Barbora Kolarova, Imp in Impulse, Solo Violin by Le Boeuf, Francaix, Slavicky

The world of unaccompanied violin, viola or cello works might be seen as subject to some prime influences. Nowadays there is of course the enduring example of Bach and also that influence as channeled in more Modern ways by Reger and Hindemith. Then perhaps there is the more flashy virtuoso path of Paganini and perhaps also the conflation of tunefulness and virtuosity in Kreisler. There are no doubt other compositional influences as well but these particular ones come to me this morning as I write this..

These thoughts occur to me, that is, as I specifically listen to an album forthcoming very soon from Czech violinist Barbora Kolarova. It is an all-solo outing entitled Imp in Impulse (Furious Artisans FACD 6822).  She makes a strong showing of considerable virtuosity harnessed to a nicely overarching expressivity via three compositions that give us substantial fare to contemplate. The works show the general influences of all the above-mentioned composers to greater or lesser degrees while maintaining an original stance, all while Ms. Kolarova puts her own very personal stamp on the performances.

Of the three composers represented here, Jean Francaix (1912-1997) is the most familiar (to me). His "Theme with 8 Variations for Solo Violin" (1980) is the midpoint in the program and has in its eight variational movements the kinetic virtuosity of Paganini and Ravel with a pronounced inventive abstraction that sets it into later last century decidedly. Kolarova handles it all heroically, as she does the entire program.

Pascal Le Boeuf's title piece "Imp in Impulse" heads off the program with a premier recording of the five movements that have memorably thematic and figurational impact, a kind of spontaneity the name of the work implies and some decided freshness that repeated hearings only serve to underscore. It was composed especially for Ms. Kolarova by the American Le Boeuf and seems to dovetail remarkably well with the violinist's adventurous musical personality.

The title refers to philosopher Paul A. Lees' phrase (Imp in Impulse) that personifies the human tendency to monitor and act on a need to avoid mistakes--which brings a two-edged sword to our actions, because we can resolve errors but we can also cause them by being too quick to act. The music reacts to and plays upon that paradox in winning ways if one listens for it.

The final "Partita for Solo Violin" gives us some extraordinarily complex, expressive and difficult-to-play ecstatics of sound from Moravian Klement Slavicky (1910-1999). It manages to pay homage to Bach's solo violin Partitas as it travels originally and independently forward to present-day Modern territory.

Barbora Kolarova should receive well deserved acclaim for this fine album. It has all the drama and excitement one might hope for in a solo violin recital. The music surely warrants our full attention. Bravo!

Tesla Quartet, Alexander Fiterstein, Joy & Desolation, Chamber Works by Mozart, Finzi, Corigliano, Heredia

Something now hundreds of years back and the date was 1789, more exactly 231 years ago now,  Mozart so admired the clarinet playing of Anton Stadler that he sat down and wrote him the iconic "Clarinet Quintet" in A major, K581. Its expressive power was of course enormous. So much so that one might well date and attribute at least in part the continuing power of this particular chamber configuration (clarinet plus string quartet) from that work's influence and continued currency.

Perhaps nowhere can you feel that more intently than with a present-day clarinet quintet of special strength--the Tesla String Quartet plus clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein. They create a winning program that starts with the Mozart work and then jumps to some 20th and 21st century quintets of palpable interest, all on the recent Joy & Desolation (Orchid Classics ORC100106).

Throughout the many varied developments in the four works presented on the album it becomes plain as one listens that the Tesla Quartet and Fiterstein are in their element, that they manage through a pronounced mutual chemistry and affinity for the music at hand to create a considerable magic.

From the point of view of the dedicated listener the magic of the very familiar in a special reading is one thing while the magic as introduced in an unfamiliar work another. And so it is for me after a near lifetime of listening to the Mozart in recordings of various versions, hearing it played so proudly and boldly here gives additional truth to the work's greatness.

That same matter-of-fact expressive presence carries over to the rest of the program too, though of course for me hearing these other works is a new opening on the chamber possibilities of our current era, and so an experience of a slightly different order.

So the clarinet brilliance and the string deepness continue most naturally with stylistic extensions into the Modern of just yesterday and also today.

And as we travel through the program in this way we come very pleasurably upon English 20th century original Gerard Finzi (1901-1956) and his eloquently homespun, feelingful "Five Bagatelles" in its Christian Alexander arrangement for clarinet and quartet (the original scoring was for clarinet and piano). The liners note how both Mozart and Finzi draw out of the clarinet a special full, multi-register sound presence that Fitenstein brings out nicely. And of course that works well thanks to the heroically upstanding blend the strings achieve with the singular clarinet voice throughout.

John Corigliano's "Soliloquy" turns the mood to something somber, overtly expressive and Modernistic in touching ways while Carolina Heredia (b. 1981) continues and extends the overall feel compellingly for the program finale,  her "Ius in Bello.".

The performances take us on unbroken voyages of vivid color and succinctly moving aural poetry. The end result is a near-ideal mix of insightful timbral compositional shadings and some ravishing realizations. Strongly recommended.

Mark John Mcencroe, Musical Images for Chamber Orchestra, Reflections and Recollections Vol. 2, Janacek Philharmonic, Anthony Armore

When covering the newest of the New Music along with the more "classic" staples of Modernity and sometimes neglected works from earlier Modern eras, it seems wise to me to keep an open mind. Every new album is a new universe of possibilities. Why pre-judge something when the deep listening will tell you what you need to know?

With that attitude I sometimes surprise myself with what I end up engaging with. Today's example seems apt. It is Australian composer Mark John Mcencroe and his album Musical Images for Chamber Orchestra, Reflections & Recollections, Vol. 2 (Navona NV6269). This is not the first review of his music on these pages. Type his name in the search box for another.

The album's music grew out of the first two volumes of Mcencroe's piano pieces. In his words they are "a reflective look over the passage of events, impressions, and feelings experienced throughout my life to date." Conductor and friend Anthony Armore heard them and suggested that they would sound well realized for a small chamber orchestra. Accordingly the composer asked his colleague and friend Mark J. Saliba to do this. The result is the present volume.

Each one of the 11 pieces that comprise this set is a kind of pastoral, ultra-diatonic expression, often enough through-composed, homespun, a super-lyrical presence. It is meant to please and set a scene such as does a lyrical movie soundtrack or for that matter a tone poem by Delius. New Age, Elevator Music, Sweet Music of the big band era, slow movements of classic works from the Baroque era onwards, programmatic lyricism perhaps since Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony," naive folkish descriptive music such as you might hear in parts of Copland's "Appalachian Spring" or some Impressionistic, sonic nature-description from Ravel or Debussy? All this and a number of other things besides are something to do with this music though Mcencroe avoids a vapidity that might be associated with the more "popular" idiomatic characteristics of some of these diverse genre subsets at the same time as he does not sound imitative so much as charmingly untransformed, naive in his own way.

Nothing is deliberately banal, nor does anything appear to be ambitiously stepping forward as a stylistic statement. It is the continuously unwinding diatonic lyricism that marks this set of music off as both distinct from Satie's "Furniture Music" and yet spinning its own web of continuously present sameness of intent. Cage's Satie tribute piano set "Cheap Imitation" with its irony comes to mind in how it captures a style yet by being determinately generic (only more than that as well) drives down to some essence that transcends imitation.

So, then, is this a trend? Is this part of a new "school" of New Music? I do not think so. By setting out simply to do what this music does it strays from some processual path of musical evolution and instead offers a reflection of visceral consonential pleasure. And for that it pleases if you accept the terms by which it expresses itself. Or it can if you but leave itself to its own reflections as resounding in your ears.

This is music not of the future but rather music that has determination to pass us as it looks at its own past. It is no more nor less than itself. The orchestrations and performances are just so. First listen to a part of this and, well, if you like it that is what it is. If not, not.

APNM, Volume One, Chamber Music, Volume Two, Computer + Electronic Music

The APNM (Association for the Promotion of New Music) provides the New Music community out there with an invaluable boost. It came into being in 1975 thanks to Jacques-Louis Monod "as a community of American composers with the purpose of sharing common musical values and creating a network of professional support. APNM fosters the compositional creativity of its members by offering performances of their music, publication services, and promotional visibility."

Accordingly they have recently released a well conceived anthology of some 14 works in a double CD set entitled Music from the APNM Volume One, Chamber Music and Volume Two, Computer + Electronic Music (New Focus Recordings FCR248).

There is quite a bit of good music to be heard, all in a more or less High Modern vein, that is to say music of a certain level of abstraction, traditionally untraditional without necessarily being dodecaphonic or atonal (although that not being "prohibited" either), that creates an aural color field via unusual instrumental combinations, electronic timbral niceties and expressive fullness. Each is a world unto itself.

The anthology starts out with two works combining traditional Chinese or Korean and conventional Western instruments in intriguing ways, with Stephen Dydo's "Wind Chimes" (2012) for pipa and guitar followed by Laurie San Martin's "Elective Affinities" (2010) for gayageum and string quartet. Both thoroughly bridge the East-West gap with contentual affinity and a sort of middle ground between the ultra-new and the considered tradition.

A very dynamic and rather exciting solo piano work follows, Tom James' "Odd Numbers" (2015). It has a rolling sort of unfolding that is acrobatic in its kinetic force and articulate in its nimble juggling of melodic and harmonic elements.

A nicely inventive midi-based sound color sampling follows with Elaine Barkin's "Faygele's Footsteps" (2007). Color contrasts work together to create a kind of mosaic that is both intriguing and musically satisfying. One hears adroit juxtapositions of Gamelan tones intertwining with Western instruments and electronically enhanced complexes. It is a pleasure to hear.

A chamber confluence of definite interest follows in Sheree Clement's 2009 "Round Trip Ticket: A Theme with Variations for Seven Players." One revels in dynamic chains of figuration that unwind in tableaux of sectional timbral juxtapositions. Well done!

And then follows the final work of the first volume, Joseph Hudson's 2010 "Starry Night" for piano and electronic sounds, which paves the way for the second volume and its computer-electronic emphasis. Hudson creates a kind of majesty of sequencing and a superior melding of the acoustics of the piano with the related electronic transformations that accompany and complete the aural soundscape.

The Computer + Electronic Music volume that follows keeps up the momentum with eight works of interest, six comprising "fixed audio media," or in other words the more traditional electronic studio mode, and two with live interactive electronics.

The works are generally oriented towards pitched timbral spectrums (as opposed to noise-based timbres) of fascinating novelty and high levels of musical interest--and show off in this way a kind of continuity with the classic American School of electronics made most famous at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Studios at the peak of the High Modern Era--especially in the '60s.  

Each of the eight works on Volume Two weaves its own magic, and each has a nicely constructed complexity and timbral brilliance that marks it out in the listening mind as more than memorable, special, each a little milestone of Modernist tone painting.

There are also few poignant interactions between conventional instruments and their live electronic transformations, such as Carl Bettendorf's 2012 viola and electronics "Souvenir."

The remainder are for electronics in a studio compositional context and they cover a period from 1995 through 2017. A lengthy description of each is probably not necessary. Suffice to say that they are some of the most interesting works I have heard in recent years. 

You may not know the composers but you no doubt should by listening closely to this entire volume. Hats off to Arthur Kreiger, Joel Gressel, Adam Vidiksis, Maurice Wright, Carl Bettendorf, Jeffrey Hall, Samuel Wells and Hubert Howe.

The judicial selection of worthy recent works by artists we might not otherwise come to know forms a tribute to the discernment of the APNM and its trustees. This is an essential anthology of the New Music Moderns currently coming up today. If it is any indication, and it no doubt is, we are most assuredly not lacking talented new voices to take us into the future. Highly recommended.

Barbara Harbach, Orchestral Music V, Expressions for Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, David Angus

The prolific Barbara Harbach has a good number of releases of her music on MSR Records, among other labels. Her latest, Orchestral Music V, Expressions for Orchestra (MSR Classics MS-1672), has caught my ear in good ways and so I report in on it for you.

The first thing you might notice on hearing the program is how the music comes alive thanks to the very fine performances of the London Philharmonic Orchestra under David Angus. So of course one does not have to imagine what the music would sound like in a proper rendering because that is very much the case in this recording.

All four works have substance and girth, each with multiple movements and around 10 to 20 minutes play time. None outstays its welcome but has its say and says it well. Ms. Harbach orchestrates with a flair and a nice sense of the totality in a more or less classicist way. She has a distinctive use of the xylophone on  parts of "Suite Luther" and "Early American Scandal," employing it colorfully to state some primary melodic parts. And then too winds and brass nicely balance strings throughout. She has a subtle way. She clearly knows what she is after and gets it.

"Suite Luther" grounds itself on the iconic Luther hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," weaving it into the musical proceedings throughout the five varied movements, creating various contexts for its restating, reharmonizations, rhythmic extensions, and weaving counter motifs and variations with skill and expressive logic. Like all four works this one is firmly tonal but decidedly Contemporary, more Neo-Classical than Post-Romantic, though not in the more obvious ways, happily. The musical syntax flows readily and communicatively.

At times her use of folksy and otherwise recognizable stylistic thematic materials makes her in my mind a kind of present-day Aaron Copland-like figure. Listen especially to her "Early American Scandals" in this light and I think you'll happily see this. And it all sounds straightforwardly fresh and non-derivatively original

"Arabesque Noir" gives us an ornate and nicely lyrical presence with a contrapuntal movement that is a pleasure to hear. "Early American Scandal" has vibrant contrapuntal life as well and a clear-cut lyrical freshness on top of the pronouncedly old-rural folksiness.

The "Recitative and Aria" has a just-so quality and sends us off with well-turned brevity. It pays tribute to actor Edwin Booth (1833-1893), one of the most admired Hamlets of his era.

This is not deliberately "advanced garde" music so much as it is an unassuming and open expression that seems to flow naturally and assuredly flows copiously from Barbara Harbach's fertile musical mind. What matters in the end of course centers around the works themselves. They hold much interest even after hearing a good number of times as I have done this past week.

Barbara Harbach shows off some genuine talent here. This is one good showing and I do not hesitate to recommend it to you if you are someone who wants to be abreast of what is happening right now, or simply wants to hear good music.

Heare Ensemble, Vox, Music of George Crumb, Narong Prangcharoen, Stacy Garrop, Carter Pann

Vox (Innova 040) allows our ears to bask in Modern Chamber Music of a less abstract sort, with a nod to evocative meaning. The Heare Ensemble give us warm and vivacious readings of mostly multi-movement works that hang together well as a kind of expressive whole.

The Heare Ensemble distinguish themselves throughout as an eloquent trio comprising Jennie Oh Brown on flutes, Jennifer Blyth on piano and Kurt Fowler on cello.

The album celebrates George Crumb's 90th birthday with a mindful yet ebullient performance of his classic 1971 tribute to Humpback whale song, "Vox Balaenae." The three players are to be masked in performance, their instruments electrified. The Heare Ensemble first performed the work together during their student days at Eastman. Since then they have played it in concert more than 25 times. It is both a sign of their affinity for the music and a bellwether of their intimate mastery of the Crumb style. Along with his "Makrokosmos" series for piano and several other chamber works "Vox Balaenae" is sublime Crumb and a fitting way to celebrate his 90th. Happy birthday, George!

Thai composer Narong Prangcharoen has a well-considered de facto kind of response to the work with his "Bencharong" trio in five movements. It follows the creation sequence of the Thai pottery of that name--which is a rather precarious production with three to eight successive glaze firings, each with a different color. Only after the sequence of stages are properly overcome is the vessel completed. One false move in any of the stages and the pot is discarded. The music has that "making it all count" immediacy to it.

Crumb's love of Appalachian folk song and his generally melodic vibrancy are celebrated in the final two works, Stacy Garrop's "Silver Dagger," which is an effectively lovely reworking of such a folk song, and the Carter Pann "Melodies for Robert," which sports out-front, engaging melodics commissioned by the family of Robert Vincent Jones in memoriam.

And so ends a program literally brimming over with meaningful music. The Crumb work revels in benchmark poignancy; the three accompanying works stand out as worthwhile and worthy counterparts in this high-watermark program. The Heare Ensemble triumphs. The music wins the day from beginning to end. Hear this, by all means. It reminds us how central Crumb remains in our time, and happily how his legacy is very alive.

Shih-Hui Chen, Silvergrass & Other Orchestral Works

The liner notes to today's album rightly call this music "intercultural composition." And so it is. Chinese composer Shih-Hui Chen (b. 1962) comes out with five intricate, moving and fascinating examples rather deftly combining Chinese and Western Modern Classical elements on Silvergrass & Other Orchestral Works (New World Records 80807-2).

Ms. Chen has a remarkable creative talent in her ability to combine both style-sets and in the process give us a musical result most definitely greatly more than a mere totaling sum of the parts. There is a Chinese traditional concern with space and spaciousness and a special arsenal of timbrally bright instrumental techniques (mainly for the Chinese solo instruments when utilized in a quasi-concerted mode). And then there is a Western Modern concern with melodic-harmonic sophistication and motion-centered layering as we have come to progressively experience it in the past 100 years. And that in coexistence with at times some diatonic-pentatonic melodic elements as befits Chinese Classical tradition.

The four-movement title work "Silvergrass for Cello and Chamber Orchestra" (2016) forms the centerpiece of the program with its mysterious chamber orchestra panorama and concentrically expressive solo cello part. It is perhaps on first listen less overtly Chinese than the others but nonetheless has resonance in its timeless poetic outlook. And it is in fact a nod to Taiwanese Opera in its sonic foundations.

On the other end of the spectrum is the opening work "Fantasia on the Theme of Guanglingsan for Zheng and Chinese Orchestra" (2014), where the instrumental timbres are more or less wholly Chinese yet the unfolding has a linear logic not unfamiliar to Western New Music.

The give and take of the two contrasting dimensional approaches undergo creative transformation and make for excellent music throughout the program, which in addition includes "A Plea to Lady Chang'e for Nanguan Pipa and Chamber Orchestra" (2014), "Fantasia on the Theme of Plum Blossoms for String Orchestra" (2011) and the "Concerto for Pipa and Chamber Orchestra" (2002).

Kudos to Hsin-Fang Hsu on zheng, Mei-Hui Wei on Nanguan pipa, Wu Man on pipa, and Wen-Sinn Yang on cello. Compliments as well for fine contributions by the Little Giant Chinese Orchestra under Chih-Sheng Chen, Loop 38 under Jerry Hou, and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra under Yao-Yu Wu.

Each of the five works covers important ground. Space and time discourage a full discussion of each. Another highlight however is the innovative work "A Plea to Lady Chang'e for Nanguan Pipa and Chamber Orchestra." It begins by considering a well-known work in the southern Chinese Nanguan repertoire and in effect recomposes the entire piece--including vocals and the Nanguan pipa parts--into New Music terms.The undertaking is of course very ambitious but what matters is that the result breathes and expresses in lively fashion the double impetus for its creation. It all works, in short, in engaging and memorable ways.

You could say that about the entire program. Meticulously detailed and spirited performances and rather breathtaking compositional maneuvers make it all new and heartening. This is music of real merit, thoroughly path-breaking and intrinsically worthwhile as a serious foray to widen the intercultural boundaries of New Music today. Recommended, surely.