“Rhapsody” – Chamber Music of RICHARD FAITH: Poems for cello & piano; Sonata #2 for trumpet & piano; Nocturne for piano; Rhapsody for flute & piano; Fantasy Trio #1 for violin, clarinet & piano; Movements for horn & piano – The Missouri Chamber Players (Michael Murray, cello/ Grant Peters, trumpet/ Jill Heyboer, flute/ David Hays, violin/Allison Storochuk, clarinet/ Lisa casey, horn/ Peter Collins, piano) – MSR Classics MS 1331, 59:58 [Distr. by Albany] ****:
Richard Faith has been a teacher, pianist and composer for many years. Pianists and piano pedagogues have probably been more familiar with Faith than the concert hall clientele. That is a shame. The new MSR Classics CD Rhapsody – Chamber Music of Richard Faith reveals a highly skilled and unabashedly romanticist composer who clearly has a strong sense of melodic line and writes with both the performer and audience in mind. The disc opens with the beautiful "Poems" for cello and piano, steeped in rich harmonies and melody. The middle movement, ‘I have embarked’, sounds a bit like John Ireland. The "Sonata #2" for trumpet & piano shares some geneology with Copland and opens a bit forlorn before galloping along. The unaccompanied declaration of the solo instrument to open a piece seems like a Faith landmark.
The brief "Nocturne in G#" for piano is similarly plaintive, beautiful and, if not a little derivative from English salon style, very enjoyable. The flute "Rhapsody" leaves a similar, very pleasant impression – owing a great deal to the Copland, Hanson, Schuman genre. Horn players really need to know his "Movements" for horn and piano. The real gem on the disc is the ‘Fantasy Trio #1" for clarinet, violin and piano. Chock full of idiomatic writing and good counterpoint, it begins with the solo clarinet and contains the lush writing that make this a very worthy – and somewhat rare – addition to the trio repertory for this combination. The performances, by the Missouri Chamber Players, are all first rate and the recording is excellent. The audio is clear and, acoustically contains some nice – but not intrusive – reverb as it was recorded in a chamber hall at Missouri State University. Well recommended to both performers and listeners seeking new, different but accessible modern chamber music!
– Daniel Coombs
