August 10, 2018

  • Music for Solo Instruments

     

    One at a Time: Instrumental Music of Douglas Anderson
    Maureen Keenan, flute. Jill Collura, bassoon. Jin-Ok Lee, piano.
    Debbie Schmidt, French horn. Gary Dranch, clarinet. Ina Litera, violin.
    John Charles Thomas, trumpet and flugelhorn. Richard Cohen, bass clarinet.
    Ravello Records 7992
    Total Time:  64:59
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    When we think of music for a solo instrument, it often implies an additional accompaniment, usually a keyboard.  One at a Time implies here the way a composer can explore the possibilities of a single instrument exploring its unique timbre, registral qualities, technique and other possibilities through structural and compositional style.  The nine works on this new release are by New York-based composer-conductor Douglas Anderson and cover music composed between 1975 to 2011.  Along the way, we are treated to a sort of snapshot of American contemporary music as it informs the style of Anderson.

    First up is “…increasingly physical…” (1980) for flute.  The piece has two four-note ideas that are introduced at the start and are fairly tonal in their shape.  This idea then is taken through a series of variations that move it across the instrument’s register as well as adjusting the rhythmic stresses of the notes and overall length.  A similar approach is also taken in the bassoon work “…procession, emerging…” (1984) with an emphasis on the instrument’s lyrical qualities.  Both works are good close cousins that explore similar stylistic qualities for each instrument.

    There are two piano works on the album and the first of these is from 1979, Five Bagatelles and a Synopsis.  In this work, Anderson connects with his jazz roots in these works that move a bit more toward the dissonant worlds of atonal music though one can still hear the expanded harmonic underpinning of these pieces of written out “free jazz” from time to time.  The music begins to stretch musical ideas more as we move toward the longer fourth movement.  Anderson’s other piano work, “Abe’s Rag” (1981) is also from this period of American composers exploring jazz styles with modern compositional touches (a la Bolcom).

    The piano work serves as a sort of buffer for the following five pieces that feature music for brass, clarinets, and viola.  In the French horn solo “…springing gradually…” (1988), Anderson opens with a mournful moment that then alternates with “pinched” notes before a grander statement begins to unfold.  Here the quality of the sound is explored as the soloist must make subtle alterations to the hand position and muting.  The 1970s are often an extension of the experimental edges of contemporary music especially in electronic music.  Anderson’s 1975 Piece for Clarinet and Tape is a perfect example of the sort of music being composed at this time.  The result is a more cerebral, edgy work with its intense variety of computer-generated qualities that serve as a foil to the clarinet.  From here we jump to 2007 and a work that falls back into these wafts of phrases to help set up the music for the listener.  The viola is the focus of “…mood, enough…”.  Double stops add a bit of harmonic exploration here with a piece that explores the lyrical qualities of the instrument fairly well.  In the Wedding Music, Anderson stays in a more traditional harmonic realm with some soaring lines for trumpet and flugelhorn.  He has structures this work with an opening “Prelude”, and two interludes (a chorale and a brief fanfare) bookended by a “Processional” and a “Recessional”.  The bass clarinet receives a real workout in the nearly 8-minute “…vikings, unless…” which explores the instruments upper register as well as its rich lower timbres.

    Though the musical approaches may have similar launching points of motivic development, the resulting solo works here are all rather fascinating in their own way.  Listeners will likely gravitate to the ones that are closer to their personal preferences while also finding much to appreciate and explore in this interesting collection of chamber music.