Elizabeth Vercoe, Kleemation and Other Works

Composer Elizabeth Vercoe makes Rockport, Massachusetts her home. A goodly sampling of her chamber music is to be had on Kleemation (Navona 5884), including the title work, an hommage to the drawings of Paul Klee for flute and piano. They range from the solo flute piece, "To Music", through to a work for the larger massing of chamber ensemble and soloist: "Despite Our Differences #1", a high-water mark of the disk.

Throughout Ms. Vercoe comes across as a composer with plenty of ideas, solid technical abilities and a do-it-yourself modernism that works well for her.

"Irreveries from Sappho" brings in the influences of blues, ragtime and boogie-woogie piano styles and vocals that sound as if they weren't perhaps as concerned to come through with stylistic continuity as they might. Moreover the mezzo-soprano has a more pronounced vibrato than seems meet for this stylistic amalgam. It is incongruous in effect, ultimately, and not the best moment of the disk but it does not last long.

Elizabeth Vercoe is a welcome voice in the modern music mix. Kleemation has some very attractive music on it overall, played decently to excellently.

Osias Wilenski, La Leyenda del Kakuy

La Leyenda del Kakuy (Navona 5882) is a kind of grab-bag of the music of Osias Wilenski. It contains pieces for solo violin, solo clarinet, solo bassoon and solo piano, and the title work, a musical telling of the Argentinian legend that is in some ways similar to "the Ant and the Grasshopper."

"La Leyenda del Kakuy" has seven short movements, is scored for six chamber players and has a kind of multi-voiced labyrinthine feel. It is quite decently performed by Tapestry East under Ovidiu Marinescu.

The "Sonata for Solo Violin" features an adventurous, well-thought series of movements that engage the violin in idiomatically expressive channels. It manages to sound modern in a romantic sort of way and would not be out of place among similar solo works from the 20th century by Reger and Hindemith, without sounding like either.

The other works have their interest as well. I would now most certainly want to hear larger-scale Wilenski. This one may not be essential but it is quite nice. And Wilenski has a voice.