Stephen SONDHEIM (1930-2021)
A Little Night Music Suite (arr. for violin and piano by Eric Stern)
William Terwilliger (violin)
Andrew Cooperstock (piano)
Recording details not provided
Available only as download, review of press CD
BRIDGE 4010 [14:31]
When I received the review copy of this CD single, I was struck by how timely its release was, coming just after the recent death of Stephen Sondheim. The fact that the cover artwork doesn’t note his death date shows that this was prepared for release prior to that date. Judging by what I have heard on this CD it would seem that the musical catalogue of Sondheim is ripe for exploration by the classical ensembles of the world. The chamber music world would do well to sit up and take note.
Sondheim’s stage musical opened on Broadway in 1973 to rave reviews. It was quite different from anything that he had offered before. His original intent had been to create a musical that was written in 3/4 waltz time. In the end he composed this work using both 3/4 and 6/8 timings. In casting around for a subject to frame this score on, he and author Hugh Wheeler settled on the Ingmar Bergman film “Smiles of a Summer Night” which turned a out to be the perfect match for what turned out to be a mature, witty, yet dizzying theatrical experience.
This release is a suite of four of the shows songs that have been arranged by Eric Stern. Stern’s ingenious settings capture the wit and frustration that are inherent in these songs. He also manages to highlight some of the tiny dissonances that dwell in Jonathan Tunick’s magical orchestrations for the stage, but which often get lost in performance. The opening of Night Waltz is given an eerie nocturnal aura, as opposed to the lushly romantic one encountered in the theatre. Then we move seamlessly into the gentle ironies of You Must Meet My wife. The great Act One finale of A Weekend in the Country gives plenty of scope for a variety and playfulness between the violin and the piano. It was inevitable that the show’s hit song Send In the Clowns would be included here. In the play the song is full of resignation and bitter irony for the heroine. In the suite it sheds that garb and instead dons a diaphanous-sounding drapery of repose. Throughout the Suite Terwilliger’s violin caresses with a sweet-sound, while the light touch of Cooperstock’s piano exerts a perfect counterbalance. I only wish this have been longer than fourteen minutes. Several other songs from the show would have added greatly to this experience. Specifically I think of Liasons, Every Day a Little Death, Glamorous Life, and It Would Have Been Wonderful. Perhaps Mr Stern can be persuaded to take another look at these and expand his Suite into much more of a good thing. Currently this only seems to be available as a download from the Bridge website.
Mike Parr
