Contemporary organ music that makes a deep impression in its range and ambition.
ANGELUS – Zvonimir Nagy Organist and composer – Ravello Records CD – Catalog #: RR7987 (4/13/18) ****:
Angelus is a refreshing exercise in melody and minimalism from Croatian-born American musician Zvonimir Nagy, both a music composer and scholar. He resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he is an Associate Professor of Music at Duquesne University. He is also an active performer with interests in contemporary music and improvisation.
The album features music for contemplation, using a solo organ to create what Nagy calls a “delicate space for inner exploration throughout the life of the album.”
I can’t help but agree. The album starts meditatively but by the final compositions is full of dynamism and exuberance. Nagy’s performance is impeccable, and each piece is moving and memorable.
The sound is fine on the disc, but I long to hear a work like this in higher than CD resolution and multiple channels. I got a little help from my pre-amp giving me a faux surround sound, but that’s never the same as true multichannel music. The recording was made at the Chapel of Holy Spirit at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh PA
Included tracks are (with the composers notes):
Litanies of the Soul (2011/17) is a suite in palindromic form: the outer two movements are built from repeated notes, sounding intensely with the sonorities of the full organ. Both begin in octaves and gradually increase in harmonic density; they are also directional inversions of each other: the first movement moving upwards and the fifth movement downwards. In between these movements is found quieter music. The second and fourth are canonic trios with the themes being retrogrades of each other. The inner third movement is the “still point.” Musical lines slowly rise and fall across each other, while becoming part of harmonies when they “pass through” the accompanying voice.
Prayer (2007, rev. 2011) is a short work inspired by Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It is a musical exploration of some of the same musical material that is revisited at greater length in the outer movements of the suite that closes the disc: Preludes for a Prayer.
Two Canons —“Inner Self” (2007, rev. 2010) and “Carmen Perpetuum” (Perpetual Song) (2007, rev. 2017)—explore basic canonic principles in service of building something that is rather more complex than straightforward imitation. “Inner Self” is a trio in three different registers. In “Carmen Perpetuum,” the voices sustain and are blurred into thick harmonies in the manuals; the theme in the pedals moves below it at a slower pace.
Preludes for a Prayer (2012, rev. 2014/17) is the largest of the organ works on the album and unfolds across seven movements. The seventh movement is a more extended version of the first movement, and the inner five movements travel through largely contemplative landscapes, with contrasts of pattern in texture. Spirited music bursts forth briefly in the sixth movement and then dissolves again in the exquisitely tranquil finale, which moves slowly towards its satisfying final cadence and a sense of closure.
This is a fine CD with music worth listening to.
Recommended
—Mel Martin
