This four disc collection celebrates music by members of the
American Academy in Rome. The recordings come from live performances
in New York's Weill Recital Hall. The composers represented
include a number of America's most well known of the twentieth
century, including Elliott Carter, Samuel Barber, Lukas Foss
and Roger Sessions.
The discs are themed by genre; Disc A contains vocal music.
Robert Beaser's Four Dickinson Songs open: a set
of expressive and engaging songs which make use of Emily Dickinson's
wonderfully rhythmic poetry. Beaser's vocal lines soar over
the warmth of the piano, at times angular, at times reminiscent
of Strauss with beautiful melodies and heart-breaking harmonies
- the final song particularly falls into this category. Samuel
Barber follows, with four songs which were composed and premiered
at the Villa Aurelia, while he was a resident of the American
Academy in Rome. The first two of these short and beautifully
poised songs are performed with style by baritone Chris Pedro
Trakas; the remaining two are matched in quality of performance
by soprano Susan Narucki, whose soft-toned voice is coloured
with just the right amount of vibrato. The piano parts are uncomplicated
and do not intrude; these well written songs demonstrate Barber's
excellence as a composer and give a subtle reminder that there
is much more to him than the famous Adagio for Strings.
Of the same era, Randall Thompson is another well respected
American composer, and his Siciliano is a strongly written
work with lyrical melodic lines accompanied by the piano.
Ezra Laderman's setting of Michaelangelo's text is an
essentially tonal setting, haunting in its complex language
and fascinating in its lines. In complete stylistic contrast,
Derek Bremel's Spider Love is a simpler waltz, no
less convincing, with a hint of humour in Wendy S. Walter's
charming text. Jack Beeson at one point studied with Bartók
in New York, and is known mainly as a composer of operas. Prescription
for Living is part of a setting of a short story by Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Dr Heidegger's Fountain of Youth, and
is expertly performed by Chris Pedro Trakas and Donald Berman.
The dark melancholy of Charles Naginski's Look Down,
Fair Moon is instantly appealing. This is a spellbinding
song which sets a Walt Whitman text and was written just a few
months before the composer's untimely death. Leo Sowerby's
The Forest of Dead Trees is similarly dark and sets a
poem by Mark Turbyfill. David Rakowski's music shows an
instinct for melody writing. His lyrical song was composed for
Susan Narucki, who performs it here with conviction. There
were Two Swans by Vittorio Giannini is a light-hearted song
which sets a poem by Karl Flaster. Scott Lindroth's The
Dolphin was written for the AIDS Quilt Songbook in
1995 and the text draws parallels with HIV sufferers. The piano
part changes from busy water-like textures to a quiet, chordal
texture towards the end. This is a poignant song, with expressive
solos for the soprano. The composer is currently Vice Provost
of the Arts at Duke University.
Roger Sessions is represented here with an extract from Act
II of his opera Montezuma. The instrumental Tableaux
which open depict an Aztec procession and contain references
to the exotic elements of the Aztec culture. There is drama
in this instrumental interlude and one has a sense of following
the action through the music. The soprano enters for Malinche's
Aria, set in the hall of Montezuma. The style of the accompaniment
changes with the new setting, and the voice is given a challenging
line, with the tone, colour and direction beautifully controlled.
The music is technically demanding for the players, but the
effect is pleasing and the performance is excellent.
The disc ends with two orchestrated songs by Elliott Carter,
originally written in 1943 but orchestrated in 1979. The songs
have a strong American feel and are settings of texts by Walt
Whitman and Hart Crane. The language is surprisingly tonal;
my knowledge of Carter is mostly centred around his later atonal
works. This period of his writing is perhaps more similar in
style to his compatriots Barber or perhaps even Copland; he
uses tonality but there is a sense of something more in his
language. There is an expansiveness that one associates with
American music of this time, but there is also a sense of breaking
away from tradition. It is curious that the orchestrations were
made in the late 1970s; perhaps it is this retrospective that
gives depth to the sound-world. The orchestra accompanies well
and the soprano line is beautifully performed by Tony Arnold.
Disc B features music for strings and piano, and opens with
Aaron Jay Kernis's Mozart en Route, a short trio
for violin, viola and cello which fuses the contemporary American
style with more traditional melodies. Elements of a Mozart Divertimento
for String Trio are used in the piece, as Mozart is taken on
a hypothetical journey across America, sampling different styles
of music as he goes. This is an enjoyable piece which is light-hearted
and entertaining. Much darker is Paul Moravec's Passacaglia,
with its veiled opening and solemn opening melodies. Using the
BACH motif, the piece is written for violin, cello and piano.
There is a gradual increase in tempo and movement throughout
the work, and the sense of turbulence and passion grows. Tesserae
by Arthur Levering is a strong work for viola and piano which
is a set of variations. The piano at times overpowers the viola
in the balance of this recording, but the end of the work is
particularly successful, with its light and fleeting repetitions.
Levering has an interesting compositional voice and I enjoyed
his language and the sense of drama in the work.
Sirens by John Anthony Lennon is a calm and elegant trio
which gives a marked contrast with the passionate outpourings
of the previous works. There is a delicacy within this piece
which forces the listener to concentrate on the music. This
is an enjoyable and intimate work with much to commend. The
longest work on the disc follows. Alexander Lang Steinert's
Violin Sonata was composed in 1929 and has a distinctly
Romantic feel compared with the Lennon. At times there were
also passages which brought to mind a European style of composition,
perhaps unsurprising when one takes into account that Steinert
studied in Paris with D'Indy and Koechlin. This is a well-crafted
work with a particularly appealing slow movement, which is unsentimental
but expressive. The sparkling third movement has a particularly
detectable French influence, with its jaunty rhythms and shimmering
piano writing. This is a convincing performance which is very
enjoyable.
Martin Bresnick's Three Intermezzi for solo cello
are expertly performed by Ole Akahoshi. Returning to a more
contemporary style, the short pieces are dramatic and demonstrate
an array of sounds and timbral contrasts. The first piece is
intense and somewhat aggressive, while the second takes on the
form of a melodic dialogue which develops with the sense of
a well-formed improvisation and a hint of jazz. Here the cello
has a distinct voice; one which demands to be heard. The final
movement is a virtuoso display, with impressive pizzicato effects
and a wonderful sense of direction through the work. For me
this is one of the highlights of the disc.
This Strings and Piano CD ends with Stephen Hartke's Beyond
Words. Opening with a melancholy and poignant Tallis-inspired
string entry, there is an inherent resonance in the harmonies
and a compelling direction through the melodies. The piano writing
at the opening is sparse and highly effective, punctuating the
strings for a change of colour. Composed in the autumn of 2001,
the basis of this piece is the Lamentation of Jeremiah,
and there are obvious echoes with current events at the time
Hartke wrote this piece. This is a deeply moving work with some
stunning sounds within it, including some particularly wonderful
bell-tolling imagery in the piano part.
Disc C concentrates on music for solo piano, performed ably
by Donald Berman. The opening work is Lukas Foss's Fantasy
Rondo, an enjoyable work of almost ten minute's duration.
The work fuses 1940s swing style music with classical tradition
in a convincing and energetic movement which maintains interest
throughout. In My Friend Mozart, Kamran Ince creates
an expressive and poetic tribute to Mozart, with a wonderful
balance of romanticism and minimalist-influenced repetition.
George Rochberg's Bagatelles are two short serial
movements from a set of twelve, dedicated to Dallapiccola. Walter
Heller's Nocturne, the third piece presented - with
the works of Rochberg and Ince - as a triptych, shows the influence
of popular styles and also contains a hint of early twentieth-century
French styles.
Sound Reasoning in the Tower of Babel is a shimmering
work which makes use of a range of the textural capabilities
of piano writing. Symbolic of a range of compositional styles
which were prevalent at the time of composition, Diesendruck
incorporates different musical languages into her work, including
aspects of composers as diverse as Chopin, Bartok and Fats Waller.
This is a successful work which retains a sense of unity and
demonstrates Diesendruck's impressive compositional skill.
Hunter Johnson's Piano Sonata is a twenty minute
work in three movements. A virtuosic first movement displays
Berman's excellent piano playing, seeming effortless and
expertly controlled, with a wide range of dynamics and expression.
An expansive central movement follows, followed by a jaunty
and rhythmic final movement. This is a strong work with much
to offer, setting out to depict Johnson's home community
in the South.
Mark Wingate's Sombras make use of digital processing,
which extends the traditional timbre of the piano. Using a combination
of delays and pitch shifting, Wingate creates an impressive
and sometimes deeply expressive tapestry of sound. The live
processing is done with a sense of taste and balance, existing
to enhance the live sound rather than to dominate the soundscape.
These are successful works with a rhythmic drive that pulsates
and creates a forward momentum. I'd be very interested to
hear more from this interesting composer.
Two works remain; Billy Jim Layton's Three Studies
use serial language to create a somewhat neo-classical set of
pieces, with each one focusing on a different musical aspect;
the first handles contrasting meter and note groups, the second
focuses on jazz while the third uses the baroque forms of fugue
and sarabande. These are technically challenging works, played
expertly by Berman, who conveys musicality in abundance throughout
this disc. Loren Rush's Oh, Susanna takes material
from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in a set of
cleverly devised variations. Elements of Mozart's work become
increasingly apparent through this poised and balanced work
until it is finally quoted explicitly. Rush incorporates Mozart's
music into her own style with elegance and Berman once again
gives a fine performance.
The final disc in the set features music for winds and piano.
Yehudi Wyner's Commedia opens with a wonderfully
explosive solo for clarinet, directed to be played 'LABOOH'
(Like a Bat out of Hell). This is a wonderful opening to the
disc, with the clarinet immediately exerting its authority and
soon joined by an equally energetic piano. The mood calms temporarily
before regaining its energy, with short figurative lines heard
in dialogue between the instruments. Part 2 is slower and shows
the lyrical side of the instruments, with floating lines and
expressive harmonies. David Lang's Vent is a well-written
work for flute and piano. The opening flute line is given texture
and punctuations through unison piano bisbigliandi. Lang's
use of textural effect such as this, with a constant fast moving
flow of note repetitions and off beat accented punctuations
serves to build tension and intensity in the music. Rising pitches
continue until the tension breaks, making way for low, lyrical
music. The off-beat accents are retained from the previous section
as the tension builds up once again. This is for me one of the
most memorable tracks on this set of discs, performed here magnificently
by Patti Monson and Donald Berman.
Dandelion Wine comes from a different era; Andrew Imbrie
composed it in the late 1960s, taking inspiration from the title
of a book by Ray Bradbury. The piece takes musical ideas and
presents them in different ways, in order to give a sense of
coming from different times - as the Dandelion Wine
of the title; different bottles from different dates. Its inclusion
on a 'music for winds' disc is slightly curious, as
although it has an oboe and a clarinet in the ensemble much
of the interest comes from the strings and piano. Nonetheless,
it is a short and well-formed work which has a sense of elegance
and balance and deserves to be heard. Lee Hyla's two works
are miniatures composed in 1979 and 1985 respectively. Pre-Amnesia
is a clucking piece for alto saxophone, full of contrasts and
displays of virtuoso technique. Mythic Birds of Saugerties
for bass clarinet is a tribute to upstate New York's bird
life. One cannot help but think of Messiaen in such a context,
but Hyla's work manages to get some distance from this and
retain his own compositional voice. This is an enjoyable piece
which shows off the range of the bass clarinet, both in terms
of pitch and tone colour.
Bun-Ching Lam is represented here by two movements for flute,
- (solo) and = (duo). The concept here is of multiplication;
the composition of a solo line acts as the starting point, and
then a second line is added, with the idea that further parts
can be added, one by one, until large textures (such as orchestral
pieces) are created. The initial solo movement is dramatic,
with extremes of high register and lyrical low register passages.
The duo part of this piece was multi-tracked by Monson so the
sounds match perfectly. This is a fascinating work, which very
much has the sense of the duo growing out of the solo.
Beams! is a work for trombone and tape by James Mobberley,
written as a collaboration with trombonist John Leisenring,
who performs it here. The electronic elements come purely from
pre-recorded trombone sounds, which are then subjected to a
number of differing electronic transformations, creating a range
of sounds from the traditional trombone to metallic percussive
elements. The language is an interesting one, with timbral variety
and a range of harmonies and gestures which go from atonal complexity
to almost clichéd moments of tonality. In some ways there
was a little too much for me in terms of new ideas and general
information to process; in the end I found my mind wandering
somewhat, despite the array of sounds. I suspect this is a piece
that requires multiple hearings to be fully appreciated, but
one that can offer much to the listener who is willing to take
the time with it.
By complete contrast, Howard Hanson's Pastorale for
oboe and piano is a slow paced, expressive movement which for
me has resonances with both Copland and Vaughan Williams. Laura
Ahlbeck's oboe tone is a joy to listen to with its rich
expression and subtle changes of colour. This is a beautiful
piece and a gem in the repertoire.
The disc concludes with three movements from Howard Shapero's
Six for Five Wind Quintet. Full of character, Shapero
fuses classical style with contemporary rhythms to create an
enjoyable mix of sounds. Taking its origins from a duo for trombone
and flute, Shapero retains the sense of brass against woodwind
in the sound, using the horn and flute as central colours which
blend with the other instruments to create a range of timbral
variations. The oboe takes a solo role in the second movement,
accompanied by muted horn. The Finale is fast moving
and has the feel of a comedic dance.
The variety of compositional styles and languages on this set
of discs is testament to the work of the American Academy in
Rome, supporting some of America's finest composers. The
overall quality of music is very high, and each of the works
is presented in excellent performances by some fine instrumentalists.
This is a wonderful overview of American music of the twentieth
century and well worth exploring.
Carla Rees
Track & performer details
CD A: Vocal Music:
Robert BEASER (b.1954) Four
Dickinson Songs (2002) [13:25]
Samuel
BARBER (1910 - 1981) Songs: In the Dark Pinewood
(1937) [1:27], Beggar's Song (1936) [2:02], Of That So
Sweet Imprisonment (1935) [1:58], Sleep Now, op 10 no 2 (1936)
[2:43]
Randall THOMPSON (1899
- 1984) Siciliano (1978) [2:38]
Ezra
LADERMAN (b.1924) Songs from Michaelangelo
no 1 (1967) [3:05]
Derek BERMEL (b.1967) Spider
Love (1999) [2:29]
Jack BEESON (b.1921) Prescription
for Living (1978) [3:53]
Charles
NAGINSKI (1909-1940) Look Down, Fair Moon (1940)
[2:46]
Leo SOWERBY (1895-1968) The
Forest of the Dead Trees (1920) [2:10]
David
RAKOWSKI (b.1958) For Wittgenstein (1996) [4:20]
Vittorio
GIANNINI (1903-1966) There were Two Swans (1943)
[2:39]
Scott LINDROTH The
Dolphins (1995) [5:08]
Roger SESSIONS (1896-1985) Two
Tableaux and Malinche's Aria from Montezuma (1964) [10:28]
Elliott
CARTER (b.1908) Warble for Lilac Time (1943/1979)
[6:51], Voyage (1943/79) [5:17]
CD B: Music for Strings and Piano:
Aaron Jay KERNIS (b.1960) Mozart
en Route (1991) [3:30]
Paul MORAVEC (b.1957) Passacaglia
(2003) [10:21]
Arthur LEVERING (b.1953) Tesserae
(2000) [7:32]
John Anthony LENNON (b.1950) Sirens
(1992) [10:48]
Alexander LANG STEINERT (1900-1982) Violin
Sonata (1929) [17:25]
Martin BRESNICK (b.1946) Three
Intermezzi (1971) [10:02]
Stephen HARTKE (b.1952) Beyond
Words (2002) [12:52]
CD C: Music for Piano Solo:
Lukas FOSS (1922-2009) Fantasy
Rondo (1944) [9:30]
Kamran INCE (b.1960) My
Friend Mozart (1987) [3:07]
George ROCHBERG (1918-2005) Bagatelle
No IV and V (1952) [2:42]
Walter HELFER (1896-1959) Nocturne
(1927) [4:39]
Tamar DIESENDRUCK Sound
Reasoning in the Tower of Babel (1990) [8:12]
Hunter
JOHNSON (1906-1998) Piano Sonata (1971) [19:27]
Mark
WINGATE (b.1952) Sombras (1995) [7:38]
Billy
Jim LAYTON (1924-2004) Three Studies for Piano,
op 5 (1957) [8:59]
Loren RUSH (b.1935) Oh,
Susanna (1970) [10:02]
CD D: Music for Winds and Piano:
Yehudi WYNER (b.1929) Commedia
(2002) [16:06]
David LANG (b.1957) Vent
(1990) [8:20]
Andrew IMBRIE (b.1921) Dandelion
Wine (1967) [2:42]
Lee HYLA (b.1952) Pre-Amnesia
(1979) [1:43]
Mythic Birds of Saugerties (1985) [2:56]
Bun-Ching
LAM (b.1954) - (solo) = (duo) (1977) [5:49]
James
MOBBERLEY (b.1954) Beams! (1986) [8:31]
Howard
HANSON (1896-1981) Pastorale for Oboe and Piano
(1949) [5:43]
Harold SHAPERO (b.1920) Six
for Five Wind Quintet (1995) [6:24]
A:
Donald Berman (Artistic Director, piano), Hila Plitmann, Susan Narucki,
Tony Arnold (soprano), Chris Pedro Trakas (baritone), Curtis Macomber
(violin), Fred Sherry (cello), Tata Helen O'Connor (flute), Charles
Neidich (clarinet), Daniel Druckman, James Baker (percussion), Jeffrey
Milarsky, Scott Yoo (conductor), Colorado College Festival Orchestra
B: Ida Kavafian, Sunghae Anna Lim (violin), Steven Tenenbom, Jonathan Bagg (viola),
Peter Wiley, Ole Akahoshi (cello), Trio Solisti, Donald Berman (piano), Opus
One Piano Quartet
C: Donald Berman (piano)
D; Richard Stoltzman (clarinet), Yehudi Wyner, Donald Berman (piano), Patti Monson
(flute), Collage Music Ensemble, Tim Smith (alto saxophone, bass clarinet), John
Leisenring (trombone), Laura Ahlbeck (oboe), The Curiously Strong Wind Quintet