Concertos II – ROSS BAUER: Thin Ice for Cello and Chamber Orchestra; STEVEN BURKE: Over a Moving Landscape for Bass Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra; MARTIN MATALON: Trame I for Oboe and Chamber Orchestra – soloists/Sequitur/Hostetter – Albany

by | Apr 12, 2010 | Classical CD Reviews | 0 comments

Concertos II – ROSS BAUER: Thin Ice for Cello and Chamber Orchestra; STEVEN BURKE: Over a Moving Landscape for Bass Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra; MARTIN MATALON: Trame I for Oboe and Chamber Orchestra – Greg Hesselink, cello/ Michael Lowenstern, solo bass clarinet/ Jacqueline Leclair, solo oboe – Sequitur/Hostetter – Albany TROY 1181, 54:01 ****:
In his excellent program notes, Andrew Waggoner asks the key question for a composer who writes a concerto: “what to do with the soloist?” This is a CD that showcases three contemporary American composers who are also members of the chamber orchestra, Sequitur. The concertos for cello, solo bass clarinet and oboe on this disc answer the question in different ways, which makes this disc an inviting experiment in the contemporary concerto.
Ross Bauer’s Thin Ice for cello and chamber orchestra was composed as a collaborative effort with cellist Greg Hesselink. “Ross would send the music in chunks…and I would work through them and give my reaction,” he said. It’s a work where the cello leads but is primus inter pares with the other instruments. It’s distinctive because of Bauer’s creative orchestration – especially the percussion – and the integration of jazz elements into the four movement structure. The 23 minute work expresses moods – ‘Shadowy’ mimics the title by using percussive sounds. The Adagio meanders searching for answers that the ‘Animato’ collaboratively resolves in a quiet ending.
Steven Burke’s Over a Moving Landscape (2006) was inspired by the composer’s time in France as a fellow at the American Academy when he stayed in a house once occupied by Picasso. “The house is situated in a village (Menerbes) of unspeakable beauty, overlooking fields of rich vibrant colors,” Burke wrote. It’s a clever piece that is both impressionistic and high spirited. The bass clarinet provides a mystical and serious undertone in the beginning that bespeaks of its French musical roots (Debussy and Ravel). Yet, there is a funky, spiky aspect of the bass clarinet’s sound that Burke uses to create an amusing Ivesian soundscape by using that instrument’s fragmented, croaky multiphonics accompanied by bongos and castanets. It’s the most likable work on this disc.
In Martin Matalon’s Trame I (1997) for oboe and chamber orchestra, “a linear idea is stated by the oboe soloist and then split up and prolonged among the other instruments and acoustically enriched by reorganization inspired by various electronic music processes such as reverb, delay and harmonizers,” the composer writes. The result is a work of somewhat whimsical music that’s jazzy, percussive, and rhythmically vibrant. Those listeners who remember Morton Subotnick’s Silver Apples of the Moon on an old Nonesuch LP will have an idea of the energy that this work recalls.
The soloists on this disc play superbly and their colleagues in Sequitur accompany with panache and passion. This is a disc that is inviting, jazzy, creative, and lots of fun!
Enjoy!
— Robert Moon

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