Playing on the Edge
Sirius Quartet
Navona Records 6249
Total Time:  52:16
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

The album title alone is one’s first indication that the music explored here is going to be a bit more demanding and push boundaries.  For this latest Navona release with the Sirius Quartet, the program explores contemporary works by five composers.

The album is framed by two single-movement works.  First is the rather intense, and oddly-named work “öðlo”.  The pronunciation comes from ancient Icelandic, “oh-thlo”.  Ian Erickson’s piece is part of a larger five-movement structure where specific rhythmic, harmonic, and motivic aspects are the primary focuss where the stress of the movement’s name is an indicator for the qualities of the music itself.  It is a rather intense affair that seems somewhat disparate at first, but as one begins to enter into his soundworld the ideas begin to interconnect more than what first meet the ear.  The final work, Sneak Into the Q City by Mari Tamaki brings the listener from dissonance to more harmonius conclusions in rather fascinating lyrical style that helps temper the harsher aspects of the harmony as the work begins.

Marga Richter’s String Quartet No. 3 is a slightly more traditional work but equally conceptual in its construction.  The opening movement is an examination of stillness with a lyric line that moves slowly as a somewhat jagged rhythmic pattern helps provide a steady pulse of sorts.  The central movement focuses around a five-note motive that recurs five times in a modified variation technique.  The final movement, which is almost the length of the first two, is constructed in four segments that in some respect echo the opening half of the piece with lyricism, a sense of forward motion, a rather bizarre tango/march and then a sort of quodlibet of musical references to a popular song and a work by Soler before ending rather mystically.  The other quartet is Brian Feld’s first essay in the genre.  This is a four-movement affair with movements that follow a somewhat traditional flow.  The changing meter of the opening movement is balanced with a slower second movement.  The third “scherzo”-like movement is set in a rhythmic pattern that pits three against two, a slight elaboration from the motifs that open the work.  In the finale, this triple-note motive returns now a bit more excited.  The overarching connections between these duple triple motives create a larger unity to the work that is further revealed as the  piece becomes more familiar.  These two quartets are separated by a three movement piece by Jennifer Castellano, Images by Paul Klee.   Each of the movements takes its inspiration from the Swiss artist’s work.  It opens with music to depict Klee’s Twittering Machine (1922) which creates its own odd rhythmic energy.  The central movement is in a more typical ABA structure and explores Klee’s Dream City (1921).  In the finale, Castellano employs a more traditional form to further connect with Klee’s Fugue in Red (1911).  Throughout important motivic connections help provide unity to the piece which helps connect it more to the other pieces in this program.

Sirius is an excellent choice to explore these new works and they provide committed performances with excellent rhythmic precision.  The lyrical moments of the pieces equally stand out.  In what seems to be often disparate musical ideas, they help guide the listener through these often difficult landscapes.  An overall interesting exploration of new music for string quartet worth checking out.

Butterflies in the Labyrinth of Silence: Guitar Music of Georges Raillard
David William Ross, guitar.
Ravello Records 8019
Total Time:  64:51
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Guitarist David William Ross explores modern works for the instrument on this new recital recorded in Keene, New Hampshire this past March.  Music by Takemitsu, Piazzolla, Brouwer, and New Hampshire composer Frank Wallace are featured.

Folk music somewhat informs the opening portion of the disc beginning with a Takemitsu arrangement of A Song of Early Spring.  This is a rather rich adaptation of this work by Akira Nakada that is a far more European romantic piece than one might otherwise expect.  It makes for a gentle beginning to the disc.  Sergio Assad’s arrangement of Las Estaciones Portenas takes us off to the four seasons of Buenos Aires with Piazzolla’s fascinating melodies and folk rhythms informing these pieces that also have a tinge of improvisation.  Ross’s performance covers this familiar work well.

The latter portion of the album turns to original works for guitar beginning with Takemitsu’s Equinox.  This is a rather introspective work with delicate textures and harmonies.  This sense of reflective music continues in the more substantial piece that follows it.  Frank Wallace’s Cyrcles is a six-movement work featuring intriguing exploration of larger themes of loss, death, and depression that work through language that is more modern.  The circle of life and death helps frame the work which has a very personal sensibility that often seems to even question those more difficult life moments of grief.  The final movement picks up the pace with a finale forever pulling us forward in “First Truth”.   Brouwer’s Un Dia de Noviembre serves as an evocative reflective work that closes off an album of rather delicate, and contemplrative writing for guitar.

This is a rather excellent collection of well-chosen pieces for guitar that tends to explore modern works of a deeply personal nature.  The outer pieces of the album frame these contemplative moments with pieces featuring memorably melodic material and gorgeous writing.