Charles Ives, Sonata No. 2, "Concord Mass, 1840-1860," Donald Berman

 

I have, after a long period of listening intently to virtually all available recorded versions, come to the conclusion that Charles Ives Sonata No. 2 "Concord Mass, 1840-1860" is one of Ives very most important works and a hugely influential force on contemporary Modern Classical piano style as well as Avant Jazz key approaches today.

The work was initially completed in the early days of Ives' post-educational tenure: he begin it in 1904-1914 and first completed and published it in 1920. He revised it a number of times and definitively published it as a Second Edition in 1947. It was with the first complete recording 

by John Kirkpatrick as an early LP on Columbia around that time that its reputation was fully secured. All these years later it has gradually and definitively outpaced.competing sonatas to become a true watershed work of the past century.

I find that every recording I have heard of the Concord, which by now totals a significant number, has something definite to offer. The deeply probing chromatics, dissonances and rubato oriented chordal melodic attacks, the cascades of advanced harmonic lining, the clusters of notes, the quotation and collaging of Americana motifs, the entire thrust of the work over time, its transcendental musicality, all make it as important a sonata of the last century as we can have and an important  milestone for Modernism as we see it today. Interestingly enough we can still draw parallels with the more important tone poem piano works of the later Romantic Era. Yet Ives carved a distinctive language that set it apart from those foreshadows, so it was similar only in having a literal subject matter.

It was not entirely disseminated until the first recorded release in 1948. After that, eventually, there have been scores of recordings and though I am sure I missed a few I cannot say I did not gain something from every version I have heard. There are those with the optional flute and viola parts, frenetic ones, more deeply stoic and/or philosophical channelings and so forth. All versions I have heard express Ives in convincing ways, some of course perhaps more than others.

Today we have a new version by pianist Donald Berman (Avie CD 2678) and it is a good one. Berman handles Ives in ways that make us realize even further how seminal this music is.  Berman is somberly meditative at times, as a kind of musical philosophicality, then nicely jagged and expressionist as Ives imagined it. The arpeggiated dissonances are rubato drenched and markedly Modernist as Ives virtually invented for himself. The quotations and the first theme from the Alcotts movement are played with a literal care mostly and that seems right. Sometimes he varies in those passages from marching rhythm just a tad and I understand it but I also like versions with the melodic contours a little more even keeled, In the end it is his touch and it all comes across as personal and committed, which no doubt Ives would have liked. Some of the quotations are articulated with a tenderness for, say, things long past but highly regarded, recollections of a poetic demeanor. All that understandably works well.. 

The addition of the short but exciting  and advanced Ives composition "The St. Gaudens 'Black March'" is a decided plus and nicely played to boot.

In all, the pianist is virtually fearless, and plays with a healthy confidence in the place of all this today which was not always the case with earlier readings--before we came completely to accept and understand the mystical historicism, and that is of course for the best. The rubato clusters of notes are marvelously poetic here. and to me they sound perfect, though of course there are other ways of articulating them as we hear in other versions. Still this is a superb sympathy and we are all the better for it.Bravo.

Listen to a free stream of the album on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kznrL4pH9V6hVKp0ZJoX7YuN57r97bAnU

Lewis Gill, Parochial Chamber Works, Music Inspired by Warrington, Volume One

 

I have been friends with UK composer Lewis Gill for some time now, having the pleasure of hearing about his music on social media and exploring mutual musical frontiers by sharing music and thoughts over the years. I originally liked what he was doing in Prog Rock and have followed his forays into Modern Concert Music for some time without  hearing a lot of musical examples until lately. I am especially glad that I have gotten the chance to hear his latest, Parochial Chamber Works Inspired by Warrington, Volume One (Self Released, Bandcamp).

The album covers some eight shorter works all centered around the feeling of place, most specifically of the town of Warrington, England.

The works are all chamber and chamber orchestral configurations, well orchestrated and apparently articulated via synthetic sound modulators such as you might hear in composition software like Sibelius. Gill skillfully builds and articulates the music while wisely avoiding a lot of string writing as this kind of software can be less convincing in this wise.

The works are mostly squarely of a High Modernist ambition, with edgy harmonies, slippery quagmires of repeating cycles of melodic ambiguity that recalls nicely traces of later Feldman and non-formulaic others. We are not talking about vulgarly imitative as we are original fare. Each piece is singular and memorable, though one is also a humorous foray into melodic ironies like Happy Birthday, Way Down South in Dixies and another uses Shave and and A Haircut as a cadence marker!..

It is first rate and well worth repeated listens. Bravo buddy!

Check out a full stream of the album on SoundCloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/V3neX To order a copy get in touch with Lewis Gill on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558178737272

Nova Pon, Symphonies of Mother and Child, Turning Point Ensemble

 

When listening to unfamiliar New Music it may on occasion suggest  some better known composer without sounding like a direct imitation. Sometimes the style revives itself under this new creator and stands on its own two feet in a way we may appreciate. And in the end one might suggest that nothing or almost nothing new sounds like absolutely nothing we have appreciated in the past, and the nature of that new-out-of-old form of flattery can be its own innovation at the same time.

That might be said enthusiastically for Canadian composer Nova Pon and her Symphonies of Mother and Child (Red Shift TK546). It puts together nicely an opening ten minute "World Within" with the five movements of the title work.

The chamber orchestra Turning Point Ensemble under conductor Owen Underhill transports us to a finely lyrical state of mind, redolent of some of the lyrical sides of Early Modernists such as Stravinsky, Milhaud, Ravel and such. As you listen however that similarity of expression morphs towards a music of a singular personality. And the music in time stands out as exceptionally memorable, at least to me.

"World Within"starts things off dramatically with a kind of endless modulation sequence between instruments with especially the trombone and trumpet heading a series of musical tag relay teams that articulate Neo-Classical roots and a very satisfying interplay, all with a processual development that thickens and increases complexities in the textural mapping of the score.

The four movement sequence comprising Symphonies of Mother and Child follows with a mysterious opening and a good deal of brilliant interplay. There are moments of movingly cyclical Minimal motifs yet they do not dominate as much as provide a kind of launching vehicle for tone-color variations that break free of the circular turnstyles typical of classic Minimal fare. As the music unfolds, we hear the major mode tonality emerging more and more with a kind of modal folksiness that gives it all a more contemporary feel--and it works very well as you follow the development throughout.

This is very intelligently wrought  music by a true illuminati of total modernism. Bravo.

Highly recommended. A kind of milestone.

To hear a complete stream and find out how to order go to  https://redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/symphonies-of-mother-and-child

Johan Helmich Roman, Assaggi per Violino Solo, Fabio Bondi

 

If you are a Baroque fanatic you may know the name of Swedish composer Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758), or perhaps you do not. He is new to me. The recent recording of his  Assaggi Per Violino Solo (Naive  V 8209) will doubtless show you a composer of real talent if you spend some time with it as I have.

Perhaps the first thing you'll notice is the beautiful performances of violinist Fabio Biondo throughout. He has a beautifully sparking sound and impeccable tone control. The seven groupings of works each gives us a bristling Baroque leaping forth of single-noted implied counterpoint furthered by double stops weaving in and out, somewhat in the manner of Bach and his Suites, yet lyrically more trimmed down-- though still lovely at every turn.

This is a real sleeper, a gem in the solo string realm both for composer and performer. Very recommended.

To stream the album, start with this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJyAL20HcEE and follow the single links for a wealth of movements.

Denman Maroney Quintet, The Air Conditioned Nightmare

 

When Minimalist hypnotic circularity meets Free Jazz oriented geometric Pointillism we have something that makes sense and indeed when in the right hands such as here we have some sensational music. Pianist Denman Maroney has for some time been a thoughtful Free Jazz pianist. See my review of some of his Free Jazz music from my Gapplegate Music Review article of August 21, 2017  https://gapplegatemusicreview.blogspot.com/search?q=denman+maroney.

On this new album The Air Conditioned Nightmare (Neuma CD 204) we feel the open Jazz rootedness that over the years Maroney has so authentically embodied in his previous work. Here however Maroney introduces a deliberate Counterpoint of differentially varied rhythmic cycles between piano left hand and piano right hand (Maroney), that and vocals (Emilie Lesbros), that and tenor and Bb clarinet (Robin Fincker) that and bass (Scott Walker) and finally all that and drums (Samuel Silvant).

We get a deliberately composed set of differentials presumably laid out by Maroney and allowed to expand and contract as they play out, within at time Jazz Swing, Rock, and New Music performance feels. We get a great deal to explore and appreciate on the 18 works that comprise the two CD set, including a skewed Monkian Stuffy Turkey.

The complexity and organic heft of the skewed works offers us much to experience and appreciate. And in the end, we come away with a strong feeling of the newness of the music as well as its rootedness, with real musicianship by all concerned. It repeats in a roughly Minimalist way but stands out as a new way to lay out the cyclic material.

This one satisfies the discerning ear in musically substantial ways.

Go to BandCamp to listen to a free stream, and if you like order a downlo0ad or a CD copy. https://denmanfmaroney.bandcamp.com/album/the-air-conditioned-nightmare-2

Rodney Sharman, Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, Known and Unknown, New Music for Solo Piano

 

Not everything can be grasped in a single setting as we all have learned over time. For New Music these days it has never been more true. It used to be at times that you more or less knew what you were getting by gazing at an album cover, the art, the label, the liners and giving it a single listen but that is rare today in some settings. So with the one for today, distinguished Canadian composer Rodney Sharman and pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa bring to us a stunning series of works based imaginatively on opera transcriptions, 18 works under the rubric Known and Unknown (Redshift TK539 CD). This is music not obvious, with true originality and unexpected brilliance.

For me this one was a natural, the combination of vivid sound color, a modern yet a distinct melodic-harmonic foundation, ambient brilliance and a sort of eloquent expressionist pianism, a kind of moody, haunting thoughtfulness and a refreshing bit of text narrative and singing by the pianist in her enchanting performative role.

The eighteen short and longer works each hold their own in ultra-musical and inventive ways. That there is a Non-binary element in the thematics is the case thought for me it all works together as a poetic, lyrical whole so that I embrace  it all as ART, which for me is what especially matters in the end.

Though the transcriptions are based on well known operas the end product stands out again as more in its finality of brilliance than as source inspiration.

This is piano music that thrives in its wonderful pianism, both in composition and  performance. It stands out is a high point of the music I have heard thus far in the current year! Do not miss it.

Listen to a full stream on Bandcamp: https://redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/known-and-unknown-solo-piano-works-by-rodney-sharman

Vincent Larderet, Ravel, The Complete Works for Solo Piano, Vol. One

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), as many readers will ,know. was one of the 20th centuries most original and poetic of composers for the piano. His was a voice of great color and poise. He gives the contemporary pianist a manifold challenge for realizing great expression and symphonic dimensions, along with a great intimacy of voice that broke new grounds continually. Pianist Vincent Larderet appears with the first of several volumes devoted to The Complete Works for Solo Piano  (Avie AV2623).

In this inaugural volume Larderet tackles five remarkably articulate and brilliant compositional sets, allowing the pianist to hold forth with novel and appealing interpretations that give us pause and move us along into Ravel's special aural world.

The set opens with Ravel's five movement Miroirs (1904-05) a breakthrough world of great sound color impressions and clangorous tonal brilliance. Larderet brings his own personally inventive aesthetics to each movement. 

The 1903-05 Sonatine forms another high water mark of pianistic dazzle with effective stretching of rubato singularity that stands out among classic renditions since the advent of the LP Ravel's ravishing Pavane pour une infante defunte (1899) chimes in as another outstanding reading, a hovering liquidity of great beauty one should not miss in this reading. The Jeux d'eau (1901) and the Valses noble et sentimentales (1911) are not in any way lagging and benefit from a thorough immersion in the periodicity of Ravel's and so bring forth a period charm here. Larderet shines thoughtfully regardless. which work on this set

Whether you are familiar with this music or are a newcomer you will doubtless benefit greatly by the pianist's genuine feeling for the music. Bravo. Catch a free stream of the music here: https://orcd.co/av2623

Plinio Fernandes, Bacheando, Works for Solo Classical Guitar

 

Brazilian born classical guitar virtuoso Plinio Fernandes returns with more sparkling fare for solo classical guitar, this time flourishing within the Bachian strain with works initially written for  lute by Bach, followed by Paulinho Noguera's Bachianinha Nos 1 and 3 plus other gems by Assaf, Villa Lobos and Mario Albanese on the album Bacheando (Decca Gold B0038-493-02). The eleven works here presented are substantial, the performances do not distract with a lot of rubato so much as they move nicely forward with a kind of infectiously rocking presence.

It all does not attempt to overwhelm so much as it gives you a compact brilliance that speaks to our contemporary sensibilities. It convinces by staying close to the original spirit of the music and in so doing Fernandes distinguishes himself as one of the very best today.

Listen to a stream at https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k-F-aqCp9tUppdMyMuAGUsiHYSLnDoqQc

Bravo, Plinio. A  fine effort.

George Crumb, Music For Amplified Piano, (1979-2012), Yoshiko Shimizu, Celestial Mechanics, Zeitgeist, Otherworldly Resonances

 

If you are like me you sometimes think of various lists of favorite artists and/or perhaps composers... like for example what about the more important and innovative High Modern composers for the piano, like Ives, OK, then perhaps Cage, Messaien, Stockhausen, and George Crumb? I suspect many aficionados would include Crumb, surely. His open, sometimes sparse, spooky style with sustains and various inside the piano trademarks, such as pluck, strum, slide, sustained echoes, then centering folk-like motives or High Modern tattoos on the piano keys, etc. have justly gained a lot of attention and appreciation over the years.

With Crumb it all started with various early works featuring piano voice and other instruments, leading to the various volumes of his celebrated Mikrokosmos. It all culminates in his last works, which happily are well represented in this new volume of Music for Amplified Piano (Kairos 0022012KAI) as beautifully realized by Yoshiko Shimizu.

So to begin we get Makrokosmos IV, or in other words Celestial Mechanics (1979/2021), the Cosmic Dances for Amplified Piano, Four and Six hands, then Zeitgeist (1988), and finally Otherworldly Resonances (2005), the final two for Two Amplified Pianos. 

Yoshiko Shimizu heroically creates the immersive piano worlds for each piece with dramatic distinction and convincing thrust. It is an ideal hearing of these wonderful end works that fully deserve our repeated attention. Bravo. Highly recommended.

Alice Ping Ye Ho, Blaze, Christina Petrowska Quilico, Contemporary Works for Piano

 

The state-of-the-art when it comes to Modern virtuoso music for the piano today can be had nicely in the recent album of piano works by Canadian-Chinese composer Alice Ping Yee Ho as played with insightful concentration by the formidable Christina Petrowska Quilico. This on Blaze (Centrediscs CMCCD 31323).

In all some eight compositions flow with dramatic High Modern intensity in the course of the program. It is a nice example of High Modernism today and how the more advanced sorts of musical contours thrive in dedicated hands. 

"Erupting Skies" (2022) is doubtless the most sonically spectacular of the eight works, with bracingly elaborated interplay between the piano part and equally so the full bore counterpart of the electroacoustic construction, all pinned down by the central narrative of natural danger and eventual triumph.

Thanks to Ms, Quilico's finely granular, precision and poetic readings, all of these pieces come alive in the most enthralling ways as sprawling and highly absorbing masterworks that sacrifice nothing to easy listening sorts but instead carve each a twistingly elaborate excitement. Kudos to all concerned. This is a monumental breakthrough that all New Music aficionados should doubtless find as interesting as I have.

Hear samples and some insightful thoughts on the album https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4TamhwA4UM