John Musto’s chamber music is solid, attractive, and well-argued. His idiom is tonal but not academic, and his handling of instrumental idioms sure-footed.
He’s very consistent. All three pieces on this program are in the fast-slow-fast mode, with the fast movements possessing a sharp motoric rhythmic energy. The Trio for violin, cello, and piano is probably the most fully-realized and convincing piece on the program. Its two-movement structure (the slow and concluding fast sections are combined in one movement) puts considerable weight on the first movement, and it is the strongest movement on the disc.
The Sextet and Divertimento both place considerable emphasis on the clarinet, and Derek Bermel makes the many important clarinet passages sing, especially the klezmer-influenced sections.
The rest of the Music from Copland House ensemble (Michael Boriskin, piano, Paul Lustig Dunkel, flute, Nicholas Kitchen, violin, and Wilhelmina Smith, cello) and guests Jesse Mills (violin), Danielle Farina and Leslie Tomkins (viola), Thomas Kraines and James Wilson (cello), and James Baker (percussion) give a good account of themselves and make a case for the music very well.
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