of Gabrielle Roy’s
of Gabrielle Roy’s novel La riviėre sans repos. At 28 minutes, Marcoux’s arrangement for violin, piano and string ensemble of her Violin Sonata dominates the disc. In Lento, the violin wails in desperation. The discordant tango of La porte entrebâillėe grows steadily faster and wilder. Improvisation – Le déroute is an extended, vehement solo cadenza. Tempo rubato’s lyricism is tinged with regret; the concluding Molto Aggressivo defines itself. Petite Suite Aquatique is in two movements. Aquarium features long-lined, plaintive violin melodies over abrupt piano rhythms. In Deep Blue Saloon, a Romanyflavoured dance is followed by honky-tonk ragtime, ending raucously. According to the only description by Marcoux I could find online, it represents “a bar frequented by the motley fauna of the deep sea who have come to witness the burlesque stripping of a wanton octopus.” (!) The densely-scored Cendres for string quintet begins with agitated propulsion before subsiding to restless songfulness. Although the CD lasts only 48 minutes, Marcoux’s intensely gripping, tempestuous music left me completely satisfied. Michael Schulman Cartografia del Mar Andre Cabráin; Pedro Mateo Ganzález Eudora Records EUD-SAC-2307 (eudorarecords.com) ! The sea, like amniotic fluid, has the power to join us all, as creatures of consciousness, through the power of music. Cartografia Del Mar (A Map of the Sea) is a deeply stirring international and intergenerational program presented here by accomplished flutist (and Scotsman) Andre Cebrián and eminent classical guitarist (and Spaniard) Pedro Mateo González. The album’s, suites and stand-alone compositions are from Astor Piazzolla, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Toru Takemitsu, Robert Beaser, Leo Brouwer and Feliu Gasull. Up first is Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango. Lyrical and pungent, heavy with the aroma of Argentinian night life through the past century, this magnificent suite has been brilliantly re-imagined by Cebrián and González. In the first movement, Bordel 1900, the duo explores the bordello as the instigator of the 20th century roots of tango. Light, airy, joyous are all descriptive of this movement. Coy, jejune passages are interspersed with waves of intimacy and pungent secrets as Cambrián and González traverse intrigues of the Buenos Aires night like a single-celled organism. Italian icon Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Sonatina Op.205 is rendered here with exquisite care and skill by both artists, and captures every nuance of this gorgeous, rhythmically varied suite, rife with nearly unbearable beauty. Japanese composer Takemitsu contributes his masterful work, Toward the Sea. In the first movement, The Night, the listener’s skin tingles… all senses are open and awash with an eerie feeling of unseen presences, swathed in mystery… lower flute tones evoke a feeling of isolation, while the guitar is the veritable vapor on which the flute floats. Also of note is the “Mountain Songs” suite by New Englandborn Beaser. It is a work of pure Americana, stunningly rendered with authenticity by the duo. A magnificent work! Lesley Mitchell-Clarke Nancy Galbraith – Everything Flows Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Gil Rose BMOP Sound 1096 (bmopsound.bandcamp. com/album/nancy-galbraith-everythingflows-concerto-for-solo-percussion-andorchestra) ! I’ve previously written reviews in The WholeNote praising five different CDs by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and conductor Gil Rose. Here’s another. These three very entertaining concertos by Nancy Galbraith, chair of composition at Carnegie Mellon University in her native Pittsburgh, were written for, premiered by and now recorded by three “friends and/or colleagues” – violinistconductor-composer Alyssa Wang, newmusic-championing flutist Lindsey Goodman and virtuoso percussionist Abby Langhorst. Galbraith’s Violin Concerto No.1 (2016) begins with perky percussion and the violin playing buoyant Chinese-sounding melodies. In the elegiac second movement, Eggshell White Night, Galbraith’s tribute to a late friend, the violin laments amid gentle harp and piano arpeggios over solemn, sustained orchestral chords. The finale begins as a perpetuum mobile with headlong violin figurations and ends with grandiose orchestral perorations accompanying the violin’s rapid passagework. The Flute Concerto (2019) is similarly structured. Two cheerful movements featuring percussion-enlivened Latin American dance rhythms bracket the Nocturne, in which the flute plays plaintive phrases and melodies, electronically echoed and amplified, over gloomy orchestral chords. A wild barrage of syncopated Latin American rhythms launches the one-movement Everything Flows: Concerto for Solo Percussion and Orchestra (2019), gradually subsiding to a slower, quieter central section that evokes, for me, African drumming and the thumb-played mbira. The concerto ends with a raucous, jazzy jam session. It would be great fun to watch as the soloist becomes a one-person percussion section, playing nearly non-stop on at least 12 different instruments! Michael Schulman Virgil Thomson – A Gallery of Portraits for Piano and Other Piano Works Craig Rutenberg Everbest Music 1003 (virgilthomson.org) ! Virgil Thomson (1896-1989) is chiefly remembered for his operas Four Saints in Three Acts and The Mother of Us All, both set to librettos by Gertrude Stein, and the orchestral suites he derived from his film scores – the one he arranged from Louisiana Story won the Pulitzer Prize in 1949. Writers about music also continue to cite Thomson’s acerbic reviews from his tenure as music critic of New York’s Herald Tribune (1940-1954). This two-CD set contains 81 piano miniatures, most under two minutes, including 70 of the approximately 160 Portraits Thomson composed portraying friends and acquaintances, each present during the music’s creation. There are sentimental melodies, often hinting at familiar hymns and folk tunes, military fanfares and marches, merrygo-round music and playful dances, many spiced with puckish “wrong notes.” I recognized only seven names among those depicted: composers Paul Bowles (a quirky, mildly-dissonant waltz), Lou Harrison (melodically and rhythmically ambiguous) and Aaron Copland (emphatically folksy); Pablo Picasso (Prokofiev-like percussiveness) and Picasso’s mistress Dora Maar (restlessly meandering); actor-producer John Houseman (meditative) and this recording’s pianist, Craig Rutenberg (gently rocking). Rutenberg, a good friend of Thomson, has enjoyed a distinguished career as teacher, vocal coach and accompanist for such stars as Diana Damrau, Frederica von Stade and Ben Heppner. Five selections from Thomson’s ballet Filling Station evoke vigorous work-songs, while the four-piece Suite from the film The Plow that Broke the Plains features Cowboy Songs and Blues, adding to this collection’s significance. Michael Schulman Souvenirs Carlos Manuel Vargas Navona Records nv6615 (navonarecords. com/catalog/nv6615) ! Multiaward winning, Dominican Republic-born, Boston-based pianist Carlos Manuel Vargas performs a 46 | September 2024 thewholenote.com
compilation of 13 technically and stylistically wide-ranging eclectic international solo compositions chosen with “[persons of influence on] my career in mind, hence the title of “Souvenirs” … a small gesture for all the support I have received over the years.” The opening Impressões Seresteiras by Heitor Villa-Lobos is an attention-grabbing virtuosic and dramatic piece. From soft sparkling beginning, to louder clear runs, trills and lower notes, Vargas plays with well thought-out precision. Earl Wild’s arrangements of two George Gershwin compositions for solo piano – Virtuosic Etudes after Gershwin: The man I love, and Embraceable You – are each more classical/romantic takes of the famous jazz tunes, performed here with unique colourful sounds. The highlight of the three Rafael Bullumba Landestoy compositions is the short danceable jazz/ Latin sounding Estudio en Zamba which drives Vargas’ energetic performance. Vargas plays the original first two movements of Alexander Scriabin’s Sonata Fantasy: Piano Sonata No. 2 in G Sharp Minor Op.19. A soft reflective straightforwardly intelligent rendition of I. Andante I is contrasted by the superfast II. Presto. Three famous Edith Piaf songs are included and the highlight is Varga’s interpretation of La vie en rose, arranged by Roberto Piana. Vargas’ slightly rubato emotional playing gives the sense of a sung melody as it alternates between left and right hand to a soft high-pitched closing. Inspired performances of Poulenc, Vitier and Golijov compositions complete the release. Tiina Kiik Kinetic Kinetic Ensemble Bright Shiny Things BSTC-0189 (brightshiny.ninja/kinetic) ! Houston-based Kinetic ensemble was formed in 2015. The 16 professional younger generation string players perform without a conductor in flexible classical chamber and orchestral formations. This debut release consists of four works Kinetic commissioned and premiered which explore the connection between musical sounds and the natural world. The Wilderness Anthology by Patrick Harlin is an intriguing seven-movement, beautifully scored work for string orchestra and pre-recorded audio soundscapes from remote and imperiled ecosystems on the Amazon. I. Reverence/Dusk opens with very quiet prerecorded wildlife sounds like bird whistling. Instrumentals begin with melodic, contrapuntal string parts and repeated rhythmic low strings groove. VII. Dawn/ Reverence features held notes alternating with recorded wave sounds. Avian themes reappear in Paul Novak’s A String Quartet is like a Flock of Birds, with very tight playing of accessible contemporary music. The held notes, plucks, high pitches and melodies are played alone or all at once in fast to slow tempi. To me it sounds like a sunny day with birds in the backyard! Next is Nicky Sohn’s What Happens if Pipes Burst? The softer slower string interludes are very musical and reflective. A faster ending with virtuosic super fast playing adds excitement. Daniel Temkin’s Ocean’s Call for String Orchestra is a three-movement composition for full orchestra. The extended cello solos in I. Hanging Cliffs, Rising Mist are dramatic. III. Lullaby Waves is sparse with passionate solos and an intense closing that slows down to bring this enjoyable album to an exquisite conclusion. Tiina Kiik Gundaris Pone – Portraits Liepaja Symphony Orchestra; Guntis Kuzma; Normunds Sne SKANI LMIC SKANI 161 (lmic.lv/lv/skani/ catalogue?id=244) ! In 1950, Latviaborn Gundaris Pone (1932-1994) moved to the U.S., studied composition and, from 1963 until his death, taught composition at the State University of New York at New Paltz, also serving as artistic director and conductor of New Paltz’s annual Music in the Mountains Festival. Pone’s single-movement, 24-minute Avanti! (1975) features violent dissonances, funereal solemnity and bitter irony, with quotations from the 1905 Latvian revolutionary anthem, With Battle Cries on Our Lips, Berg’s Wozzeck, a lamenting Bach chorale and repeated cuckoo calls. Helping to coordinate the score’s polyrhythms, conductor Guntis Kuzma is assisted by Normunds Šnē. Filled with exaggerated, off-kilter cinematic tropes, American Portraits (1983- 1984) depicts stereotypical representations of five professions: inventor (eerie woodwinds, jagged bursts of heavy percussion); film star (jaunty, cliché cowboy sauntering); powerful financier (film-noir dramatics with pounding brass and percussion); gangster (train whistles and boisterous jazzy riffs – Pone specified “1920s style,” so conductor Kuzma added a washboard to the mix); military genius (furious fanfares and a wild, Ivesian victory-march). Pone enjoyed extended stays in Venice, and his brilliantly orchestrated La Serenissima, Seven Venetian Portraits (1979-1981) presents kaleidoscopic imagery of a day in the city, from morning shadows to afternoon waters, evening chatter and night fog: spectral Venice, in addition to the Arch of Paradise, the mouth of the lion and a meeting with the messenger of death. I found La Serenissima’s discordant impressionism – a vividly expressive amalgam of Debussy and Alban Berg – riveting listening throughout. Michael Schulman Serenade: I Miss You Nicolas Hurt Independent (nicolashurt.bandcamp.com) ! Texas guitarist/ educator/composer Nicolas Hurt showcases his creativity in this “short but sweet” under 25-minute release. During the 2021 COVID isolation Hurt commissioned three of his Austin musician friends for a solo guitar piece. Hurt was so inspired that these, along with his own composition, became the soundtrack to the 2023 film he directed, produced and performed on screen, with each tune introduced by composer commentaries. His EP liner notes encourage listeners to “find the film online and give it a watch”. Zeke Jarmon’s Lemonade is not classical per se, though tonal with contrasting detached repeated notes and melodic sections, calm lower pitches and slower brief rock, pop, folk and jazz quenching one’s musical thirst. Justice Philips’ Serenade, I Miss You is more contemporary. Love the romantic feel with subtle atonality, short melodic fast to slow sections, chords, plucks, strums and higher soft melodies. Hurt’s three part The Springs is inspired by his beloved swimming locale. Minimalistic repeated descending lines and gentle brief high-pitched notes with occasional atonality emulate rippling water in 1. Hillside. The guitar becomes a percussion instrument with Hurt’s soft guitar taps to loud hits with resonating strings in 2. Ubiquitous Drum Circle. Slow meditative sounds in 3. Under Deep Water (after Satie). Claire Puckett’s Lantern is intense yet calming. Short soft single note sections alternate with melody, silences and colourful chords. These four stylistically diverse works are just as stellar without the visuals. Performed with inspirational musicality and technique by Hurt, the musical charm increases with each subsequent listen. Tiina Kiik thewholenote.com September 2024 | 47
