5/22/2006
Learning Lieberson, Rethinking Rorem, Loving Lou
Rilke Songs; The Six Realms; Horn Concerto
Peter Lieberson
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson mezzo soprano, Peter Serkin, piano
William Purvis, horn, Michaela Fukacova, violoncello
Odense Symphony
Bridge
If you’re going to write art songs, it doesn’t hurt to be married to one of the world’s great singers. Peter Lieberson is especially fortunate in this regard; his wife, mezzo soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson could sing the BMW owner’s manual and make it sound good. Lieberson’s settings of five Rilke poems is considerably better than that and this performance, recorded live at the Ravinia Festival with Peter Serkin at the piano, is first-rate. Having never heard Lieberson’s orchestral work before, I found the two other pieces that fill out this generous disc to be even more revelatory. Lieberson's music balances tonality and atonality in ways that are likely to please or, perhaps, not offend either side of the great harmonic divide. The Horn Concerto for horn and a chamber orchestra, played by its dedicatee, William Purvis is a lively 18-minute composition in two movements that showcases Purvis’ virtuosity, not to mention lung capacity. The Six Realms is a 27-minute concerto for amplified cello in six movements, originally composed for Yo Yo Ma. Lieberson is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism and The Six Realms travels much the same dark, foggy highway of human consciousness as John Adams’ Dharma in Big Sur although Lieberson’s writing is denser, more complex and less serial. Lieberson’s path is more direct and well-traveled, less risky, perhaps, but more likely to endure.
Flute Concerto; Violin Concerto; Pilgrims
Ned Rorem
José Serebrier, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Performer: Jeffrey Khaner, Philippe Quint
Naxos
I've always thought of Ned Rorem as something of a lightweight, a composer of amusant art songs and a pre-Wonkette tattletale diarist--more Reynalodo Hahn than Saint-Saens. Since his 80th birthday (nearly three years ago), a string of new recordings and performances has forced me to reconsider. Jose Serebrier, who cracked the door on Rorem's strengths as a symphonist a couple of years ago with his splendid Naxos recording of the three symphonies, has now flung the barn door open with this dazzler of a disc that showcases Rorem at three different stages of his career. Pilgrims, a short, somber piece for string orchestra, was written in 1958, not long after Rorem returned from Paris. The Violin Concerto, played eloquently and persuasively here by Philippe Quint, dates from 1984.
The real treasure of the disc--the Flute Concerto--was premiered by Jeffrey Khaner, principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2002, and plays it here. Khaner obviously loves the piece and performs it with both virtuosity and tenderness. Because it is organized in six movements with the subtitles "The Stone Tower," "Leaving-Traveling-Hoping," "Sirens," Hymn," "False Waltz," and "Resume and Prayer," it is probably not inaccurate to describe it as a series of songs without words. This is not to diminish its cohesiveness and cumulative power, or to reinforce the old Rorem cliche, however. This is a flute concerto built for the long haul.
Chamber and Gamelan Works
Lou Harrison
New World Records
Like but-ter. A most welcome re-issue of a long out-of-print CRI release, with many of Harrison's greatest hits like "Concerto in Slendro," "Main Bersame-Sama," and "String Quartet Set." This is perfect music for plotting the overthrow of Indochine while sipping a gin and tonic with Somerset Maugham's ghost on the shaded veranda of the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. Sure, it's easy listening but the just intonation keeps it real. Resistance is futile.
Rilke Songs; The Six Realms; Horn ConcertoPeter Lieberson
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson mezzo soprano, Peter Serkin, piano
William Purvis, horn, Michaela Fukacova, violoncello
Odense Symphony
Bridge
If you’re going to write art songs, it doesn’t hurt to be married to one of the world’s great singers. Peter Lieberson is especially fortunate in this regard; his wife, mezzo soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson could sing the BMW owner’s manual and make it sound good. Lieberson’s settings of five Rilke poems is considerably better than that and this performance, recorded live at the Ravinia Festival with Peter Serkin at the piano, is first-rate. Having never heard Lieberson’s orchestral work before, I found the two other pieces that fill out this generous disc to be even more revelatory. Lieberson's music balances tonality and atonality in ways that are likely to please or, perhaps, not offend either side of the great harmonic divide. The Horn Concerto for horn and a chamber orchestra, played by its dedicatee, William Purvis is a lively 18-minute composition in two movements that showcases Purvis’ virtuosity, not to mention lung capacity. The Six Realms is a 27-minute concerto for amplified cello in six movements, originally composed for Yo Yo Ma. Lieberson is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism and The Six Realms travels much the same dark, foggy highway of human consciousness as John Adams’ Dharma in Big Sur although Lieberson’s writing is denser, more complex and less serial. Lieberson’s path is more direct and well-traveled, less risky, perhaps, but more likely to endure.
Flute Concerto; Violin Concerto; PilgrimsNed Rorem
José Serebrier, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Performer: Jeffrey Khaner, Philippe Quint
Naxos
I've always thought of Ned Rorem as something of a lightweight, a composer of amusant art songs and a pre-Wonkette tattletale diarist--more Reynalodo Hahn than Saint-Saens. Since his 80th birthday (nearly three years ago), a string of new recordings and performances has forced me to reconsider. Jose Serebrier, who cracked the door on Rorem's strengths as a symphonist a couple of years ago with his splendid Naxos recording of the three symphonies, has now flung the barn door open with this dazzler of a disc that showcases Rorem at three different stages of his career. Pilgrims, a short, somber piece for string orchestra, was written in 1958, not long after Rorem returned from Paris. The Violin Concerto, played eloquently and persuasively here by Philippe Quint, dates from 1984.
The real treasure of the disc--the Flute Concerto--was premiered by Jeffrey Khaner, principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2002, and plays it here. Khaner obviously loves the piece and performs it with both virtuosity and tenderness. Because it is organized in six movements with the subtitles "The Stone Tower," "Leaving-Traveling-Hoping," "Sirens," Hymn," "False Waltz," and "Resume and Prayer," it is probably not inaccurate to describe it as a series of songs without words. This is not to diminish its cohesiveness and cumulative power, or to reinforce the old Rorem cliche, however. This is a flute concerto built for the long haul.
Chamber and Gamelan WorksLou Harrison
New World Records
Like but-ter. A most welcome re-issue of a long out-of-print CRI release, with many of Harrison's greatest hits like "Concerto in Slendro," "Main Bersame-Sama," and "String Quartet Set." This is perfect music for plotting the overthrow of Indochine while sipping a gin and tonic with Somerset Maugham's ghost on the shaded veranda of the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. Sure, it's easy listening but the just intonation keeps it real. Resistance is futile.
Jerry Bowles is founder and editor of Sequenza 21, the contemporary classical
music web portal which won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Internet Award in 2005.
music web portal which won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Internet Award in 2005.
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