CONTENTSCONGRATULATIONS
TO . . ., 3 LIVE EVENTS Veddy British Music
(Kraft) <> Going Into 'Understated Drive' (Kroll), 6 DOTTED NOTES from … Kraft, Kroll, Greenfest, Hickey, BLC, 16 SPEAKING OUT! Thoughts on the Pulitzer Prize, 17 AN INTERVIEW WITH … David Holzman, 19 THE PRINTED WORD Berger's Reflections (Kraft), 20 THE SCOREBOARD Sperry's Encores (Drogin), 21 RECORDINGSMini but Not Mousy
(Cleary) <> Bell's Echoes of Bela (Cleary) <> Just a Few Will Do (Cleary),
22 RECENT RELEASES, 24 THE PUZZLE CORNER, 25 COMPOSER INDEX, 27 BULLETIN BOARD, 27
WEB SUPPLEMENTA John Adams biography and an interview LIVE EVENTS Boston
Modern Orchestra Project CD REVIEWS Angel
Shadows: Laurel Ann Maurer |
Review of CD DREAM JOURNAL ALBANY RECORDS, TROY 488 Presented on this release are four pieces commissioned by the Philadelphia-based Network for New Music Ensemble. All prove to be worthy listens by composers of much ability. The finest of the foursome by a hair’s breadth is Concertino by Bernard Rands. The featured instrument here is the oboe and the solo part is a daunting though idiomatic one, loaded with lightning quick passage work and expressive linear figures. The composer’s handling of textures, scoring, and melodic material—both in the oboe and seven backing ensemble members—is masterful. And structurally, the piece is most unusual and effective, laid out in two primary sections. The first of these gradually builds upon the oboe’s busy cadenza-like opener into a skittering and playful entity, while the second alternates expressive and showy music, culminating in a reprise of the bubbly initial material. Passion Prayers by Augusta Read Thomas, a composition for solo cello accompanied by an ensemble of six, might seem to the inattentive listener to be a series of unrelated mood snippets, ranging from expressive to intense to soulful to spooky to nervous. But in fact, Thomas expertly ties in these wide ranging emotional states by utilizing tightly motivic construction—ultimately, it all comes off rather like a set of free variations—furnishes smooth transitions between each section, and provides a recapitulation of the opening forceful music to ably suggest a return home. The cello writing takes full advantage of this instrument’s ability to put forth a delicious melodic line and the ensemble backing, while often sparse, is attractively colorful. The two selections by composers based in the City of Brotherly Love occupy opposite ends of the tonal spectrum. Jennifer Higdon’s mixed sextet wissahickon poeTrees owes much in sound to the oeuvre of Copland, Debussy, and similar folk. Given that the piece depicts the four seasons in a local urban park, one might wonder if bucolic flabbiness is the order of the day. Happy, this pejorative description does not apply. Throughout, even in the slow movements, there’s an undercurrent of gutsy energy that imparts momentum and backbone. And the presence of ritornello style linking sections (in best Mussorgsky Pictures and Stravinsky Octet tradition), which here get varied in overlay fashion, provide formal grounding for the widely contrasting movements. Sonic debts to tape-and-live-instrument composers such as Mario Davidovsky can be heard in James Primosch’s Dream Journal. Scored for two pianists, two percussionists, and tape, the piece exudes an especially clangorous, disjunct harmonic language. But this is no style study: events are clumped in clearly defined larger sections that behave in less mercurial fashion than more typical East Coast fare. And its use of texture can be powerfully striking, as in the mysteriously atmospheric start to the first movement or the explosion of bell sounds at the climax of the finale. The ensemble, conducted with flair and sensitivity by Jan Krzywicki, acquits itself well despite a few intonation glitches in the Higdon. Cellist Scott Kluksdahl and oboist Richard Woodhams expertly handle the solo parts. Editing is very good and sound is fine with the exception of one passage in Higdon’s piece, where some distortion is noticeable. This strong CD is definitely recommended. --David Cleary |