Modern and Contemporary

Ink Traces
Julia Glenn; Konstantinos Valianatos
Navona Records NV6670 (navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6670)

American violinist Julia Glenn has lived, taught and performed in China, immersing herself in China’s language, music, dance and poetry. Together with Athens-born pianist Konstantinos Valianatos who, like Glenn, has taught at Tianjin Juilliard School, she plays works by composers who embrace both Chinese and Western classical idioms.

Chen Yi’s Romance and Dance (1995-1999) begins with the very Chinese-sounding Romance, the violin’s bent notes wailing plaintively over sporadic pianistic water-droplets. Dance is a wild ride, with frenzied violin flourishes and rapid piano ostinatos. Chen’s Memory for solo violin (2010) movingly mixes Chinese and Western elements, progressing emotionally from apprehensiveness to determination.

The fragmented melodies and rhythmic inertia of the other solo violin pieces – Yao Chen’s Air (2015) and Pan Kai’s Ink Traces of Sigh (2017/2022) sound thoroughly European, as does Gao Weijie’s The Road (1996), though with longer violin melodies and some momentum from the piano.

Much more enjoyable are Sang Tong’s Night Scenery (1947), the violin ruminating above the piano’s irregular walking bass, the lovely melodies of Nostalgia from Ma Sicong’s Inner Mongolia Suite (1937) and, most of all, Chen Gang’s delightful, unmistakably Chinese Drum and Song (1974-1976) in which rollicking jollity frames blissful dreaminess.

Whining Chinese glissandi and martial Western propulsion clash violently in the CD’s longest work, Chen Yihan’s 11-minute EHOHE for baroque violin and electronics (2022), commissioned by Glenn. Happily, the disparate cultures eventually reconcile and the disc ends in peaceful serenity.

Playfair Sonatas
Ethan Iverson
Urlicht Audiovisual (musicalconcepts.net/recording/ethan-iverson-playfair-sonatas)

Ethan Iverson is a pianist and composer who helped found the American jazz group The Bad Plus in 2000. He has performed jazz with a diverse group of musicians over the years (Lee Konitz, Ron Carter, Ingrid Jensen etc.) and composed for a variety of groups along with writing on music for several magazines. Playfair Sonatas is named after Piers Playfair who agreed to pay Iverson’s studio’s rent for six months in exchange for him composing six sonatas where Playfair would choose the instrumentation.

Along with piano accompaniment, the six instruments are: violin, marimba, clarinet, trombone, alto saxophone and trumpet. All the works are lively and take advantage of each solo instrument’s unique characteristics. For example, Violin Sonata is relatively classical sounding while Alto Saxophone Sonata includes classical, Broadway and jazzy lines. One of the most intriguing aspects is where Iverson dedicates a movement to well known musical figures. For example, Clarinet Sonata II (Music Hall) is dedicated to Carla Bley and it has a sultry and ironic melodicism which matches Bley’s musical personality. Violin Sonata II Blues (for Ornette Coleman) is melodic with brief forays into atonal territory which matches Coleman well. 

Playfair Sonatas is an elegant and innovative addition to the world of chamber music.

Envols – Canadian  Works for English Horn
Mélanie Harel; Valérie Dallaire
Centrediscs CMCCD33523 (cmccanada.org/shop/cmccd-33523)

Mélanie Harel’s Envols presents a captivating exploration of Canadian works for the English horn, showcasing the instrument’s expressive range and lyrical beauty. Recorded during the pandemic, this album is both a personal journey for Harel and a vital contribution to a relatively unexplored repertoire.

The album opens with Ian McDougall’s Nostalgica, where Harel’s rich, mellow tone shines alongside pianist Valérie Dallaire’s sensitive accompaniment. The interplay between the English horn and piano is seamless, setting a reflective mood that invites the listener into Harel’s world.

Christopher Tyler Nickel’s Sonata for English Horn and Piano takes a darker turn, beginning with an eerie melody that evolves through contemplative passages to a spirited finale. Emily Doolittle’s contributions are highlights of the album. Suppose I Was a Marigold is an introspective piece that allows Harel to delve into the instrument’s softer, more contemplative side. In contrast, Social Sounds from Whales at Night brilliantly showcases her skill in mimicking whale calls. Harel’s use of multiphonics and note bending, combined with the ethereal percussion and tape elements, creates a vivid underwater soundscape that is nothing short of mesmerizing.

Brian Cherney’s Epitaph for Solo English Horn provides a powerful showcase of Harel’s technical prowess, exploring a wide emotional range and highlighting the instrument’s upper register. This is followed by selections from Stewart Grant’s Études, where Harel demonstrates her control and agility, revealing the instrument’s capabilities in a variety of musical contexts. Tawnie Olson’s Plainsong and Paul Marshall Douglas’ Luquet further accentuate Harel’s lyrical abilities, blending expansive musical lines with the English horn’s unique timbre.

The album concludes with François-Hugues Leclair’s Le vol de l’épervier, where playful note bends and the sounds of chirping birds create a delightful auditory experience, leaving the listener with a sense of joy and exploration. Overall, Envols is a cohesive and engaging collection that not only highlights Harel’s exceptional talent but also elevates the English horn’s role within contemporary music.

Listen to 'Envols: Canadian Works for English Horn' Now in the Listening Room

Jon Siddall – Little Monster Dreams
Jon Siddall
Independent (jonsiddall.com)

BC-based composer, guitarist and music producer Jon Siddall’s career has for decades bravely straddled the not-always-amicable worlds of vernacular and contemporary classical music. I first met Siddall at York University in the mid-1970s when we were both students of composers James Tenney and David Rosenboom, among others. He continued his graduate composition studies in California with Terry Riley and was introduced to gamelan degung performance by Lou Harrison. Returning to Toronto, Siddall was inspired to combine those disparate musical streams and formed Evergreen Club Gamelan in 1983.

While Siddall’s been tapping into his garage band roots in recent years with his countrified Straightup Seven Hills band, in 2020 he also released Belvedere a self-described “slow music” instrumental album. His current EP Little Monster Dreams follows in the latter experimental ambient vein with two substantial instrumentals aesthetically harkening back to his earliest minimalist compositions.

The three-part Little Monster Dreams of Floating was performed by the composer playing heavily processed guitar, bells and other percussion, including gamelan gongs. The title is a tribute to his French bulldog, the “little monster” who was particularly fond of this music. Siddall describes his musical goal as “amplifying stillness by simplifying memory … the gentle meandering of the sounds relieving the need to keep track of time.”

The other work, With the Tides, consists of a dense chord slowly disintegrating over its duration, separated by silences of varying length. In additional to tidal cycles, the work also explores “what the Japanese call ‘ma’: the space in between things.” This sumptuous-sounding, formally terse, track was constructed solely using multi tracked blown bottles. 

Perceived form here is elusive, subverted, never quite materialising – a concern which “ultimately becomes unimportant” says the composer since, “we’re just with the sound. Is it music for meditation? Can be.”