Modern and Contemporary

Magnus Lindberg – EXPO;
Piano Concerto No.2; Al largo
Yefim Bronfman; New York Philharmonic; Alan Gilbert
Dacapo 8.226076

Magnus Lindberg was the Marie-Josée Kravis composer-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic from 2009 to 2012 and this CD was recorded live with the New York Philharmonic under the leadership of music director Alan Gilbert. You couldn’t ask for a better orchestra or performances. The New York Philharmonic and Israeli/American pianist Yefim Bronfman are both incredible virtuosos who can play anything and make it sound effortless.

EXPO (2009) is a dynamic piece using contrasting fast and slow tempi. Friction is created when the pulse is calm and the quicker-paced music begins to agitate nervously, merging the various layers of flowing music in a kind of perpetuum mobile. This is a stunning opener for the CD and it is no surprise that EXPO has received numerous performances.

The Piano Concerto No.2 (2012), a veritable cornucopia of styles, begins with the solo piano in a slow, hesitating quasi-improvisatory cadenza which is most appealing. Except for a few more quiet moments the concerto continues in a classic dialogue between piano and orchestra in a menu of flashy pianistic tricks requiring a virtuoso technique and stamina from the soloist. Yefim Bronfman does not disappoint. He has the skill and energy to make scales, arpeggios and fast repeated notes sing and flow. Only chords could have been played with more voicing and colour. But this is a live recording and the excitement that was prevalent is intoxicating. There are many references to the Ravel piano concerti and I could hear Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff as well. The movements are played without interruption but I would have liked a few more sections of repose and tranquility to break up the continual technical display. However, I applaud the work and performance. This should become a standard in piano concerto repertoire.

The Al largo (2010) is almost symphonic at about 24 minutes. The New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert showcase the horns in the opening fanfares with energy but also highlight the lyrical strings with their lush intensity. It is an extraordinary mix of fresh chamber music and Mahler-like symphonic grandeur. These are excellent performances from all the musicians and conductor.

Françaix – Music for String Orchestra
Sir Georg Solti Chamber Orchestra, Budapest; Kerry Stratton
Toccata Classics TOCC 0162

Sometimes all it takes is a letter to provide further impetus for a new disc. At least, that was the case with Canadian conductor Kerry Stratton who, upon searching for some fresh material, contacted Jacques Françaix, son of the eminent composer Jean Françaix, asking if there was any music by his father that had never been recorded. Yes, came the reply, the score for the ballet Die Kamelien and the Ode on Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. Two years later, both pieces are to be found on this fine CD of music for strings on the Toccata Classics label featuring the Sir Georg Solti Chamber Orchestra.

2012 marked the centenary of Françaix’s birth — he lived until 1997 — and over the course of his lifetime, he quietly carved out a niche as a gifted and prolific composer, completing more than 200 pieces in numerous genres. The disc opens with the Symphony for Strings, written in 1948. Containing more than just a touch of French insouciance, this is elegant music, elegantly played, with the GSCO’s strongly assured performance further enhanced by a warm and resonant sound. Less well known is the ballet music Françaix wrote for Die Kamelien (The Camellias), loosely based on the 1848 play by Alexandre Dumas, which premiered at New York City Centre in 1951. The score is a study in contrasts, from the eerie opening to the highly spirited fifth movement, Im Spielsaal. Also receiving its premiere on CD is the brief Ode on Botticelli’s Birth of Venus from 1961, a haunting and evocative homage to the Renaissance Italian painter. Here, the delicately shaped phrasing goes hand in hand with a wonderful sense of transparency.

Kudos to Kerry Stratton and the GSCO, not only for some fine music-making, but for uncovering some unknown treasures that might otherwise have been overlooked.

Allan Gordon Bell – Gravity and Grace
Land’s End Chamber Ensemble
with James Campbell
Centrediscs CMCCD 19013

Gravity and Grace is a collection of recent chamber works by Alberta composer Allan Gordon Bell, featuring Calgary’s Land’s End Chamber Ensemble with guest James Campbell on clarinet. Bolstered by great performances by the core piano trio and guests, Bell’s music shimmers and shrieks, grumbles and growls.

Bell is afflicted with delight in sonority and fascinated by the physical fact of consonance, using an effective range of dissonance as a foil. He expresses a kind of gratitude to the world around him in all these works. He is a strongly visual composer; in one piece sounds create images of falcons rising on thermals above the prairie or cascades of water tumbling into pools. In Field Notes he begins with a depiction of two rivers meeting and finishes with a sunset. Sweetgrass wraps paired contrasting images of the prairie around a still central movement that takes a page out of Béla Bartók.

The album title derives from the final work on the disc. Trails of Gravity and Grace, for clarinet cello and piano, was commissioned by Toronto’s Amici ensemble. As good as the title is, it is the weakest part of a strong collection. The limited palate doesn’t suit the composer, and I must confess that at times I found Mr. Campbell’s intonation questionable.

Apart from that, the playing is solid and committed; I especially enjoyed Sweetgrass, (written in 1997, the earliest of these pieces) for a sextet requiring three guests: Calgary musicians flutist Mary Sullivan, Ilana Dahl on clarinets and Kyle Eustace on percussion. Bell is wise to write for some common groupings in the contemporary idiom: here it’s “Pierrot plus percussion.” Field Notes is written for the same group as Quartet for the End of Time.

Both Bartók and Olivier Messiaen could be fellow travellers with Bell. They shared a similar mystical regard for the natural world and made efforts to incorporate that world into their music. Bartók’s Contrasts and the Messiaen Quatuor would ride alongside Field Notes quite comfortably.

Woman Runs with Wolves
Beverley Johnston
Centrediscs CMCCD 18913

This new release by Canadian superstar percussionist Beverley Johnston has everything a listener loves — stellar performances, strong compositions and clear sound quality.

The title track, Woman Runs With Wolves by Alice Ho, is based on the myth La Loba from Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. It is a dramatic work, with Johnston vocalizing a text of an invented language while playing hand-held percussion instruments. The work also involves acting and movement but Johnston’s precise rhythmic patterns and surprising range of vocal colours make it moving even without the visuals.

Christos Hatzis’ In the Fire of Conflict is a two-movement solo marimba and audio playback version of an earlier work also featuring cello. The marimba part adds a contrapuntal melodic line to the haunting rap tracks by Bugsy H. (aka Steve Henry) and tape effects, while the rhythmic component breaks down the boundaries between classical and pop music. Hatzis’ Arctic Dreams also features flutist Susan Hoeppner and soprano Lauren Margison in a soundscape of jazzy marimba, trilling flute and lush vocals against a wilderness-evoking tape part.

David Occhipinti’s moving marimba solo Summit, and three duets with pianist Pamela Reimer — Tim Brady’s rhythmically driven Rant! (based on a Rick Mercer “Rant”), Micheline Roi’s Grieving the Doubts of Angels and the film score-like Up and Down Dubstep by Lauren Silberberg — add compositional contrast and colour.

Johnston’s sense of phrase, tone colour and respect for the composers shine throughout this perfect release from a perfect musician.