The six movement
First Quartet by Christopher Rouse was
largely written in 1981 - the year of the Bartok centenary -
and is what the composer calls a “conscious homage to that
greatest of twentieth century quartet composers”. It includes
two movements bearing the title “Fantasma di Bartok”.
That said the work was also influenced by the violent death Anwar
Sadat and the composer assures us that “the important pitch
material of the work” is based on the initials of Sadat's
name. It’s a work of serrated irritation, fractious, single-minded,
angry, unafraid of dissonance and fracture yet often quiet. The
final whispering
Epilogo-Lento manages to be both moving
and deeply troubled. It was written in Rochester, New York on
7 June 1982 for the Casella Quartet - in residence at the Eastman
School with the Cleveland Quartet.
The
String Quartet No. 2 was completed in his native Baltimore
in 1988. It was commissioned by the Cleveland Quartet with funding
from the Eastman School. Dedicated to the people of the Soviet
Union which is not to be taken as “socio-political commentary
in any way” (CR). It was written after a tour of the USSR
in 1987 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The music, across
three movements, is intensely tragic and has about it nothing
of the haranguing platform or the glaring stage. The example
of Shostakovich is certainly in the background here. The second
movement takes us back to the gripping fractious dissonance of
Rouse’s First Quartet with short shreds of lyrical tendrils
here and there. The composer says that it “recalls my Symphony
No. 1 (1986) in some regards. This is the result of a personal
desire to communicate ultimately with listeners of all nationalities.” The
First Symphony can be heard on First Edition and on Bis.
The final and most recent work on the disc is the four-segment
Compline - presented
across a single track. Scored for the same septet as Ravel’s
Introduction
and Allegro it was written for the Chamber Music Society
of Lincoln Center under the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in
the Library of Congress. The dedication is to the memory of Serge
and Natalie Koussevitsky. The “title refers to the seventh
(and final) canonical hour in the Catholic church. As a result,
some may conclude that it is a religious work. However, what
religiosity
Compline may contain is more observational
than participatory, reminiscent perhaps of various scores by
Respighi in which religious elements are included” (CR).
The composer sees this works as a souvenir of his 1989 trip to
Rome, “a city I fell in love with instantly and that is,
of course, dominated by the twin cultures of the ancient Roman
Empire and the Roman Catholic church … the sound of bells
is never far away.” The music is not lush. Across a schema
of connected fast-slow-fast-slow sections the strings provide
a rocking minimalist motoric ostinato while the wind instruments
dive and soar. Next comes a very slow idyllic-impressionist
Reverenza.
The ensuing fast section is returns to that fast-rocking incessant
ostinato with the woodwind all fluttering and scurrying birdsong.
This curves down a steadily stilling gradient into a peaceful
place of Ravelian impressionism, Silvestrov-style diaphony and
plainchant.
The Calder who also work with Terry Riley are sympathetic collaborators
in this project which adds indispensably to the Rouse discography.
I quite liked the design but can only condemn the dense Dave
Muller spider-web that makes most of Rouse’s own programme
note for the First Quartet quite illegible. The quartet is dealt
with well in the general note so no doubt I am missing some edgy
metaphor when I take such grave exception to this piece of baleful
innovation.
Rouse continues to carve out his own distinctive world separate
from cliques and style groups.
Rob Barnett
Rouse reviewed on MusicWeb International
Violin Concerto etc -
Ondine
Trombone Concerto etc -
Phoenix
PH167
Second Symphony -
Telarc
CD80452
First Symphony -
BIS
BISCD1386
Calder Quartet (Benjamin Jacobson
(violin); Andrew Bulbrook (violin); Jonathan Moerschel (viola); Eric Byers (cello));
Alicia Lee (clarinet); Sivan Magen (harp);
Daniel Alexander (flute) 
