Mozart Piano Concertos, vol. 3: Nos. 14 & 27
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano.
Odense Symphony Orchestra/Sebastian Lang-Lessing
Bridge 9538
Total Time:  55:05
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

If one wants to really get a sense of Mozart’s development as an orchestrator, his piano concertos are often excellent ways to peer into his exploration and experimentation with the developing orchestra.  The two concertos paired on this latest volume of Anne-Marie McDermott’s new cycle on Bridge Records feature a bit more restrained wind writing though and feel as if Mozart was unsure just exactly what sort of orchestra he’d be performing with, causing the music to have a more restrained quality.  McDermott began this project a couple years ago and this release was recorded back in August 2019.  So far, it bears one quirk of having a different conductor on the podium leading this regional Danish orchestra.  The American pianist has also recorded Prokofiev sonatas and music of Gershwin.

The orchestra proves to be a fine accompanist from the opening bars of K. 449 (1784).  The Eb concerto has the distinction of being one of the few in a triple meter.  The third movement also is a bit unusual in its switch from 2/2 to 6/8 meter.  McDermott’s performance has a warm approach that gives the music a more Romantic feel with a tad more emotion, especially in a gorgeous performance of the “Andantino”.  In this respect, the performance is a parallel to those by Mitsuko Uchida.  She has a delicate balance that brings out both hands equally, with the lower register brought ought quite well in the finale as needed.  There is also an excellent sense of phrasing that allows the music to shine even further.  In the virtuosic moments, a sense of warmth and elegance still pervades lending a singing quality to the performance and the delicate quieter sections are quite moving.

Mozart’s last piano concerto, K. 595, has that interesting historical pall of coming from those last difficult years of his life.  Its composition has been traced to perhaps being completed sometime between 1788-89 rather than in 1791.  Orchestration here is also paired back and gives it an at times slightly more intimate quality.  Interesting unisons with winds (coupled with some fine solo options) and strings add interesting color and the dialogue segments feel as if they come from chamber opera.  These can be quite witty with their dynamic shadings.  Thematic ideas are spread more throughout the different movements and there is a stronger exploration of motive and subsequent development.  Mozart also wrote out the outer movement cadenzas.  There were some missing measures in the first movement that have been restored for this recording which uses the now updated 2001 edition from the Neue Mozart Ausgabe as well as the amendations to the cadenzas discovered in the 1980s.  This further will make this release of interest to Mozarteans.  The concerto always seems to flirt with a Haydn-esque quality.  Here too McDermott provides a compelling reading of the piece with a seemingly effortless virtuosity for scale passages and again an overall warmer tone.  The orchestra is also warmly recorded with a fine balance and ambience.

There are plenty of versions of Mozart concerto recordings and competition is a bit fierce here from classic recordings to modern day cycles.  When all is said and done though, McDermott’s approach certainly makes one sit up and listen to her thoughtful and beautiful performances here filled with delicacy, warmth, and a sense of wit where needed.  The orchestra takes its lead well from her interpretation and this equally makes for a rather enjoyable release.  The two earlier volumes have not been heard by this reviewer, but, if this is an indication of what might be there, it may be worth adding them to your radar.

Carthage
The Crossing/Donald Nally
Navona 6287
Total Time:  53:42
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Bryars: A Native Hill
The Crossing/Donald Nally
Navona 6347
Total Time:  68:37
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Words Adorned
The Crossing/Donald Nally
Al-Bustan Takht/Hanna Khoury
Dalal Abu Amneh, soloist.
Navona 6356
Total Time:  48:51
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

The award-winning Philadelphia-based choral group, The Crossing, has been quite busy in the studio over the last couple of years and continue to release intriguing collections of contemporary choral works.  Three albums from the past year and a half demonstrate their range and repertoire.

Released in May 2020, Carthage features a collection of choral pieces by composer James Primosch who currently teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.  He numbers Davidovsky and Crumb as his composition teachers and his work has been recorded on a number of labels.  The six pieces on Carthage are modern takes on ancient monastic mysticism both in their textual inspirations and musical styles.  Two brief works, including the title piece, open the album.  Journey uses texts by the great mystic Meister Eckhart and blends a chant-like quality into a subtle piece.  That quality continues in the more hopeful title work.  The three shorter pieces at the conclusion of the album continue these ideas of light and darkness with fascinating harmonic work and vivid musical imagery for spiralling ecstatically (1998).  The last piece, One with the Darkness, One with the Light, utilizes texts by Wendell Berry which overlays themes of loss and death.  At the center of the album is a Mass for the Day of St. Thomas Didymus (2014).  It sets the five Ordinary texts of the mass.  These are layered against texts by Denise Levertov that explore concepts of unbelief and their own spiritual journey layered into the saint named in the mass.  Work for soloists helps add some additional interest to the music.  These are stunning works that blend ancient chant within modern harmonic contexts.

Wendell Berry’s work also informs the larger-scale piece by Gavin Bryars which he specifically composed for The Crossing.  A Native Hill takes its title and texts from the 1968 essay of the same name by Berry.  This 12-movement work is a great exhibition of Bryars’ style with its often dense textures alternating with moments of simple lines (often chant-inspired).  There are some rather amazing moments where the choir moves outwards in a host of single vocal lines which adds a rather dense cluster of sounds.  The music shifts between these moments of simple harmonic ideas, often infused with extended jazz chords, to moments where the lines move into denser harmonic clusters.  It allows for often intense, and occasionally more dissonant, musical ideas, but the general harmonic language maintains its quite accessible style.  The choir performs the work beautifully and it is a quite moving, and even somewhat spiritual experience all its own.  The texts add another layer of philosophical and political implications that invite the listener to contemplate their intent.

The more recent release from The Crossing demonstrates their programming versatility with music that uses ancient Sufi texts and Andalusian Poetry.  The a cappella group is joined by Al-Bustan Takht which adds instrumental color and support to the two primary works on Word Adorned.  First up is Embroidered Verses by the Syrian-American composer Kareem Roustom.  The texts here celebrate and are informed by aspects of Classical Arabic poetry and secular music called the Muwashshah.  Each of the four movements use texts that celebrate nature, provide a drinking song, explore the nature of love, and war, respectively.  Harmonic ideas take inspiration as well from the Middle East with some additional interesting dense harmonies that have the choir singing quarter tones.  It is a fascinating blend of ancient and modern sounds.  Syrian composer Kinan Abou-afach tends to blend together a host of contemporary Western traditions, with explorations of modal harmonies and Arabic compositional approaches which tend to focus on linear ideas rather than harmonic ones.  His Of Nights and Solace also finds inspiration in the Muwashshah literature with a six-movement piece that is like a journey through the Andalusian region reflecting themes common to its source material.  Abou-afach incorporates Arabic scales which can lead into rather denser textural music.  In this work in particular, the idea of line and how it is approached within this cultural music is quite striking.  The pieces on this album are an excellent way to begin to widen one’s musical horizons.  Most fascinating is the way one can hear how this music is an ancient cousin to Europe (often far more influential to the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance than many realize!).  This particular release is taken from live concerts in 2015 which is the source for a final track of traditional music.

The Crossing continues to impress with its range and diversity of music that often blends contemporary musical approaches with ancient styles.  Their releases include works that are informed by ancient modes and chant as well as folk music and in this batch of releases, one can experience all of these things in excellent sounds for music that has a sense of timelessness.