Modern and Contemporary

Aspire – Jofre; Piazzolla; Villa-Lobos
Seunghee Lee; JP Jofre; London Symphony Orchestra; Enrico Fagone
Musica Solis MS202208 (musicasolis.com)

Clarinetist Seunghee Lee and Argentian bandeonist/composer/arranger JP Jofre met in New York City where Lee first heard Jofre’s compositions. She was very “intrigued” by the bandoneon which totally makes sense as both their instruments share similar reed sound production. Lee requested something for clarinet and bandoneon. Their resulting collaboration is heard here in eight compositions and arrangements on Lee’s independent label.

Jofre has a perfect, respectful vision of Argentinian music including that for the tango. His Lee commissioned clarinet/orchestra arrangement of Piazzolla’s Tango Étude No.3 is spectacular, remaining true to the Piazzolla sound with lush florid virtuosic clarinet lines and contrasting rhythmic orchestral sounds, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Enrico Fagone. Lee’s clarinet (instead of voice) and eight cello arrangement of Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No.5 Aria (Cantilena) is slower, with colourful low/high pitch contrasts and tight doubled instrumental lines.  

Six Jofre originals are featured. The upbeat Primavera has clear virtuosic interchanges between clarinet, bandoneon and orchestra. The three-movement Lee-commission Double Concerto for Clarinet, Bandoneon and Orchestra draws from tango, popular and classical music. I. Vals Irreal has short gloomy to energetic clarinet and bandoneon solo/duet ideas above the orchestra. Dramatic exciting III. Aboriginal combines rhythmic instrumental fun to its closing percussive blast. Perfect blending of moving lines and held notes in two clarinet/bandoneon duets, Como el Agua and Sweet Dreams. More tango neoclassical sounds in Tangodromo, and the mood-changing Taranguino, each for clarinet, bandoneon and piano (Steven Beck).  

A must-be-heard exploration of styles passionately composed and performed.

Nick Storring – Music from Wéi 成
Nick Storring
Orange Milk Records (orangemilkrecords.bandcamp.com)

Toronto-based Canadian composer/musician Nick Storring was commissioned by his frequent Toronto collaborator/choreographer Yvonne Ng (of tiger princess dance projects) to compose music for her five-dancer piece Wéi (成). Starting in a December 2017 Banff Centre residency, and completed in 2021, Storring takes a single instrument – the piano – and composes, performs and records layered multi-tracks on grand and upright pianos and a Yamaha computer-controlled acoustic Disklavier piano to create sounds ranging from traditional to prepared piano to full orchestral soundscapes and silences. 

A short Wéi 成 YouTube clip with dancers reaffirms Storring’s detailed understanding of creating dance music. It is equally fantastic as listening music. The opening I introduces the listener to Storring’s multi-faceted music. A contemplative held-note gradual crescendo from silence opens. A piano single line widely spaced lyrical melody follows, then gradual introduction of tonal to atonal chords. A fadeout section is followed by a crescendo of repeated notes, effects, loud rumbling sounds like a dramatic full orchestra then back to more quiet atonal electronic keyboard effects, to closing wobbling held notes fading directly to the next track. Other sections build on these, including subtle tastes of jazz, rock low notes, romantic and contemporary sounds in III;  full orchestral sound with wide-pitched electronic effects in V; and funky musical ideas from drum-like rocking cymbal crashes and guitar-like grooves to the closing quiet ending in VI.

Storring’s experimental compositions and performances, ranging from ambient calm to shorter tense qualities, are inspirational.

Parisa Sabet – A Cup of Sins
Various Artists
Redshift Records TK478 (redshiftrecords.org)

Iranian-Canadian composer Parisa Sabet’s six compositions here draw on Iranian traditional music and Western music like minimalism, atonalism and romanticism, perfectly performed by Jacqueline Woodley (soprano), Christina Petrowska Quilico (piano), Laurel Swinden (flute), Peter Stoll (clarinet), Robert Grieve (electric guitar), Matthias McIntire (violin/viola), Dobrochna Zubek (cello), Robert Grieve (electric guitar) and Joshua Tamayo (conductor).

Highlights include the upbeat chamber piece Shurangiz, a well-orchestrated Western/Iranian influenced composition with rhythmic repetitive grooves, lush clarinet and flute lines, and colourful repeated piano notes, inspired by contemporary Iranian Tar player/composer Ali Ghamsari. Woodley and Petrowska Quilico perform the three-movement Dance in your Blood, a setting of an English translation of a Farsi poem by Rumi. It combines classical art song like the Movement I opening piano solo and gentle vocals, and wild free expression Movement II with modern vocal effects like the repeated word “love,” and atonal piano chords. Violin solo Geyrani, inspired by Iranian kamancheh virtuoso/composer Kayhan Kalhor, has colourful held notes, alternating high/low pitched lines and high squeaky notes. McIntire’s amazing performance sounds like more than one violinist playing! 

Set to a text about sexual violence and trauma by poet Simin Behbahani, A Cup of Sin is for soprano, clarinet, viola, piano, electric guitar and cello. The opening contemplative prelude with long held drone and spoken text leads to the longer “not-so-easy listening” dramatic middle movement encompassing sudden surprising loud crashes, vocal squeals and spoken words, concluding with a calm postlude.

Sabet successfully incorporates her life experiences in these unique compositions.

Personal Noise
Sarah Plum
Blue Griffin BGR619 (bluegriffin.com)

This fantastic new release by an ardent proponent of the contemporary violin repertoire, violinist Sarah Plum, is a must-have for everyone who loves meaningful sonic adventures. Personal Noise features works for violin and electronics, delivered via the imagination and composing pen of Kyong Mee Choi, Jeff Herriott, Mari Kimura, Eric Lyon, Eric Moe, Charles Nichols and Mari Takano. 

Works on this album came as a result of a personal connection between Plum and each composer and were either written for or commissioned by her. The exciting mixture of electronically processed sounds and extended contemporary violin techniques is further enhanced by imaginative and dynamic performance by Plum. And if you think there are no beautiful melodies on this album, you are wrong; distinct melodies and elements of beauty are present throughout. Layers upon layers of textures and colours make the music rich, dreamy, sometimes unpredictable, sometimes probing. Each composition features the explorative element of some kind, be it the notion of serendipity in music (Herriot’s after time: a resolution), paraphrasing of the melody from Bach’s Violin Sonata in B-Minor (Choi’s Flowering Dandelion), or articulation of the musical cryptogram spelling Sarah’s name (Lyon’s Personal Noise with Accelerants). Interactive electronics in Kimura’s Sarahal, along with violin trills, pizzicatos, arpeggiatos and harmonics, create colours to die for and a full sonorous sound.

Sarah Plum offers complex yet conceptually clear interpretations of these works. Her distinct style of playing allows for passion and lyricism in one bow stroke, a perfect personal noise.