Sergio Cervetti, Triptych Revelation

Sergio Cervetti's music is in the process of being well documented by Navona Records. (I've covered a number of them. Type his name in the search box above for those reviews.) The latest release, Triptych Revelation (Navona 6099), is an especially good one. It covers three most interesting and provocative modern works from three different periods of his career, the "Concerto for Trumpet, Strings, and Timpani" (1973), the "Piano Quintet - Toward the Abyss" (2015) and "The Hay Wain" for virtual orchestra (1987).

Each of the three shows a pronounced quality of its own. Taken together there is a kind of revelation about his music.

"The Hay Wain" is a response to Hieronymus Bosch's painting, with synths and such forming a thick wash filled with narrative mystery. It has all the complexities of Cervetti's acoustic orchestral music and a convincing orchestration of the battery of sound module tracks as well.

The Piano Quintet is a musical realization of Le Voyage from Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal. It is an intricate modernist work worthy of Cervetti at his very best.

The "Concerto for Trumpet, Strings and Timpani" makes classic use of the instrumentation and its ceremonial fanfarish possibilities, perhaps reminding slightly of Lully but of course all Cervetti.

And so there we have it. This is music of our current modern age, not afraid of tonality but not trying to resurrect a movement backwards, either. And the expansive possibilities of high modernism are never wholly absent (hear the Quintet!). It is an excellent listen.

Very recommended.