Harrison Birtwhistle, Chamber Music

Composer Harrison Birtwhistle (b. 1934) has been creating high modernist music for many decades, yet for some reason I have not paid him sufficient attention. He writes a music that refuses to show a smooth patina, but has a rough-hewn wildness about it. In the composers' words, "Highly polished surfaces are dangerous. You can only see your own reflection in them." And so he proceeds freely and personally to put a scuff on his musical phrases. The intuitive freedom built-in to his works makes them difficult to perform but ultimately highly enigmatic in a way most engaging to the careful listener.

All this can be heard in the new release of some of his Chamber Music (ECM New Series B0020436-02), just out yesterday here in the States. There are four substantial works represented that show him most certainly a leader in the generation of British artists to come after Britten.

Each work has its own inner life. Two are song cycles, one combines song with extensive instrumental commentary, and there is the Trio for violin, cello and piano. The latter has great depth as well as a horizontal trajectory. Each phrase and its seeming concomitant response from the three instruments have a framed feeling to them, deeply set in their places, the dialog by no means random sounding but unexpected somehow though there is logic to the sequence once you hear it several times. It unfolds like phrases in an unfamiliar language where meaning and sound reveal themselves only gradually.

The song cycles are equally intriguing. The "Three Settings from Lorine Niedecker" for soprano and cello and the "Nine Settings from Lorine Niedecker" for the same configuration act as end pieces at the beginning and ending of the program. They are plaintive and haunting, stark and matter-of-fact in a terse Webernian sense, helped along greatly by the artistry of soprano Amy Freston and cellist Adrian Brendel. "Bogenstrich--Meditations on a Poem of Rilke" is more dramatic and expansive, and sometimes more lively with baritone Roderick Williams playing off of pianist Till Fellner and cellist Brendel in sometimes more extroverted, dramatic ways. There is more in the way of density at times in contrast to the other vocal works, yet too at times a contemplative, mysterious quality in common with them. The baritone has its say and the instrumentalists then comment upon the proceedings at some length. Williams returns in the final movement and the cycle comes full circle without repetition as much as reiteration and recursion.

We haven't mentioned violinist Lisa Batiashvili, but kudos to her for her role in the Trio. In fact all give precise, energized interpretations of these works. It is a superlative program and the performers give life to the music with sympathy, understanding and tempered feeling.

I have gained much from this program. Birtwhistle becomes less enigmatic and more familiar to me thanks to this music. That he is neither here nor there is the point, for that is what Birtwhistle strives for--to disappear from your perceptions in favor of the tones themselves. That is what makes him special, it seems to me. He is more an embodiment of musical being and less of musical personality than perhaps anyone in his generation. Bravo for that!

Bright Sheng, The Blazing Mirage, Hong Kong Philharmonic

We all know something of the story of how classical music, jazz, blues, rock and (for better-or-worse) pop styles have diffused out of Europe or America and developed regional versions throughout most of the world.

The newly forged music (some now 100 or more years old) features localized forms that often draw upon indigenous music traditions in a cross-breeding process that usually creates something much more than the sum of parts.

The local flourishing is no less important than the initial impetus today. If we want to gauge what is going on in any serious music category we must look to the world and what evidence of human creativity and achievement that we find.

Bright Sheng (b. 1955) a Chinese composer coming into prominence over here via a new disk of his compositions, is an excellent example. The Blazing Mirage (Naxos 8.570610) presents three major works as performed by the Hong Kong Philharmonic and soloists under the composer's direction.

What's impressive from the beginning is the full integration of local elements and the modernist symphonic outlook into an original and cohesive style. Each work lasts approximately 20 minutes and contrasts soloists and orchestra in concerto-like dialogs.

"The Song and Dance of Tears" (2003, rev. 2013) showcases the traditional Chinese pipa and the sheng, along with cello and piano in a work that draws inspiration from the collection of ancient folk music the composer collected in a special field trip organized to that end along the inner borders of China more than a decade ago, following a musically lesser-examined yet crucial portion of the historical "silk road" trade route.

"Colors of Crimson" (2004) has a rather striking solo marimba part and has as its basis a love song the composer wrote as a young musician in China years ago.

"The Blazing Mirage" (2012) concentrates on pitting the orchestra against a very expressive solo part for cello. It was inspired by the 4th century Buddhist frescoes and manuscripts found in the Dunhuang Caves.

Each of the three works has its own special quality but together they show a composer of a thoroughly modern cast who nonetheless incorporates something of his heritage. The result is a music of today that has both local and international thrust.

These are works to experience in depth. There is a sure-handed orchestral flair to them and the solo parts do all they should to expand the colors and melodic movement of the works. And the performances are very good indeed.

Bright Sheng gives us formidable music on this disk. By evidence of these works we need to be hearing more of him! Very much recommended.

Sergei Prokofiev, Semyon Kotko, Complete Opera

Prokofiev's opera Semyon Kotko (Melodiya CD 10 02120 3-CD) is the least known of all he wrote. Part of that has to do with the politics of the Stalin era, the other part has probably to do with the plot. Prokofiev settled back in his home country at the height of an iron-fisted censorship imposed on composers in line with the "social realism" demands of the Soviet apparatchik. Doing his best to satisfy their demands he chose a libretto that centered around a peasant village in the Ukraine during WWI and the opposing relations the peasants had with German and Soviet troops.

The libretto included a number of Ukrainian folk-song lyrics but Prokofiev insisted (rightly) on writing his own melodies for them. Prokofiev tried to produce a "popular" work but the apparatchiks panned it and it was not performed again for many years after its initial run back in 1940.

It wasn't until 1960 that the present, first complete recording of the full opera was made and the work became acceptable and, eventually, a regular part of the repertoire there in the USSR. In Europe and the US the libretto seemingly had less appeal and I never saw any versions of it around in stores from my early listening/collecting days on.

In any event the music shows Prokofiev in good form. There were his modernist elements, some of that rare melodic gift he had, things which went to make him the musical personality he was, and though that was not acceptable at the time it sounds right today.

The music has definite appeal. If this Melodiya recording doesn't have a libretto in Russian and translation it matters not all that much because it is the music that triumphs above all.

It's a full-length opera filling three disks and I find it a fascinating listen. It may not be the best of all of Prokofiev--the Flaming Angel opera-wise has the leg up on that to me, but it gives the Prokofiev lover a treasure that adds considerably to what we have from that middle period. The performances are excellent.

I am glad to have it. The politics of the region make it topical, but that is neither in its favor nor to its disadvantage, because it was a story set in different times and has little or nothing to do with events today to my mind. Prokofiev lovers rejoice!

Sean Hickey, Cursive, Piano and Chamber Works

Sean Hickey composes like a "natural", meaning that his music strikes one as a kind of inevitable expression of a personal musical self. The music doesn't call attention to itself as a breakthrough model of a new style. He writes music in an international modern vein. His Concertos album I posted on here last May 31st. What I found to be true of his large-scale works carries over to this nicely played collection of small chamber pieces, Cursive (Delos 3465).

That is, they are extremely well-crafted, expressive works that sit solidly with the listener (me) after a few listens. In all, the collection features works written between 1998 and 2012, six for piano solo, one for violin and piano, and a work for flute, viola and harp. Philip Edward Fisher gives us sensitive and dynamic readings of the piano works, Julia Sakharova joins him on violin for the duo piece, and the trio "Pied-a-tere" showcases Brandon Patrick George on flute, Anne Lanzilotti on viola and Meredith Clark on harp. All sound especially well disposed towards this music and give us lyrical and spirited readings.

The chamber music of Maestro Hickey as heard on this disk has rhythmic drive and a subtly invigorating modern harmonic and melodic thrust.

Sean Hickey has talent and, while by no means attempting to stretch the borders of the contemporary idiom, manages to create works that have a kind of lasting personal impact, an eloquent vocabulary of melodic-harmonic ideas well expressed.

Not all music is meant to change the world. Some is meant to brighten the space around it, to draw you into its own particular world with both beauty and strength. That's what Sean Hickey's chamber music does to me, as heard on this set.

I think you will find this anthology a welcome addition, with a music as comfortable as a favorite pair of sneakers, as contentful as a favorite volume of poetry. Listen and be convinced.

Samuel Zyman, 3 Concertos, Marisa Canales, Mercedes Gomez

Some music doesn't particularly belong to a camp yet stands on its own so well it forms its own category of one. Samuel Zyman's music on 3 Concertos (Urtext 225) does that. Zyman gives us his "Concerto no 2 'De Mineria' for Flute and Orchestra", his "Concerto for Harp, Flute and Orchestra" and his "Concerto for Harp and Orchestra". The three works go especially well together. The soloists are near ideal in Marisa Canales on flute and Mercedes Gomez on harp. And the Orquesta de las Americas sounds beautifully idiomatic under conductor Benjamin Juarez Echenique.

For these works there is a pronounced Latin American feel in the music's minor mode flourish, plus perhaps a shade of Zyman's Jewish heritage. The music is thematically rich, well structured and rhythmically vibrant. Ms. Canales brings an articulately exuberant lyricism with some bite to the flute parts; Ms. Gomez plays quite beautifully with a hint of the staccato feel that comes out of traditional south-of-the-border harp music in the folk vernacular.

The music has a modern touch yet brings the thematic memorability of earlier times into play. It's almost neo-classical in its elegance of form and content, not really Stravinskian but with an appeal not unlike Igor's music in his middle phase.

It is delightful in every way. Score! Definitely recommended.

Reinhold Moritsevich Glière, Symphony No. 3, JoAnn Falletta, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

Reinhold Moritsevich Glière (1875-1956) may not be at the tip of your tongue when it comes to naming Russian composers of the 20th century. In his day in his home country he was a celebrated figure. You may know his ballet, The Red Poppy. You may not know much else. Yet his Symphony No. 3 in B minor "Il’ya Muromets", Op. 42 (Naxos 8.573161) is a towering work for large orchestra, a late romantic blockbuster that rivals Bruckner and Mahler for scope if not actual content, yet throughout has a thoroughly Russian caste to it.

For whatever reason it has not been available all that frequently on disk here in the States. Hermann Scherchen and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra did a version in 1952 I believe, which was complete on two LPs; there was a Russian version that came out on Columbia in the later '50s but if I am not mistaken it was edited to fit onto one LP. Part of the difficulty back then was that it was too long a work for one LP and not quite long enough for two. That doesn't seem like a good enough reason to ignore the work but things do happen, or rather don't happen out there for even lesser reasons.

I have both analog versions and have appreciated the symphony for a long while. If there were digital era recordings of the work I missed them. But now at last we have a complete performance of the third recently recorded in full fidelity by JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic. It is out on Naxos--so the price is right.

There is more than price that makes this a worthy release, however. JoAnn Falletta is a first-rank conductor for romantic and late-romantic fare and she has been doing some wonderful things up in Buffalo, many on Naxos. We've covered more than a few on these pages.

And surely she captures the epic breadth and spirit of Glière's symphonic masterpiece. Sprawling a work it is, but filled with passion and excitement. And originality. There may be times where you might hear the influences of Scriabin, Rimsky-Korsakov and the late romantics that came before. The perception quickly disperses, though, in the next contrasting section, so by and large we have a tabula rasa Russian work of excellence.

Glière finished the work by 1911. That makes sense, stylistically. It is a work not of the avant garde so much as within the advanced mainstream, though undoubtedly not everybody took it in during the first performances in those days.

Suffice to say that Ms. Falletta does indeed triumph here. The performance is nothing short of marvelous. Grab this one.

Witold Lutoslawski, Opera Omnia Vol. 4, Sym. No 1, Concerto for Orchestra

As we pass the 100th anniversary of the birth of Polish composer Witold Lutowslawski (1913-1994), we are happily seeing a good deal of his music available to us. One especially notable and ambitious undertaking is the Opera Omnia (instytut muzyki i tanca), which I presume when finished will comprise his entire orchestral output. Up today is Volume 4, which includes his "Concerto for Orchestra" (1950-54) and his "Symphony No. 1" (1941-47). Stanislaw Skrowaczewski conducts the NFM Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.

These are two works of great interest that we might not otherwise get the chance to hear. The performances are good.

Both works are in an earlier, yet invigorating style. They do not sound quite as abstract or "modern' as his later works. They are harmonically advanced with melodic contours more linear and unfolding, a bit more similar to Bartok's later works without suggesting that they are in any way derivative.

No, Lutoslawski has come into his own by the time he wrote these. They are highly attractive, very well-wrought works of their time. They fully deserve our attention.

And they flesh out the early-mid period of his music in excellent ways. Highly recommended.