Phil‟s Classical Reviews

Atlanta Audio Club October, 2020

“Allegro io son,” Arias of Donizetti and Kaleidoscope: Beethoven “”Of Love and Longing: Music of Transcriptions - Mari Kodama, piano Bellini – Lawrence Brownlee, ; Franz Liszt – Jerry Wong, (Pentatone) , City (MSR Classics)

Symphony (Delos) Once she had finished her critically American pianist Jerry Wong is at it celebrated cycle of the Beethoven Lawrence Brownlee is a renowned again, exploring all the delicious and sonatas for Pentatone Music, where singer who didn‟t start out with compelling ways harmonic changes, was pianist Mari Kodama to turn next? opera in mind. An Ohio native who strong rhythms and powerful dynamics One answer, as interesting as it was grew up singing gospel music, he can affect our response to the music of unexpected, is found in Kaleidoscope, didn‟t discover the classics until his Franz Liszt. Wong‟s take on Liszt puts an album devoted entirely to piano student days at Anderson (SC) the composer in perspective as one transcriptions of and by Beethoven. University and the Jacobs School of who pushed the envelope in all these Aided by Kodama‟s flawless keyboard Music at Indiana University. matters, and whose impact continued technique, we have the surprisingly to be felt long after his own lifetime. He is now a resident of Atlanta, but we exciting opportunity to get a closer don‟t get to hear him much in these understanding of some of the Still among the best-loved pieces by parts because he is usually flying off to composer‟s greatest music. Liszt are a selection from the first year engagements at the great opera (Suisse) of his collection Années de I say “surprisingly” because keyboard houses of three continents. For he is Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) which transcriptions of this sort have never universally recognized as the tenor of recall the experiences he shared in been regular concert fare. The original choice when the subject is the with runaway Countess purpose of the transcriptions of demanding Italian operatic style known Marie d‟Agoult. First, heroic music Beethoven string quartet movements as bel canto. emanates from the depths of the tomb by Saint-Saëns, Mussorgsky, and of the Swiss national hero in Chapelle Balakirev that we are given here was Several years ago, Delos released his de Guillaume Tell, a call reminding us undoubtedly the closer analysis and premiere album of Rossini arias (see of the ongoing struggle for freedom. Phil‟s Classical Reviews, October study of the originals they permitted. 2014). What I said about him then That they should end up affording the Au lac du Wallenstadt, recalling the goes double for this latest album of pleasure and spiritual refreshment that natural beauty of the Wallensee, was arias by the other two great figures in Kodama realizes here is all the more prefaced by a quote from Lord Byron: bel canto, Gaetano Donizetti and welcome for being unexpected. “The contrasted lake with the wild : “This artist has a world I dwell in is a thing We begin with the second movement, voice as liquid as golden honey but it which warns me, with its stillness, to Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando is capable of rising to the peak of his forsake earth's troubled waters for a from the first “Razoumovsky” Quartet, range and intensity on the shortest purer spring.” Its opening melody Op. 59, No. 1, in Camille Saint-Saëns‟ notice. His High D seems deceptively stretches out peacefully over a semi- transcription. Beethoven seems to effortless, while his High F takes a little Impressionistic accompaniment of have fashioned this movement from a more effort to achieve, but is still within arpeggios supported by a tonic pedal. mere rhythmic scrap, yet its repeated his capability.” As the accompaniment flows between scherzando plus trio structure is really tonic and dominant harmonies like quite complex in a way that serves to The present program does not often gentle waves on the surface of the keep the listener‟s expectations off- call upon Brownlee to rise above High lake, the melody rises and falls balance. In Saint-Saëns‟ transcription C, but otherwise it tests his versatility gracefully, its sounds conjuring up the of the Adagio from Quartet No. 6, Op. in choice arias from some of his image of bright sunlight reflected on favorite . They include the 18, we have a movement seemingly the water. Even the turbulent middle buoyant “Allegro io son” (Happy as a clothed in innocent beauty but with section fails to dispel the peaceful ebb finch, happy am I) from Rita, Ernesto‟s strange octaves and unexpected and flow which returns at the end. delightful serenade with guitar “Com é accents and silences that Kodama gentil” (How soft the April night is) from takes care to delineate. Les cloches de Genève (The Bells of Don Pasquale, and the sighing aria Geneva) capturing he overlapping “Seul sur la terre” (Alone upon earth, in There follow bold transcriptions by the sounds of church bells heard from afar my misery I have nothing) from Don Russians Mily Balakirev and Modest on a calm evening, requires the light rd Sebastien, all by Donizetti. Mussorgsky. First, the 3 movement, sensitive touch that Wong applies Allegretto maggiore, from the here. A more complex piece, Vallée We are then given four arias by Bellini, “Razumovsky” Quartet No. 2, Op. 59, d’Obermann, is not the simple exercise including the glorious “Son Salvo” in which the contrapuntal treatment of in landscape painting that the title (Safe am I, safe at last) from , the theme as it passes from one string might suggest, but the dark detailing of in which the cavalier Arturo takes his instrument to another is replicated so a young man‟s struggles with life and cue from a troubadour song sung from stunningly in the piano transcription, love, inspired by a French novel of the within a nearby house by his beloved particularly given Kodama‟s assured same name. As such, it would have Elvira (here, the lovely, warm voice of performance, that we are often in had a strong appeal for someone with soprano Victoria Miskunaite, which doubt as to whether we are listening to “the complex trajectory of Liszt‟s makes us long to hear more of this a solo keyboard artist or a team of creative life” (Wong). Of interest is a singer). duo-. descending scale figure, informing every page of the score, which The program concludes once again The Cavatina from Quartet No. 13 in undergoes harmonic and chromatic with arias by Donizetti: two each from B-flat, Op. 130, follows in a Balakirev changes that parallel the mental L‟elisir d‟amore (including the tender transcription that gives us some idea turmoil of the novel‟s hero. Those “Una furtiva Lagrima” (a secret tear) of its somber, melancholy expression perturbations include a tumultuous and from La fille du régiment, ending and profundity but does not give us an tremolo passage with octaves flying with the exultant mood of the scene in impression of its true breadth. Kodama about with the fury of a caged animal. which Tonio wins the consent of the does the best she can with this At the end, Liszt takes pity on his hardened veterans, who have a transcription that fails to capture (for tormented hero by harmonizing the fatherly stake in the matter, to wed me at least) the exquisite sadness of descending scale figure and Marie, the “Daughter of the Regiment.” the original, for which the timbres of transforming it into a melody that offers the original strings are essential. warmth and consolation.

Note:This review is a reprint. It originally Mussorgsky follows with transcriptions I‟ve talked at length about Liszt‟s nd of the 2 movement, Vivace, and the “Swiss” pieces because they are the appeared in Phil’s Classical Reviews for rd January, 2017. 3 Lento assai cantate e tranquillo ones that appeal to me the most. But (rather relaxed, songlike and tranquil) don‟t ignore the really progressive from Quartet No. 16, Op. 135. This pieces that Wong presents for us to was Beethoven‟s final published work chew on. Nuages gris (dark clouds), in any genre, and for many scholars it for instance, reveals the experimental contains his last thoughts on a lifetime side of Franz Liszt with its use of an spent contending with the problems of augmented triad of striking sonority to sound and silence. That includes the help create a haunting sense of remarkable outburst in the midst of the beauty. Funerailles (funeral ode) and otherwise serenely untroubled Vivace. La lugubre gondola (the funereal Kodama handles all the vicissitudes gondola) evoke feelings of desolation inherent in these movements with the and grief, the former wih left-hand greatest composure and assurance. tremolos and ostinato octaves in the bass, and the latter with unresolved For the sheer fun of it all, we are lastly diminished sevenths and unfinished given Beethoven‟s own transcription of phrases that remind us this piece was the Allegretto with variations from intended as a memorial to the recently- Mozart‟s Quintet in A major for Clarinet deceased Wagner. Add in the rarely- and Strings, K581. Based on a performed Unstern! Sinistre, Disastro delightful theme of almost childish (dark star, sinister, disastrous) with its simplicity, the variations come across darkly glittering sonorities, and you as an exercise in pure joy in Mari have enough gloom to satisfy any Kodama‟s performance. necrophile (or challenge the keyboard prowess of even a Jerry Wong!)

Hiller + Schumann: Symphonic Beethoven: The Opus 18 Quartets Coleurs sonores. Scriabin: Piano Transcriptions – Ronald Lau, piano Dover String Quartet Sonatas 4 & 7; Preludes, Op. 11 (MSR Classics) (Cedille) Konstantin Semilakovs, pianist (Ars Produktion) Ronald Lau, U.S.-based pianist with The Dover String Quartet, consisting of Hong Kong roots, gives a good founding members Joel Link and Konstantin Semilakovs studied piano account of himself as both scholar and Bryan Lee, violins; Milena Pajaro van under Wolfgang Manz in Nuremberg performing artist in an intriguing pairing de Stadt, viola; and Camden Shaw, and Michael Wladowski in , and of romantic symphonies transcribed for cello, give plenty of evidence in was appointed professor of piano at solo piano in ways that tell us a lot Beethoven: The Opus 18 Quartets of the University of Music and Performing about the music. Lau‟s performance of the ways in which they are maturing as Arts in Vienna in 2018. From his early Schumann‟s Symphony No. 2 in C a very special ensemble. There is, of years as a music student, the native of major, Op. 61, in the 1882 transcription course, no reason why they should Riga, Latvia has been aware of the by Theodor Kirchner, gets to the schedule these six “Early Quartets” as phenomenon of synaesthesia, the essence of a standard orchestral work the first release in a cycle of the perception of musical tones as colors. that we might have been in danger of complete quartets, but in a way that‟s taking for granted. And his account of very appropriate. As did the young This has drawn him inevitably into the his own transcription of Symphony in E Beethoven in this 1801 publication, the study of Alexander Scriabin, one of the th th minor, Op. 67 by Ferdinand Hiller may splendid young foursome give ample strangest figures in 19 /20 century help to resurrect a forgotten musical proof of where they are in terms of music. The Russian composer has figure. their development and their artistic been a particularly absorbing study for profile. And are they a force to be Semilakovs because he associated Let‟s begin with the first-cited. Robert reckoned with! colors with certain specific harmonies. Schumann composed his symphony in Semilakovs is well-suited to performing a period in which he experienced It‟s still a commonplace among critics Scriabin‟s music because be perceives bouts of depression for which he was who have little to say to cite the Opus it as direct and honest, and because eventually hospitalized. Perhaps as a 18 quartets as rooted in the tradition of he himself has come to suspect a counterweight to his medical condition, Mozart and Haydn. That‟s true correlation between synaesthesia and the mood of the work is basically quite enough, but ignores the really startling the structure of the harmonic series. positive, ending in a very affirmative innovations that must have astounded Allegro vivace finale. Schumann also his contemporaries and marked the From this point of view, he is able to paid tribute to his spiritual forebears in 30-year old composer as one who had present Scriabin in purely musical near-quotations and resemblances to really arrived as a distinct voice. It‟s terms that allow us to understand his themes from Bach (opening of the Trio interesting to note they weren‟t artistic aims without getting distracted Sonata in the Musical Offering) and composed in apple-pie order but in the by the popular view of the composer Mozart (Tamino‟s aria from Act II of sequence 312564. The composer as a monumental egotist. Scriabin The Magic Flute), and a theme from arranged them for publication as he really was a religious nut, one whose Beethoven‟s An die ferne Geliebte (To did because they follow a curve in professed aim was to transform the My Distant Beloved), of which he was terms of stylistic maturity, with Quartet world through music, preparing it for a particularly fond. No. 1 in F major the most immediately final cataclysm of blinding light and appealing and No. 6 in B-flat major rapturous musical tones in which the Schumann‟s striking use of the rhythm pushing the envelope in the direction world and all mankind would instantly of “Alle Menschen werden Brüder” (All of future developments. become de-materialized. Semilakovs‟ men shall be brothers) from the Ninth aprroach to Scriabin makes him a Symphony adds to the noticeably By this time in musical history the first more approachable, sympathetic figure aggressive mood at the end of of his violin was no longer the autocrat in a whose music is easier to comprehend own finale. In contrast to the general string quartet that it had originally and asorb without prejudice. buoyance we have a slow movement, been. But Beethoven went further in Adagio espressivo, which starts off the interest of stylistic democracy by The 24 Preludes, Op. 11, finished sounding rather melancholy but ends assigning a good many solo passages around 1895, show how the 23-year in a mood of life-affirmation. to each of the instruments. In many old composer was already inclined to instances, the second violin part is so an adventurous pursuit of ever more Ferdinand Hiller (1811-1885) was a vividly characterized that we could expressive tone colors. Like Chopin‟s friend of Mendelssohn and Schumann. imagine the two violinists Indian- comparable set of Preludes, Op. 28, That actually worked to his detriment wrestling for the privilege of playing they are based on the composer‟s in the E-minor Symphony of 1848, that part. The viola is solidly in the harmonic theory. In Scriabin‟s case, which was enthusiastically received by middle of the harmony in all these the choice of key signatures is pretty its first audiences but was panned for quartets. And the cello can be heard much what one might expect in terms an alleged lack of originality by the (very clearly in these recordings) as a of traditional harmony until we get to critics, who cited its resemblances to moving force constantly urging matters Preludes 11-16, and here he trots out the styles of both his more celebrated along in tempo and rhythm, its warm, a decidedly strange company of keys friends. The main resemblance, it rich tones giving it a distinctive voice, seldom-used in larger compositions seems to me from Lau‟s transcription not content to merely underpin the because of their challenging arrays of and performance, lies in his use of melody. sharps and flats. These “bad actors” dotted rhythms and pulse-quickening are as follows: B major, G-sharp tempi, in which he was actually very For the sake of brevity, I‟m going to minor, G-flat minor, E-flat minor, D-flat resourceful in the ways he employs concentrate on Quartets 1 and 6, minor, and B-flat minor. As Semilakovs those musical elements. though all six show evidence of performs these pieces, the strange Beethoven‟s unmistakable hand at beauty inherent in their unusual keys As Lau observes in his perceptive work. Right from the opening of the gives a clear idea of the direction analysis, the suspense Hiller creates in Allegro con brio of Quartet No. 1, a Scriabin was to take in his later music. the very opening of the symphony gently curving theme with repeated “foreshadows the storm in the rest of notes is taken with an intensity that Of particular interest here are two the first movement, created by [the must have shocked Beethoven‟s early Sonatas, No. 4 in F-sharp minor, Op. way] a bold ascending major seventh audiences The impression “something 30, of 1903 and No. 7, Op. 64, dating is sustained through the piece and is new has been added” is confirmed by from 1912, both written during periods „answered‟ only in the jubilant finale the slow movement, a gloomy Adagio of white-hot creative activity. The with the descending octave motives.” affettuoso ed appassionato in which former occurs in two contrasted Notably charming is the second theme the intensity of the latter section, said movements which Semilakovs takes with its mood of gentle yearning for to have been inspired by the Tomb without a break in keeping with the hope and happiness. We find it Scene from Romeo and Juliet, leaves composer‟s intention that there should transformed and echoed in the a lasting impression. be a seamless transition, reflecting his expressive Adagio, the lighthearted striiving for ever greater compression. scherzo, and the jubilant finale, of Who but Beethoven would have done (The entire duration of the sonata is which Hiller hints in the motto with the things he pulled off in Quartet No. just under 8 minutes) Beautiful rippling which he prefaced the work: “Es müß 6? They include mysterious octaves in figurations in the first movement give doch Frühling werden” (Spring must the Adagio, syncopated accents, ties way to restless activity in the second, surely come). extending beyond the bar lines, and where the theme from the first is the deliberate confusion between 3/4 repeated on the way to an ecstatic In the final analysis, Ronald Lau‟s and 6/8 in the Scherzo. In the finale, conclusion. To accompany the sonata championing of the Hiller work piques the somber opening entitled La and clarify his agenda, Scriabin wrote us to hear the original Symphony Malinconia (melancholy) is succeeded an ecstatic ode in French to a bluish which, alas, is totally absent from the without warning by the fleet-footed star which the poet desires to engulf current discography. scamper of the Rondo section, a and swallow in a sea of pure light. striking innovation so like Beethoven. Sonata No. 7, which Scriabin titled the Elsewhere, Beethoven creates a “White Mass,” may well have been his sensation in No. 5 by the way a personal favorite. Typically of his late sudden rousing fanfare shakes us out period, he did not give it a key of our expectations in the otherwise signature, although it appears hurtling gentle Andante cantabile. The slow toward a conclusion in F-sharp minor movement in No. 2 is a Cavatina, an based on enormous fortissimo bell-like intimate, slowly unfolding discourse passages in arpeggiated chords. But which the members of the Dover then comes the shock, as the work Quartet treasure for all its rare beauty. simply ends, not with the expected key resolution but in “the mystical clouds of In the slow movement of No. 3 in D a subset of pitches selected from the major Beethoven gravitates to the rare overtone series” (to quote program dark-sounding tones of B-flat minor annotator Johannes Schäbel.) and E-flat minor, anticipating Scriabin by almost a century. But in both 4 and Even as sensitive an interpreter as 5 he follows tradition in calling the Konstantin Semilakovs is hard-pressed quick middle movement a Minuet, to present the ending of this sonata as though they are scherzos in all but anything other than a anti-climax, name. They may be marked in the although that conclusion accords with requisite triple meter, but they are not the philosophy of a composer who in moderate time and you certainly viewed the end of all existence as a wouldn‟t want to dance to them! moment of dematerialization. In this For the sake of vbevity, I’m goi sense, the “White Mass” Sonata, and a lyric piece of 1914 entitled “Vers la Flamme” (Toward the Flame), also included in this progam, share a kinship with the azure moonlight conclusion of Scriabin‟s symphonic work Prometheus: Poem of Fire. ow

Franz Schubert and Philip Glass. My first reaction was, “Migosh, only someone like Simone Dinnerstein would think of teaming these two composers on the same album!” The surprising thing is, the further I delved into this program the more Ms. Dinnerstein‟s logic became clear. As she puts it, the two otherwise disparate voices share some unexpected similarities: “I love their pared down quality, their economy, their ability to change everything by changing just one note in a chord.” Further, “They both create a feeling of a solitary journey, a sense of being trapped through repeated vision and revision as the music tries to work itself to a conclusion.”

In the case of our contemporary Philip Glass, I must confess his music was not love at first hearing for me, and it has only been gradually that I have come to A Character of Quiet, Glass: 3 Etudes realize its strange persuasive beauty. Perhaps I was too much influenced by the Schubert: Sonata in B-flat, D.960 common perception of this composer as a “Minimalist” (a term which Glass Simone Dinnerstein, piano personally loathes because of its limiting connotations). He sees his music in (Orange Mountain Music) terms of “repetitive structures” which take some time and diligence to work through to a satisfying conclusion. In a way, the three piano Etudes heard in this program (out of 20 that Glass composed over a period of several decades) are an ideal means of understanding what he is aiming at. These are true etudes in the sense that each is devoted to the working-out of a particular point or technique of keyboard artistry. That they may have some artistic merit or audience appeal of their own, as do each of the three Etudes heard in this album, is not essential but may constitute a plus for the listener. No. 2, at 11:24 the longest in duration of the three, amazingly holds our attention to the very end, when we are astonished to discover, looking back, at the distance we have travelled without being aware of any tedious journey. In spite of a few salient moments, such as the notable leap of tempo that occurs at about 5:56, the change that occurs in this etude takes place organically through small increments.

That Glass should admire Franz Schubert may not be the first thing that strikes the listener, but it was not for nothing that the great teacher Natalia Boulanger, with whom he learned composition in Paris in 1964-1966, recommended Schubert to him as a particular object of study (along with Bach and Mozart). That Schubert preceded Glass as a composer of sublime lengths is evident in the Sonata in B-flat major, D960, which he finished in the last month of his pitifully short life (1797- 1828). The opening movement, Molto moderato, is a good example of the Schubert challenge, as the pianist has to maintain a steady, albeit nuanced, moderate time throughout its great length (22:34 in the present instance). The changes occur gradually, building to an impressive conclusion, and marked along the way by sensational rumblings in the bass that act as upheavals and signposts. (Contrary to expectation, these rumblings rise instead of falling, creating pleasant hazards and challenges for a true keyboard artist like Simone.)

There is a background story to these recordings of July 22-23, 2020, which for reasons of the COVID-19 restrictons, could not have been made in a recital hall or a regular recording studio. The unsung hero, as Simone intimates, was Adam Abeshouse, who set up her home in Brooklyn for an acoustic ambience of great integrity and then produced, engineered, edited, mixed and mastered the end results. “It was Adam,” she confides, “who talked me back into music” after the numbing enervation of the pandemic that has affected musicians just as it has the rest of us. The end result is ours for the hearing, thoughtful and beautiful music-making that we can all enjoy and feed upon for spiritual nourishment.

American Gifts for Marimba Duo “Buried Alive,” music of Arthur American Classic Widor, Vol. 3: Joby Jack Van Geem, Nancy Zeltsman, Honegger, Othmar Schoeck, Dmitri Bell, organist. Recorded at Providence with assisting artists Mitropoulos – Leon Botstein, The United Methodist Church, Charlotte (Bridge Records) Orchestra Now (Bridge Records) (Centaur)

“American Gifts for Marimba Duo” was Buried Alive: “Gee,” I thought, what a Organist Joby Bell, noted for the really a pleasant surprise to find in my swell name for a CD to help while warmth of his playing, and in particular mail box. This album by American away the dreary months as we wait for for his skill in articulating and shaping marimba artists Jack Van Geem and the Covid-19 lockdown to end!” The musical phrases, once again scores a Nancy Zeltsman and assisting artists title refers to a lieder cycle by Othmar hit with Vol. 3 of a series on the music resonates on a number of levels. The Schoeck (1886-1957) that occupies of Charles–Marie Widor (1844-1937). “Simple Gifts” of the title recalls the old pride of place in the middle of a The very long-lived French organist Shaker hymn “‟Tis a gift to be simple, program. that also features Rugby by and composer is best remembered for „tis a gift to be free, / „Tis a gift to come Arthur Honegger (1892-1955) and his ten organ symphonies, a genre he down where we ought to be” by Concerto Grosso by Dmitri Mitropoulos seems to have created. (For more on Joseph Brackett (1797-1882), which is (1896-1960). All bear testimony to the this composer, see my Classical quoted here in a piano arrangement by passion of conductor Leon Botstein for Reviews for December, 2017.) th Penny Rodriguez (with just a few digging up neglected 20 century syncopations not found in the original). works in need of the solid championing Bell, an artist whose bold, ebullient The Orchestra Now can give them. spirit readily communicates with the Simplicity is the key to understanding listener, has chosen an appropriate and playing the marimba, in which Honegger, of Swiss origin, is often instrument for Widor‟s music in the large wooden keys are struck by identified with a group of French Opus 1472, one of the last organs mallets with either hard rubber tips for composers celebrated as “Les Six.” As made by the fabled Aeolian-Skinner brilliant, loud, percussive sounds, or he did in his earlier work Pacific 231, company of Boston before they else wound with woolen yarn for a sonic evocation of the sheer power ceased operations in 1972. These mellow tones. Unlike the piano, the and dynamism of a diesel locomotive, instruments, frequently described as marimba cannot play really complex or the symphonic scherzo Rugy (1928) “symphonic organs,” were prized for widely spaced chords, but its beautiful conjures up the back-and-forth battle their wide sonic compass and their warm sound and diversity of tone color between two teams of footballers. As ablity to change registration and more than compensate. Honegger‟s music escalates, the time dynamics smoothly and naturally, signatures in triple and duple meter without the annoying “slam” to which Of course, even the above-mentioned change almost every other measure as audiences had been ruefully resigned. limitations largely disappear when you we wait breathlessly for one “team” or They were particularly popular in the have a talented pair of marimba artists the other to prevail (Hint: the smart early decades of the 20th Century such as Van Geem and Zeltsman. We money is on the team in 3/4 time!) when they enriched people‟s lives by hear them as a duo in their adaptation bringing them the music of the opera of Irving Fine‟s Music for Piano (1947) Schoeck, another Swiss, was very and the symphony before the advent and Zeltsman‟s own adaptation of much a modernist but he took the texts of phonograph records. They are still Roger Sessions‟ Sonata No. 1 for of the fourteen poems in his stunning prized by organ fanciers today. Piano (1930). Fine‟s Music reflects the 1926 lieder cycle Lebendig begraben charm and refined gestures found in (Buried Alive) from an 1846 book of Joby Bell, a native of Statesville, N.C., French neo-classicism, as well as a poems by Gottfried Keller. As in some studied at the North Carolina School of passion for poring new wine into the other German language lieder cycles, the Arts and received a Bachelor of old bottles of received classical forms we move from death and despair to joy Music in organ and piano from and genres. and transfiguration. Its protagoist is Appalachian State University and one who has been buried prematurely Master of Music and Doctor of Musical The Sessions is in three movements: but whose thoughts persist in the Arts degrees in organ from Rice an Andante that is really the beginning grave – memories of a Christmas tree, University. In his zeal for performing of the slow middle movement, another a festival, and a girl of the mountains and recording the great music for the Andante which is marked Poco meno with wildflowers in her hair. He cries organ, he has been untiring. One of mosso (a little less lively) as it is out from the depths of the grave for his pet projects has been to record all preceded by a fast Allegro; and then a release from his being “buried alive,” the Widor organ symphonies, of which finale marked Molto vivace which release either through the love of a the Fourth and Seventh are heard on challenges the Van Geem/Zeltsman woman or the intrusion of a grave the present CD. marimba duo to rise to greater heights robber: “A golden ring would be my in a work that seems to recall the rescue,” he broods, but alas, “The only Symphony No. 4 in F minor, up first, beauty of a Bach aria. thing you get for free is death.” has a great deal of variety, beginning with a beautifully constructed Toccata The final work on the program, Cynical despair slowly changes to and Fugue in moderate time, revealing consuming almost half its length, is thoughts of glorious aspirations, as he the sure hand of one who understood Island Music (2003) by Michael Tilson imagines a tree being felled to make a the relevance of baroque counterpoint Thomas, celebrated music director of ship‟s tall mast with with flags flying in to a later era. The first movement is a the who the blue skies. “I‟d cling to you with weighty drama, with pregnant pauses recently retired after 25 years‟ tenure. hands as strong as iron,” he cries. and short harmonic deviations, the Here the Duo are joined by tutti “Together we would swim toward the latter discrete and dignified. The third marimba artists Raymond Froelich and world‟s end.” His salvation is complete movement, marked Andante cantabile, James Lee Wyatt III and also by at the end of the cycle. As the clock has a folklike melody, in which Bell percussionists David Herbert and Tom strikes twelve he realizes ”I‟m free, my detects a Scottish flavor. He describes Hemphill in a tour de force of wide- woes have made a turn. I am alone [in the fourth, a scherzo marked Allegro ranging persuasion and complexity the universe], and still I‟m not alone!” vivace, as “a diabolical exercise in that benefits from the extra manpower. perpetual motion, with lightning-speed This song cycle contains powerful notes flying by on quiet stops given The diversity of sounds produced is thoughts and emotions, of which I‟ve barely enough time to speak.” Then we simply amazing in a work which Tilson been able to give you only a glimpse. have another slow movement, marked Thomas describes as a reflection of Much of the success of this recording Adagio, a moment of calm before the traditions East and West, music that is due German baritone Michael Nagy, onslaught of a finale which ends “drifts back and forth between the whose deep, honest tone production confidently, like a hymn of triumph. islands of Indonesia and the encompasses all the dramatic power, Caribbean, stopping along the way in violent outbursts, and quiet recitations Symphony No. 7 in A minor, with a the United States.” It is in the form of on a single note required in the scores. duration of 43:39, is one of the longest an introduction and three parts. He is well-equipped to bring out the and most demanding works in the Perhaps the most memorable of these emotions voiced by the protagonist, as literature. The opening Moderato is is Part II, “In the Clearing,” which well as the musical demands of the distinguished by its angular theme and imagines a break in the dancing and a sprechstimme used by Schoeck. The high-energy requirements. The second pause for the remembrance of “those latter is a cross between speaking and movement, a weighty Choral, and the who are sadly no longer with us on the singing in which the tone quality is third, a gothic, brooding affair marked dance floor.” The composer adds: “The heightened or lowered in pitch along Andante / Allegretto, are followed by a music becomes more and more lyrical melodic contours indicated in the rhapsodic Allegro non troppo with until it dissolves into arabesques.” musical notation. It is quite different swelling and ebbing figurations. The There is a haunting beauty in this work from our usual notions of supported fifth is a plaintive Lento in C-sharp that will stay with us for a long time. melody, and takes some getting minor ending in C-sharp major, a accustomed-to. rarely-used but rich key with seven sharps in its signature. For the finale, Dmitri Mitropoulos is today better Allegro vivace, Widor borrows the remembered for his work as conductor theme from the Choral, giving an with the New York Philharmonic 1949- impression of cyclic unity. Bell starts 1960, but his earlier career as a this movement slowly and builds in composer gets overdue recognition intensity through various textures and from Botstein and the Now Orchestra dynamics, all the way to a glorious fanfare in A major. Continued Below: in his Concerto Grosso (1928). In four movements (Molto Largo, Allegro-Largo, Chorale (Largo), and a concluding Allegro), it pays tribute to baroque counterpoint and fugue but in an uncompromisingly dissonant harmonic idiom rather than an exercise in neo-classicism. Each of the four movements uses a different instrumentation, frequently setting sections of the orchestra against each other in rhythmic opposition, as he does the two horns and the strings in the opening movement. Clashing sonorities, doubled voices and high-energy rhythms at the end make for a spectacular finish to a work that, for all its dissonance, ends up being surprisingly attractive and flavorful, at least under Botstein‟s baton.