Musical Images for Chamber Orchestra:
Reflections & Recollections, volume 1
Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra/Anthony Armore
Navona Records 6247
Disc One: Total Time:  34:40
Disc Two: Total Time:  44:04
Recording:   ***/****
Performance: ****/****

Mark J. Saliba has orchestrated this collection of Mark John McEncroe’s piano music for this two-disc volume of music now cast for chamber orchestra.  The Janacek Philharmonic has recorded a great deal of McEncroe’s orchestral music already under conductor Anthony Armore.  The music often is connected to the composer’s own personal struggles.  Often the music has a Bax-like quality with a touch of Satie and impressionism.  Many of the works in this collection can be heard in their piano versions on Navona 6144.

Disc one begins with a gentle waltz, “Introspective Moments” which introduces us to this semi-Satie-like style now in a broader palette.  This continues into the next few tracks here (“Ripples on Still Water”, “The Calling”, “The Pendulum”, and the slightly darker “The Gargoyle’s Fountain which is somewhat more interesting).  We move through these moods that are part of McEnroe’s more personal journey that then takes us through “Ghosts of the Past” until we are “Dancing in the Light.”  The second disc continues some of this narrative direction with pieces that feature some slight jazz inflections (“A Fish with the Blues”, “Lazy Summer’s Afternoon”) which adds some variety to the pieces here which tend to be quite similar from one to the next.  Everything comes to a slightly restrained conclusion as we move into a more minor tonality for “Shadows of an Old Memory.

As has been noted in previous overviews of his music, McEncroe’s lines and melodies tend to spin in a meandering way picking up energy or transferring across the orchestra with subtle color shades.  The pieces feel often like a stream-of-conscious style that stays close to its picturesque intent.  Harmonic writing is also simple.  He likes to take a small phrase and then repeat this, often verbatim, finding moments to recall what has happened before.  This gives the music a formless feel from time to time.  This is not music that makes demands on the listener, apart from the sometimes repetitive writing, and is intended to invite one along on a musical walk through which ever natural or emotional landscape McEncroe wishes to explore.  These then tend to be a collection of minor symphonic poems which can tend to blur into one larger New Age-like crossover experience.

Daytime and Night Songs
Sarah Mesko, mezzo-soprano.
Brent Funderburk, piano.
Michael Laderman, flute. Brian Sanders, cello.
Stephen Benson, guitar.
Navona Records 6256
Total Time:  35:26
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

This past summer, Navona released a collection of art songs by Mira J. Spektor, who is one of the founders of the Aviva Players.  The collection explored her deft settings of a variety of texts centered around specific seasonal themes.  There are two brief song cycles and seven additional songs in this new collection.  Here texts are drawn from the work of Phyllis McGinley, Ruth Whitman, Diance Ackerman, and William Dickey as well as some early Renaissance French texts, a lyric by Broadway writer Yip Harburg, and her own granddaughter, Lily Nussbaum.  Spektor has written several film scores and one of the pieces here, “Voice in the Wind” is from her music for the film Double Edge (1992).  Mezzo-soprano lends her voice to the interpretations of the collection here.

The album begins with a gorgeous setting of McGinley’s “Sunday Psalm”.  The earlier release featured this piece as well.  The song opens with a more religious sensibility then moves off into a more modern Broadway recitative for contrast.  The gentle style here continues into “Quiet”.  The harmony moves just a bit beyond a traditional style.  There are a few more text-inspired effects here in this stream-of-conscious type text from the composer’s granddaughter.  Flute and cello add some additional color for the four poems by Ruth Whitman.  It is a rather interesting approach to use these as sole accompanying instruments that then provide a more intricate sound.  The accompanimental aspects of the two solo lines help set the harmonic backdrop over a fluid vocal line that floats across the music.  The flute weaves musically between the vocal line and its own commentary.  The result is a very stunning little cycle.  The songs that follow continue to demonstrate Spektor’s facility with vocal writing and turn of phrase.  Often moving and emotional pieces, the songs here are sequenced to create a beautiful survey of Spektor’s work.  Melodic lines are beautifully shaped here by Mesko as well whose sound is perfect for the pieces chosen in this little recital.  The music again does move through traditional tonality with some modern touches that aid its expressiveness.  One can also hear some of the musical theater experience shining through in these works which certainly aids in their dramatic communication.  Texts in this collection seem slightly more engaging than on the first collection of songs.

As with the earlier release, texts (and translations when appropriate) for each of the songs are included.  It bears repeating from our earlier observation that Spektor’s music has its foot in art song and popular song and that will make this second release a wonderful discovery for those who appreciate contemporary vocal writing if the first was overlooked.  The performances here are really more than most composers could hope for with beautiful sound and imaging that enhances the performers very well.  Funderburk proves to be a perfect accompanist here matching the interpretive approach well.  It is unfortunate that both collections could not be on a single disc as they would have easily fit.  That said, it is worth picking up both to enjoy this wonderful engaging music.