March 14, 2018

  • Creepy New Choral & Orchestra Setting of Poe's "The Raven"!

     The Raven

    Colorado Symphony Chorus and Orchestra/David Lockington
    Colorado Symphony CSD-002
    Total Time:  43:53
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    The Raven was commissioned by the Colorado Symphony and premiered back in the winter of 2015.  The orchestra’s own label has now pulled together this release of the work by its own timpanist William Hill.  The 18 stanzas of Edgar Alan Poe’s classic poem are spread across six larger interconnected sections in this massive work for chorus and orchestra.

    The work opens with a ghostly blend of aleatoric swirls and the introduction of a key motive.  The chorus style is equally creepy with its unusual sinuous lines.  Spoken text adds to some of the rhythmic interest with the “tapping” at that first appearance.  The style tends to shift from block choral harmonies that may begin in unisons and then become more intense with close intervallic shifts in the direction of the voices.  Text is fairly easy to hear which is a mark of the attention to the detailed work of the chorus.  It helps that most of this is declamatory and focuses on a straight reading of the text.  Choral slides also add to the unsettled nature of the creepier parts of the poem.  The orchestra provides an atmospheric backdrop to Poe’s lines.  When the denser choral harmonies appear, the orchestral lines help wind through those pitches to help bring them into sharper relief.  These tonal clusters tend to create some of the often most beautiful arrival points in the music.  An almost romantic undercurrent also runs through the accompaniment adding a bit of lyricism here and there as the piece moves forward.  There are also plenty of appropriate text-painting and effects that the orchestra is given to add to the overall unsettling atmosphere.  The wrapping inherent in the text is also shifted between the chorus and orchestra throughout the work which helps create further interest.  Hill’s music blends a variety of musical styles from serial and other atonal approaches, to rhythmic vitality that recalls Stravinsky with touches of Ligeti or Penderecki.  But, these are but threads of modern music that Hill draws from to craft this very dramatic work that has an almost filmic quality at times.  There are also plenty of moments where different orchestral sections are highlighted along the way.  These tend to cut through the choral texture or provide brief connecting material.  There is an infinite variety of ways that Hill does this.  An almost macabre waltz-like idea appears as well from time to time, usually with a solo violin iteration, serving as a sort of momentary transition to the dense harmonies and clusters.  The appearance of a heartbeat is also transferred across the orchestra which is likely quite effective on stage as it would come from different parts of the stage.  The work ends with the same sense of mystery as it began.

    The performance, drawn from the live concert performances, is certainly more than most composers might hope for as it is obvious that the chorus and orchestra are highly-focused and bring their own sense of commitment to the music.  The Raven is indeed an important modern work for chorus and orchestra whose length also lends itself to programming in a larger concert with these forces.  For those interested in modern American orchestral music, this is certainly going to be an intriguing piece to explore.  Fans of Poe’s work will also find that Hill’s careful reading and setting of this text is quite exemplary and captures the essence of the eeriness and growing terror of the piece.