in love with Nancarrow’s player piano works ever since. Much has been made of the influence Nancarrow’s music had on Ligeti, and it’s easy to see elements of Nancarrow in Ligeti’s later works, particularly the Etudes. To say that Nancarrow’s player piano works are among the most important music of the 20th century is not an understatement.

So if the Wergo set is so good (it is), why bother with this 4-CD set? Because it’s the real deal. All of the recordings were done under the direct supervision of Nancarrow himself, using his own player pianos (“two 1927 Ampico player pianos, one with metal-covered felt hammers and the other with leather strips on the hammers.“), and now digitally remastered. Just as no two pianos are truly identical, no two player pianos have quite the same sound. What you hear on these recordings is exactly what the composer heard in his studio in Mexico. Plus the comprehensive and detailed notes by James Tenney and an essay by Charles Amirkhanian (who produced the set), nicely reproduced from all four original LPs, are by themselves well worth the price.

Of all the studies, my personal favorites are #21 (one of the most amazing compositions, IMHO), #25 (with the famous ending of 1028 notes in 12 seconds that even grabs my daughter’s attention) and #37. Nancarrow was a master of tempo canons, and of canonical writing in general. I didn’t appreciate this when I was in college, and have been making up for lost time in the past few years by listening to as much of Nancarrow’s music as I can get my hands on. If you have any interest at all in new music, buy this album. If you already own a recording of the Studies, buy this album, since it’s as authentic as you can get short of going down to Nancarrow’s studio and playing his piano rolls on the original pianos in real time. I should note, however, that the Wergo album has a few items (like Study 2b and the Tango) that are not included in the 1750 Arch set.

McCARTNEY: Ecce Cor Meum. Kate Royal, soprano. Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields/Gavin Greenaway. EMI DVD 5099950073399. 67 minutes.

It probably counts as a truism to say that Paul McCartney is one of the finest melodists popular music has produced. Popular music is often largely about melody, with the other parameters of the art usually playing a secondary rôle.

The melodies in McCartney’s hour-long Ecce Cor Meum (“Behold My Heart”, for soprano solo, chorus, and orchestra; text by the composer) are not nearly as memorable as those in his best songs. It seems as though he had a preconceived notion about what “classical” melodies should sound like and how they should be shaped. He wrote accordingly, and the result is somewhat forced and artificial.

As to the other niceties of “classical” composition, McCartney falls back on the standard tools of the inexperienced composer—pedals, sequences, and ostinatos. In this way his melodies are given the means to play out into a lengthy composition. The harmony, rhythm, and orchestration of the piece are pretty standard late 20^th-century neo-tonal, with a hint of English pastoralism.

At the beginning of the film, before the performance begins, the composer enters the Royal Albert Hall and is greeted like, well, a rock star. (I wonder if he gets as tired of that happening at his concerts as I do at mine.)

Soprano Kate Royal has a fine, full voice and a winning stage presence. The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Orchestra, led by Gavin Greenaway, does its usual bang up job, as do the massed choruses involved. A brief documentary on the creation of Ecce Cor Meum, in which the composer discusses his limitations as a composer (as opposed to a songwriter), dramatically illustrates just how well one can get by with a little help from their friends.

Chamber Symphony #2 and more

Robert Craft Collection

Naxos

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Chamber Symphony No. 2, Philharmonia Orchestra, Robert Craft
Die glückliche Hand, Mark Beesley, bass; Simon Joly Chorale; Philharmonia Orchestra, Robert Craft
Wind Quintet, New York Woodwind Quintet

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The overall quality of the Robert Craft Collection on Naxos continues with this Schoenberg disc. What interests me are some of the notes included that talk about how Chamber Symphony No. 2 “ought to be the most popular of Schoenberg’s later masterpieces.” The piece gets a wonderful and sultry performance by the Philharmonia Orchestra but I must say I still prefer the first Chamber Symphony. I think the overall maturity of Chamber Symphony No. 2, both in composition and performance, is something that is lost on me. I still prefer the “Richard Strauss on meth” energy of the earlier work. In time, I’m sure that will change.

Die glückliche Hand gets a great and powerful, and overly creepy, performance. Mark Beesley is clearly comfortable in The Man’s overall discomfort and his voice is well tuned to the wacky expressionist angst that surrounds him. The Wind Quintet, a work that is not often performed nor recorded, also gets great treatment for this CD. The notes talk mainly about the speed at which the New York Wind Quintet plays the work (being one of the only recordings or performances lasting under an hour). This is a beefy and thorny work which commands virtuosity on all levels from every performer all the time. The ensemble has a terrific mastery of the piece and they do not make the quintet sound as hard and laborious as it really is. The Wind Quintet could be as hard to listen to as it is to play (and I’m a fan of Schoenberg’s music) but the New York Wind Quintet really takes control and delivers a great performance. At some point, I know that these Craft Collection discs will stop. I hope it isn’t soon…