March 18, 2019

  • Beautifully Modern Romantic Chamber Music

     

    Baxter: Resistance
    Melissa Wertheimer, flute. Andrew Stewart, piano.
    Nicholas Currie, violin. Diana Greene, piano.
    Kenny Baik, saxophone. Bonghee Lee, piano.
    Azimuth String Quartet
    Arabesque Duo
    West Shore Piano Trio
    Navona Records 6206
    Total Time:  76:45
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    A variety of performers have been assembled to explore the chamber music of composer Garth Baxter (b. 1946).  He is known for his output of art songs, but also has written for a variety of large- and small-scale forces.  The latter are the focus here.  His music tends to follow a more traditional bent of lyricism and tonality.  Ten works are featured on this new release.  Essentially the album is in two halves with the larger quartet or trios bringing each to a fitting close.

    Three works for solo and piano get us started.  The Silver Run opens the album.  It is a two-movement work for flute and piano that features a gorgeous soaring line in the opening “Idyll”.  This carries through into the following “Cascading” which has a slightly more flowing quality to connect with this depiction of a Maryland landscape.  The remainder of the pieces are single-movement works exploring a particular emotional quality.  Could You Dream What I Dream has an accompaniment that features slightly more open harmonies with flashes of romanticism while the violin line moves across them with an outward-reaching lyrical line that has a decided poignancy.  A similar reflective sensibility casts itself across Des Larmes Encadrees for saxophone and piano.  There are some similarities to the way the music is laid out, but here a few interesting little harmonic shifts add some spice to this at times romantic and plaintive blend.  Later a more romantic work for violin and piano, Il Y a Longtemps serves as the centerpiece for two solo piano works that match this warm tonal and accessible style.

    There are several works for piano here played by Andrew Stewart as well.  The first of these lends the album its title, Resistance.  The music here takes a turn towards a slightly more dissonant, and sinuous harmony that is slightly formed with jazz ballad qualities.  It moves with clear thematic writing in a slightly more intricate style than what preceded it on the album.  The piece moves through moments of intense dissonance that gives way to modern romantic reflections.  The Romance Without Words is unabashedly romantic with glances back to a bygone era while the Ballade for a Princess is inspired by a Chopin work.  The music here tends to incorporate a bit more dissonance that opens up to some rather beautiful harmonic arrival points in an overall dramatic, and substantial 9-minute work that moves through several episodes.

    The Azimuth String Quartet explores the more dramatic MacPherson’s Lament.  The piece takes its inspiration from a 17th-Century tune written by the Scottish fiddler and outlaw James MacPherson.  The piece is a bit more intricate here as the tune is woven into the fabric of the piece creating an often pained dramatic quality that is somewhat quaint but somber as well.  The penultimate track features a piece for guitars featuring the Arabesque Duo.  Edgefield is a very nice change of pace with the two guitars exploring Baxter’s engaging melodic idea with interesting harmonic shifts that send it in new directions.  It is a rather beautiful reflective work.  Finally, the West Shore Piano Trio moves us back to depictions of landscapes in From the Headwaters.   Here too are the explorations of late romantic style with modern harmonic twists that are aided by engaging lyricism.

    This is a very accessible collection of chamber music whose variety is aided by the different combinations explored here.  Baxter’s music certainly has its ear set on tonal harmony but there is a nice sense of shape to these pieces with both pieces that are dramatic and intense, and others that provide a rather relaxed setting.  At times, his music recalls the more Classical moments of Claude Bolling’s various works for solo instruments, though here jazz rhythms and styles are not the direction Baxter’s music takes.  The sound has a more immediate feel, sometimes a little drier acoustically.  But, with the various locales used, it tends to be consistently engineered unobtrusively from location to location.  The music here is perfect for a more relaxed listening experience requiring one to only get lost in Baxter’s melodic invention.