September 12, 2016
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Get Set! New Music by Fernando De Sena
De Sena: Spalding’s Bounce & Other Chamber Works
Philipp Staudlin, saxophones; Javier Cabellero, cello; Karolina Rojahn, piano.
Didre Viau, flute; David Ross, guitar; Maria Wozniakiewicz, violin. Rane Moore, clarinet;
Peter Sulski, viola. Julia Okruska, violin; Molly McCaffrey, harp; Sarah Brady, flute; Rafael Ramirez, mandolin/mandola; Jorge Gomez Abrante.
Navona Records 6052
Total Time: 51:43
Recording: ****/****
Performance: ****/****Navona records continues its excellent survey of the work of living composers with this new disc of chamber music by Miami-based composer Ferdinando de Sena. De Sena teaches composition and electronic music at the New World School for the Arts there. Spalding’s Bounce, the album title, is taken from the opening work on the album which features eight diverse compositions for a variety of solo combinations exploring De Sena’s style.
Spalding’s Bounce was inspired by composer/musician Esperanza Spalding. The use of tenor saxophone lends the piece a bit of a jazzier feel as it opens. The cello adds some nice lyricism in its center. The harmonic writing here is fairly accessible with rich expanded chords.
In Deceptive Clarity, a short work for flute and guitar, we can hear one of the primary aspects of De Sena’s style. Certain harmonic gestures and sounds become the source material for the more lyrical and melodic lines that flow out from them. One can hear that fairly well in this work, as well as the previous one and that which follows, Pulsonic Turn. Here, a mixed trio (violin, clarinet, and piano) explores a set of five three-note groupings. The “turn” revolves around the way a glissando technique helps modulate the music. There is also a not-so-subtle Beethoven reference to remind us of how one can truly explore just the smallest of musical ideas.
Art Market is an electronic work utilizing 12-tone technique. This is a fairly intellectual construction whose mathematical components are all laid out in the composer’s notes for the work. A variety of electronic compositional techniques are also employed to explore further the way different voices will present the primary material. The explanation is a bit involved, so this is just a thumbnail of the description given. Since most listeners rarely experience electronic music, it is rather bold for Navona to include this. This particular work may feel as if it has taken its inspiration from contemporary trance, techno, and film.
In Lasting Virtue, De Sena explores the unique combinations of viola and flute. The music tends toward more homophonic textures creating often fascinating sounds.
At the heart of Eyes of Resurrection are combined sets of sounds that are then further explored through a variety of post-tonal approaches. De Sena treats these ideas like one would a more traditional scale and this can result in some rather interesting music as can be heard here in the work for violin and harp.
A work for flute and alto saxophone, Anima Mea, takes inspiration from the opening of the Magnificat text. Electronics are also incorporated into the piece and the last one as well. The disc ends with The Wind from the Fire which features the fascinating combination of mandolin/mandola and guitar. It too features a trichordal harmonic approach with an interesting rhythmic approach.
This is a rather unique collection of chamber music with a fairly cerebral approach toward compositional construction. Though the descriptions of how De Sena has put these pieces together can be somewhat heady, the music itself tends to be rather accessible. This may be because one can hear how the melodic threads or motifs come out of the textures.
The music here is all fairly fascinating and fans of music that explores music in a more post-tonal way using set combinations and other techniques as the basis for musical structure will certainly find a lot of unique music here. The music here does not feel as experimental as one might think given the explanations set out here and in their notes. The tonal harmonic ideas help provide the accessible door for the listener to enter and the exploration of motifs and repeated patterns help provide some of the aural cues to follow. The variety of instrumental combinations here also makes the release rather unique.
Comments (2)
I just found this review of my Navona CD "Spalding's Bounce. The review is musically perceptive and knowledgeable. I particularly like the comment that, "This is a rather unique collection of chamber music with a fairly cerebral approach toward compositional construction. Though the descriptions of how De Sena has put these pieces together can be somewhat heady, the music itself tends to be rather accessible. This may be because one can hear how the melodic threads or motifs come out of the textures." This, in fact, is the very heart of my style. Compositional approaches do not necessitate stylistic determination. The lyrical voice can sing in many harmonies. My approach is not meant to be hard-core atonal "light." On the contrary it is, as you recognize, a rigorous exploration of a post tonal palette. My particular aptitude of tracing the melodic skein in the heart of any pitch palette entirely progressive. The mid-20th-Century imperative toward abstraction and structuralism requiring non-pulsed rhythm and jagged melodic construction was a necessary corollary to relinquishing the three-hundred year harmonic functional practice. Minimalism broke through that wall by exhibiting modernity with pulse and even conventional triadic harmony. Their focus was on process, rhythmic manipulation, and ultra-repetition. But clearly a modern idiom. I am finding another way to assert beauty and musical expansiveness with rigorous process in a true contemporary vein. Thank you for considering my music and for understanding where I stand.
Regards,
Fred DeSena
Thanks so much for your feedback. It reminded me of the work I did on Dallpiccola's Sicut umbra. I did a complete tone row analysis and then applied set theory to provide an explanation for the beautiful lines of constellations which he put in his music. In some respects, there is a bit of similarity in the end results, though how you got there is perhaps quite different.
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