January 8, 2018

  • Symphonic Storytelling from Daniel Crozier

     

    East of the Sun & West of the Moon: Orchestral Music of Daniel Crozier
    Seattle Symphony Orchestra/Gerard Schwarz
    Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra/Stanislav Vavrinek
    Navona Records 6137
    Total Time:  45:44
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    Daniel Crozier currently teaches at Rollins College in Florida.  His music has been performed by the Boston and Seattle Symphonies, New York City Opera, and by Branford Marsalis among others.  One can find some of his music on disc.  The current release finally pulls together his first symphony which has been a sort of work in progress since 1998.  The final movement, “Fairy Tale”, was completed first and subsequently performed and recorded by the Seattle Symphony in 2001.  The remaining two movements were completed through 2004 and these were recorded in 2007.  The remaining work on the album, “Ballade: A Tale after the Brother’s Grimm”, was completed in 2006 and recorded in 2016.

    Each movement of the symphony, which bears the subtitle “Triptych for Orchestra”, creates a specific dramatic narrative.  “Ceremonies” has a rather pensive opening with long lyrical lines against an often dark texture.  The fanfare-like ideas are evidently derived from later moments in the work which will help provide some arching continuity.  The music tends to unfold slowly gradually gaining intensity in an episodic series of colors and thematic development that feels like an intense operatic underscoring sequence at times.  The “Capriccio” is more a perpetual motion work that zips along playfully with some moments of dance-like energy and others of more suspense.  There are moments here that feel like a bit of Bernstein or Gandolfi with a touch of Stravinsky.  The darker quality of the music still seems to pervade though.  The final movement, “Fairy Tale”, features two distinct ideas first in woodwinds and then in brass.  They in one sense provide a sense of light and darkness, respectively.  There is a gorgeous switch harmonically at the end of the latter that then moves us into a sinuous string line that is reminiscent of Shostakovich or perhaps a touch of Mahler/Strauss.  It comes to a rather beautiful, if restrained conclusion.  Crozier notes that the individual movements of the piece tend to be performed individually.  There are certainly aspects of each movement that allow them to stand well on their own.

    The other work on the album, “Ballade” (completed in 2006), in one sense is a compact version of the way Crozier takes two or three ideas and creates a dramatically rich orchestral tapestry.  As in the symphony, the musical program is left up to the imagination of the listener.  The piece is a bit tighter as it moves along episodically.  There are some delightfully scored moments for winds in particular at the center with some equally fine magical inflections.  The piece has a symphonic poem quality that makes it easily engaging.

    The performances by the Seattle Symphony are well done and fit alongside many of their other American symphonic cycles.