Kurek: The Sea Knows
Ovidiu Marinescu, cello. Rita Costanzi, harp.
Duo Portinari: Peter Pas, viola. Soledad Yaya, harp.
Atlantic Ensemble: Wei Tsun Chang, violin. Seanad Dunigan Chang, viola. Kirsten Cassel Greer, cello.
Vanderbilt Strings/Robin Fountain
Navona Records 6111
Total Time:  66:14
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Currently serving on the faculty of Vanderbilt University, Michael Kurek has numerous accolades for his music.  He studied with Hans Wener Henze, Eugene Kurtz, William Bolcom, and Leslie Bassett.  Of these, it is perhaps Bolcom and Henze whose compositional styles might have had a greater influence, though Kurek’s work tends to fall into neoromantic expression with a preference for strong thematic writing.  The present recording explores a number of his more intimate chamber works prominently for harp with a string trio and a chamber work featuring cello rounding off this ample collection of his music.

The most substantial work here is a gorgeous Serenade for Violincello and Harp (2013-14).  The former presents the thematic material which is a beautifully romantic lyric line.  The harp tends to take on a role perhaps more traditionally assigned to piano.  This helps lend a further romantic tinge to the music with the impassioned cello line weaving through the commentary of the harp.  It too gets a chance to present thematic lines which the cello tends to respond and move further forward in this intimate romantic dialogue.  Kurek’s melodic material pulls the listener into this compelling work with its foot firmly in the Romantic period.  It moves through some wonderful musical discourse only to end as patiently and quietly as it had begun. Perhaps then it is no surprise that it has become a growing favorite at harp festivals around the world.  Rita Costanzi takes on the harp duties here while Ovidiu Marinescu, one of the two performers for whom the work was written, provides moving cello playing.

Harpist Soledad Yaya is featured in two other works for the instrument.  The first of these, Moon Canticle (2016), was premiered at last year’s American Harp Society conference. The work opens with a Debussy-esque flourish.  The magical quality of the music is enhanced by the appearance of metal wind chimes that add to the mystery.  The work is quite mesmerizing as its thematic material unfolds with harmonic movement that provides a few surprises along the way adding to the mystery.  The piece reflects an irenic beauty with its descending melodic line that is developed across the span of the work.  Yaya is joined by violist Peter Pas, the two perform as Dup Portinari.  The Sonata for Viola and Harp (1987) is the oldest of the works on the recording allowing listeners to hear some of the germs of compositional approach that will be further enhanced over Kurek’s work.  The piece has perhaps a bit more chromaticism that lends a somewhat exotic feel, but one can hear the long, melodic lines of the later works already in the more tortuous viola line.  The thematic line shifts between lyrical expression and an occasionally more angular line that has an equally impassioned intensity as the piece unfolds.  The second theme is a bit more like those heard in the other pieces on the album.  The overarching work moves through these themes as they and the listener are transformed along the journey of this three-part, but single movement, work.

Savannah Shadows (2010) was commissioned by The Atlantic Ensemble who perform it here.  As one might suspect, the lines here are a bit more intricate as they move between the three instrumental lines carefully introducing two thematic threads.  One of these has a rather melancholy feel as if it is reflecting on ages past.  Another idea is perhaps slightly more folk-like with a rather passionate plea from the cello setting the reflective tone as the intricate accompaniment adds drama and helps move the music forward.  Of the works on the album, this one is perhaps the more intense with a bitterer dissonance that grows into the final moments of the work before long lyric lines float out of it.  The music here has more a dramatic sense of flow that is similar to the opening serenade.

The album takes its name from the final work presented, The Sea Knows (2016).  A one-movement tone poem, with its cello solo adding a concerto-like feel, the piece is an example of organic thematic development as one idea leads us into the next in a somewhat sonata-like formal structure.  The string writing has almost Nordic echoes as an almost Sibelian opening gives way to the more romantic and dramatic cello presentation.  This is perhaps the most “contemporary”-sounding works on the album with definite neoromantic style on display in this equally beautiful work.

Recorded across the past year, the album brings together a number of pieces that have, or are beginning to, enter the repertoire of harpists worldwide.  The music has a somewhat enchanting quality that draws the listener in with engaging thematic development and fascinating harmonic colors.

British period dramas have always been a source of interest for American TV viewers.  In 1986, Channel 4 in the UK produced this unusual four-part series and feature film based on Percy Bysshe Shelley’s first novel, Zastrozzi, a Romance.  The series premiered in the Spring of 1986 and at the time was one of the largest budgets for a C4 drama.  The rather unwieldy story became an unusual commentary on the decay of contemporary England wrapped around the theme of desire.  It was adapted by David G. Hopkins who also directed and is known for some as some of the first work for the likes of Tilda Swinton, Geoff Francis, Mark McGann, Hillary Trott, and Chris Barrie (Red Dwarf).  Music for the series was commissioned prior to the beginning of principal photography—a rather unusual approach.  Composer Martin Kiszko used the novel, Hopkins’ screenplay, and other of the director’s ideas to craft his score.  It was his first television scoring job.  Since he has provided music for a number of documentaries and series and film scores, most recently for the BAFTA-nominated The Killing of John Lennon (2006).

The opening titles have a slightly smaller string ensemble with flute and harpsichord that set the stage.  The harpsichord does add a slightly odd quality to the score as it appears against often beautiful lyric writing that does a nice job of implying early 19^th-Century parlor music with an often quite intimate quality.  There are fun little waltzes strewn across the album, the first “Petrol Pump Attendant’s Waltz” being one of many.  “I Will Love Who I Love” combines a string quartet with saxophone and piano for a rather unique, and troubled romantic moment.  Some tracks provide very brief brushstrokes with the longer segments creating a rather engaging variety of melodies and delightful writing for solo flute, clarinet, or saxophone.  The light touches add an often gentle underscoring option that is reminiscent of Richard Rodney Bennet. Beautiful poignant melodies for flute and other solo instruments are quite engaging.  Some of the harpsichord moments (“Priest’s Rant”) are like mad Handelian interludes.  Kiszko’s melodies move between these period styles, and those which move just slightly off what one might expect making for some rather unique harmonic shifts that feel like part of a Gothic horror score at times, but always return to more familiar harmonic realms.

The score moves through these seeming almost Gothic romance/mystery style.  The intimate quartet quality allows for a chamber music approach that is heightened by the piano lines which lend the music a more contemporary feel.  The presentation is a snapshot of the some 140+ cues Kiszko wrote for the series.  The music is sequences well allowing for an almost suite-like feel to this rather unique score for a forgotten 1980s British program.  There is much here that one can hear in more familiar recent BBC dramas putting Zastrozzi showing how this style has descended and adapted some over the years.  This will be a delightful find.