Jacques Charpentier, 72 Etudes karnatiques pour piano, Schafer

We live in a kind of renaissance of recorded sounds. More than 100 years of recordings are potentially available to the listener, and for nearly half of those years recording technology flourished so that most recordings have good fidelity. In the digital era the recording of works and composers less familiar to most listeners has continued at an accelerated pace, so that today we can routinely make discoveries that might have been nearly impossible in the past.

Jacques Charpentier and his 72 Etudes karnatiques pour piano (Genuin 12257 3-disks) is a good example. The composer is still with us (b 1933), happily. And such a gargantuan set of etudes! In some earlier period this music in complete form would not have been so easy to hear, except if one bought the printed edition of the work, assuming it was available, and played it through for oneself.

Of course it would not much matter if the music was tepid or mediocre. In the hands of Michael Schafer on this recording, it is far from that.

This is piano music of great complexity. There is in the melodic structure and rhythmic figuration something that might be traced back to a Carnatic influence, but primarily this is modern pianism that stands on its own. It owes something to the mature Messiaen for its use of motives and declamatory phrasings that sometimes seem slightly birdcall-like. For the rest it is an extraordinarily interesting and original, accomplished group of etudes that bears deep listening.

Michael Schafer does the music full justice. He has mastered the difficulties and presents the music to us in a fully confident, expressive way. There is much musical treasure to mine in the 72 etudes and it will be a revelation for those for whom modern advanced sounds are both sufficient in themselves and necessary as a regular listening habit. Highly recommended.

Seeking & Finding: The Choral Works of Hans Bakker and Howard Richards

After nearly a week without power, phone or internet thanks to Hurricane Sandy, I am happy to be back, safe and dry.

Today a look at the choral music of Hans Bakker and Howard Richards, in a collection entitled Seeking and Finding (Navona 5877).

Neither composer is particularly well-known. Both show an affinity to and sensitivity towards the choral medium. Each contributes seven short a capella works, Bakker covering both sacred and secular subjects, Richards strictly secular.

Both work imaginatively in a tonal, modern idiom. If I had to choose I would have to say I prefer Bakker slightly over Richards. The Kuhn Choir under Marek Vorlicek do a quite reasonable job performing these works and the sound is good, matter-of-fact and not especially resonant.

All-in-all an interesting and captivating collection that should appeal to all who favor the modern choral mode.

Tan Dun, Concerto for Orchestra

There is something about the work of Chinese-American composer Tan Dun. If you become familiar with one or more of his works, then hear a new one, you tend to recognize the style, and it's not that of anybody else. There is gift for orchestration. Brilliant. And sound color. There is often a traditional Chinese influence, yes, but also of the world, India, Asia in general, but truly the world. There is almost a ritual quality to his music. The listening to it a kind of rite. It's his use of space, almost ceremonial. The horizontal quality of the development. Like a turtle? Yes, except no, not that the music is especially slow to get someplace. It is the way he gets there, deliberate, movements, stops, a side turn, a pause, then movement forward again, like a turtle. And the music is always about something--about the sound, about the imagery it may evoke.

These are the thoughts I have listening to his new Naxos disk, Tan Dun conducting his Concerto for Orchestra (2012) (Naxos 8.570608) along with his "Symphonic Poem on Three Notes" (2012) and "Orchestral Theatre" (1990). The Hong Kong Philharmonic is well rehearsed and extremely sympatico with this music. These are state-of-the-art performances, certainly. And the music?

All of it stands out. There is excellent use of percussion color and a masterfully original brilliance to the orchestral presence. The music embraces often some non-Western, non-classical phrasings and tonal modes, along with a very original take on modernity. The sonic and harmonic-melodic advances in music syntax made in the past 100 years are not abandoned, nor are they simply aped. Instead they are transformed according to the inner voices of the muses that Tan Dun undoubtedly hears.

So on the "Symphonic Poems on Three Notes" we get all kinds of inventive twists and turns on a very simple three note motif. "Orchestral Theatre" is very dramatic and ritual-like, yet quite exceptional in its use of the orchestral palette.

The "Concerto for Orchestra" is in four movements, and in virtuostic fashion creates four vivid sound paintings, in Tan Duns words, a creation of his own personal "orchestra of the future" which directly engages roots as it expands outward into future horizons. The music is based in part on Tan Dun's opera Marco Polo, and manages to evoke skillfully and engagingly a journey to hitherto unknown lands in geographical and personal-experiential terms. . . the timeless markets of the East, desert India, China's Forbidden City.

In the end we have some exceptional orchestral music, brilliantly performed. Tan Dun is a marvel. He shows himself, his music well to us on this enchanted disk. Hear this one, by all means!

Scott Brickman, Winter & Construction

Scott Brickman composes music that is modern (and/or post-modern) in ways different than the norm these days. The harmonic language is not quite blazing avant. It is (twelve) tonal in an expanded way, mostly more linear than vertical. The musical syntax has a kind of original logic. He explores intervalic relationship not so much as Stefan Wolpe or Ruth Crawford Seeger did, but in common with them there is a discursive flow and at times a playful quality, an exploration of tones unfolding in time, though this is serious music.

His CD of compositions, Winter & Construction (Ravello 7823) gives us a good earful of his music, seven pieces written between 2003-2010. The music is scored for piano, guitar and violin in various combinations, from his Piano Sonatas Nos 2 & 3, through to a piece for solo guitar and one for solo violin, a piece for violin and guitar, and two trio works for all three instruments.

Throughout the music is distinguished by the sensitively appropriate playing of Nathanael May on the piano, Matt Gould on the guitar and Beth Ilana Schneider-Gould at the violin. The latter two have recorded a number of CDs as Duo 46 and also previously appeared in tandem with Nathanael May (see this blog and the Gapplegate Guitar blog for review postings). They have a natural easiness and unpretentious matter-of-factness in their deliveries, collectively and individually, that seem just right. They strike me as the near-perfect exponents of these works.

And the works themselves are sincere, eloquent testimonies to Brickman's straightforward style and refreshing take on modernity.

The music speaks with lucidity, charm and convincing elan.

Lopes-Graca, Symphony for Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Cassuto

It is a bit of a commonplace to note how the golden age of mechanical reproduction, heralded by the advent of the LP in the '50s, ushered in a situation where the living room became co-equal partners with the concert hall in the introduction of new music. The LP allowed for a lengthy, sometimes difficult work, to be heard repeatedly with ease. Composers and works that might never had seen the light of day previously were now allowed to be heard by the enthusiast.

That brings us to the present, the digital age, where of course this process continues. Today's composer might not elsewise be heard by someone like me, here in the New York Metropolitan area. But now I can, for a small price, listen to Fernando Lopes-Graca's Symphony for Orchestra (Naxos 8.572892). And that is just what I have been doing.

Lopes-Graca (1908-1992) was one of Portugal's most productive composers and made his mark there. Over here we have heard less of him. The disk at hand provides an interesting and well-executed introduction to his orchestral works.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Alvaro Cassuto leads us through spirited readings of four of his pieces, spanning the period of 1944 (the Symphony) through 1961 (December Poem). It gives us a chance to explore two sides of Lopes-Graca's style, the folk oriented "Suite Rustica No.1" (1950) and the more-or-less neo-classical/impressionist side in one his more well-known works, the aforementioned "Symphony for Orchestra".

Here is a composer well at home with the resources and colors available to him in the modern symphony orchestra. He is perhaps most notable on first hearing for his scoring and orchestration. It has great charm, clarity and color. Clearly he learned from the impressionists and those who came after.

The "Symphony for Orchestra" strikes me as the most memorable of the works presented here. It has a certain playfulness contrasted with a kind of refined majesty and excited turbulence. The "Suite Rustica No. 1" brings in the sounds of his native Portugal, somewhat in the way Ralph Vaughan Williams did for English folk. It is a symphonic treatment that transforms the material into a personal classical expression.

"December Poem" and "Festival March" are worth hearing and appreciating as well, especially the former for its further development of Lopes-Graca's style.

Maestro Cassuto brings out the color and nuance of the works; The Royal Scottish National Orchestra sounds both disciplined and inspired.

So here is your chance to hear an unfamiliar but quite reasonably captivating composer of the twentieth century at his best. He may not supplant Ravel or Stravinsky in your heart, but he will give you plenty to enjoy and savor on this disk.

Rautavaara's Summer Thoughts, Music for Violin and Piano 1952-2008

The more I listen to the music of Einojuhani Rautavaara, the more I forget about stylistic categories and the more I revel in the sheer brilliance of his sound. And nowhere is this more true than on the delightful new disk Summer Thoughts (Ondine 1177-2). It's a collection of evocative pieces for violin and piano spanning an impressive number of years (1952-2008). There are seven works represented on the disk; all have a goodly dose of summer sunlight dappled into the violin and piano parts. It's Rautavaara the earthbound neo-impressionist here I suppose you could say.

The world premiere recording of his 20-minute "Lost Landscapes" begins the program with a wistful nostalgia we often get at the start of summer. It is a work of great beauty, of sensuous tenderness, brilliantly played by violinist Pekka Kuusisto and pianist Paavali Jumppanen (and that also follows for the entire disk). Another extraordinary high point comes at the very end of the disk, with the 1952 "Pelimannit (The Fiddlers), Suite for Piano." Six movements charm, each based on a traditional Finnish polska fiddle tune. The duo decided to preface each movement with a literal statement of the actual fiddle tune, played on the violin, then let Rautavaara's piano part become a more direct commentary on each polska. It works very well, bringing out the variational strategies clearly for those not familiar with the original tunes.

In between the bookended pieces are lovely atmospheric miniatures, one for solo violin, the rest for duet.

This is music for a quiet summer afternoon. It is music that wears well with repeated listenings. It is brilliant music, performed with brilliance. It is a testiment to the vast scope of Rautavaara's musical vision. Do listen to this one!

Carlos Franzetti Combines South American Jazz and Orchestral Music on "Alborada"

Carlos Franzetti brings together Argentinian-Brazilian strains, piano jazz and orchestral music on the very pleasurable Alborada (Amapola 9811). Carlos and Allison Brewster Franzetti share the piano duties and they sound very good indeed. There is a bass-drums rhythm section and the City of Prague Philharmonic provides the orchestral dimension.

This is music that might be put in a "pops" category, except the music is perhaps too substantial and essentially serious for such an appellation. There are nine fairly short compositions. They stand out for their lyricism, the ringingly sensitive piano performances and the well orchestrated, well played and well recorded orchestral parts.

It is feel-good music. Simply. But it is not fluff. There is much for the keen ear to revel in. Check the details by clicking on the Amapola Records link on this page.

Zeitgeist: Here and Now, Celebrating 30 Years of the New Music Ensemble with Two-CD Set

Mid-western USA may not always get the national press coverage it deserves for its cultural institutions, but it remains a vital hotbed in every sense of the term. Zeitgeist, for example, a new music quartet consisting of two percussionists (Heather Barringer and Patti Cudd), woodwinds (Pat O'Keefe) and piano (Shannon Wettstein), celebrates 30 years of continuous concertizing this year, yet here in the New York area they are not that well known.

The celebration is being marked by an adventuresome two-CD set Zeitgeist: Here and Now (Innova 799) that will enable all of us who might have missed them the chance to appreciate the breadth, scope and excellence of their music-making. The set includes 30 short compositions that exemplify the full range of concert music styles in the recent present, from the improvisational (Douglas Ewart) to the so-called postmodern (Philip Blackburn) and much in between.

It's an exhilarating, whirlwind trip through some very lively music, played with sensitivity and fire. I would think it a very good introduction to modern 21st century chamber music for those who want to understand what is going on right now. For anybody else it is a very rewarding listen, too. Take a look at the details on this one by clicking the Innova link on this page. An interesting, rather essential anthology!

Marika Hughes' "Afterlife Music Radio:" 11 New Pieces for Solo Cello

Marika Hughes has put together a program of 11 new and newer pieces for unaccompanied cello, Afterlife Music Radio (DD001). It sounds on occasion as if there may be just a little overdubbing going on, but otherwise, there is Marika, her cello, a few microphones and your ears involved.

Marika tends to play with a modernist vibratoless attack, but she is quite expressive on a dynamic and timbre-variational level. Of the composers, I recognize one from the jazz world (Nasheet Watts). Beyond that the names are not familiar to me. This of course does not mean anything in itself, except perhaps the new music is provided in part by new or new-ish composers.

What counts though of course is the music and its performance. Marika comes off well and the program has a sometimes bittersweet stoicism that suites the new millennium in many ways.

Listen and revel in the rich tone of Ms. Hughes' cello.

New Chamber Works From Sunleif Rasmussen: "Dancing Raindrops"

Rigorously conceived modernism joins hands with visionary poetics in the chamber music of Sunleif Rasmussen, at least in his recent album Dancing Raindrops (Aldubaran) (dacapo 8.226567). The musical syntax is generally abstract, dialogic yet lyrical as well. The title piece "Dancing Raindrops" suggests of course a natural landscape with clarinet, violin and piano initially engaging in deceptively random yet interdependent interactions that become increasingly dense and lively, suggesting the natural rhythms of rain falling and periodicity-order within a naturaly chaotic state.

"Suite" (2007), a piece for guitar and effects processor, begins as a lively modern classical guitar piece, then enters into denser voicings that begin to be shaded by electronic alteration, until it becomes aetherial, almost harp-like. The music expands further to a kind of cosmic canopy of sound that is not unattractive.

The short flute duet, "Andalag #2," again suggests natural processes, mediated by a poetic sensibility.

"Like the Golden Sun" (1993), for piano and effect processor again begins with conventional acoustic soundings, this time in a pan-tonal, expressive-rhapsodic mode. There are cycles of relative agitation and repose, until a playful motif enters for piano and echo, followed by a dynamically integrated sound excursion for piano clusters and their electronic transformation. It's quite dramatic. The final movement introduces mystery with bell-like transformations of piano sounds.

The program concludes with "Mozaik/Miniature" (1999) for flute, clarinet, piano and violin. Its a very evocative piece with longer lines interacting with shorter contrapuntal punctuations in piano and winds. Again the techniques of modernism are utlized to poetic ends.

Sunleif Rasmussen has given us an intriguing look at his musical world on this album. It teases the listener with just enough of each sound universe to want more. As it is it is a most enchanted program that delights as it spins its various webs of delicate sound events. It will no doubt be appreciated by any enthusiast of modern chamber music and it sets expectations for longer works to come. Highly recommended.

John Corigliano's Beautiful Piano Music, Stunningly Played by Ursula Oppens on "Winging It"

John Corigliano has proven to us all that orchestrally and operatically he has a keen sense for the dramatic, a sharp ear for what sounds well together and how it might be developed. He has a strong sense of the past and utilizes it to breathe life into present-day concert music. I don't suppose anyone would contest at this point that he is one of America's leading living composers.

But what of his chamber music? We all know composer who have excelled with the gigantism of massed forces only to falter when simple resources are at his disposal. One or two listens to Winging It (Cedille 90000 123), a recital of his solo piano music beautifully played by Ursula Oppens, will dispel any doubts on that score.

First off, Corigliano's piano pieces are written to sound well in the right hands. They all are very pianistic in conception. Second, Maestro Corigliano often engages with and channels composers/music of the past in these pieces. Either direct quotations or allusions to masters Stravinsky, Ives, Beethoven, and others are heard in many of the pieces. He transforms in each case the musical material to his own idiosyncratic ends. Third, and most importantly, the results are very personal, very original, and very challenging-rewarding to the musical ear of the listener.

All five pieces on the disk are magnificent examples of the pianistic arts. They are played with dynamic verve and soaring mastery by Ms. Oppens (joined ably by Jerome Lowenthal on the two-piano works). Here we have almost an embarrassment of musical riches. But who is complaining? This is a must-have for modern chamber classical buffs.

Ronald Corp's "The Ice Mountain" Updates the Bucolic Idyll for Modern Ears

Dubbed "A New Opera for Children," Ronald Corp's The Ice Mountain (Naxos 8.572777) has much in the way of charm and a fairy-tale otherworldliness. It has some of the pastoral rusticity of Vaughn William's opera Hugh the Drover, the choir-writing expressiveness of Britten, plus some of the sensori-motor compulsion of the minimalists.

Since the only opera for children that I am familiar with is Copland's The Hurricane, I don't feel qualified to put The Ice Mountain in some kind of wider context of works of its kind. Nonetheless in its own right it captivates.

The New London Children's Choir sound angelic; the New London Orchestra do a fine job; if some of the vocal soloists seem less than stellar, it is to be expected among young singers and is not a serious drawback.

I found the CD a most pleasant diversion and a worthy addition to my modern English composers cache. If you are a serious Anglophile, you will as well. I should think.

On Cold Mountain: Songs on Poems of Gary Snyder, by Karen Clark and Galax Quartet

Some ideas simply sound good from the beginning. An example: "Do an album of modern settings of the poems of Gary Snyder." Gary managed to evoke personal, natural and social imagery in a very Zen poetic manner, and it doesn't take a stretch to see that he would be a good choice for song treatment. But has anybody done worthwhile work in this area? The answer is yes.

On Cold Mountain (Innova 795) features settings by four (modern, obviously) composers and each piece is highly evocative. In the hands of contralto Karen Clark and the Galax string quartet, listening is a moving experience. Karen Clark has a very beautiful vocal instrument that she harnesses without undue pathos to the mystically concrete world of Snyder. The Galax Quartet evokes just the right combination of Americana-meets-Cosmicana these pieces bring to our ears and hearts. The results are magical.

And so what of the compositions? Some composers may be unfamiliar to most listeners. The music speaks to us, however, with directness and beauty. Fred Frith (usually known as an improvisational guitarist) turns in a mysterious yet homespun-sounding "For Nothing." Roy Whelden's "Cold Mountain Songs" are haunting. "The Bubble of a Heart" by Robert Morris has a little gossamer and a little modern grit. "For All" finds W. A. Mathieu with a six-song suite that is both declamatory and dramatically diverse, in a reflective and sometimes indignant mood-mode.

The total effect is considerable, lyrical yet tied to earth, filled with exquisite beauty yet also with an over-riding search for meaning in the everyday details of experience. The composers reflect the poet; the performers reflect both. The meld between poet, composers and performers is as close to ideal as you are going to find today. I'd say it's a masterpiece, but people who read blogs might suspect I am overpraising, as bloggers sometimes do. I am not. It's a masterpiece of its kind.