Year: 2023

CD Review, Composers, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Justin Dello Joio – Oceans Apart (CD Review)

Justin Dello Joio – Oceans Apart (Bridge Records)

 

Composer Justin Dello Joio enjoys a top flight slate of performers on Oceans Apart, his latest recording for Bridge. The title work is a piano concerto, performed live here by the Boston Symphony, conducted by Alan Gilbert, with Garrick Ohlsson as soloist. A short bit of applause is left on the tail end of the recording, otherwise one would never be the wiser. The quality of the rendition and recording are excellent.

 

Dello Joio conceived of Oceans Apart when watching surfers being challenged by massive waves. The concerto translates this image into a piece with a muscular orchestration trying to overwhelm the soloist. The scoring is vivid and varied, with imaginative use of harp, percussion, muted brass, and string effects to create the undulating feel of the surf. As the piece builds, it swells and indeed threatens to subsume the pianist. It is appreciated that Dello Joio has his own take on “water music:” no ersatz Debussy here. 

 

Ohlsson is a marvelous interpreter, undertaking the role of vying against the orchestra instead of, as is traditional, being supported by it. That said, in places where the soloist is intended to blend in with certain cohorts of the ensemble, such as pitched percussion flurries, shimmering and well-coordinated passages result. His solo turns reveal formidable virtuosity. The final cadenza finds the pianist challenged over and over again by violent interruptions, which is succeeded by a supple denouement. Not to overstress the program, but I have to wonder if the surfer went underwater. Oceans Apart is one of Dello Joio’s best orchestral pieces to date, with a versatile language and well-planned trajectory. 

 

The other two works on the CD are for chamber forces. Due per Due is played by NY Philharmonic principal cellist Carter Brey and pianist Christopher O’Riley. The first movement, “Elegie (To an old musician),” is dedicated to Dello Joio’s father, Norman Dello Joio. One can hear a clever co-opting of the elder composer’s use of pantonality and dissonant counterpoint. At the same time, Justin Dello Joio’s voice is an unmistakable part of the piece; it is far more intricately shaped and complexly hued than any piece by his father. The second movement is a moto perpetuo, but one that is far more developed and intricate than many pieces written in this style. Brey and O’Riley are an excellent pairing of performers. One could easily imagine them recording and touring a program of contemporary works.

 

Blue and Gold Music concludes the recording (the title takes the colors from Trinity School, a K-12 preparatory school that Dello Joio attended). The American Brass Quintet and organist Colin Fowler are ideal interpreters for the ebullient, fanfare-filled piece. It demonstrates how far Dello Joio can stylistically stretch while retaining his own distinctive approach. Copland-esque Americana with a twist is an ideal vehicle for the American Brass Quintet, and Fowler is a good addition to the proceedings.

 

The concerto is one of my favorite works of 2023, and the entire recording is highly recommended.

 

-Christian Carey



by Christian Carey
Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Los Angeles

Wicked GOAT in Pasadena

On Sunday, October 1, 2023 the Pasadena Conservatory of Music presented Shred, the first of two Wicked GOAT programs scheduled for the 2023/24 season in their Contemporary Music for Young People concert series. Barrett Hall was filled with a capacity crowd that included a gratifying number of well-behaved youngsters. A variety of contemporary compositions, dating from from 1959 to 2020 were presented, including pieces by John Adams, John Corigliano, Jennifer Higdon and Andrew Norman. Top Los Angeles area musicians were on hand to perform the seven pieces that were accessible, lively, abstract and engaging. All were thoughtfully programmed and constituted an excellent introduction to contemporary music for all ages.

The first work on the program was Short Ride In a Fast Machine, by John Adams. This was composed in 1986 and is one Adams’ more popular pieces. For this concert, the four-hands piano arrangement of 2018 was performed by Kathryn Eames and Nic Gerpe of the Pasadena Conservatory faculty. This opens with a series of fast arpeggios in the upper registers accompanied by syncopated rhythms in the middle registers. Powerful chords soon appear among the technically tricky passages. All 20 of the fingers on the keyboard were kept busy and the intensity of the sound added to the feeling of speed and power. There was excellent coordination between the two players given the intertwining phrases, broken rhythms and forceful dynamics. A strong finish and an unexpectedly sudden halt brought the Short Ride In a Fast Machine to an appropriate ending. The audience responded to this lively and engaging piece with vigorous applause.

Kaleidoscope (1959), by John Corigliano followed, performed by Ms. Eames and Mr. Gerpe now seated at separate pianos. Kaleidoscope was written over 60 years ago, but this is a decidedly abstract piece and remains relevant as contemporary music. John Corigliano is a highly regarded composer, who, at 85, continues to be an important influence. The work starts out with sharp, rapid passages in each piano, filled with complex rhythms and layering. Close coordination by the players keeps this fast section cohesive. A slower stretch appears and this allows the listener to catch a breath. The level of abstraction here remains high but is generally more melodic. The slower tempo and calmer rhythms make for a more stately and less severe feeling. After this brief respite, the tempo and dynamics again pick up and the broken rhythms and multiple layers return with a forceful and confident feeling. Kaleidoscope continues to be an effective piece and the audience seemed to appreciate it despite its formidable complexity.

Zoom Tube (1999), by Ian Clarke was next, performed by Sarah Wass. This piece is scored for solo flute and proved to be something completely different. Ms. Wass offered a few preliminary remarks to the audience describing some of the extended techniques and pitch bending that is included in Zoom Tube. This began with a soft rushing sound of air, absent of any musical pitch. Soon, a few familiar notes could be heard among the blowing sounds and the rattle of key pads on the flute. Ms. Wass manged also to hum a few tones into the air stream. The rhythms were lively and the sounds issuing from the flute were a collection of the familiar and the unusual. A ghostly melody could be heard underneath the airy sounds along with conventional musical notes. A sudden ‘yeow’ was vocalized by Ms. Wass, just before the piece concluded. The preponderance of unfamiliar flute sounds in Zoom Tube did not seem to discourage the audience, who appreciated the effort by Ms. Wass in bringing this unusual music to the stage.

Perhaps the most relentlessly abstract piece on the program was Dual Velocity (1998), by Pierre lalbert. This was performed by Nic Gerpe on piano and Timothy Loo, the excellent cellist of the Lyris String Quartet. Mr. Gerpe opened with a few preliminary remarks describing the complex rhythmic patterns, independent lines and the inclusion of quarter tones present in Dual Velocity. Accordingly, the piece opened with a few soft cello notes followed by a rapid rise in the dynamics, the tempo and the increasingly convoluted rhythms. This created an exotic, almost middle eastern feel. The piano then entered with mysterious, short phrases that rapidly devolved into complicated patterns both fast and very abstract. The two instrument lines were completely independent, adding to the already intricate texture. The coordination between the players was all the more remarkable given the technical challenges present in the playing. There were slower sections but these always gave way to faster stretches that tested the limits of the performer’s virtuosity. Dual Velocity is a strong dose of the complexity typical of contemporary new music and the masterful playing heard in this concert did much to keep it intelligible.

Dash (2001), by Jennifer Higdon was next, and this was performed by Sarah Wass on flute, Pat Posey on saxophone and Katelyn Vahala, piano. Pat Posey offered some preliminary comments stating that the piece was “Fast, like a race…” And so it was. The rapid opening of notes running up and down the scales set a torrid pace as all three instruments contributed to the frantically busy feel. The rushed feeling in the music was in keeping with the composer’s intention of evoking the fast pace of our contemporary life. No doubt many parents in the audience could relate. The rhythms were engaging, intricate and always hasty, adding to the flat-out scramble. The saxophone added a warmer timbral touch, making the overall feeling just that much more relatable. The three performers exhibited excellent technique and coordination in this very challenging piece.

Running Spring (2020) was next, composed and realized by Los Angeles – based Alexander Elliott Miller. This was performed on electric guitar in conjunction with a formidable amount of digital processing. Miller explained that this piece was inspired by his penchant for long distance running during the pandemic. Accordingly, Running Spring began with a number quick plinking sounds, evoking perhaps the first few steps of a run. These seemed to be looped and the rhythms suggested continuous movement. More sounds were added, building into a nice variety and the piece continued at a steady, comfortable pace. There was an introspective feel to this, much like the way jogging lets the mind focus on ideas and the abstract. A faster tempo marked a sprint to the finish. Running Spring puts many different sounds under the control of a single player, impressively expanding the creative possibilities.

The final work on the concert was Gran Turismo (2010) by Andrew Norman. This was scored for eight violins and enlisted the services of most of the best string players in Los Angeles. All were conducted by Jens Hurty. A good thing the ensemble had a conductor, because the piece began as a fast scramble of sounds that nicely evoked the chaotic starting of a motor car race. All the violins seemed to have separate lines, only occasionally connected by related rhythms. Overlapping phrases rapidly piled up one upon another, creating a wonderfully abstract texture. The virtuosity and control that was on display here was exceptional and great waves of sound washed out into the audience. Gran Turismo was in the same lane as the earlier Dash, both being effective commentaries on speed combined with recklessness. The audience responded to the tremendous effort fut forth by the eight violinists with heartfelt applause.

This GOAT concert was as complex and abstract as any, yet managed to be accessible and entertaining to an audience that was generally not familiar with contemporary music. A post-concert reception afterwards in the garden was a chance to meet and greet. Pasadena Conservatory students were on hand to perform popular music covers and their playing was both impressive and polished.

The GOAT concert series are a fine outreach to the community. The next GOAT concert will be Sunday, March 24, 2024 at 4:00 PM.

The violinists performing Gran Turismo were:

Alyssa Park
Marena Miki
Shalini Vijayan
Kyle Gilner
Aimée Kreston
Andrés Engleman
Sara Parkins
Elizabeth Hedman

by Paul Muller
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, Minimalism

John Luther Adams – Darkness and Scattered Light

Cold Blue Music has announced the release of Darkness and Scattered Light, a new CD of solo works for double bass by John Luther Adams. The album contains three pieces that capture the impressive grandeur of nature from the unconventional perspective of the double bass. Darkness and Scattered Light is extraordinary music, masterfully performed on this CD by the late Robert Black, a long-time collaborator of the composer. John Luther Adams is a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer whose work has long embraced the natural world and chronicled its unsettled relationship to humanity.

Three High Places is the first work of the album and its three movements revisit string quartet music first heard on Adam’s 2015 CD, The Wind in High Places. On that album, the needle-sharp pitches in the violins and craggy passages in the lower strings brilliantly captured the Alaskan winds in all their snowy magnificence. Three High Places was originally composed for solo violin and Robert Black is the first to play it on double bass. Adams writes that this piece “…contains no normal stopped tones (created by pressing a string against the fingerboard of the instrument). Instead, all the sounds are natural harmonics or open strings. So, the musician’s fingers never touch the fingerboard. If I could’ve found a way to make this music without touching the instrument at all, I would have.”

“Above Sunset Pass” is the first movement of Three High Places and was inspired by one of the most fiercely inaccessible places in North America. Sunset Pass is located in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge near the shore of the Arctic Ocean in the very far north of Alaska. The area is uninhabited, has no roads and is reachable only on foot. It would be hard to imagine a more forbidding place, especially in the winter. The opening of “Above Sunset Pass” is a combination of deep, sustained tones with slow moving notes in the middle registers. As lovingly played by Robert Black, there is a suitably distant and lonely feel to this, but it is never intimidating. Despite the obvious climatic intensity of Sunset Pass, the music is beautifully warm and welcoming. With its broad foundational tones and primal harmony, “Above Sunset Pass” has a hospitable feel and powerful pastoral sensibility that invites the listener to experience the extreme Alaskan nature on its own terms.

“The Wind at Maclaren Summit”, the second movement, follows, and this is a portrait of another Alaskan high mountain pass. This begins in a deep rumbling with a bouncy melody in the middle registers that is active but never rushed. There is a layered and mystical feeling to this, skillfully played and very effective. High pitches fly by that suggest the stinging wind in a snow squall. The string quartet version includes many sharp tones but the double bass version here is wonderfully burnished. Despite its roiling texture, “The Wind at Maclaren Summit” manages to evoke the intensity of mountain storm without the menace.

The final movement is “Looking Toward Hope” and this opens with low, growling sounds and a rugged texture accompanied by an elegant smoothness in the middle registers. Overall the feeling is warm, solemn and marvelously expressive, especially in the deepest tones of the double bass. There is a sense of craggy magnificence, as if looking at a rugged mountain face. All the movements of Three High Places deliver a compelling musical argument that counters our traditional adversarial relationship with nature. The compassionate viewpoint of the music and the sensitive playing by Robert Black bring a new level of expressive power to this important conversation.

Darkness and Scattered Light is the second work on the album and this is scored for five double basses. All parts are performed by Robert Black. This opens with a deep and sustained tone that is somewhat rough around the edges. More notes join in, long and low with a gradual crescendo – decrescendo dynamic. The tones move in phrases that layer into each other and this produces a somewhat alien feel. The piece continues in this way, the phrases multiplying in a series of comings and goings. There is mystery but also a sense of power in their movement and tone. The texture of five double basses overlapping is impressive to the ear and evokes a sense of greatness.

By 7:30 a bit of tension has seeped in, with the phrases rising in pitch. The anxious feelings increase as the notes climb higher and higher, finally arriving at a hint of desperation. The pitches soon turn lower again, with the rough edges of the opening. By 13:00 every voice is now active in the lower registers, and express a more confident feel. Some of the pitches are very low, more like a grumble or a growl, and all are reduced in tempo with simplified phrasing and a smaller dynamic change. These sequences trail off with a solid, grounded feeling before fading out at the finish. Darkness and Scattered Light is a marvel of massed double bass timbre and resonance, masterfully played by Robert Black.

The final piece of the album is Three Nocturnes, scored for solo bass and employs the standard double bass tuning of perfect fourths. The piece was commissioned by the Moab Music Festival and the premiere performance was by Robert Black, to whom the work is dedicated. “Moonrise” is the first movement and opens with a deep, grumbling chord and continues with slow, deliberate tones. The sounds are sustained and darkly mysterious. The very lowest notes occasionally have a brassy timbre and sound almost as if they came from a euphonium. The chords gradually rise in pitch – just as the moon rises – but overall the sound is deep and satisfying. Towards the finish, the tones are less mysterious and more purposeful, just as the moon seems to sharpen itself in the clear night sky as it ascends above a hazy horizon. A long sustained note marks the finish.

“Night Wind”, the second movement, follows, and this is filled with rapidly jumping notes and arpeggios played over several strings. A nice groove develops that enhances the active feel. There are no sustained notes and this makes an effective contrast to the smooth bass lines present in the other pieces. There is the sense of the organic, as if listening to the buzz of busy bees. This is elegant playing; always precise and accurate despite the brisk tempo and widely scattered range of the notes.

“Moonset” is the final movement and this nicely book-ends the piece. High, thin notes open along with a series of deeper sounds in the lower registers. “Moonset” proceeds at a slow and deliberate pace with an interesting contrast developing between very high and very low tones. Everything takes place at opposite ends of the normal registers, always with a solemn and serious feel. The playing is extraordinary; reflective and thoughtful, but never melancholy. Towards the finish the tones soften somewhat, as if the moon is disappearing into a murky horizon while trying to maintain its previously bright countenance. Robert Black and “Moonset” stretch the expressive limits of the tones that can be conjured from the double bass.

Darkness and Scattered Light artfully extends the environmental dialog that is the signature theme of composer John Luther Adams while at the same time establishing a lasting testament to the expressive virtuosity of bassist Robert Black.


Darkness and Scattered Light is available from Cold Blue Music, Amazon and other music retailers.



by Paul Muller
Classical Music, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Lincoln Center, Music Events, New York, Orchestral

NY Philharmonic: Unpacking the fall season for new music lovers

György Ligeti with100 metronomes
György Ligeti with100 metronomes

When you see New York Philharmonic’s glossy brochures and online ads, you might be hard pressed to spot the new music offerings that are in nearly every program. For instance, “Trifonov Plays Schumann” hides the fact that there is a work for strings by the Lithuanian composer Raminta Šerkšnytė, a composition which Gidon Kremer referred to as “the calling card of Baltic music.”

I mentioned this in passing to a staffer at the Philharmonic, and referred to it as a slam on marketing. I immediately regretted uttering that phrase, because it’s not really about that. Marketing managers do what they need to – it’s their job to sell tickets. Schumann sells, Šerkšnytė does not.

Here is my annotation of this fall’s Philharmonic concerts for the tiny niche of new music fans.

September 29-October 1, 2023 “Joshua Bell, Copland, and The Elements”

This program description does in fact put the featured player of the new work front and center. On the other hand, you have to dig deeper to discover the fact that “The Elements” is a US premiere, and is a compilation of new works by five living American composers (Jake Heggie, Jennifer Higdon, Edgar Meyer, Jessie Montgomery, and Kevin Puts).

Footnote: brought to my attention by the illustrious Steve Smith in his Night After Night newsletter, you can watch a video of the world premiere of this work, available til October 1, here (courtesy of The Violin Channel’s VC Live).

October 5-7 “Beethoven’s Emperor, Schubert’s Unfinished, and Steve Reich”

Here we DO get a clue right away about Steve Reich. Yay! Only needs a bit of clicking to learn that it’s a world premiere co-commissioned by the NY Phil.

October 11 -14 “Trifonov Plays Schumann”

The aforementioned “calling card of Baltic music” is on offer: “De profundis” by the Lithuanian composer  Raminta Šerkšnytė.

October 19 – 21 “Bronfman, Brahms, and Ligeti”

Ligeti makes it onto the headline, yay! But deeper in the description is the fact that we get to hear Yefim Bronfman plays the New York premiere of a concerto written for him by the Russian-born Elena Firsova.

October 26 “Kravis Nightcap: Apollo’s Fire”

Jeannette Sorrell directs the Philharmonic in the Handel epic, “Israel in Egypt” – – and also brings her great early music band Apollo’s Fire to a late night show. I’m pointing this out because – while its not contemporary music, their unusual program explores music of ancient Jewish and Arabic origin with virtuosos on violin, Middle Eastern flute, oud, zither, and percussion.

October 27 “Sound On: Zorn, Azmeh, Chaker, and Chin”

If you’re hot on new music, you’ve already got this on your calendar. Music by John Zorn and Unsuk Chin, and a NYP co-commission by Kinan Azmeh and Layale Chaker.

November 2-4 “Mälkki Conducts Pictures at an Exhibition”

We can count Ligeti as new music, right? He’s only been gone for 15 years. This year, everyone including NYP is celebrating his centennial. And so now you know you’ll hear his Piano Concerto played by Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

November 4 “Kravis Nightcap: Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Joachim Kühn”

PLA teams with jazz pianist Joachim Kühn, and they’ll use Ligeti’s Études as a jumping off point for improvision.

November 7 “Artist Spotlight: Pierre-Laurent Aimard”

Since we’re counting Ligeti above, here’s PLA playing the Etudes, “juxtaposed with works reflecting their cultural inspirations” (not sure what exactly that means, but I’m sold).

November 9 – 12 “Szeps-Znaider Plays Beethoven’s Violin Concerto”

The thirty-something composer Carlos Simon is one hot item lately, and you’ll get to hear his “Fate Now Conquers”, which was inspired by something Beethoven wrote in his journal.

November 16 – 18 “Paavo Järvi Conducts Britten and Prokofiev”

You’ll get to a chance to determine whether Veljo Tormis (who died in 2017) lives up to the reputation of excellence in Estonian composers, when you hear his Overture No. 2 on this program.

November 22 – 25 “The Planets and Atmosphères”

Though she died 50 years ago, we hardly ever get to hear music by the African-American composer Julia Perry. You will on this program (her Stabat Mater). Also, more Ligeti (I’m not complaining!).

November 30 – December 02 “Strauss, Rachmaninoff, and Bryce Dessner”

Bryce Dessner makes it onto the headline!  The NY premiere of his concerto for 2 pianos, written for, and played by the Labèque sisters.

by Gail Wein
CD Review, File Under?, jazz

Russ Lossing and King Vulture (CD Review)

Russ Lossing and King Vulture

Alternate Side Parking Music

Aqua Piazza Records

Russ Lossing, piano, keyboards; Adam Kolker, soprano and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Matt Pavolka, bass; Dayeon Seok, drums

Photo: Marie Bissétt

 

Pianist Russ Lossing has been a fixture on the New York jazz scene for over thirty-five years. His latest recording, Alternate Side Parking Music on Aqua Piazza, employs a new quartet, called King Vulture, in a set of vibrant compositions. Lossing has worked with saxophonist Adam Kolker and bassist Matt Pavolka for years. It is the addition of the abundantly talented drummer Dayeon Seok that brings a fresh perspective. King Vulture understands Lossing’s musical vocabulary well. Moreover, they inhabit these compositions in a way that stretches their seams, each player bringing their own distinctive approach to the proceedings. 

 

“Honk” begins with the rhythm section in a fiery opening, Lossing playing a free solo and Seok drumming assertively, with fills piling on top of one another over the underlying pulse. Kolker enters, with stentorian lines. On “Cloned” distorted electric piano and octave melodies between saxophone and bass clarinet suggest an affinity with early fusion. “Next 3 km ” opens with a beautiful bass clarinet solo, followed by a melody played by Pavolka and mysterious scales from Lossing on Rhodes and piano. An angular solo and distorted fragments ensue while Pavolka double times: His facility with fast passages and twisty melodies is extraordinary. The opening tune reappears, doubled by piano, with cymbal shimmers and walking bass adorning the proceedings. It closes with repeated octaves from sax and piano, a sideways move that serves as punctuation.

“Parallel Park,” a daunting challenge in NYC. Over a nervous groove, Kolker plays an energetic soprano saxophone solo. Lossing’s solo turn has extended triadic changes and a funky suaveness: this driver does not fear a fender bender. Pavolka plays glissandos in a brief spotlight moment right before the piece’s close. “Double Park” is a move far more likely on Manhattan streets. And the “Meter Maid” is likely watching. While one doesn’t want to overly programmatize the pieces based on their titles, there are often clever connections afoot. “Double Park” begins with a chromatic bass clarinet solo, once again doubled with piano in octaves, the rhythm section subdued. The music trends bluesy, continuing an assured pose as the rhythm section begins to build. Things get angsty, with an energetic Rhodes solo and Seok building to a thunderous climax. A bass ostinato looks into a rock groove with the drummer, with the bass clarinet returning, this time trading phrases with the piano. As the piece concludes, we are back to octaves and a long decrescendo. 

 

“Meter Maid,” on the other hand, is filled with overlapping grooves that don’t quite interlock. Fistfuls of piano clusters land on a complex melody at the same time as the saxophone and drum thwacks. The rhythm section lays out, and prestissimo exchanges between piano and saxophone are dizzying. This is succeeded by a strutting funk section that supports Kolker squalling with abandon and a fierce Fender solo from Lossing. The music presses forward, the octaves between saxophone and keys returning, with a mad dash at the conclusion. One senses that the driver didn’t feed the meter in time. 

 

The final track, “Turn,” overlaps fourth leaps, a bass ostinato, and heavy drumming. Once again, fleet exchanges between keyboard and saxophone flurry the atmosphere, with each vying for the foreground. Lossing provides a spacey, distorted solo. Over a pressing ostinato, the saxophone breaks off to share the tune one last time, and the music evaporates. 

 

Lossing has great chemistry with King Vulture. One hopes they will make music together for a long time.

 

-Christian Carey



by Christian Carey
CD Review, Chamber Music, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Songs

David Biedenbender Portrait CD on Blue Griffin (Review)

“I remember first reading Robert Fanning’s poetry in 2014; it was as if he was able to give voice to feelings and experiences in a way that made them feel like my own. His words reveal a world of profound beauty that transcends the page.” 

– David Biedenbender

 

Shell and Wing – YouTube

 

 

David Biedenbender

All We Are Given We Cannot Hold

Blue Griffin CD

Lindsay Kesselman, soprano; 

Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Kevin Noe, Artistic Director;

Garth Newel Piano Quartet with Mingzhe Wang, clarinet; Haven Trio. 

 

If a composer is able to find a poet who is a muse, they are fortunate indeed; a living poet, doubly so. David Biedenbender engaged in close collaboration with Robert Fanning in creating two vocal pieces that are programmed on his Blue Griffin CD All We Are Given We Cannot Hold. Soprano Lindsay Kesselman has bonded with these works in a special way as well, imparting both words and music assuredly, her beautiful voice, dynamic control, and impressive upper register making her an ideal advocate for Biedenbender’s work. 

 

Shell and Wing is for soprano and chamber group, here the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. Kesselman treats Fanning’s poetry sensitively, delivering a rousing performance in “Shell” and imparting “Wing” with touching delicacy. The use of pitched percussion and piano is noteworthy here and elsewhere in Biedenbender’s music, with Ian Rosenbaum’s vibraphone and pianist Oscar Mikaelsson performing overlapping rhythms. Strings and winds create corresponding passages, with multiple strands of activity yet a strong sense of support for the vocal line. The piece ends in a hushed fashion, Kesselman’s singing down to a whisper.

 

Biedenbender composes in a language that encompasses extended tonality and chromaticism, with a particular interest in varieties of rhythmic expression. “Red Vesper,” performed by Garth Newel Piano Quartet and clarinetist Mingzhe Wang, doubles a sustained string harmonic and repeated piano notes, to which a clarinet melody and pizzicato are added. Quickly, the sense of repeated notes is supplanted by a modal chord arpeggiated in various ways with pitches slowly accumulating. String harmonics once again take notes from the harmony, extending them into a sustained melody. Sliding tone in the strings and the clarinet tune surround a wide-ranged version of the piano’s harmonies. The intensity builds, with the repeated patterns corruscating into a multifaceted surface. Thick piano chords and an emphatic cello solo begin the last section, which then concludes with each separate strand successively evaporating.  

 

Solstice was composed for the Garth Newel Piano Quartet. The four-movement piece depicts the seasons’ solstices. Each has a different demeanor: “Summer” lazily and gradually unfolding into exuberance, filled with harmonics, repeated note patterns, and added note harmonies; Autumn elusive, replete with colorful chords, string glissandos and more repetition of single notes, with a romantic melody arriving partway through; Winter mournful, rife with dissonant intervals in pointillist textures and sul ponticello strings; Spring glistening with post-minimal figuration and slabs of bright harmony. One of the most interesting facets of this piece is the composer’s use of varieties of rhythmic overlap: Hocketing figures, doublings, contrapuntal interactivity, and ostinatos that land together and apart. Biedenbender’s love affair with the voice notwithstanding, his instrumental music is equally compelling.

 

Kesselman is part of the group Haven Trio. Joined by clarinetist Kimberly Cole Luevano and pianist Midori Koga, the soprano performs all we are given we cannot hold, a song cycle with settings of Fanning. “The Darkness, Literal and Figurative” features an oscillating two chord pattern in the piano, descending lines in the clarinet, and a delicately delivered yet rangy vocal line. “One and a half miles away” is declamatory, with repeated piano bass notes. “Watching my Daughter through the One Way Mirror of a Preschool Observation Window” is one of the most touching of Fanning’s poems, analogizing the view of his young child with the view he hopes to get of his grown children from the beyond. A duet between Kesselman and Luevano alternates segments of the main melody, while Koga plays swaths of harmony. The distant thunder of bass octaves and a clarinet cadenza accompany a recitative from Kesselman in “Model Nation,” ultimately replaced by piano ostinatos and scalar mirroring from the clarinet to reframe the high-lying singing into flowing melody. The cycle’s final song begins with dissonances from piano and clarinet; upon Kesselman’s entry these are filled in with pantonal harmonies. There is a winsome character present, with the narrator observing the clippings from his children’s haircuts; rather than sweeping them up, allowing the wind to take them. “The wind will take what we forget to sweep. And cannot keep.” An allied sentiment to watching his daughter in preschool, the sense of impermanence delivered with seamless line from Kesselman and lyrical rejoinders from Luevano and Koga. all we are given we cannot hold is one of the finest song cycles I have heard this year. Biedendbender’s music should gain wider currency. Recommended.

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
CD Review, Classical Music, File Under?, Piano

Su Yeon Kim – Mozart Recital (CD Review)

Mozart Recital

Su Yeon Kim

Steinway & Sons CD

 

During her studies, pianist Su Yeon Kim has kept Mozart close. She studied for a decade at Mozarteum University, won first prize at the Concours international de Montréal in 2021 and second place in the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg. Kim has lived for some time in Salzburg. In 2023, she will also reconnect with her hometown Seoul as Artist-in-Residence of Kumho Art Hall. 

 

For her Steinway & Sons Mozart Recital, Kim plays two sonatas and a number of smaller pieces, some obscure and seldom performed. Even in these latter works, her artistry makes a strong case for their relevance to Mozart’s legacy. Eine Kleine Gigue, which opens the recording, is filled with thorny counterpoint and syncopations, which the pianist imparts with fleet zest. The Allegro in G minor is also delivered at a quick pace, but with clarity in every motive and passage.

 

 Four of the Twelve Contredanses for Count Czernin are presented in a variety of tempos with elegant ornamentation. Variations on “Unser dummer Pöbel meint” is a substantial set. Kim outlines the original theme with forceful clarity, accompanying it in assured fashion with countermelodies and passagework, in later variations never obscuring the tune’s mutable game of hide and seek. Her rendition of Adagio in B minor is poignant, employing rubato to good effect, as does her performance of Franz Liszt’s transcription of Ave Verum Corpus.

 

Kim plays two sonatas, Sonata No. 9 in D and Sonata No. 12 in F Major. Her tempos are well-selected and use of embellishment judicious and executed with finesse. The D major sonata is enthusiastically imbued with the con spirito marked in the first movement. The Andante con espressione is played tenderly, with lovely dynamic shadings. Kim’s playful interpretation of rubato lends to the Rondo finale’s appeal, as do the whirling dance rhythms and quick scalar passages. The Sonata in F is played with as much drama as its relatively compact framework will hold, each of the motives unfurling like a miniature aria. The second movement Adagio is not taken too slowly, and is played with suavity. The Rondo finale shows off Kim’s considerable chops, as well as the joyous demeanor with which this whole program is played. Recommended. 

 

  • Christian Carey
by Christian Carey
CD Review, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Laura Strickling’s 40@40 Project (CD Review)

 

Laura Strickling

40@40

Laura Strickling, soprano, Daniel Schlosberg, piano

Bright Shiny Things

 

Soprano Laura Strickling was nominated for a Grammy in 2022 for her last CD, Confessions, and has followed this up with forty art song commissions to celebrate her fortieth birthday: the 40@40 project. The eponymous recording features the first twenty of the commissions, with a second volume to follow. 

 

40@40 is already gaining considerable, well-deserved notice. Upon its release, it landed on the top of the Traditional Classical category on the Billboard Charts. Art song doesn’t often garner such a distinction, and Strickling’s advocacy for the genre is laudable. She is a talented vocalist with a wide range, warm in her low register and powerful in an impressive upper register. Moreover, her interpretive gifts are considerable. This is certainly true of collaborative pianist Daniel Schlosberg, who also has chops to spare for the most challenging passages of the songs. He pairs beautifully with Stickling. The twenty composers featured on the recording include some of the leading lights of American song, as well as fine composers who may have thus far flown under the radar of critical acclaim, but more than hold their own with the heavyweights. 

 

“Wind Carry Me,” by James Primosch is a setting of Susan Stewart’s poetry. Primosch was an expert crafter of art songs and the poem clearly resonated with him. The song is given a poignant and assured reading by Strickling, with clarion climaxes and operatic declamation. Tom Cipullo’s setting of “At Spring’s End,” by Ezra Pound, has a wistful piano prelude and long, sinuous legato vocal lines with quick, sometimes surprising, harmonic changes. “Let Us Remember Spring ” by Andrea Clearfield, presents Charlotte Mew’s poem with a slow build that eventually arrives at the top of Strickling’s range with an exultant demeanor. 

 

Myron Silberstein set’s Karen Poppy’s poem “Prometheus’ Monster” with a pleasing, light touch, providing Schlosberg with a fleet-fingered piano part and Strickling with long lines juxtaposed against it. The piano slows, moving into the same lyrical demeanor as the singer, in a coda that is given one spicy dissonance at its conclusion to remind us of the opening. Lori Laitman sets Caitlin Vincent’s “Thanks a Latte” in an arioso that adroitly moves through various sections and tempos that respond to the poem with skilful text-painting. Laitman gives Strickling ample opportunity to explore drama and humor. The soprano has fun with the song, providing a welcome diversion from the moodier pieces. Likewise, Julian Hall supplies “Two Old Crows,” a poem by Vachel Lindsay, with a puckish accompaniment and playful melismatic vocal lines. It culminates with energetic, humorous singing, the piano playing a quote from “Flight of the Bumblebee.”

 

Daron Hagen’s setting of Christina Ramirez’s “Benediction” is flat out gorgeous. Hagen is not only sensitive to word-setting and poetic form, he also shapes art songs to have a design that is elegant, crafting melodies that both paint local words and are part of a larger framework. The recording closes with “Song of Solitude (Alone),” a poem by Nikos Valance, is given a sumptuous setting by H. Leslie Adams, unspooling memorable melody after memorable melody. 

 

Laura Strickling is one of the best advocates for art song performing today. One eagerly awaits the next installment of 40@40 and, with fingers crossed, a songbook containing all forty. Recommended.

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
Classical Music, Contemporary Classical, Events, Music Events, New York

Where’s the Music? A Guide (New York Edition)

At a TIME:SPANS concert at DiMenna Center this summer, I sat next to a gentleman who asked me, “How do you find out about concerts like this one?”

It used to be easy, but…..over the past decade or so we’ve seen the demise of New York Times’ “Guide to the Lively Arts”, Time Out New York‘s extensive performing arts listings, and The New Yorker’s classical and opera Goings On Around Town section decimated to a mere one or two events per issue.

I have long wanted to create a classical events calendar for New York City, but my own limited resources (time, money) have made that project impractical. What I CAN offer is this list of terrific sites:

  1. Live Music Project – LMP launched in 2014 as a Seattle-only classical calendar service, and expanded a couple of years ago to cover the entire United States. It is largely events that are posted by the presenters or artists themselves, so its level of comprehensiveness depends on the community.
  2. New Music Calendar – launched and maintained by composer Todd Tarantino. A no-frills but fairly comprehensive listing of contemporary classical music events in New York
  3. Extended Techniques – Co-founded by musicologists Oksana Nesterenko and Alex Minkin, the main purpose of the site is a podcast series about contemporary music, but the well-maintained monthly concert listing is the most informative part of the site
  4. New York Classical Review – Primarily a site with well-written concert reviews, NYCR also posts a curated, linear list of events
  5. New Music USA – A user-posted events calendar of new music around the country
  6. Club Free Time – A listing of free performing arts events in New York, as well as films, walking tours and other free things to do. Detailed information is by subscription.
  7. Go Out! The List: A highly curated weekly performing arts list, heavy on new music, distributed by subscription newsletter (there are both free and paid versions). Each event listed is paired with a bar or restaurant recommendation.

I hope these resources get you to where you want to go this season.

Have I missed any major calendars? Let me know in the comments section below.

by Gail Wein
Contemporary Classical

BBC Proms: Ligeti et al

One of the focuses of this year’s Proms, concentrated during the month of August, was the centennial of György Ligeti. The first of these, presented on August 11 by The London Philharmonic Orchestra, along with the London Philharmonic Choir, the Royal Northern College of Music Chamber Choir, and the Edvard Grieg Kor, conducted by Edward Gardner, started in what might be the most obvious place, especially for drawing a large audience, focusing on the music used in Stanley Kurbrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The movie certainly introduced Liget’s music to a larger audience than it had ever received before that time, and made him a sort of star, both of in new music circles and in the world at large. This concert included Ligeti’s Requiem and Lux Aeterna, and ended, inevitably, with Also sprach Zarathrustra by Richard Strauss. Robert Stein’s program note asserted that Ligeti’s Requiem, composed from 1963 to 1965, was an unexpected next piece to follow his Poèm symphonique, for 100 metronomes, of 1962, but in fact the micropolyphony of the choral and orchestra work is a pretty exact recreation of the texture produced by many metronomes clicking away simultaneously. In the Requiem, Ligeti aligns that micropolyphonic texture with a quite remarkable and highly personal sense of register and orchestral color, producing a new and striking musical character at just about every moment. The Lux Aeterna, for 16-part unaccompanied chorus, written in 1966, which was performed by the Edvard Grieg Kor, is more concentrated and refined, and even more striking, being a distillation and, if you like, condensation of the Requiem for sixteen unaccompanied voices. All of the performances were beyond reproach.

The Prom on August 15, presented by the Royal Philharmonic, conducted by Vasily Petrenko, started with Lotano by Ligeti. Written in 1967, Lotano is in the vein of the Requiem and Lux Aeterna, but concentrates on luminous orchestration. Lontano was followed by the Beethoven Fourth Piano Concerto, with Alexandre Kantorow, as soloist, in what seemed to me to be the best performance of anything I’d ever heard, Kantorow, as an encore, delivered a radiant performance of somebody’s arrangement of the Finale from The Firebird. The concert ended with the Shostakovich Tenth Symphony, written in 1953. Shostakovich had suffered serious humiliation and oppression during the later 1940s and early 1950, a certain amount of it aimed directly at him by Stalin. During that time he wrote a number of pieces which he simply didn’t release, realizing that they would cause him even more trouble. Stalin’s death in March of 1953 was a source of relief for the composer, and the Symphony seems to be a powerful expression both of that relief and its attendant relative freedom, as well as a reflection on aspects of the situation. The second movement, which is a relentless and caustic scherzo is said to be a portrait of Stalin. The performance of the piece was vivid and powerful. The whole concert was unforgettable.

The Prom on the evening of August 13 was presented by The Budapest Festival Orchestra, conducted by Iván Fischer, on the heels of their Audience Choice Proms that afternoon, in which the audience chose the program by vote as it went along, working from a menu provided to them. The evening began with Mysteries of the Macabre by Ligeti, an excerpt from his opera Le Grand Macabre, consisting of an aria for the Chief of the Secret Political Police, arranged by Elgar Howarth. The soloist for this was Anna-Lena Elbert, who, as was appropriate to the music it dramatic situation in the opera, was all over the stage, in a manner just as frenetic as the music she was singing. She was singing in German, but the text came think and fast and relentlessly, so one wasn’t able to actually get any words at all, which didn’t in any way detract from the absurd and funny effect of the piece. This was followed by Béla Bartok’s Third Piano Concerto, with Sir András Schiff as soloist. It received a lovely and heartfelt performance, as was appropriate to the valedictory nature of the piece. The concert concluded with the Beethoven Third Symphony. The playing all the way through the concert was as good as one could have ever expected.

The impression that Ligeti was presented only as the composer of his modernist, micropolyphonic, Space Odyssey music was rectified by the Prom on August 20, presented by Les Sièles and its conductor François-Xavier Roth. This concert included the Concert Românesc, representing the highly polished Bartokian music, infused with folk-like material, that Ligeti wrote before he fled Hungary for the west in 1956 and the Violin Concerto of 1989-93, with soloist Isabelle Faust, which gave full evidence of the highly multifaceted, multisourced and, at least for this listener, more fully satisfying music that he was writing toward the end of his life. The character of the two works and the progress and shape of each, are not dissimilar, even though the later piece is freer in its incorporation of different tunings and more ‘exotic’ instruments, such as ocarina and swanee whistles. It conveys the sense of Ligeti as a continually inquiring and endlessly curious musical personality. Les Siècles specializes in playing instruments and tunings appropriate to the particular repertory they are performing, so the Ligeti pieces on the first half of the concert were performed on modern instruments tuned to A=442Hz; the Mozart works on the second half of the concert, the 23rd Piano Concerto, with soloist Aleander Melnikov, and the 41st Symphony, were performed on Classical-period instruments tuned to A=430Hz.

All of these concerts can be heard on the BBC Sounds website.

by Rodney Lister