Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Ojai

Ojai Music Festival – Friday June 7, 2024

The 78th annual Ojai Music Festival opened on Thursday June 6, 2024 and continued through Sunday June 9. The Music Director for this year was Mitsuko Uchida. Featured artists included the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, violinist Alexi Kenney , cellist Jay Campbell, bassist Rick Stotijn and the Brentano String Quartet. The Ojai Festival always brings a mixture of fresh contemporary music along with the works of cherished composers such as J.S.Bach, W.A. Mozart and Béla Bartók. The cool morning weather did not deter a good turnout for the 10:00 AM Friday concert in the Libbey Bowl.

First up was Julie Smith Phillips performing Fall, a piece for solo harp and electronics by the late Kaija Saariaho. Thomas May’s program notes state that Fall is “…an arresting example of Saariaho’s ability to convey an assemblage of freely associated images through the interchange of acoustic and electronic sounds and a poetics of timbre.” Repeating light phrases open Fall accompanied by a churning counterpoint in the lower registers. This produces a feeling of uncertainty that is accentuated by the absence of definite rhythms or a solid pulse. The lack of a leading melody confirms that Fall is all about texture and contrast, propelled by an active tempo. The electronics and amplification intensify the timbrel palette of the normally reserved harp, and all of this is well-managed by Ms. Phillips. There is a brief stretch of simple, solitary notes in the upper registers offset by aggressive passages below, adding a sense of mystery. A series of strong arpeggios in the higher notes follow, introducing a feeling of menace. Fall is both dramatic and atmospheric and brings the normally soft spoken harp into new and expressive territory.

Pression, by Helmut Lachenmann followed, a solo cello piece performed by Jay Campbell. The piece opens with a series of whispers and soft scratches as the bow is lightly drawn across the strings. This soon escalates to angry growling sounds and vivid thumps applied to the cello wood. Pression is a series of amazing extended techniques on the cello that varies from soft ghostly tones to a rough, mechanical sound. Campbell was in full control of his instrument despite the fact that it was operating completely beyond the conventional sonic envelope of the normally stately cello. Pression is an impressive demonstration of what is possible when the elegant is completely given over to the physical.

Five Etudes, by Sofia Gubaidulina, was next. This is a five movement piece scored for harp, percussion and double bass. “Largo”, the first movement opened solemnly with a double bass solo consisting of single notes. The harp enters, followed by pitched percussion with everyone in a slow tempo and soft dynamic. A satisfying yet gentle groove soon developed. The percussion was effective, keeping a steady pulse while the harp and bass lines weaved in and around each other. “Allegretto” followed with an increased tempo and prominent drumming by percussionist Sae Hashimoto projecting the beat. This movement was stylish and jazzy, yet tastefully restrained. The “Adagio”, movement 3, consisted of lines of quiet solitary notes from the harp that were answered by the double bass. A soft trill was heard from the pitched percussion, enhanced by a metal chain draped over one of the vibraphone plates. This contributed a slightly mysterious feeling. Strong arpeggios in the harp opened movement 4, “Allegro disparato”, accompanied by a sharp drum beat. This was uptempo, described in the program notes as a “desperate Allegro.” Rapidly repeating cells in the marimba were offset by a solemn melody in the bass.

The final etude, “Andante”, started with slow pizzicato notes in the bass and counterpoint in the harp. This evolved into a comfortable walking bass line below combined with hip riffs above; an engaging mixture. Five Etudes was perhaps the most conventional of the contemporary pieces in the Friday morning concert. The playing was skillfully done, especially by Naomi Shaham on the double bass who was a last minute substitution.

The final work on the concert program was String Quartet No. 5, by Béla Bartók performed by the Brentano String Quartet. This was written in the summer of 1934 and carries all of the weighty anxiety of pre-war Central Europe. All five movements were performed and the energy and gritty complexity of this music is striking, even at this distance in time since its premiere. The Brentano Quartet played this with precision and brilliance over its entire 31 minute length. String Quartet No. 5 remains gripping in its intensity and a showcase for the high level of creativity and extraordinary technique that was present in early 20th century music.

The Brentano Quartet is:

Mark Steinberg, violinist
Serena Canin, violinist
Misha Amory, viola
Nina Lee, cello

Photo Credit: Timothy Teague

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

Caroline Shaw & Sō Percussion – Sing On (Video)

Photo: Adam Sliwinski

Composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist Caroline Shaw rejoins Sō Percussion for Rectangles and Circumstance, a new full length recording out today on Nonesuch. To celebrate the release, a video for the lead-off single, “Sing On,” has been released on YouTube today.

Rectangles and Circumstance combines imaginative percussion writing with abundant electronics and Shaw’s pop-adjacent singing. Shaw takes on an assured and distinctive role. Her voice is sometimes treated to make it nearly unrecognizable. Elsewhere, her singing is presented in its natural, fetchingly lyrical guise. Sō has developed a sound world that befits Shaw’s heterogeneous compositions, using a plethora of pitched percussion, drums, and electronics. Whether the music leans towards pop, classicism, or totalism, it is uniformly engaging. Recommended

-Christian Carey

 

 

 

by Christian Carey
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, Los Angeles, Strings

John Luther Adams – Waves and Particles

Cold Blue Music has released Waves and Particles, a new CD by John Luther Adams featuring the JACK Quartet. This new album by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Adams explores the deeper levels of elemental nature through extraordinary musical expression. The composer writes: “Waves and Particles was inspired by quantum physics, fractal geometry, and noise – which function as elemental metaphors in my music.” This is realized by the renowned JACK Quartet who artfully extract new and exceptional sounds from the standard string quartet. This new album follows three previous CDs by Adams, released by the Cold Blue label and recorded by the JACK Quartet.

Particle dust, track 1, opens with a rapidly repeating tutti phrase that carries a strong sense of power and motion. The dense texture and churning sound is reminiscent of Steve Reich’s classic Different Trains. The music is dominated by this texture and surges forward without melody or counterpoint like a swirling cloud of particles. Pauses occur, filled with softly ethereal sustaining tones that break up the hard driving tutti sections. The texture alternately thins and swells depending on various combinations of string parts. At 4:20 a few seconds of silence is heard followed by a series of delicate sustained tones, as if the piece is gathering its breath. The fast growling in the cello returns as the other parts enter, building the intensity. The playing by JACK is rapid but always under control. Particle dust is engaging without convention and compelling in its purpose.

Spectral waves follows and, by contrast to the first track, begins with a lush sustained chord that slowly increases in volume. The smooth tones gradually change in color and evoke a warm, welcoming feeling. Introspective and nostalgic, never fast or flashy, spectral waves shares the same gentle sensibility as heard in The Wind in High Places and other John Luther Adams string pieces. The parts blend well together and the result is a soothing bath of beautiful sounds. Velocity waves, track 3, returns to the rapid and rugged textures of particle dust. The fast chugging sounds in the cello are offset by slowing notes in the higher registers. The tempo gradually slows as the dynamics decrease. The phrasing surges and swells, only to fall back again in a repeating pattern. These cycles seem to vary in pitch, velocity, acceleration and deceleration. At 4:20 the sounds turn languid and soft for a short stretch, but soon recover their previous energy. At times, the tempo in the lower strings is slowing while that in the violins is increasing – and then they reverse. The final dash to the finish in the lower strings perfectly captures the concept of a velocity wave. The unexpected charm of velocity waves is the direct result of the precise and disciplined playing by the JACK Quartet.

Tridac waves, track 4, is next and opens with low sounds, increasing in volume and pitch, then reversing. The effect is like that of a sluggish siren but with an urgent and immediate unease. These siren-like sounds proceed in layers and in different registers. This pattern continuously repeats, but splits between the parts; some times the higher registers dominate while at other times the lower strings lead. Tridac waves is full of unusual and alarming sounds, skillfully conjured from conventional string instruments.

Murmurs in a chromatic field, track 5, features a series of scary sustained tremolos that immediately produce a dark, spooky feeling. The tones and timbre are unusual for strings and might well have been electronically synthesized. As the piece proceeds, the sounds and pitches become more alien and spacey. Some conventional chords are heard from time to time, giving the rest of the piece some harmonic context. Brief silences appear between the longer stretches of sound, and this adds to the sense of mystery. More pauses follow, in a similar pattern and the silences get longer towards the fading finish. Murmurs in a chromatic field is an apt title for this piece – it is quietly intimate and beautifully performed.

Particles rising is the final track on the album and opens with short bursts of four delicate violin notes. This is followed by a pause, then repeated several times. The second violin joins in with same rhythm, and in harmony. The viola and cello enter, in turn, until all four parts are engaged in sustained tones and a lovely warm harmonic wash. Fast skittering notes in the upper voices are heard, culminating in a strong and continuous fiddling in all four parts. The lower strings soon dominate with a strong dynamic and a full, growling texture. Short stretches of quiet sustained tones in harmony punctuate the harsher sounds, offering the listener a fine contrast. All of this is played with skillful ensemble despite the absence of a leading melody or strong pulse. Particles rising is a muscular piece appropriate to a strong physical phenomenon, but never overwhelming or alien in character.

This album is full of remarkable sounds that the composer extracts from the conventional string quartet. Quantum physics, fractal geometry, and noise are part of the natural world, yet we know of them only abstractly by scientific observation and measurement using complicated machines. Can these phenomena be treated in the same way as mountains, forests, rivers and oceans? The music in this album, although often powerful, is never distant or intimidating. Rather it shares the same welcoming warmth of other string quartets by Adams, inspired by the conventional natural world. Waves and Particles makes a strong case that we need to embrace the totality of nature, even down to its elemental particles.

The JACK Quartet is:

Christopher Otto, violin
Austin Wulliman, violin
John Richards, viola
Jay Campbell, cello

Waves and particles is available directly from Cold Blue Music and from US retailers by Naxos and other music outlets.

by Paul Muller
Choral Music, Concert review, File Under?

The Manhattan Choral Ensemble Sings Victoria (Concert review)

The Manhattan Choral Ensemble, Thomas Cunningham, Director

The Victoria Requiem

Church of the Blessed Sacrament

May 18, 2024

By Christian Carey for Sequenza 21

 

NEW YORK – The Manhattan Choral Ensemble is an auditioned forty-voice group. Among them are enthusiastic amateurs, professional singers who want to work with Director Thomas Cunningham, who is a dynamic musician and imaginative programmer, and singers from music-adjacent pursuits, notably musical theater. A diverse group to be sure, but they sing beautifully together. 

 

The main offering on their May concert program was by Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611), his Requiem Mass, published in 1605. Victoria was chaplain in Madrid to Empress Maria, and the piece was written for her funeral in 1603. It is one of the most highly regarded works of the late Renaissance. 

 

MCE performed both the chant and polyphonic portions of the mass, impressively tuned in unison passages and counterpoint alike. Cunningham took tempos realistic for a forty-voice group. At the same time, he urged them to sing in animated fashion, crafting a rendition of the Requiem that retained a sense of period practice. 

 

Recognizing that his audience came to the concert with varying levels of background, Cunningham introduced the Requiem with a brief overview. Between sections, he discussed the piece, pointing out aspects of the music to listen for and features of its text. It was an excellent way to help attendees listen to a piece in liturgical Latin, and in a style that may have been foreign to some of them.

 

The program included a few other pieces interspersed with movements of the Requiem. While including texts that were appropriate additions, this afforded listeners a pause from Victoria’s musical language. Beati quorum via, by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), is broken into sections of women and men in canon that then come together in sumptuous harmonies. The piece affords the sopranos an opportunity to sing in soaring upper lines, and the other parts each to access their best respective registers, the conclusion saving and savoring the low basses.

 

Abendlied by Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901) is a gently lyrical piece using short imitative exchanges that alternate with homophonic passages and cadences redolent of late Romanticism. The concert concluded with In Paradisum, by Z. Randall Stroope (b. 1953), which is dedicated, “In honor of the victims of the coronavirus pandemic, and the thousands of families left behind.” A touching composition in a colorful pantonal language with rich dynamic contrasts, including swelling crescendos and gently reflective pianissimo passages. This was followed by a brief Responsorium in plainchant. The additions to the program demonstrated the versatility of MCE, capable of performing early music, emotive Romantic fare, and a challenging twenty-first century piece. 

 

Visual art is often featured as part of the group’s presentations. Allison Walker created beautiful, abstract prints that were placed around the performance space, illuminating each of the movements of the Requiem. Art, music, and an interspersed lecture all served to support a memorable performance by the Manhattan Choral Ensemble. 

 

by Christian Carey
BMOP, CDs, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Orchestras

BMOP Records Galbraith (CD Review)

Nancy Galbraith

Everything Flows

BMOP Sound

Published by Sequenza 21 

 

Nancy Galbraith has taught for a number of years at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. During that time, she has created a body of compelling orchestral works. Colorfully scored and post-minimal in approach, Galbraith’s music has received prominent performances but been relatively underserved on recording. As a corrective, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, conducted by Gil Rose, has recorded for BMOPsound three of her concertos, all written in the past eight years. 

 

Violin Concerto No. 1 (2017) was premiered by its soloist here, Alyssa Wang, with the Carnegie Mellon Contemporary Ensemble. In the liner notes, Galbraith says that the piece was waiting for a talent like Wang with whom to collaborate. While it is surprising that it took the composer this long to create a violin concerto – she has written well for strings in the past – the piece is an important one in her catalog, in which she explores an abiding interest – Asian music. 

 

The first movement employs the sliding tone and rotating pentatonic scales found in Chinese music. Alongside it is a riff using the same scalar elements but with a blues scale cast. The soloist remains in the world of Asia, while the ensemble traverses the musical distance between Beijing and the Bayou, particularly in the piano part and the movement’s final cadence. There is even a snatch in the middle of a Gershwin-like sauntering dance. The second movement, subtitled “Eggshell White Night,” inhabits an impressionist sound world, the solo intermingling with flute, harp, and an exotic theme in the strings and brass. It underscores the connection between French music at the turn of the twentieth century and the incorporation of non-Western materials. 

 

The last movement intersperses short arcing cadenzas and perpetual motion passages with another theme using five-note scales in the strings. As the piece progresses, harp, chimes, and wind chords are added to the mix. The violin soloist plays modal arpeggiations against polyrhythms in the orchestra, then a final cadenza, beginning slowly with double-stops and building to an emphatic flourish. The orchestra rejoins, presenting the theme against a final scalar passage that closes the piece in the stratosphere. Here as elsewhere, Wang does a superb job balancing virtuosity and expressivity, creating a thoughtful and ebullient reading of the concerto that befits its heterogeneous identity.

 

Lindsey Goodman is the soloist in Galbraith’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (2019). The opening sets up metric transformations and mixed meters in bongos and other drums, and Goodman soon enters with a syncopated solo that serves as the theme for the movement. Her tone, even in the highest portions of the melody, is rich and dynamically nuanced. Chords in the strings and mallet instruments accompany a second melody, bifurcated into oscillations and arpeggiations. Repeated notes move the piece into a brisk section completed by a cadenza with a series of special effects. The main theme returns to complete the movement. 

 

The second movement features chimes and imitation between the strings and the flute solo. It is an elegant combination of exoticism and pastoral effect. Eventually, the flute is joined in a contrapuntal version of its solo and then a ground bass in the strings that lead into another cadenza passage, this one using standard techniques with off-kilter  phrasing. The chimes, other pitched percussion, and a registrally dispersed version of the string chords accompany a denouement in the soloist and winds. The final movement is a moto perpetuo redolent of South Asian rhythms and melodic elements. Once again, the bongos provide a strong groove that is soon replicated rhythmically by the flute in flurries of arpeggios. The soloist remains in the foreground, with harp and pizzicato strings joining. The tempo downshifts a bit and a muscular passage of string melodies and overblown flute is accompanied by clangorous percussion. A final cadenza brings the music to a boil, with a racing tutti passage accompanying the flute playing fleet arpeggios and an altissimo octave leap to conclude. 

 

Everything Flows: Concerto for Solo Percussion and Orchestra, is an ideal showcase for the talented percussionist Abby Langhorst. Syncopated, jazz-inflected riffs include an Aeolian theme that serves as a refrain between solo breaks and appears fragmented elsewhere. An electric guitar adds to the vernacular quality of the orchestration. The percussionist plays a number of non-pitched instruments, including a plethora of different-sized drums, woodblock, brake drums, and cymbals. They embellish the refrain rhythms by successively troping it and adding contrasting polyrhythms. The percussionist also gets their own chance to play the refrain in glockenspiel passages. There is an oasis in the midst of the work, with the soloist undertaking a lyrical melody on vibraphone. The departure from it slowly rebuilds from small solo passages in several of the winds and then a subdued major key ground that adds vibraphone, guitar, and double bass. As this floats away, the final theme is announced by quick lines on the marimba. This is a feint, as we return to the earlier ambience. A chiming solo passage, accompanied by alto flute and sustained strings, is belatedly succeeded by a return to the uptempo riff on woodblock and a fortissimo cadenza of toms, bass drum, and, finally, the entire fleet of drums at the soloist’s disposal. The main theme returns in an artful division into the various sections in swinging counterpoint. The soloist buoys the ensemble with the groove from his final cadenza, the piece ending in a fortissimo tutti.

Galbraith’s recent concertos are expert creations. Abetted by abundantly talented soloists and the skilful advocacy and playing of BMOP under Rose, this release is highly recommended.

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
Ambient, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music

Steve Blum – Stained Glass

On February 1, 2024, sadfam records released Stained Glass, a new album of experimental electronic ambient music by Los Angeles-based keyboardist Steve Blum. Inspired by the glasswork at the Zionskirche in Berlin, this album is “…where the past and future intersect: destruction and creation, ostentation and modesty, reactionaryism and progressivism.“ Minimalist in structure with a variety of electronic and ambient sounds, Stained Glass skillfully blends technology with the art of music.

Forest is the first track of the album and has a bright, bouncy piano line to open. The notes sparkle like rain drops as a countermelody is heard in the middle register. A low, twangy guitar line weaves its way in and around the others. This results in a nice groove with all the elements balanced and working together. About halfway through, a slower section of bass tones dominates as the piano lines recede into the smooth overall texture. Forest has an energy and variety that uplifts and refreshes. Towards the finish the tempo slows as the sounds diminish and thin out to a quiet ending.

Kinetic, track 2, opens with solitary beeps in a simple melody, soon joined by other lines that form a bubbly, playful groove. This has a strongly percussive texture – a bit like being inside a pin ball machine. About halfway through, the rhythms start to unravel and no longer seem to be following the same beat. There is a rising sense of disorder but this soon recovers back into a steady beat before fading to the finish. Kinetic is both an elemental and lovely piece.

Track 3 is Dialogue and this opens with a strong beat in a repeated, syncopated knocking sound. Aggressive and only minimally melodic, electronic beeps soon join in to form a swirl of new, higher lines. Different rhythms appear with strange sounds, some of which are reminiscent of music by Weather Report. The knocking continues independently, as if in a dialog with a call but no response. There is an intriguing, mysterious feeling to Dialogue.

At just a little over two minutes in length, the shortest piece of the album is Interlude, track 4,. This has a nice rolling beat in the middling registers with some lovely rhythms above. There is a sunny and optimistic feeling to this as well as a sense of roiling purpose. The texture becomes broken and sketchy as the short existence of Interlude dissembles at the finish. Acting as a kind of bookend is Postlude, another short piece that concludes the album on track 10. This is solo piano music with a gentle and melodic opening, conventional harmony as well as a warm romantic feeling. Not fast or flashy but quiet and thoughtful – a perfect way to end Stained Glass.

Reflection, track 5, is the longest piece on the album and features vocalist Kathryn Shuman. In fact, according to the composer “…every sound on track 5 is from a sample of Kathryn’s voice, re-pitched and edited.” This opens with a long series of electronic beeps and boops that are sometimes in harmony and sometimes dissonant. The sounds pulse rapidly through different registers and seem very much like signaling. There is a lot of energy here, partly electronic and partly vocal. Yet overall these elements blend together into a coherent texture. Bubbly and welcoming at times while strident and alien at other times. Ms. Shuman’s vocals are both agile and highly creative, mixing well amid the swirl of sounds.

At about 5:45 lower and warmer sounds are heard underneath in two different lines. This has an organic and exotic feel that could be a conversation in a foreign language; perhaps a discussion between life forms? A low vocal gesture finishes the piece. Reflection is engaging and animated throughout.

Puristic follows on track 6 with sharp, single electronic notes accompanied by a bass beat. This has a distinctly percussive and explosive feel, like listening to popcorn. Several interleaving lines enter and fade with repeating figures. An altogether happy sound, upbeat and sunny. As the piece proceeds, the lines wander in their rhythms evoking the other-worldly before returning to a more coherent texture. Puristic is joyful yet precise music.

Uncle, track 7, opens with an intense all percussion sound. The rhythms syncopate briefly then return, developing into a nice groove. This has a primal feel with a strong beat and inviting texture. Some rapid drumming adds to the energy of Uncle, an inventive piece that gets a lot out of its mix of percussion. The next track, Idyllic, also has a strong percussive presence, combined with a smooth electronic melody line that is nicely offset by counterpoint below. Idyllic rolls along with different lines moving around but always giving off a sweetly contented vibe.

Ocean, track 9, follows, opening smoothly with a gentle but deliberate tempo. A simple piano line arcs over over sustained chords in strings. The slow rising and falling of the dynamic evokes a calm ocean, and the warm harmonic undercurrents produce a quiet, reflective ambiance. Ocean is always at ease as it drifts along, free of tension or anxiety, a beautiful piece of music.

Stained Glass successfully combines alluring and colorful electronics with minimalist rhythmic energy. Steve Blum’s music is exotic, but not alien, and at the same time it is agreeably familiar in its emotional intention.

Stained Glass is available for digital download at Bandcamp.

by Paul Muller
Cello, Classical Music, Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Piano, Violin, Women composers

The Knights at Carnegie Hall: It’s a Family Affair

Pianist Jeffrey Kahane with The Knights
Pianist Jeffrey Kahane with The Knights (credit Jennifer Taylor)

It’s always a family affair with The Knights. The orchestra was founded in 2007 by the brothers Eric and Colin Jacobsen, who share artistic director duties as well as musical positions (Eric is conductor; Colin is concertmaster). Another family connection on the May 16, 2024 program at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall was that of the soloist, the pianist Jeffrey Kahane, for whom his son Gabriel Kahane wrote a concerto. Heirloom, a work which explores music through the lens of several generations of Kahane’s family, received its New York premiere at this concert. Its conventional three-movemennt construct and post-Shostakovich style fit right in with 21st century classical music – especially of the ilk that The Knights often features on its programs. The pianist Jeffrey Kahane was as virtuosic a player as when he burst onto the classical music scene in the early 1980’s as a finalist of the Van Cliburn Piano Competition. He flew through the complex rhythms and flashy runs musically and compellingly, every note a joy to hear. In the first section, “Guitars in the Attic,” G. Kahane explored the colors of the orchestra, from the shining brass to a florid section highlighting double reeds to a whimsical melody played by marimba.

The emotionally penetrating middle movement, “My Grandmother Knew Alban Berg,” alludes to Gabriel’s grandmother’s love for German music and culture contrasting with the terrors of Nazi Germany from which she narrowly escaped. The movement began with a languid trumpet solo in a duet with the piano, and I’m guessing that the solo piano melody was a tone-row (a compositional element at the core of Berg’s style). The center section includes a dense “Brahmsian” theme with a German flair.

The composer looks at life through the eyes of his young daughter in the final movement. “Vera’s Chicken-Powered Transit Machine” (the title refers to a makeshift toy crafted out of an empty diaper carton) included fiddling strings, a playful wood block and muted staccato trumpet. The work’s kickass conclusion was predictable, but that didn’t make it any less thrilling.

Singer-songwriter-composer-guitarist Gabriel Kahane with The Knights
Singer-songwriter-composer-guitarist Gabriel Kahane with The Knights (credit Jennifer Taylor)

The younger Kahane is more known as a singer-songwriter than as a composer of concert music. He has a compelling voice, both aurally and figuratively. The audience at Zankel was treated to two of his songs, both with the composer as vocalist and electric guitarist, accompanied by The Knights with Mr. Kahane, Sr. at the piano. Where Are the Arms was on the program immediately following Heirloom; and Little Love was a touching encore at the end of the concert.

The program opened with Rhapsody No. 2, a work by Jessie Montgomery heard for the first time in this version for violin and orchestra created by Michi Wiancko. The violinist Colin Jacobsen was the soloist, in complete command of the fiddle techniques that this colorful work required. With Copelandesque chords and jazzy rhythms, the work’s style was unequivocally “American”.

Cellist Karen Ouzounian with The Knights (credit Jennifer Taylor)
Cellist Karen Ouzounian with The Knights (credit Jennifer Taylor)

A sumptuous work for cello and strings by Anna Clyne led the second half of the concert. Soloist Karen Ouzounian, a member of The Knights cello section, displayed her gorgeous singing tone on Shorthand, a beautifully lush composition. Clyne’s melodies reference Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata and Janacek’s String Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata.”

The Knights turned to a crowd pleasing and familiar Mozart symphony, No. 31, “Paris”, at the end of the program. The group’s beautiful performance, oozing with musicality, precision and effective dynamic contrast proved their facility with core repertoire as well as newly minted gems.

This was the final concert of the ensemble’s three-program series at Carnegie this season. They’ll return to the Zankel stage for three concerts in the 2024-2025 season, with performances on October 24, February 20, and May 15.

by Gail Wein
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Richard Baker – The Tyranny of Fun (CD Review)

Richard Baker 

The Tyranny of Fun

NMC Recordings

 

Composer and conductor Richard Baker (b. 1972) has been an important fixture on the British new music scene for over a decade. While The Tyranny of Fun refers to a work on the recording, it also could be seen as an analog for Baker’s mixture of fierceness and whimsy in many of his pieces. He had the right teacher – Louis Andriessen at the Hague – to develop this sort of emotional dichotomy in his work. He has also championed composers like Gerald Barry and Philip Venables, who both walk an eclectic tightrope in their respective oeuvres.

 

The recording opens with Baker playing Crank, a brief piece for a diatonic music box that emphasizes playful delicacy. Made out of material from Andriessen, it in no way sounds like a student work. Crank is immediately followed by the far more forceful Motet II, an instrumental work (note the paradox), played by the contemporary ensemble CHROMA, conducted by the composer. Cast in six movements, Motet II is Baker’s Covid piece: like so many others, he was confined to his home during the worst of the pandemic, responding with a work that stretched his language to a viscerality that is both challenging and moving.

The title piece was commissioned by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, conducted on the recording by Finnegan Downie Dear and adorned with live electronics by Nye Parry. The concept of fun as tyranny resonates with the endless birthday parties and children’s activities that a friend of Baker’s, who coined the phrase, meant. One can also look at it as the exhausting approach to consumption and the relentless pursuit of faux connectivity through electronic devices that has plagued our era. 

 

The first movement’s refrain is a pulsating bass drum, reminiscent of a car driving past with a thunderous subwoofer engaged. Horn solos and low harp are juxtaposed with Stravinskyian terse melodies from flutes and piccolo. It is night music for an oversaturated urban landscape. In the second movement, low winds provide a minor third ostinato while strings deploy descending glissandos and pizzicatos, and brass undertake short blasts. The electronics are more prominent with cascades of chords and blurting melodies. The bass drum effect appears at particular points, this time accompanied by a syncopated, jazz-inspired arrangement. The low winds morph from interval to a swinging riff that is regularly interrupted by synthesizer in a modernist vein. The percussion is filled out to make a bespoke kit to accompany the arrangement. Partway through, fragments of the aforementioned are juxtaposed, often alternating rapidly. Learning to Fly finishes with a slow drag groove, followed by an accelerando, ending with the thrumming bass drum and two cymbal strikes. 

 

Angelus is a finely textured piece for the percussionist group Three Angels. Chimes reminiscent of the Angelus bells – a Sunday night tradition in Ireland – and pitched percussion are built over a staggered eighth note rhythm. In its latter half, shifts of instrumentation and accentuation provide surprising moments in this otherwise quite subdued work. It closes with chiming, leaving us to the contemplation of the Angelus experience. 

 

Learning to Fly is a three-movement piece for BCMG, once again conducted by Dear. It is Baker’s music appearing as totalist in style, with the first movement featuring basset clarinet, played by Oliver Janes and horn solos (the latter playing a blues scale), a Downtown groove from the percussion, repeated notes in the winds, and Hammond organ stabs. Marked “Boisterously,” it behaves as advertised. A raucous set of horn calls and high flutes in an ever-quickening accelerando closes the first movement, which leads attacca into the next, marked “Somnolent.” Janes plays a mysterious solo that is accompanied by pitched percussion and high flutes (mimicking their previous lines). Lurching winds and sustained harmony end the second movement pianissimo. A slap attack announces the last movement, subtitled “Suddenly Awake,” succeeded by a repeated-note filled solo from Janes accompanied by puckish percussion. Tutti chords and then horn solos are both added to the solo plus percussion cohort. Bass drum, cymbals and tutti brass overtake the proceedings in stentorian fashion. In the midst, the basset clarinet emerges, supported by the other members of the wind cohort. A slow horn solo and chimes announce a change in section in which the basset clarinet plays throat tones and then a high melody of oscillating seconds accompanied by whistle rods. This enigmatic conclusion is suddenly terminated with a forte triangle attack. Learning to Fly is a substantial work that demonstrates Baker’s formidable capabilities as an imaginative orchestrator with a keen sense of pacing.

 

The late Sir Stephen Cleobury conducts the Choir of King’s College in one of Baker’s relatively few choral works, To Keep a True Lent. This setting is of a fascinating poem by Robert Herrick, which discusses that a fast based on spiritual contemplation is more important than abstaining from meat during Lent; a forward-thinking theological text. Repeating dyads and trichords create a canvas for the melody, which ricochets from part to part rapidly, with textual utterances equally quicksilver in their presentation. Its brusque post-minimalism suits the demands of the texts and is performed by King’s with impressive diction and intonation. 

 

Homagesquisse and Hwyl fawr ffrindiau close the recording with two short works, again for BCMG conducted by Dearie. The first was written for a 2008 visit by Pierre Boulez to receive an honorary doctorate from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. It is a trope of Boulez’s Messagesquisse, containing brief excerpts from the piece and a similar hexachordal construction. Beyond that, Baker remains steadfast to his own compositional predilections, with pervasive shifts of dynamics and musical material that accumulate into a prismatic whole. The second, its title in Welsh befitting Baker’s own background and where he currently lives, is a translation of the children’s song “Goodbye Friends” (which is “Goodnight Ladies” outside of Wales). Baker himself trained as an oboist and this valedictory piece features the instrument. The farewell was to Jackie and Stephen Newbould, who served as Executive Producer and Artistic Director of BCMG, and were stepping down from their roles. Descending lines, including glissandos, in the oboe are then ghosted by other winds. The piano plays a prominent role, both in supporting the others with ground bass and chordal harmonies, and in a brief interlude that recalls the childrens’ song. The ensemble halts, leaving only a pianissimo descending minor third in the marimba to finish this artfully touching work. 

 

The Tyranny of Fun is a generous sampling of Baker’s music, which is some of the most compelling written by his generation of British composers. BCMG performs with consummate skill and musicality. This is one of my favorite CDs thus far in 2024.

 

-Christian Carey



by Christian Carey
CD Review, Cello, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Guitar, Minimalism

David Crowell – Point Cloud (CD Review)

David Crowell
Point/Cloud
Better Company Records

Composer and multi-instrumentalist David Crowell has minimalist bona fides: he played in the Philip Glass Ensemble for nearly a decade. But Crowell draws from a number of traditions in his work: prog rock, jazz, folk, and other contemporary classical idioms. His latest, Point/Cloud, features works for percussion, guitars, and a moving finale for voice, cello, and Crowell’s instrumentation.

Sandbox Percussion performs Verses for a Liminal Space. At nearly a quarter of an hour, it shows Crowell’s keen sense of pacing. He conceives of the piece as being cast in three verses. There is a totalist ambience to its opening, with forceful drums combined with pitched percussion to rousing effect. The middle of work is a beautiful slow section. The drums gradually recede to only articulating emphasized beats, and then fall into silence. Pitched percussion arpeggiations and a repeated semitone form a ground that gradually adds melodic content and bowed crotales. Shimmering glockenspiel transitions the work back to the fast tempo, with cascading riffs in the xylophone and the drums gradually returning, first just to accentuate and then to provide hemiola as metric undergirding. The pitched percussion likewise engages in metric transformations. Just when it seems that things are about to heat up, Verses suddenly ends, denying expectations. This is a common feature of Crowell’s music, and it reminds me of Schumann’s Papillions, where each movement feels like entering and exiting a room. The door closes and the sound world changes.

The title work for overdubbed guitars is played by Dan Lippel. Cast in three movements, it begins with a classical guitar solo that is soon joined by electric guitars in cascading repetitions and arpeggiated harmonies. The influence of Electric Counterpoint is clear. Crowell, however, also incorporates prog rock elements reminiscent of Steve Howe and Steve Hackett, particularly in the supple middle movement. However, in the final movement polyrhythmic ostinatos return the music to the orbit of Steve Reich. Lippel plays all the various components of this considerable challenging work with precision, employing a variety of timbres and dynamic shadings.

Lippel is joined by another guitar virtuoso, Mak Grgic, on the classical guitar duo Pacific Coast Highway. Once again, polyrhythms are omnipresent, and there is a sense of jazz and flamenco à la the Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Pace de Lucia Friday Night in San Francisco album. The playing is authoritative, nuanced, and propulsive.

Vocalist and cellist Iva Casian-Lakoš collaborates with Crowell on the final piece, 2 Hours in Zadar. The work contrasts with the rhythmic effervescence of the previous three, moving at a slow tempo and exploring gradually evolving textures. The text is by Casian-Lakoš’s mother, Nela Lakoš. The piece begins with a sample of Nela Lakoš speaking Croatian. Casian-Lakoš plays shards of tunes and glissandos, singing with an exquisite fragility. Crowell’s sustained electronics and frequent wide glissandos, some manipulated samples of the voice, ghost the singing and cello lines, creating a compound melodic framework that is both colorful and vulnerable in presentation. Crowell hews closer to Sigur Rós than the influences found in the previous pieces. It provides the program with a touching valediction. Point/Cloud is uniformly excellent, a recording that is among my favorites thus far in 2024.

Christian Carey

by Christian Carey
Chamber Music, Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Los Angeles, Premieres

Ventura College Symphony and Chamber Orchestras – Ad Astra

On Saturday, May 4th, 2024 the Ventura College Department of Performing Arts presented Ad Astra, a concert by the Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra. The program had something for everyone: the US Premiere of a new chamber work by Mark Menzies, a Shostakovich string quartet, part of a Prokofiev violin concerto featuring soloist Alex Fager and a full-bodied Star Wars suite for orchestra. A sizable audience filled Yunker Auditorium in the VC Performing Arts Center and the musicians completely covered the roomy stage.

The concert opened with the US premiere of Wai-rā-rawa, by Mark Menzies. This piece was inspired by the creation story of the Māori, the indigenous peoples of New Zealand. Mark Menzies was violin faculty for some years at CalArts and also a member of the Los Angeles-based Formalist Quartet. He now resides in New Zealand and is Professor of Music at the University of Canterbury. Menzies worked with the VC Chamber Orchestra on his piece during a recent visit to California. For this performance, the Chamber Orchestra was led by guest conductor Donovan Rutledge, a Ventura College alumnus.

Wai-rā-rawa opens with sustained chords that slowly unfold and develop an interesting texture. As the opening continues, the chords become somewhat disorganized and dissonant, perhaps suggesting the dark and formless beginnings of the earth. The music has a slightly eerie feel, but is never disheartening; it is solemn yet at the same time filled with a gentle reverence. An expressive violin solo is heard featuring a high, sustained pitch that adds to the uncertain atmosphere. As the piece proceeds, deep tutti chords with multiple harmonies materialize like clouds. Towards the finish, soft pianissimo notes are followed by broken rhythms at the ending. This music is distinguished by subtle rhythms, intriguing harmonies and textures, all smoothly directed by Donovan Rutledge. Wai-rā-rawa is both mysterious and wistful with perfect balance for describing the primal creation.

The second work on the program was String Quartet No. 8 in C minor (1960), by Dmitri Shostakovich, also performed by the chamber orchestra. For this concert the parts were doubled, with two instruments on each. The opening Lento movement was appropriately grim, with all of the repression of the old Soviet system seeming to weigh it down. There was good coordination and intonation among the players, however, with no uncertainty among the sections. The transitions to the faster Allegro and Allegretto movements were successfully negotiated; the violas were especially well-coordinated. The delicate textures in the dance-like segments were nicely observed, with some tension slyly creeping in.

The final Lento movements brought a return to the more severe feeling of the opening as strong tutti chords turned darkly dramatic. The players kept good control of the dynamics in all of the movements and also in the final decrescendo at the finish. String Quartet No. 8 is essential late Shostakovich, with all of his characteristic gloominess during this period fully evoked by skillful playing in this performance.

After a short intermission, the full Ventura College Symphony Orchestra took their places, filling the entire stage. The Andantino movement of Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 110 (1923) was next, with soloist Alex Fager. He is the winner of this year’s Allegro Solo Competition, open to musicians of all ages residing in Ventura County. This piece began with soft tremolos in the orchestra violin section, followed by a strong entrance from the soloist with a slow, expressive melody. As the phrasing became more active, Fager’s sound came across with a clear tone that reached out above the orchestra to fill the hall. As the movement proceeded, the mood turned stylish and lyrical, so characteristic of Prokofiev’s music. Fager’s skillful technique kept his violin in the foreground, even as variations in tempo, dynamics and texture rapidly changed. Towards the finish, the solo violin and flute played in a tricky counterpoint, with great effect. The movement then ended as quietly as it had begun. Violin Concerto No. 1 has a challenging variety of musical gestures in the Andantino movement and soloist Fager capably led the way throughout.

Although it was May the fourth and very appropriate, I will admit that I was a bit apprehensive about the last work on the concert program, the Star Wars Suite for Orchestra (1977) by John Williams. Star Wars is so overexposed that it has become something of a cultural cliché. An orchestra performing such a familiar piece runs the risk of disappointing its audience. This is big, sprawling music with five movements that include the themes that composer Williams has so artfully woven into this signature masterwork. The piece is full of challenges; there are many transitions to be navigated as the various leitmotifs are passed around between the sections. As the orchestra got going, the sounds and entrances of the various sections sharpened up nicely. Dynamics ranged from the barely audible to full blastissimo, and the orchestra fought successfully to maintain good balance. The string sections benefited from being at the front of the stage and provided solid support. The horns managed to be clearly heard from the very back of the risers during their important solos.

Vigorous applause was heard between each of the movements, and the orchestra seemed to build on the growing enthusiasm. The “Imperial March” was perhaps the most popular, with its full sound and driving beat. At the conclusion of the last movement, a long and loud standing ovation was given by the now-cheering crowd. Star Wars Suite for Orchestra might be a bit of a war horse, but the music still has surprising power when played by a live orchestra in a concert hall.

A good part of the credit for this fine performance by the Ventura College Symphony Orchestra must go to Director Ashley Walters. Her conducting style is everything a player wants: an unmistakable beat, precise cues and decisive dynamics. Walters adds no superfluous movements or theatrical histrionics, and her clarity of purpose brings real leadership to the podium. Walters undoubtedly carried this same focus and energy into rehearsal, and the result was an outstanding concert of compelling music.

by Paul Muller