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Carol BARNETT (b. 1949) Cyprus: First Impressions (2001)a [10:31] Vignettes, After Pierides (2001)b (The Incorrigible [6:18]; Auto-da-fé [4:33]; A
Song for Aunt Chrystallou [5:31]) Mythical Journeys (1991)c (Seferis:
5 from Mythical Story [8:36]; Cavafy: Ithaka [8:13]) Ithaka (2001)d [9:23] Cyprian Suite (2002)e (Servikos (Serbian
Dance) [2:50]; Aya Marina (Lullaby) [5:25]; Exomológhisis (Confession)
[3:15]; Agapisá Tin (I Loved Her) [4:50])
Adam Kuenzel
(alto flute), Michael Sutton and Laurie Petruconis (violins),
Susan Janda (viola), Laura Sewell (cello), David
Berg (bass)a
Claudia White (flute), Laura Sewell (cello), Marianne Fleming
Bryan (piano)b
Jane Garvin (flute), Christopher Kachian (guitar)c
Bradley Greenwald (baritone), Christopher Kachian (guitar)d
Wind ensemble/Craig Kirchhoff
rec. Sateren Hall, Augsburg College, November 2002a,
June 2003c, November 2003d; Sundin
Hall, Hamline University, November 2001b; Ted
Mann Concert Hall, University of Minnesota, May 2005e.
DDD.
World Premiere Recordings INNOVA 657 [64:32]
Every artist
must take a journey to find his or her self. American composer
Carol Barnett comes to us now with pictures of her journey,
which involve both metaphorical and literal travels to the
eastern Mediterranean, an area where she has found a music
that resonates within her, inspiring vivid and accessible
compositions.
Cyprus, First
Impressions starts with a sultry alto flute solo containing
melodic turns evocative of the eastern Mediterranean. Then
a string quintet seamlessly takes over the material, expanding
the modal harmonic implications. As the flute returns,
the music hints at change. Soon, the pace picks up like
a breeze blowing over hills, picking up dust and leaves.
This leads to a moderately fast main tempo, dominated by
a characteristic folk rhythm which holds the music together
as the instruments rise and fall, muezzin-like, above it.
As the energy dissipates, the music returns to the longing
torpor of the introduction, finally fading away, unresolved.
Taking the title at face value, this piece seems to serve
as both a musical post card and an affectionate valentine
to Cyprus. The players play it with commitment, but allow
it the space to breathe. Adam Kuenzel’s sumptuous phrasing
on the alto flute is particularly noteworthy.
George Philippou
Pierides is a Cypriot writer whose stories inspired the next
work, the very engaging Vignettes, After Pierides,
for flute, cello and piano. The first movement, “The Incorrigible,” pictures
moments leading up to, during, and following a dance. It
uses two folksongs as melodic material, starting with gentle
anticipation and building up to a lively dance reminiscent
of Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsodies, based on similar
folk material. The second movement, “Auto-da-fé,” depicts
a worker being stoned to death by an angry mob, or so says
the author in her program note. The first time I heard it,
I heard an aggressive riot of colors gradually coalesce into
what sounded to me like an evocation of a train, replete
with bursts of steam and whistle. Whatever the case, it is
vivid and arresting music. It suddenly cuts off, followed
by an awful stillness filled only by a few distracted fragments
of sound. The third movement of the trio is “A Song for Aunt
Chrystallou,” a character study of an older woman who is
the spiritual center of her family. Barnett worries in her
program note that it might have come out more sentimental
than she originally meant, but I get sentiment more than
sentimentality out of this music, and that makes all the
difference in the world. The music is touching in its warmth
balanced with just enough world-weariness to keep it from
cloying. This is character-sketching on the highest level,
and the vivid, daring playing of flautist Claudia White,
cellist Laura Sewell, and pianist Marianne Fleming Bryan
brings it fully to life.
Barnett’s Mythical
Journeys, for flute and guitar, date back about ten
years before the more recent works on this disc, and the
difference seems significant. The later works bear the
signs, like so much recent art music, of the joy and freedom
of creative imaginations finding it safe to come out of
hiding and frolic once again. The big bad wolf of frowning
academic serialists scolding anyone who dared to write
music that listeners might actually enjoy went into its
dotage in the 1980s and finally keeled over dead in the
1990s. This 1991 piece signals where Barnett would be heading
in the future, whilst keeping enough of the avant-garde
about it to keep the abstract literati off her back. The
first, “Seferis: 5 from Mythical Story,” is inspired by
a poem lamenting “our friends, lost forever beyond the
ocean.” This is gestural, sometimes jagged and thorny music.
It occasionally flirts with tonal centers, though it never
turns fully tonal or modal. For all its skillful deployment
of tones, it remains after multiple hearings rather harsh
and unfriendly music. The second piece is “Cavafy: Ithaka,” taking
its inspiration from Constantin Cavafy’s poem, which says, “When
you set out on your journey to Ithaka, pray that the road
may be long, full of adventure, full of knowledge.” Breathy
flute notes herald a musical journey that seems to show
this abstract composer discovering modes and melodic phrases
with a strange, bemused wonder. Flautist Jane Garvin and
guitarist Christopher Kachian never flinch in the difficulties
of the first piece, and find the doorway opening into a
new world in the second piece.
The perfect follow-up
to “Cavafy: Ithaka” follows with Barnett’s 2001 vocal setting
of the same poem, for baritone and guitar. If the former
showed the beginning of her voyage to Ithaka, the latter
shows the composer having arrived at her destination. It
is with candid insight that she illustrates her voyage with
this poem, which ends, “And if you find her poor, Ithaka
has not deceived you./ Wise as you have become, with so much
experience,/ you must have understood already what Ithakas
mean.” Barnett’s arrival in modal, eastern-European-influenced
music doesn’t guarantee any rich harvest, it is merely where
she had to go to undertake her journey to self. The song
speaks with assurance and efficiency, evoking more empathy
than the earlier work. The booklet contains an English translation
of Cavafy’s text, though not the original Greek text. Baritone
Bradley Greenwald sings with a honeyed, almost tenorish tone,
and Kachian supports him faultlessly on the guitar.
Unlike other
items on this disc, the closing work here, the Cyprian
Suite, isn’t really fulfilled by the performance, not
that the work seems to have as much personality and originality
as the chamber works. The piece is for symphonic wind ensemble.
There is a risk in trying to transfer folk-inspired music
to a more orchestral ensemble, for there is less of an opportunity
to establish the individuality of each player in a large
ensemble setting. Thus everything runs a greater risk of
sounding stereotypical, especially if it isn’t performed
with highest distinction, and so it goes here. The first
dance, “Servikos,” goes best, weaving restlessness into the
textures, though the occasional changing meters seem to provoke
a rather careful performance. The lullaby “Aya Marina” comes
next, featuring lovely clarinet solos. This evokes for me
something of the rapt atmosphere of the lullaby from Gayane by
Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian. The assembled ensemble,
presumably college students, has some minor intonation issues
in this movement, but nothing serious enough to derail it.
The third movement of the suite, “Exomológhisis,” takes its
inspiration from a mischievous song about a romancer who
tells a priest he could no more swear off love than the priest
could the Divine Service. The setting entrusts the melodic
line to lower brass instruments, but the performance is too
subdued to capture the intended spirit. The closing “Agapisá Tin” is
a love song that builds in energy and activity as its asymmetrical
rhythm propels it forward. Again, the performance is coolly
accurate, but one senses too much attention being paid to
accuracy and not enough to musical spirit.
The recorded
sound for this album is quite handsome, if rather close in
the ensemble numbers. Timbres are caught both cleanly and
alluringly, framing each piece attractively. The band numbers
are recorded in a more spacious hall, but conductor Craig
Kirchhoff’s careful balances keep everything sorted out.
Too bad he didn’t dare to let the band have a little free
rein, as the reticent band numbers are really the only reason
not to give this disc a warm recommendation.
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