Fans of Rachel Portman should be rejoicing at this new limited edition deluxe three-disc set of her work for The Storyteller (1987-88; 1991).  The edition is being released by Varese Sarabande,  Muppet creator Jim Henson was in the midst of many creative bursts in the 1980s that began by first wrapping The Muppet Show and moving into the fantasy worlds of The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1988).  In the middle of this fertile time, he produced Fraggle Rock which ran on HBO (1983-1987) becoming an important cultural touchpoint for those who were able to watch it on premium cable.  As Fraggle Rock was coming to a close, his daughter Lisa suggested a series that would be an anthology of stories steeped in mythology and folklore.  That idea would become The Storyteller.  John Hurt played the narrator who relates these tales to his rather cynical dog.  The series ran in the UK and appeared here on NBC first.  While reviews were stellar (it even received a Primetime Emmy) the series did not quite catch on and it was dropped from the latter’s schedule.  It would get a second chance on pay cable when HBO decided to run the series and even added a third set of stories, The Storyteller: Greek Myths (1991).

Composer Rachel Portman was in that early stage of her career where a great project would catapult her into more work.  Her first film, Privileged (1982) is remembered mostly for its introduction of Hugh Grant.  Other projects that followed were mostly made for TV movies.  The opportunity to work on a series with somewhat cinematic qualities was an important opportunity for her to demonstrate her craft and she would score all the episodes for both incarnations of the series.

She would write a deliciously mysterious “Main Title” with an opening flute line that gives way to a dark bass clarinet.  Varese opens the first disc with an extended version of this opening leaving disc two to open with the version featuring John Hurt’s narration.  Both discs for The Storyteller are bookended by title music, an “end title” for disc one, and then a shorter main title for disc two.  Disc Two also includes a couple of unused bumpers for the series.  The music is presented as suites (“A” and “B”) that essentially present the two halves of the episode.  These are presented in chronological order.  The music here encapsulates so much of what Portman’s music is known for overall.  Warm string writing, gorgeous melodies that are brilliantly shifted through different instrumental timbres, and that little minor third minimalist-like ostinato pattern.  These are on display throughout the music for “Hans the Hedgehog” which features a heart-melting flute theme and gorgeous soprano sax.  There is even a delightful fiddle jig that adds some folkish flair.  In “A Short Story”, Portman uses her end titles music as the thematic source developing here with these contrasts of darkness (bass clarinet) and magical light (celesta).  Some of the stories are equally creepy, beginning with Fearnot which adds to this with the use of Ondes Martenot and tremolo strings.  There is also a truly beautiful violin idea.  The Luck Child is perhaps one of the darker episodes and Portman creates the perfect atmosphere with the use of contrabassoon and an ethnic flute.  A light flute line is also used against a plodding trombone and strings for “The Heartless Giant.”  Disc two begins with the equally moving “The Soldier and Death” which features a plaintive oboe, a mysterious bass flute in its texture, and later organ.  The score tends to feature rich low woodwinds and adds a harp for a touch of magic.  French Horn becomes an important color connected in the story of “The True Bride” along with celesta.  For the more sinuous, and frightening tale of The Three Ravens Portman chose to use a cor anglaise which adds a deep, dark, reedy quality to the music.  The soprano sax returns for Sapsorrow which also features a truly beautiful waltz, and a nice little string quartet moment.  Throughout the series, the low bass clarinet often helps present the series main theme which creates a nice overall connection across the series.  There tends to be one amazing thematic surprise after another for Portman’s fans to rediscover.

Disc three focuses on music for The Greek Myths and is edited similarly with the two suites for each of the four episodes here.  The UK version is used to open the disc with the US one closing off the primary portion of the presentation.  A couple of brief “bonus” tracks are then added.  The theme here revisits the original with some slight color differences.  The paired suites here for these four episodes are slightly longer than those from the primary series.  However, the style and rich thematic content continues with a general darker mood across the different stories.  First up is Theseus and the Minotaur”. The score continues in the style of those from the previous series, adding trumpet here for its primary tonal color against strings and winds.  The second suite features some interesting folk music that has a more medieval/ancient quality.  Perseus and the Gorgon has some equally beautiful lyric writing that explores low flutes and oboe and adds a sense of danger with high clarinet following a somewhat more sinister melodic outline.  Piano is also added for an extra magical touch here.  That romantic piano and strings, with flute, quality opens Daedalus and Icarus, but this too soon shifts into dark undulating colors.  These two opposites of simple beauty and darker brooding are the primary contrasts of these scores.  The latter suite feels almost balletic in its structure.    The final set of suites follows the storied lovers Orpheus and Eurydice.  This opens with a rapid flute idea in a modal melodic idea that is then accompanied by other folk-like instrumental sounds and a style that was used earlier.  This one tends to rely more on simple solo instrumental statements though lending it a decidedly ancient character, even when the string orchestra and harp appear.  These add a deeper emotional warmth to the music while the “period” or “folk” moments provide the musical contrast.  Each of these little episodes features more gorgeous music that reveals how Portman’s music has coalesced into the sort of sound that would become noted throughout her work in the early 1990s culminating in her Oscar for Emma (1996).

Though a physical set was not submitted for review, the booklet that will be included was provided.  It is set up as a series of interview responses by the different creative forces involved.  These are organized into good succinct commentary that explores, the stories, the resulting mini films, the music—including brief commentary on each episode’s ideas; and the historical aspects of the primary series.  The information for The Greek Myths though is minimal.  Otherwise, it is a very well-done monument to this important moment of television history.  In a day of so much electronic generic writing, it is an amazing experience to sit back and enjoy the various ways Portman’s music warms these tales, adds an appropriate amount of emotional depth, and helps draw us into these fantasy worlds that blend aspects of darkness and light.  Each has an almost timeless quality to them which makes for an engaging, and rich, listening experience.

Rouse: Seeing; Kabir Padavali
Orion Weiss, piano.  Tavis Trevigne, soprano.  Albany Symphony Orch./David Alan Miller
Naxos 8.559799
Total Time:  63:36
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

After an earlier release this year of music by Alan Jay Kernis, the Albany Symphony Orchestra and their Music Director David Alan Miller turn to music by American composer Christopher Rouse.  Rouse’s music garnered attention back in 1993 when he received the Pulitzer Prize for his Trombone Concerto.  Since then he has created a massive and memorable body of work played the world over.  Here we get to sample two distinct works from 1998 receiving their world premiere recordings.

The first of these is Seeing, commissioned originally by Emanuel Ax and the New York Philharmonic.  The piece is a sort of distorted integration of Robert Schumann’s own Piano Concerto.  The latter was a work Ax had decided not to play in concert, and so this becomes a bit of a private musical joke of sorts.  But also underlying the work is its conception of how psychosis can impact a person’s view both spiritually and psychologically.  It is something more obviously relating to Schumann’s own struggles with mental illness, but also here refers to music by Skip Spence, from whom the work takes its title.  In some ways, the Schumann is taken apart and reassembled sometimes quite recognizably, and others less so as the concerto’s four sections unfold.  After a rather manic opening, an unsettling and somewhat macabre slower section appears with an almost disenchanted solo line against dark orchestral textures.  The adagio music is reminiscent at times of film score depictions of unsettled characters.  The final scherzo section continues through this rather unusual hallucinatory process with direct quotation and a rather intense series of dissonant crashes and brilliant pianistic flourishes.  Sometimes the orchestra tends to be almost mocking the music itself.  The piece is intense, but the dramatic quality of the music allows for the listener to enter in to this unusual soundworld and the more ethereal moments are quite compelling.  It is a sort of concert Altered States in its thrust and style.

The Minnesota Orchestra was behind the commissioning of Kabir Padavali with Dawn Upshaw the planned recipient of this song cycle for soprano and orchestra.  The Hindi texts are by the Indian poet Kabir (ca. 1398-ca. 1448) whose poetry has survived through oral tradition.  Six poems are used here.  They begin with two texts that use musical instrument imagery as their departure point.  The third song explores a sort of “peaceable kingdom” of animals.  Spiritual components help pull these threads together in the fourth and sixth song, bookending a text of love in these often allegorical texts.  Rather than utilize Indian ragas in the music, Rouse has instead created a more evocative atmosphere that provides its own sense of mystery.  Using an accordion and solo oboe he is also able to make the suggestion of the music against which the music unfolds.  Quiet string entries, making use of the Minnesota Orchestra’s string sound, also lend a dreamy atmosphere.  This is punctuated by brass before the vocal line appears to float above the texture adding another layer of sensuality.   The third song has an almost jazz-like rhythmic punch with equally interesting harmonies while the vocal line moves seemingly erratically amidst the fairly dramatic music.  A variety of unusual vocal sounds are also created in the often bizarre fourth song with its texts talking about a mad world and violence.  This is beautifully offset by the penultimate text of a woman at a spinning wheel connecting her thoughts to concepts of love and the threads she weaves.

The orchestra is on great display in these performances.  Weiss manages to assert himself well in this piece and he is also a student of Ax giving him another unique connection to Seeings.  Soprano soloist Talise Trevigne is familiar to fans of contemporary opera as she has been in a number of Jack Heggie’s operas over the past decade.   Her performance here is certainly exquisite and well balanced against the orchestra.  Both performances date from 2013 and are just now making it to disc, the result perhaps of a number of these modern American Classics releases being ahead on the schedule.  These world premiere recordings are excellently recorded and will be a good introduction to Rouse’s music for many new listeners.  It is sort of odd that at least the concerto has not made its way to disc yet.  Might be worth pairing it with the Schumann at some point to further link the way Rouse’s work unpacks and reuses it.  The song cycle is equally interesting.