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Gulfstream: American Chamber Music
Libby LARSEN (b.1950)
Rodeo Queen of Heaven (2010) [9:31]
Peter LIEUWEN (b.1953)
Gulfstream (2007) [11:12]
Peter SCHICKELE (b.1935)
Quartet for clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1982) [19:43]
Aaron COPLAND (1900-1990)
Sextet for clarinet, piano and string quartet (1937) [14:36]
enhake-, with Corinne Stillwell (violin) and Pamela Ryan (viola)
in Copland
rec. 10-14 May, 2010, Opperman Music Hall, Florida State University,
Tallahassee, Florida, USA
NAXOS 8.559692 [55:01]
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This is a very fine tasting menu of American chamber music
for violin, cello, clarinet and piano. Its four works are united
by only one common thread - their extremely high quality. We
start with a Libby Larsen work from 2010 and work back to Aaron
Copland’s Sextet which adds a violin and viola.
The title of Larsen’s Rodeo Queen from Heaven sounds
witty, but it’s really based on a different kind of celestial
visitor; the inspiration is a hand-painted wooden carving by
Arthur Lopez, of the Madonna bearing a gun and wearing a rodeo
costume. Larsen’s piece somehow manages to capture the spirit
of this: the piano struts about brash cowboy fashion in the
opening moments, and snippets of lyrical Americana-type melody
are juggled with wit, rhythmic spunk, and maybe a dash of sarcasm.
The heart of the work, though, is a central series of modal
meditations on more religiously-toned ideas.
Peter Lieuwen - born in Utrecht, raised in New Mexico - contributes
Gulfstream, from 2007, a work which “reacts to his
aural impression of the Gulfstream [sic] current,” partly inspired
by global warming. That kind of description usually means I’ll
hate a piece: compositions inspired by global warming? An ocean
current can yield aural impressions? Will there be a sequel
about air currents depositing Chinese industrial pollution over
New Mexico and west Texas? But Lieuwen’s piece does indeed aspire
to evoke, for chamber ensemble, the rough-and-tumble of a warm
seascape. By and large it succeeds; it’s quite a pleasure to
listen to, and some of the quieter passages (as after 2:45)
are frankly wonderful, as is the coda.
For me, though, the highlight is Peter Schickele’s quartet of
1982. Schickele is well-known as the brains behind P.D.Q. Bach,
the “last and least” of Bach’s sons (1807-1742!); Schickele
has “discovered” such P.D.Q. works as the 1712 Overture,
Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion,
The Short-Tempered Clavier, and a Pervertimento
for Bicycle, Bagpipes, and Balloons. Even when he’s writing
as himself, Schickele is accustomed to high spirits: among other
things, he’s written a tango for four bassoons based on the
‘Tristan chord’ and an Unbegun Symphony, of which there
is only a scherzo and finale.
The quartet here is not nearly as silly as that, so don’t get
your hopes up (or down). It is good-humored, but in a friendly,
neighborly way, like a warm handshake. Its opening evokes rural
Americana, with plenty of good folksy tunes, and its centerpiece
is a genuinely emotional elegy in muted colors. The finale is
Schickele being witty, but not over-the-top; his humor here
is along the lines of Haydn, teasing and playful. One would
have to be cold-hearted to dislike music as affectionately done
as this.
One would probably also have to dislike Aaron Copland, whose
Sextet rounds out the recital. This is a reduction
of his Second (‘Short’) Symphony, and it is vintage Copland
with the composer’s typical language and incisive rhythm. There’s
less of the expansive ‘American west’ feel of his populist music,
but it is both playful and confident music anyway.
enhake- is an award-winning quartet which is especially active
on the contemporary music circuit. The Libby Larsen piece which
opens the program was commissioned and premiered (at Carnegie
Hall) by the group, and Peter Lieuwen’s Gulfstream
is dedicated to them as well. They certainly do the composers
proud, and cannot be faulted on any grounds: their advocacy
is impassioned and their playing is more or less exemplary (maybe
the cellist’s bow clacks a little too harshly in louder passages).
The recording is good, but turn up the volume a bit or else
- by some odd trick - it sounds as if everyone is seated very
far apart from each other. This is for fans of good and enjoyable
contemporary chamber music, or American music in general, or
for those who want to hear Peter Schickele when he’s not writing
the aural equivalent of slapstick.
Brian Reinhart
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