Leonardo Balada, Sinfonia en Negro: Hommage to Martin Luther King, Colomer, Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra

Modern composers should not be ignored just because their music has not entered the standard repertoire. How many living composers do have works in that category? It would seem very few. There are those composers and works who deserve recognition in this way, and frankly a few that might not. Time tells a tale of course different often enough than any previous present. There was an era when Meyerbeer for example was in, years ago, and yet he is not well known today. I don't want to comment on the merits or demerits of Meyerbeer at this point, but it illustrates how things can change.

Spanish born composer Leonardo Balada (b 1933) exemplifies the present scene in that way. He is not enshrined to my knowledge with a permanent station in the orchestral repertoire, yet he is has been writing excellent orchestral music for many years.

Possible works for posterity? The Malaga Philharmonic under Edmon Colomer has put together a disk with three good examples of Leonardo Balada's orchestral music, titled after the lead work, Sinfonia en Negro: Hommage to Martin Luther King (Naxos 8.573047). This work is subtitled "Symphony No. 1". It was completed in 1968 and of course is timely for the upcoming Martin Luther King Day commemoration. It has a modern demeanor typical of Balada's music in that era, has good pacing and divides into four movements: "Oppression", "Chains", "Vision" and "Triumph". The music reflects those four situations with passages appropriate to the connotations--from some bleak sounding, expressive orchestral utterances to those of confirmation. It is a moving work that will win a good many modern-oriented admirers with this version I do believe.

From there the orchestra goes to a previously unrecorded work from his later period, the neo-classical sounding "Double Concerto for Oboe, Clarinet and Orchestra" (2010), a work of contrast to what began the program, notable for its vibrant solo parts, well played by Emanuel Abbuhl (oboe) and Joan Enric Lluna (clarinet) and the almost playful orchestral response.

The final work, "Columbus: Images for Orchestra" (1991) is an arrangement from his opera Christopher Columbus, and has more of a Spanish-Latin American feel to it than the preceding works, understandably. It is a real showpiece for orchestra, a good example of Balada's orchestrational and thematic command over his material in combining sometimes folk-like themes, colors and modernistic touches with very engaging infectious music that contrasts with more somber introspective passages.

In the end we have three very different works that give us a broad picture of Leonardo Balada the composer, a master in his own right. These are fine performances and the disk is much recommended as a vehicle to introduce you to his music or a reaffirmation if you know his work already. The end pieces express something that could well be a part of concerts for MLK and Columbus Day commemorative concerts in future. Who can say? The disk holds its own in making a substantive case for the merits of Balada and the need for wider recognition.

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's New Label Off to Good Start: the Music of Theofanidis and Lieberson

Robert Spano and the Atlantic Symphony are doing excellent work. The orchestra's new label ASO Media is not only a good idea in a current climate where self-determination is often the best option; it is also providing in its first two releases some important interpretations of works by composers who deserve attention. The second release (CD-1002) is a good example. Christopher Theofanidis's "Symphony No. 1" and Peter Lieberson's "Neruda Songs" contrast nicely and make a fine listening experience individually as well.

Gongs, mallet instruments, chimes and winds set against translucent string writing on the ecstatic Theofanidis symphony. It has the multifold, lyrical sunlight-and-air feeling of the best Sibelius works, yet it manages to sound more contemporary by extending its musical syntax into long interwoven strands of motives and sound color with episodic linearity. Theofanidis's poetic command of the orchestral sounds available to him and the way he corrals then to his expressive ends impress and excite. This is ravishing music to chase away your dark moments.

Lieberson's "Neruda Songs" on the other hand is moodier, a little heavier, like a set of plush velvet curtains. Mezzo-soprano Kelly O'Connor seems a very proper instrument for this music, declamatory and full-bodied. Post-Wagnerian-Mahlerian-Bergian heft in the orchestra give gravitas to the poem settings. It's a satisfying listen.

Mediterranian sunlit dazzle versus Teutonic ponderousness. Theofanidis versus Lieberson. Fine performances, well-recorded. Everything seems right about this one. Highly recommended.

Joseph Schwantner's Later Period Wonderfully Represented in "Chasing Light"

Joseph Schwantner has gone from the status of a very promising young modernist American composer in the late '60s to one of our very best today. The new Nashville Symphony recording of three of Maestro Schwantner's major later period works, Chasing Light (Naxos 8.559678), makes it clear why. He has developed a vividly colorful orchestral palette which he uses to cover musical canvases in ways that strike the ear and remain memorable long after they have been heard.

The CD gives listeners a generous 68 minutes of his music. The 1994 "Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra" brings together some very difficult and exciting percussion soloing (performed here by Christopher Lamb, for whom the work was originally intended) with orchestral brilliance. The National Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin (with Evelyn Glennie as soloist) did a version for RCA in the later '90s. That version was excellent, but Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony hold their own on the Naxos disk with a reading that is every bit as luminous, though I might give a slight edge to Glennie for her impassioned performance.

"Morning's Embrace," the second work on the program, is a 2005 work with some prominent percussion and even more brilliant orchestral light. It depicts a sunrise in rural New Hampshire and it does so with all the resources the orchestra can muster.

The final work (from 2008) shows that Schwantner does not stand still. His orchestral writing is confident, lucid and original. You can hear the development in his musical vocabulary in the 14 years represented on the disk, culminating in a rather thrilling dynamism and muscular energy that eschews trendiness and opts instead for a form of personal expression that cuts across catagorical niceties to go straight into a realm one can best call Schwantner music.

He is a gem, a blazing sun of orchestral music today. Chasing Light gives you three exemplary works, played with conviction. It should not be ignored.