03 July 2011
HIGDON: On a Wire CD review
This is the initial release for the Atlanta Symphony’s new ASO Media label. 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Higdon has had previous involvement with Spano and the Atlanta Symphony (check indexes). On a Wire (no date) is an involving concerto for the sextet Eighth Blackbird (flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion), whose name generates the title. The 25-minute piece alternates between pensive and somewhat fragmented passages and energetic, intense, virtuosic music which is both spirited and engaging.
It’s a substantial workout for all involved, probably especially thrilling in person with these exciting players. Michael Gandolfi, whose Garden of Cosmic Speculation was covered here (M/J 2008) as well as his somewhat later Boston Modern Orchestra Project Y2K Compliant collection (S/O 2008), shows up again (now as chair of New England Conservatory’s composition department) with Q.E.D.: Engaging Richard Feynman (2010). The work was inspired by theoretical physicist Feynman (1918-88), whose activities are nicely introduced in the notes (the title stands for “quantum electrodynamics”). The piece is described as a “poetical collage” for chorus and orchestra, the textual content consisting of disembodied fragments by Gertrude Stein, Emily Dickinson, Irish poet Joseph Campbell, Whitman, Emerson, and British poet Siegfried Sassoon. The work is in two movements, which deal with awakening and universality.
The first movement (‘On Waking’) makes its point through towering rising scales before settling into a more developmental section of great beauty and nobility, with influence of Vaughan Williams and other choral composers of the British school. II (‘Song of the Universal’) revels in giddy, joyful song, set as well in a glitteringly radiant diatonicism. The piece goes very well with the Higdon, both expressing something we haven’t heard much of for the last century or so in the art music world, namely, optimism and joy. I found this to be the most impressive and effective of the often highly eclectic Gandolfi pieces I’ve encountered so far, and is the most exciting choral work I’ve heard in a while. You’ll have to get the hang of following the text, but the way it’s set up does make sense in retrospect. The Atlantans sound great. This is a terrific release, but I would suggest more care be taken with supplying basic information in the
notes.
GIMBEL
