It’s hard to believe this program of “new” music spans the years 1983-2003. The distinct musical personalities of these composers incorporate diverse cultural influences and musical instrumentation, and even instruments played in new ways, but the forces of nature and rhythm predominate.

Described by conductor J. Karla Lemon as “a seven-minute roller coaster ride” for bass clarinet and viola with piano and percussion, the brightness of In Double Light (1983) by Lee Hyla comes from the African drums lightly played over deeper and slower tones, while the piano line is primarily percussive. The “double light” of the title refers to both the tone and the texture of its rhythms, according to the composer.

Qi is an abstract concept of an element of nature, and Chen Yi uses western instrumentation of flute, cello, percussion and piano in Qi (1987) to create an eastern sound. The cadences are exotic and the instruments imitate the sounds of nature—birds, wind and weather—as accents to a melody line that shifts between flute and cello.

Jennifer Higdon’s 1998 wissahickon poeTrees , an homage to Philadelphia’s Wissahickon Park, is designed as an “expression of nature in musical language” punctuated by the passage of seasons and time, scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and percussion with water glasses and crochet hooks. Rhythmic plucking and short notes are clock ticks between riffs inspired by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons , but always the insistent beat drives the piece forward despite the lure of sexy slides and airy passages in the violin. Quiet tones of a clock chiming and percussive tocks separate the sections. Summer is a lush string melody line, Autumn is chilly raindrops and rising winds of a snare drum, and Winter is marked by the crystal tones of cracking icicles.

Up & At ‘Em (1988) by Eric Moe, the pianist in this evening’s ensemble, scored for alto flute, English horn, bass clarinet, viola and piano, is described as having an “up” movement influenced by be-bop and a “rock and roll” movement with an equally syncopated beat, connected by “& “ for slow English horn. I missed the composer’s references here, hearing instead a set of jagged fragments. The English horn, however, was sinuously smooth.

The world premiere on this program is Open Night Poem-caprice for six instruments (2003), a Kimmel Center commission by Jay Reise. Using a variety of musical forms, the composer says he expresses solitude, meditation, fright and emptiness of the quality of nature. Opening quietly with clarinet and vibraphone, violin and flute highlight rising themes; piano and cello begin a melodic line that expands to the ensemble as it becomes more intense. Offshoots and threads grow from the center and subside, only to renew and intensify, becoming more chaotic, but dying with a shimmer and introducing a calming pattern and slow cello theme. This coalesces into an ensemble theme that tails off as a single note.
 

Frank Bridge is a bit of a lost horse in the English stable of composers that includes such giants as Elgar, Vaughan Williams and, his student, Benjamin Britten.  But he shouldn't be. No. 1, written in 1901, is a mature, fully realized work; No. 3, composed in 1927 is one of the pilars of 20th century chamber music.  As always, the Maggini play magnificiently and the recording is first rate.

Just listening to young Puccini's first opera (as opposed to seeing it staged and sung), you notice immediately that the big sweeping melodies, the ingenious "hooks" are already there. Naive has also issued a Radio France recording of Puccini’s second opera, Edgar, written five years after Le Villi.   In this more ambitious and complicated work, Puccini develops his technique using a score that merges stirring arias and ensembles. 
 

Ives sketched the Emerson Concerto in 1907 but never fully finished it, although he used portions in other works.  David G. Porter, a noted Ives scholar, was  able to create a performing version which was premiered in 1998 by Alan Feinberg, the pianist on this premiere recording.  The piece is extremely demanding, often abrasive, and demands exceptional  virtuosity.  Symphony No. 1 is fetching, but not as charateristic, of the great American maverick that followed.

The Finnish composer Rautavaara has enjoyed enormous success in recent years with his unique blend of northern lights impressionism and romanticism  served up in an aura of modernity. His Cantus Articus is immensely popular, conjuring up associations of Messiean, although the latter is a much more important composer.   The Third Piano Concerto from 1998 is forceful, drawings on  the Russian school of pianism, although it not technically flashy until the finale.  The Second, composed nine years earlier, is more traditional and  Laura Mikkola, already on disc with a highly regarded account of the First Concerto, again provides an outstanding performance.

Symphony No. 6
Composer: Gustav Mahler
Performer: London Symphony Orchestra; Mariss Jansons
Label: LSO Live 

It is rare that you find a recording that you need listen to for only a minute to know a masterpiece is unfolding before your very ears.  This stunning live performance of Mahler's "Tragic" symphony is one of the rare ones,  From the first rhythmic thumps of the long and  stately funeral march to the final faded chords, Mariss Jansons draws a passionate and committed performance from the LSO.  Certain to be among the best of the year noninees. 

Wheel of Emptiness
Composer: Jonathan Harvey
Performers:  Actus
Cyprès CYP5604

English composer Jonathan Harvey is one of those modernists whose work is more frequently talked about then played.  This rare recording contains five representative works ranging from the lyrical to the raw, built on  instrumentations ranging from electroacoustical to the  traditional.  An excellent introduction to an unjustly neglected maverick. 

Piano Etudes 1
Composer: Philip Glass
Performer: Philip Glass 
Orange Mountain 

Glass says he wrote these "studies" as fodder for his own concert performances and as a way of challenging himself as a pianist.  But, they are much more important than that.  They provide a real insight into how Glass composes and, although billed as sketches,  sometimes are more rewarding to the ear and intellect than many of Glass's larger-scale works.  Essential recording for the Glassologist.