Two works receive their world premier on
this disc of chamber pieces by Ned Rorem: Dances scored
for cello and piano, and Nine Episodes for Four Players. Spring
Music was written for the Beaux Arts Trio and recorded
by them on Philips 438 866-2. More on the Beaux Arts performance
of Spring Music in a moment. Rorem’s career has been
a remarkably fruitful one, made less out of grand symphonic
gestures (three symphonies, four concertos), but of shorter,
more lyrically framed gestures in the form of art songs,
over five hundred at last count. Indeed, Rorem’s symphonies,
particularly the justly famous Third Symphony (1958), are
mostly made up of songlike statements that translate well
either tonally, in the symphonies, or atonally, in his songs
and his chamber pieces, particularly the works gathered on
this disc.
This should not be off-putting to the listener
unfamiliar with Rorem. Rorem’s forays into atonality are
actually more of the conservative Bergian kind, with hints
of French wistfulness. This is particularly true of Dances where
you can hear the cello sing to the piano’s occasionally
wonky in-and-out cadences. Rorem writes in clear declarative
statements – something he has in common with the more tonal
writer, Roy Harris - and because of the simplicity of his
language, his arguments, whether tonal or atonal, are quite
lucid. Whether a listener comes to like this music
is always a matter of personal choice but it’s not hard to
understand. As such, Rorem’s music often has a kind of clarity
that’s frequently missing from the music of composers of
his generation.
What makes Nine Episodes for Four Players stand
out here is the physical artistry of the Contrasts Quartet.
Ayako Oshima brings a flirtiness to this music that instills
it with considerable humor; a trait Rorem inherits from Messiaen.
Also of considerable merit here is the recording ambience
itself. The notes do not say where this was recorded, but
the miking tracks each of the instruments precisely. The
cello fairly resonates with warmth and the clarinet’s crisp
upper register notes - sounding almost flute-like - hang
suspended almost like snowflakes. Rorem, ever the songmeister,
lets each instrument take its turn singing.
A more intimate conversation between cello
and piano occurs in Dances. The seven pieces - none
are over four minutes in length - move briskly with touches
of satire here and there. Listen for example to the odd,
slightly drunken waltz in Valse Rapellée, the third
dance. But, again, Rorem’s hallmark is his ability to bring
out the intimacy of an instrument … or a voice.
Lastly, Spring Music (1990). This
had an earlier recording with the Beaux Arts Trio who take
the first and third movements at a much slower pace. The
Beaux Arts group’s performance is much more meditative than
the one by the Contrasts Quartet. The faster pace might reflect
aspects of “spring” - at least according to Rorem’s own notes
- but large passages remain privately characterized and a
bit remote. Still, these are works that reflect a distillation
of Rorem’s understanding of tonalities - how they play off
one another, how they can nonetheless be made to sing.
Paul Cook
BUY NOW
Visit our partner ArkivMusic
ROREM
SERIES ON PHOENIX
Vol.
1 Poems Of Love And The Rain/Four Madrigals/From
An Unknown Past PHCD 108
Vol.
2 Scenes/Five Songs/Four Dialogues PHCD116
Vol.
3 Day Music/Night Music PHCD123
Vol.
4 Ariel, Gloria, King Midas PHCD126
Vol. 5 Nine Episodes For Four Players/Dances
PHCD163
Contrasts
Quartet: (Ayako Oshima (clarinet); Monica Bauchwitz (violin);
Ariane Lallemand (cello); Evelyne Luest (piano)) 
