MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS

 

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]
Experience Classicsonline

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.
 
Mark Sebastian Jordan
 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.