Modern and Contemporary

Ennanga
Ashley Jackson
Bright Shiny Things BSTC-0188 (brightshiny.ninja)

The rediscovery of music by Black composers continues apace. William Grant Still (1895-1978), arguably the finest of all, named his 18-minute Ennanga for harp, string quintet and piano after the arched harp of Uganda. The first two movements are warmly nostalgic, almost heartbreaking in their evocation of African chant and hints of Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child. The finale is a jolly, propulsive dance. Still’s harp writing is exquisitely lovely, lovingly played by Ashley Jackson, holder of a doctorate from Juilliard and currently a senior administrator and teacher at Hunter College in Manhattan.

Jackson arranged Alice Coltrane’s nine-minute Prema, originally for piano and strings, substituting the harp for the piano. Coltrane (1937-2007) was a jazz singer, pianist and harpist (and jazzman John’s wife), but Prema isn’t jazzy, with sustained moody, droning strings and shimmering songfulness from the harp.

In both Ennanga and Prema, Jackson is joined by fellow members of the Harlem Chamber Players; she solos on the CD’s three other pieces, each lasting about five minutes. Essence of Ruby by harpist Brandee Younger (b.1983) is reflective and yearning, bordering on the blues. Two of the Twenty-four Negro Melodies by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), originally for piano, are here arranged by Jackson. In the spirituals I’m Troubled in Mind and The Angels Changed My Name, Jackson finds resolve and courage, ending this beauty-filled CD with a sense of optimism. (The CD runs only 43 minutes – I wanted more!)

Le Voyage Immobile/The Still Journey – Works for strings and accordion
Olivier Innocenti; Various Artists
DLM 3422 (denislevaillant.net)

Paris-based composer, writer and pianist Denis Levaillant’s works in many genres defy classification in his unique colours, instrumentation and stylistic explorations. This 2CD release in its colourful bilingual hardcover liner book features works composed from 1987 to 2021.

CD1 opens with Un mystérieux chemin (2017) for solo viola, inspired by music of northern India. It is a dramatic rhythmic piece opening with a slow tense, emotional moving melody with high to low held-notes, performed perfectly by Pierre Lénert. Quatuor Amôn and accordionist Olivier Innocenti perform L’Andalouse Books 1 and 2 (2004). The accordion blends well with the strings. Opening Book 1 Movement1 has accordion, then strings in a noisy, low-pitched atonal start with alternating high and low held notes. A moody work with expressive melody, accented rhythms and high-pitched accordion notes and lower strings. Book 2 Movement 1 starts with a single melodic accordion line leading to full ensemble playing. Uplifting, lively syncopated sections with a sudden low section leading to a fast closing. Book 2 Movement 2 shows Levaillant’s understanding of the accordion’s full high-to-low-pitch range in held-note drones, with added strings held notes. A faster rhythmic section leads to more held notes, with syncopated accordion bellows shakes. Accordion solo Danse Nocturne (2019) with very low pitch left hand and contrasting high pitch right hand, is beautiful, challenging bellows control technique to make all sounds enter together. Fast-note flourishes are contrasting. A solo cello, and a string quartet work complete this first disc.

CD2 features two string quartets and two string trios. With its theme and six variations Les Heures défaites String Quartet No.1 (1987), features Quatuor Joachim. Levaillant writes that this was initially conceived as “ballet music.” Theme begins with beautiful tonal cello melody with slight slide, then entry of other strings, both contrapuntal and one lead with accompaniment. Faster tonal Variation 1 has detached and plucked notes, contrapuntal lines and legato melody phrases with detached notes. Variation 5 has higher squeaky notes and lower short melody, an idea that reappears in his future work. Trois derviches String Trio No.2 (2020), recorded by Sébastian Surel, Pierre Lenert and Alexis Descharmes, alternates low and high notes, staccatos, rhythmic unisons and brief silences. One more string quartet and string trio complete CD2. 

So fascinating to listen to Levaillant’s compositional development of beautiful, well-composed, virtuosic works over three and a half decades.

Listen to 'Le Voyage Immobile/The Still Journey' Now in the Listening Room

The Water Cycle & Tango Inoxidable
Organum Vulgarum
Independent (amichaibenshalev.bandcamp.com/album/the-water-cycle-tango-inoxidable)

Canadian-born musician/teacher/composer Amichai Ben Shalev was raised in Israel and lived in Buenos Aires from 2005 to 2020 where he graduated in 2012 from the Manuel de Falla Conservatory specializing as a bandoneon soloist under the tutelage of Rodolfo Daluisio. His career there included collaborations with contemporary tango composers and international appearances. In 2020 Amichai moved to Montreal and in 2022 founded the contemporary music ensemble Organum Vulgarum for bandoneon and string quartet/quintet to explore this instrumentation’s sonorities.

Amichai’s seven-movement contemporary composition The Water Cycle, is inspired by the continuous movement of water on earth and in the atmosphere. Heat opens with ascending string intervals moving to higher bandoneon held notes, with faster lines as the water gets warmer, to an amazing closing with a held high note and a slightly rippling ending. Evaporation has lower pitched held notes, fades and swells creating musical evaporation. Chill has sharp “freezing” bandoneon accents contrasting with longer lower “puddle” strings. Precipitation features pizzicato string raindrops, low held note thunder blasts, and bandoneon bellows shakes increasing the storm effect. Brilliant tight ensemble playing and interpretation of Amichai’s reflective “watery” music reminiscent of summers at the lakeside.

Amichai expresses two common tango aspects, “Desolado” (solitary and sad) and “Reo” (rough) throughout his Tango Inoxidable. His virtuosic playing is featured here as bandoneon bellows create a wave effect, followed by dramatic string lines and bandoneon rhythms. Quieter remorseful bandoneon lines lead to intricate musical conversations with the strings.

The Organum Vulgarum instrumentalists’ performances meld together memorably, at times amazingly, almost sounding like one instrument. Amichai’s sonority explorations are unforgettable.

Montréal Musica
Marc Bourdeau
Centrediscs CMCCD 32023 (cmccanada.org/product-category/recordings/centrediscs)

Like so many things in life, the inverted U-shaped curve best represents the ideal balance of exposure and mystery within a solo recording. Too much unveiling leaves nothing to the imagination in its fulsome exposition. Conversely, an unwillingness to unmask and musically disclose (the so-called “warts and all”), can come across as coy and not revelatory enough to strike a personal connection between artist and listener. But, when the forces align and an appropriate balance is struck, there is often magic contained within the performance that follows. Such is the case with Montréal Musica, a fine new recording by respected pianist, chamber musician and pedagogue Marc Bourdeau on Centrediscs, the record label of the Canadian Music Centre.

Spanning nearly a century of Canadian composition linked together not by style, genre or epoch, but rather uniformly tethered to the island of Montréal where Bourdeau calls home, this excellent 2023 release is notable for both its beautiful fidelity and acoustic capture of the instrument, as well Bourdeau’s bold decision to be stylistically agnostic and take on a mixed bag of intriguing repertoire whose only point of connection is the geographic origin of the composers. Although on the surface there may be little that unifies the music of Claude Champagne and Oscar Peterson, in the skilled hands of Bourdeau, the angles are found despite the stylistic discrepancies, and repertoire and artistry coalesce nicely to form a compelling and unified musical statement. Other composers represented include François Morel, André Mathieu, Jacques Hétu, John Rea, Denis Gougeon, Rachel Laurin and Marc-André Hamelin.