CD Review, Chamber Music, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

City of Tomorrow on New Focus (CD Review)

City of Tomorrow

Blow

New Focus Records

 

The City of Tomorrow is a woodwind quintet dedicated to 20/21 music, particularly compositions that explore environmental themes. They first convened to play the title work on this recording. Blow, by Franco Donatoni, is a tour de force for woodwinds. In addition to the obvious association with embouchures, the piece also explores the qualities of wind, from a soothing breeze to gusts to gale force. The use of counterpoint in polyrhythms reminds one of the formidable craft Donatoni possessed – and expected of the musicians who play Blow. The confluence of “wind painting” and proportional imitation, as well as the piece’s relentless energy, are thrilling in City of Tomorrow’s authoritative performance. 

 

Hero and Leander, by Hannah Lash, also explores an environmental theme, if somewhat obliquely. The Greek myth involves Leander swimming the sea each night to reunite with Hero, only to be taken away by Poseidon in a vicious storm. In the wake of Tropical Storm Henri, and all the other hurricanes yet to come as climate change bears down on coastal communities, the piece has psychological resonances well beyond the archetypal tale of unrequited love. Hero and Leander is a nine-movement suite both varied in texture and harmony and unified by recurrent use of birdsong (played in piccolo and e-flat clarinet) and Poseidon’s heavy weather. Unlike Donatoni, Lash takes her time revealing the tale, with the calm before the storm just as emphasized as the lovers being kept apart. The last three movements bring Stravinskyian dissonances and clipped utterances (there are connections to his Oedipus)  and poignant stillness to the depiction of Hero’s grief at finding Leander’s body.  

 

In 2003, Esa-Pekka Salonen wrote a piece dedicated to the memory of Luciano Berio: Memoria. It was premiered alongside Laborintus 2, Berio’s own work dealing with memory. Beginning with heterophonic overlap and moving to a main section of vivacious rhythms, the short motifs and shifting meters suggest Stravinsky. Later there is another Stravinsky connection in Memoria. The finale consists of chorales that recall the Symphonies of Wind Instruments. Salonen manages to channel two great composers of the twentieth century while imposing his own kinetic spin on the proceedings. Once again, City of Tomorrow impresses with its dextrous delivery and the silvery tone of its soloists. Recommended. 

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, Piano

Peter Garland – Three Dawns and Bush Radio Calling

A new CD of solo piano music by Peter Garland has been released on the Cold Blue Music label. Two pieces comprise the album: Three Dawns, inspired by the poetry of Jean-Joseph Rabéarivelo and Bush Radio Calling, written specifically for avant-garde theater with a total of nine movements. Peter Garland is a well-known composer with deep roots in contemporary music from long association with important influences such as Lou Harrison, Harold Budd, James Tenney and Conlon Nancarrow. The performer for this album is Ron Squibbs, pianist, academic and a leading authority on the music of Iannis Xenakis. This latest album takes us on an exotic journey of the Southern Hemisphere via Garland’s extraordinary musical inspirations.

Three Dawns (1981-82) is a three-movement piece built around material contained in The Negritude Poets: An Anthology of Translations from the French. This was edited by Ellen Conroy Kennedy and contains the work of Malagasy poet Jean-Joseph Rabéarivelo. The beginning of “Movement 1” is a series of halting passages that propel it along in a comfortable, ambling gait. A nice groove develops and a strong bass line provides a solid foundation. At just 2:49, this short opening movement with sunny harmonies and a relaxed feel is like taking a quiet stroll on a summer’s day in Madagascar.

“Movement 2” is more than twice as long as both outer movements combined and begins with a solitary string of notes in the lower registers. There is a solemn, contemplative feel to this as a warm melody enters from above. The harmony lightens and the sense of optimism builds, like the sun rising on an empty beach. The repeating theme in the bass line provides a sure foundation, anchoring the agreeable phrases heard in the upper registers. This is lovely music – thoughtful but not too precious – and yet beautifully quiet and serene. A da capo towards the finish reprises the opening, completing the circle. “Movement 3” is the bookend to the first movement, with a strong bass line and choppy rhythms in the upper register. The same optimistic feelings are evident as this rocks gently to a close. Three Dawns is the perfect musical escape to tropical solace and tranquility.

The second piece on the CD is the nine movement Bush Radio Calling, a 1992 composition written in Island Bay, New Zealand. This music was composed for a play titled Just Them Walking produced by the Red Mole experimental theater company. The play describes the fanciful journey of a citizen militia called by Bush Radio to escape civil unrest by fleeing to the Remote Experience Zone on the far side of the Bridge to Nowhere. The play is a series of unlikely adventures populated by colorful characters who are confronted with a series of bizarre situations. After completing the score, Garland went on tour as the pianist with the Red Mole company.

The first movement is “Ringatu (Variations on a Chord by Dane Rudhyar) for Alan Brunton”. This evokes an exotic and dramatic setting with a series of strong, chiming chords. The phrases are simple, repeating with slight variations in the harmony. The pattern also includes asymmetrical rhythms and changing dynamics. There is no melody to distract from the variations in the chord with each phrase, and this succeeds in packing a lot of expression into a minimum of musical materials. Movements 2 and 3, “ Visions of El Niño Doctor” and “ Visions of El Niño Cieguito”, respectively, are short and direct, consisting of a series of strong chords with brief silences in between. There is a vaguely Latin feel to this that adds to the overall exotic character. “ Visions of El Niño Cieguito” is alternately robust and subdued in the dynamics and a bit more introspective.

The fourth movement “La Princesa (Wanganui Waltz) for Sally Rodwell” proceeds in halting, broken rhythms consisting of moderate chords that recall the “El Niño” movements. Wanganui is the name of a river in New Zealand that is invoked in the plot as the characters continue their journey by riverboat and the music here has a sense of subdued grandeur. Movement 5, “The Bellbird’s Song”, adds more color to the drama of the river passage and opens with a string of single notes in a high register with two pitches in a chattering, birdlike rhythm. The phrases repeat like a bird call but with slightly halting rhythms. New chords fill in around the bird call that are very simple at first but then a deep bass line is heard that adds a sense of majesty. A regal sound with deep, full chords ends this short movement.

The title of the fifth movement, “Hiruharama,” is the name of a New Zealand town (and the Maori name for Jerusalem). The riverboat travelers on the Wanganui hope to find Mother Aubert’s secret herbal remedies in what is only one of the many intriguing plot twists. Four chords open this, followed by a brief silence. The chords, with slight variations in the harmony, repeat in groups of two, three or four. Elegant and mysterious, there is again an exotic and regal feel. As the movement proceeds, the sequence of strong chords is followed by a single pianissimo chord in a high register, as if in a metaphorical dialogue of truth to power. At the finish, a series of soft, two-note chords is heard alone – truth has prevailed.

Movement 7 features a reappearance of disjointed rhythms and bold, dynamic chords. The piano playing by Ron Squibbs here, and in all the movements, is technically exceptional and infused with human emotion that makes this music very listenable. Movement 8, “The Wedding (The Bride Shoots the Bachelor, Even.)”, is a complex rhythmic structure that never quite gets started or developed into a groove, but the phrases are engaging and keep the piece moving forward. The final movement, “Bridge to Nowhere”, features bright chords heard in the higher registers and has a sunny, optimistic feeling. The phrases seem to repeat with slight variations, adding a bit of an alien feel that is both mysterious and open-ended. The “Bridge to Nowhere” is full of luminous promise, but ultimately lives up to its name. Bush Radio Calling is an inventive and curiously singular piece, packing a lot of energy and emotion into just a piano score. Peter Garland has masterfully created a strange and romantic musical world that compliments the action of the play and brings the listener along for the journey.

Three Dawns and Bush Radio Calling is available directly from Cold Blue Records (CB0059) as well as by digital download from Amazon. Cold Blue Music is also available from many retailers throughout the world.



by Paul Muller
Contemporary Classical

BBC Proms August 15, featuring Abel Selaocoe

Although completely recognizable, there are differences in this year’s Proms concerts, most of them what one would expect. One has to show proof of vaccination to get into the Albert Hall, and then most of the audience is masked. There are still Promenaders, but fewer of them, and the audiences are in general less populated. This decline in numbers doesn’t seem to have in any way reduced the general enthusiasm for the concerts, though.

The Prom on August 15 was centered around the South African ‘cellist Abel Selaocoe and included along with him his trio Chesaba (in which he is joined by Sidiki Dembélé. who plays several instruments, and bass player Alan Keary), Moroccan Gnawa master Simo Lagnawi and his group Gnawa London, in which he was joined by Djina Jones, Amine el Manony, and Driss Yarndah (at least that’s what the program said; there were in fact only three people in that group on stage), the choral group Bantu Voices, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Clark Rundell. It was an evening of what Michael Denning, in his book Noise Uprising, would have described as vernacular (as opposed to folk) music since it was professional (very very professional) rather than amateur musical making. The program consisted of pieces by Selaocoe (Qhawe, Zawose, As You Are, Lerato, and Ka bohaleng), Dembélé (Shaka), and Lagnawi (Bambara and Counia lafou), arranged for the whole of the gathered musicians by Ian Gardiner and/or Peter Riley, depending on the piece,  along with the ‘cello concerto, L. B. Files by Italian composer Giovanni Sollima, and two short pieces by Jean-Philippe Rameau, whose presence there seemed to have something to do with the similarity of Baroque ground bass and a “culture of repetition” in African music.

The centering work on this program was the concerto by Sollima, L. B. Files. L. B. in this case is Luigi Boccherini, the composer and ‘cellist who in his day bridged divergent musical cultures. The four movements of the work provide a “micro-dramatization” of Boccherini’s life story, starting with his childhood in Italy through his service for Infante Luis Antonio of Spain. The third movement is based on a bass line of Boccherini’s, and incorporates a text from Casanova’s (yes, that Casanova) diary about the nature of the Spanish fandango. The fourth imagines Boccherini’s “returning from some hundred years in Senegal” and quotes a melody by the late Senegalese musician Gilbert Abdourahmane Diop. (The part about his being in Senegal at all, seems to be a fantasy of Sollima’s, rather than a fact.) The concerto, which was played with high style and brilliance, was greeted with enormous enthusiasm by the audience, as was everything on the concert. It was immediately preceded by a lovely and loving performance of Rameau’s Entrée d’Abaris from his opera Les Boréédes by Rundell and the orchestra. Rameau’s music also appeared later in the program in a very brief excerpt from Les Indes galantes, which lasted a minute and was almost missable, separating music by Selaocoe and Lagnawi.

Selaocoe is a fabulous player and singer and a completely charming and compelling personality, and it was wonderful to hear him. He joyfully and powerfully moves in the two musical worlds–western classical and African–he is a citizen and practitioner of, and he unites them for his audience in a meaningful way. His playing and singing was the focus and purpose of the concert, but it was also the most satisfying aspect of it. For this listener it was too often lost in the profusion of other elements. I was at a loss to understand exactly why Lagnawi and his cohorts were there at all, or what they added or were supposed to have added to the proceedings. This is not in anyway a judgement of their work or abilities; They just got lost in the crowd. I was reminded in reverse of Stravinsky’s comment about his first reaction to hearing Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire: he wished the singer would shut up so he could hear the music. The absolutely most beautiful moments in the whole concert were the encore, which began with only Selaocoe and Keary by playing by themselves, and the beginning of the concert, with Selaocoe, very lightly accompanied, playing and singing alone, presenting the African side of his musical personality. Often his beautiful performance was simply swamped by the profusion of other things going on. After a while all the elements came together in a way that negated the individuality and specialness of each one of them, producing a wash which seemed over-scored and over-amplified. This listener’s sense of that was clearly a minority opinion; the audience was continually wildly enthusiastic and loving every second of it. All in all, though, it was a very satisfying and meaningful experience. It leaves me, though, wanting to hear a whole evening of only Selaocoe and Chesaba, without anybody else.

 

 

 

 

 

by Rodney Lister
CD Review, Choral Music, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Cantus Records Manifesto

Cantus

Manifesto

Signum Classics

 

The all-male vocal ensemble Cantus’s first full length recording in seven years, Manifesto, features pieces, all in world premiere recordings, that explore relationships and identity. The title work is a piece by David Lang, the text taken from answers to a Google Search auto-complete list of the query “I want to be with someone who…” It was originally commissioned by Cantus for a program titled “The Four Loves.” Lang’s piece signifies romantic love and is written in a minimal style, the textual repetitions being a hallmark of his approach. “If I Profane,” by Libby Larsen, which features a tenor solo and swelling crescendos in its accompanying voices, is a setting of the love sonnet from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  

 

Roger Treece’s Philia signifies friendly love, as does Timothy C Takach’s Luceat Eis, written in commemoration of service personnel who died on 9/11. Both artfully use polychords, the Luceat Eis bifurcated into low clusters and a chant-like upper melodic line. Ysaÿe M. Barnwell explores divine love in Tango with God. Here, the ensemble’s performance emphasizes exuberance rather than the suavity of the dance. To My Brother, by Joseph Gregorio, is about familial love. It begins with angular melody, gradually adding suspensions, homophonic declamation, and a few arpeggiations lending colorful cadences. 

 

It is not just love that resonates in this attractive program. Gagót, by Sidney Guillaume, is about dealing with life’s vicissitudes. Sarah Kirkland Snider’s luminous Psalm of the Soil connects nature and the divine. The longest setting on the recording, it is also the most intricate and interesting formally. 

 

Two song cycles complete the program. Poems by Hafiz, Rumi and Kabir are set in Paul John Rudoi’s Song of Sky and Sea. “At Every Instant” features elaborate syncopations, “The Infinite Dwelling” layers a webbing of contrapuntal passages. “Two Falling Stars” uses glissandos and descending lines in elaborate word painting, and spoken word and equally declamatory singing are featured in “As One Sky.” In addition to being a composer, Rudoi is a tenor vocalist, and one can hear him revel in writing the solo passages of “As One Sky.” 

 

Dale Warland incorporates piano, played here by Andrew Fleser, in his Evening Star triptych. Warland is well known for his direction of vocal groups, including his own Singers. Evening Star demonstrates his skillful composing in a neo-romantic idiom. Sara Teasdale’s poetry is about the stages of grieving that ultimately lead to acceptance of loss. Octave leaps supply “The Falling Star” with powerful resonance,“On a Winter Night,” the middle movement, is particularly haunting, and Cantus impresses in its a cappella tuning between piano interludes in “Stars Over Snow.” Cantus combines beautifully blended passages with strong individual voices. They are welcome to return to the recording studio ASAP. 

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
CD Review, File Under?

My Tree (CD Review)

My Tree

Where the Grace Is

Self-released, 2021

 

The duo My Tree consists of vocalist Caroline Davis and multi-instrumentalist Ben ‘Jamal’ Hoffmann. Davis is best known as a jazz saxophonist and flutist, but on My Tree’s latest recording, Where the Grace Is, she demonstrates an attractive voice comfortable in a hybrid blend of musical styles. These encompass funk and fusion from the seventies and more recent electronic pop. Hoffmann favors vintage gear, including analog synths and a Linn drum machine. He crafts intricate and memorable arrangements and demonstrates keen versatility.

 

Davis’s supple singing serves well the uplifting songs “One More Time,” “What a Joy,” and “Afterglow.” My Tree also addresses social issues in more challenging pieces. “Where the Grace Is” documents the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Rico Sisney is a guest MC on “Run and Rag On,” an energetic and socially conscious anthem repudiating the New Jim Crow. “Our Land Oh” is another track about a recent and regrettable event, the Pulse Nightclub shooting. One can sense the grief contained in Davis’s overdubbed delivery and Hoffmann  plays a tense ostinato riff on Rhodes beside a weighty countermelody in the bass. “Liteshine” juxtaposes the power of the sun with the climate crisis. 

 

My Tree reminds us that we needn’t forget hope and even joy in the midst of the adversity of recent days. Where the Grace Is — a balm for late summer blues. 

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
CD Review, early music, File Under?

Kate Lindsey and Arcangelo Record Nero

Tiranno

Kate Lindsey, mezzo-soprano

Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen, director

Alpha Records – Alpha 736

 

Nero, Emperor of Rome from AD 54-68, is the subject of a set of baroque arias and cantatas on mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey’s latest recording with Arcangelo. Over the course of the program, Lindsey portrays several of the main characters associated with Nero’s biography: the Emperor himself, his mother Agrippina, his first wife Ottavia, and consort Poppea.

 

Alessandro Scarlatti’s cantata Il Nerone presents its titular character at his most tyrannical, singing “In my realm only cruelty reigns.” Lindsey conquers both the fast flying melismas and jaunty swagger of the cantata’s first aria, in which the gods are told to bow down to Nero’s grandeur. Yes, this Nero plays the lyre while Rome burns, which is presented in a chilling, understated manner by Lindsey and Arcangelo. Like the other Scarlatti cantata on the recording, La Morte di Nerone (a premiere recording), Il Nerone ends with a recitative instead of aria, each declaring the tyrant’s intentions. In La Morte di Nerone, these are to commit suicide before the Senate’s agents can capture and execute him like a common outlaw in the arena. Scarlatti at least gives Nero a belated moment of regret, in part making his decision to take his own life based on remorse over murdering Agrippina, Ottavia, and Poppea. It is a compelling interior monologue and Lindsey portrays Nero’s defiance with steely tone and remorse with affecting long lines in straight tone.

 

Many of the composers here were likely inspired to take up the Nero story by Claudio Monteverdi’s last opera, L’Incoronazione di Poppea. Accordingly, Tiranno includes four excerpts from the work. The Act five duet, Or che Seneca é morto, in which Lindsey is joined by tenor Andrew Staples, finds Nero gleeful at the death of his former advisor, the famed philosopher Seneca. The two singers are well-matched and sing runs impressively, playing off one another in contrapuntal passages and declamatory recitatives alike. The most famous piece from the opera, its closing duet Pur ti miro, has in recent decades had its authorship by Monteverdi cast in doubt in favor of Francesco Sacrati, little of whose own music has come down to us. Soprano Nardus Williams and Lindsey sing it sumptuously, making the most of its aching closely written dissonances.

 

Bartolomeo Monari’s La Poppea, another premiere recording, details Poppea’s unfortunate end, kicked to death to Nero while pregnant; the child is lost too. Wrenching dissonance is used daringly by Monari to describe both the death throes and grief of Poppea. Lindsey allows this chromaticism to spur her expressivity, making the cantata an emotive threnody. The intimate interaction between Lindsey and the Arcangelo throughout, but particularly in Monari’s unfamiliar cantata, makes me want to seek out their 2018 recording together, Arianna, forthwith.

 

George Friedrich Handel was fascinated with the character of Agripina, so much so that he wrote an opera with her as the title character and a (now lost) Nero opera. Lindsey impresses in the aria Orrida, oscura, with cleanly delivered coloratura and imaginative ornaments. Her declamation in the recitatives is expressive and varied as well. One can clearly see in the short documentary on the recording how seriously both Lindsey and her instrumental collaborators take expressing the text. Nor are they averse to making a connection between their program about an authoritarian and the strife that has occurred in recent days. The character Nero serves as a warning to those propping up tyrants today: the consequences can be deadly.

 

 

Documentary on the recording:

 

by Christian Carey
Contemporary Classical, Percussion

Future of New Jersey Percussion Ensemble in Jeopardy with departure of Peter Jarvis

It was saddening to learn that Peter Jarvis has been dismissed from his position at William Paterson University. Jarvis has worked with the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, WPU’s elite cadre of music majors, for decades, directing the group in countless premieres and all the major repertory works. 

 

The New Music Series at WPU, also directed by Jarvis, incorporated other musicians alongside the percussion ensemble, making it possible for the students to be coached on music from Cage to Carter. 

 

With Jarvis’s departure, it appears that the important work of NJPE will cease. This is a significant loss for the contemporary classical music community. If you would like to send a testimonial on Peter’s behalf, urging his reinstatement, they may be sent to:

 

Joshua Powers

provost@wpunj.edu

 

by Christian Carey
CD Review, Choral Music, early music, File Under?

Cinquecento Sings Isaac (CD Review)

Heinrich Isaac

Missa Wohlauff gut Gsell von hinnen and other works

Cinquecento

Hyperion Records 

 

While not as famous today as Josquin, Heinrich Isaac (1450-1517) was a contemporary and rival much esteemed during his lifetime. The main work programmed on this recording, Missa Wohlauff gut Gsell von hinnen, makes an explicit connection between the two composers. Comment peult avoir joye?, a monophonic chanson also set polyphonically by Josquin (included on the CD for comparison’s sake), was the subject of a paraphrase mass set early in his career by Isaac. Later, when Isaac was in the service of the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I, the composer discovered a contrafactum text of the song in German, Wohlauff gut Gsell von hinnen. With this in mind, Isaac decided to revisit his earlier mass and greatly expand and elaborate it. The result was one of the most extensive and imposing works of his career. 

 

A six-voice setting, subgroups thereof appear frequently, and the same reduced scorings seldom recur adjacently, creating a wide variety of textures. The male vocal sextet Cinquecento sings with impressive resonance, rendering the counterpoint with clarity, phrasing with sensitivity,  and tutti passages with sonority. They adopt flowing tempos that befit the overlapping lines, particularly those in canon. Missa Wohlauff is a tour-de-force of a variety of canons:  intervallic, proportional, 4-ex-2, and 3-ex-1 (two of them used in the Agnus Dei to end triumphantly). 

 

The recording also contains a half-dozen motets: some of Isaac’s finest. O decus ecclesiae has a tenor built out of the white note, or “natural” hexachord, that subtracts and replaces notes throughout the piece, creating an intricate structure out of initially simple means. The motet is formidably scaled, in excess of twelve minutes in duration, with melismatic upper parts, thickly scored tutti, and a subterranean bass line. The second half moves in a sprightly three against the steady tenor. Recordare, Jesu Christe has a canon in the middle voices and overlapping rhythms in the others that prevent the procedure from being obvious; it closes with a hushed cadence of considerable beauty. Judea et Jerusalem may be by Obrecht, another member of the Josquin generation who deserves more attention today, instead of Isaac. A responsory from the Christmas Vigil built up from the chant in the bass, it consists of imitative counterpoint in long phrases adorned with sumptuous verticals. 

 

Cinquecento’s recording makes an eloquent case for Isaac as a composer of the first rank. Recommended.

 

  • Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
CD Review, Contemporary Classical

Sunleif Rasmussen – Territorial Songs

Territorial Songs, a new CD release from the Our Recordings label features 72 minutes of distinctive recorder music by Sunleif Rasmussen. A native of the remote Faroe Islands, Rasmussen is nevertheless widely known for his compositions. He received critical acclaim in 2002 when his Symphony No. 1, Oceanic Days won The Nordic Council Music Prize. A particular passion of Rasmussen over the years has been the composition of recorder music and this CD is the product of his creative attempts to bring the recorder into a contemporary context. Michala Petri, a prominent recorder player, performs on all the pieces and whose virtuosity is clearly key to this project. The eleven tracks on the CD span a wide range of musical forms – from recorder solo pieces to accompaniment by small ensembles – all the way up to a full orchestral treatment. Rasmussen has made the recorder the centerpiece for all the works on this album and he has succeeded brilliantly in bringing new relevance to this seemingly humble instrument.

Flow (2012), for recorder and string trio, is the first piece on the album and consists of three movements. Inspired by Mozart’s Flute Quartet in D Major, K. 285, Flow as heard on this album is a world premiere recording. The “Allegro” opens with a nicely active rhythm in the strings while the recorder rides above the accompaniment with an agile phrasing that features an impressive flexibility. The harmonies offer a hint of tension so that the result is pleasant and unsettling at the same time. The part writing is complex, but beautifully played and the recorder darts in and out of the broken rhythms that make up the overall texture. “Tranquillo”, the second movement, begins with soft cello notes that produce an easy and relaxed feel, propelled by an ambling pizzicato line in the violin and viola. The recorder entrance features an almost clarinet-like timbre and includes a series scales and runs that contrast well with the strings. At about 4 minutes into this movement, low buzzing cello sounds build a strong foundation while at the same time introducing an element of tension as the pizzicato line becomes more frenetic. Soon, the recorder sounds fuzzy as well, and the piece slowly loses it’s opening tranquility. Towards the finish, high, thin and sustained tones in the violins add a feeling of sharpness. The Esbjerg Ensemble accompanies with skill and sophistication. The part writing is brilliant here, with each instrument making a distinctive contribution to the whole.

“Rondeau”, the third movement, features busy string phrases with the recorder melody reaching to the heights above. There is a sort of a stop-and-go feel to this; the passages are independent in the various parts and detached from the recorder line. As usual, the ensemble is tight and it seems as if there are more instruments playing than scored. The orchestration is artfully done, always leaving enough acoustic space for the clean sounds of the recorder solo. Impatient and active, the recorder is allowed cut through the texture and at times, dominate. All of this results in an appropriately upbeat ending to Flow.

The second work on the CD is Jeg (2011), and this features the bass recorder accompanied by a cappella choir, the Danish National Vocal Ensemble led by Stephen Layton. Based on Danish modernist poet Inger Christensen’s text, the piece opens with a hauntingly deep recorder solo that establishes an exotic feel. As the choir enters, several separate lines of voices are often heard as the recorder obbligatto weaves in and around the vocals. Once again the orchestration is extremely precise, allowing a complex interplay to unfold between the voices and the newly-entered soprano recorder. The vocals are faintly reminiscent of Benjamin Britten and carry the drama solidly forward, always engaging the listener. A solemn recorder solo completes this piece.

Sorrow and Joy (2017), another world premiere recording, is the third piece on this CD and is written as a fantasy for solo recorder. The opening line is clear with a simple, declarative melody inspired by Thomas Kingo’s, hymn Sorrig og Glæde (sorrow and Joy). The tone is somber and reserved but soon variations in the melody lighten the mood, as if the melancholy is lifting. In his excellent liner notes, Joshua Cheek writes of this piece: “Thomas Kingo, (1634 – 1703), was a clergyman and poet whose works are considered the high point of Danish Baroque poetry. For the musical component Rasmussen takes Kingo’s melody and subjects it to 12 figural variations, which become increasingly virtuosic, the final variation also functioning as a cadenza.” The great underlying strength of the hymn tune compliments all of these variations superbly, even as the agile recorder notes dart in and around the stolid cantus firmus. Sorrow and Joy is perfectly centered in its Baroque context, equally pleasing to the ear and brain. The performance by Michala Petri is simply sublime.

Winter Echoes (2014) follows, a work for recorder and 13 solo strings, as performed by the Lapland Chamber Orchestra directed by Clemens Schuldt. This begins in the strings with a low growl accompanied by short, insistent passages in the upper strings. Quiet recorder phrases thread carefully through the string passages which are scored to allow space for the solos. The piece progresses in three sections, creating what amounts to a convincing portrait of the wintry mix of weather common among the islands of the North Sea. The recorders employed progress from bass to sopranino and as the pitches rise, the mood progresses from dark to light. The very high recorder passages towards the finish add a compelling, icy sting. Winter Echoes is more complex than, say, Vivaldi’s “Winter” movement of The Four Seasons, but both share the same needle-sharp edges.

Territorial Songs (2009) is the final piece on the album and is a concerto for recorder and orchestra consisting of five short movements. The solo recorder is accompanied by the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. According to the liner notes: “The idea for the piece came from the singing of birds. In nature, bird song has two main functions: to defend a territory and to attract a mate. Rasmussen extended this idea of ‘territorial space’ to the orchestra as well letting some sections play independent of the conductor, marking their own territory within the orchestral landscape.”

“Leggiero”, the first movement, opens with tubular bells at the start followed by rapid orchestra phrases. The recorder line is independent of the orchestra and has a distinctly abstract quality that goes its own way. The bells add a touch of the transcendental, as if the forest is a cathedral. The interplay between the orchestra and recorder nicely captures the confident chirping of a bird in the wood. “Misterioso”, the second movement, continues with the tubular bells and repeating mystical phrases in the harp, followed by muted trumpets. The recorder enters with syncopated passages that weave in and out of the accompaniment to great effect. Pizzicato strings bubble beneath the recorder, adding to the mystery. This is extremely well orchestrated, allowing the recorder to dominate the texture without getting lost in the accompaniment. The movement is abstract and complex, yet beautifully cohesive.

The final movement, “Leggiero”, opens with insistent drum beats and powerful lower string phrasing. The other sections of the orchestra join in to create a swirling palette of sound. The recorder enters with a dizzying series of scales ending with a sly solo stretch. The orchestra and recorder take turns dominating, but never interfere. A fabulously frenetic finish completes the concerto. With Rasmussen’s brilliant writing, the recorder stands a bit taller now in the woodwind family. Territorial Songs is a masterful pairing of the full orchestra with the slender sound of the recorder such that the excellent orchestration and solo playing contribute equally to its exuberant success.

Territorial Songs is available from Amazon Music and is also distributed by Naxos.




by Paul Muller
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Danny Driver Records Ligeti (CD Review)

 

György Ligeti

The 18 Etudes

Danny Driver

Hyperion

 

Composed between 1985 and 2001, the 18 Etudes by György Ligeti are an eloquent summary of the techniques he had developed throughout his career. They rival the best collections of etudes for piano while adding substantially to the variety of technical means to be explored, particularly in the realms of polyrhythm and sonority. 

 

There are a number of recordings of the Etudes and it is difficult to choose a favorite: different ones excel at various aspects of these multifaceted works. Danny Driver’s is a strong contender. Amply powerful where required, Driver’s playing also brings out a variety of dynamic shadings, with passages of exceptional delicacy (notably absent in some other interpretations). For instance, Driver’s rendition of “White on White,” in which both hands play white note collections, is diaphanous in the beginning and coda and incisive in the moto perpetuo middle. He demonstrates mastery over the technical challenges and has a keen sense for the reference points found in each Etude. 

 

Several interests that Ligeti developed late in his career impacted the language of the Etudes: the minimalism of Steve Reich, African music, and an abiding love of rhythmic canons that expanded to encompass the work of Conlon Nancarrow. One can also see in the list of dedicatees – Pierre Boulez (to whom the first three Etudes are dedicated), Mauricio Kagel, György Kurtág, and Pierre-Laurent Aimard among them – the music and performance qualities of others respected by Ligeti that in turn filter through the Etudes. 

 

There are three books of Etudes, the first containing six, the second eight, and the last book four. Many have self-imposed restrictions that create intriguing, at times playful results. For instance, the first Etude Désordre consists of ascending and descending polyrhythms, with the left hand playing only black keys and the right white keys, thus juxtaposing pentatonic and pandiatonic collections. Galamb Borong also has a different scale for each hand, the two whole tone collections meant to stand in for the scales of Balinese gamelan. Automne à Varsovie is a canon in polytempo, with overlapping relationships of 3,4,5,6,7, and 8, and a perpetually descending motive.

 

Coloana Infinita, the 14th Etude, is the tour-de-force among formidable pieces. The original version was viewed as unplayable by humans, and made into a player piano piece a lá Nancarrow. The revised version is scarcely less daunting, Thick pile ups of chords build a multi-textured ascent. It sounds like at least three hands are required, but Driver manages just fine with two, wielding intensity and virtuosity in impressive fashion. He provides a similarly energetic performance of Vertige, its fortissimo, chromatic music, this time descending, devolves into a soft rumble only at its conclusion. 

 

The final work of Book Three, a brief Canon, is rendered with effusion and a coy, pianissimo coda that is an enigmatic valediction. Canon demonstrates Ligeti’s continued inspiration and considerable imagination late in life. Driver’s recording is a fitting celebration of the composer’s legacy. Recommended.

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey