On and Between: New Music for Pipa and Western Ensembles
Lin Ma, pipa.
Liang Wang, oboe. Howard Wall, horn. Braxton Cook, soprano saxophone. Curtis Nowosad, drums.
Cho-Liang Lin, Elmira Darvarova, Shenghua Hu, violins. Ao Peng, Milan Milisavljevic, violas. David Gerber, Yiduo Liu, cellos.
Zhen Chen, piano.
Navona Records 6146
Total Time:  36:59
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Last year, composer and pianist Zhen Chen released his first album, Ergo, which explored unique combinations of Chinese Instruments with piano.  That album focused on music for pipa and erhu primarily.  In On and Between, Chen turns to various combinations of strings, winds, and pipa in ten brief tone pictures.  Among the artists featured here is a brief appearance by violinist Cho-Liang Lin.

Perhaps with the gorgeous horn opening that quotes’s Dvorak’s “Coming Home” theme from his ninth symphony we get a hint at what is about to come in “Arrival”, it is further transformed in a more Asian-tinged feel in the concluding track "Harmony" which creates a larger arc to the music as well.  Here is from the very start a sort of modern blend of the ancient and the new.  Chen’s romantic nature shines through in this music.  The pipa adds its own unique flavor and a certain folkishness to the music as well.  The melodies tend to grow simply across these beautiful lyrical arcs.  Each instrument now adding its own unique voice to this blend that straddles the classical, folk, world, and even jazz worlds.  In short, as Chen states in his well-written program notes for the album, these reflect the “diverse cosmopolitan culture of New York City” and as such are each little windows into the different ongoing stories one could find in the midst of such a large city.  Whether is a sign of hope in the oboe line of “Good Morning, the City” or just joy of simple life pleasures and energy of the city (“Dancing in the Rain”).  Chen moves through these settings incorporating Chinese folk dance (“On the Roof”), a tango to make Piazzolla proud (“Lost in the Midtown”), a gorgeous waltz (“Encounter”), a touching “Lullaby”, blues (“Cocktails”), a jazz club complete with a sax solo (“Walk on the Fifth”), and much more.  The melodies are lent their unique Asian quality with the use of the pipa which functions here the way a guitar might in the texture.

Each piece is like a woodblock print or colored scroll of Chinese art reflecting in its own modern ways a sense of place and status.  The variety of colors works well here as Chen employs string trios or duos along the way with a shift to traditional Western wind instruments enhancing the music still further.  The music tends to be still rooted in traditional Western harmony with the melodies featuring subtle Eastern inflections.  As noted in the review here of Ergo, Chen’s style closely parallels that of Tan Dun’s cinematic work and recalls the Silk Road Ensemble albums.  The album is as unique in its genre-bending music as one might suspect from last year’s release.  Both are well worth your time.

 Samatureya

Frederic Hand, guitar.
Trio Virado (Amy Porter, flute; Joao Luiz, guitar; Juan-Miguel Hernandez, viola)
Brasil Guitar Duo (Joao Luiz and Douglas Lora, guitars)
Paula Robison, flute.
Panoramic Recordings 08
Total Time:  67:33
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

One of Frederic Hand’s fine 1980s albums, Jazzantiqua, was one of these delicious blends of medieval music and jazz.  The host of original melodies blended with interesting combinations in the ensembles was part of the growing transition to New Age styles that did not quite fall into classical or jazz categories.  His most famous recording is likely the arrangement of the theme used in the film Kramer vs. Kramer.  He would fo on to score television series a well.  Another album, Heart’s Song continued explorations of folk music and this blended jazz and ancient musical styles.  The title song from the latter album as well as “Samba” reappear in this new release featuring a variety of Frederic Hand’s original music for smaller ensembles and guitar.  The new album takes its title from one of the two multi-movement works on the album which also features eight additional shorter pieces.

The first larger work on the album is a Trio for flute, guitar, and viola written for guitarist Joao Luiz, a member of the Trio Virado who perform it here.  The two-movement work was originally recorded for the trio’s own debut recording on Soundset (Mangabeira).  The opening “Light Through the Trees” is akin to the way hand melds his stunning, lyrical melodies, into a texture that has an almost modal jazz quality to it with interesting additional meter shifts that add further rhythmic interest.  A bit more angular start kicks off “Samatureya” which eventually will settle in to a Brazilian samba, a transition that is so fluid that one barely notices the way this shift occurs.  It is all brought together by a recall of the opening movement.  The trio is another of those works that transcends genre with something for both classical, jazz, and world music lovers.  The other significant work is for flute and guitar.  The Maverick refers to the summer music festival at Woodstock, NY, for this commissioned piece written and premiered for the 2015 centennial season.  Hand and flautist Paula Robison premiered the work and perform this four-movement piece here.  Each movement reflects different aspects of the festival from its opening celebratory nature and a sense of “Gratitude” for the opportunities it presents.  The third movement, “In the Woods”, follows a couple in dialogue who begin rather calmly and move into a more intense and impassioned argument.  The final movement, “Mountain Song”, connects to more folkish elements.

Hand begins the album though with a “Chorale for Guitar Quartet” playing a solo adaptation here.  Most striking here, as in many of Hand’s works, is the way these simple, yet gorgeous melodies appear.  In “Heart’s Song”, an almost flamenco-like arpeggio gives way to a delicate melody that is equally touching as the harmony becomes darker, or even slightly dissonant as the ideas seem to move in an almost improvisatory way chasing one another in compelling, and accessible music.  The various musical influences on Hand’s music are displayed in some of the individual works that are in the center of the album.  “Samba” certainly recalls some of those great Verve releases of Bonfa, Gilberto, or Jobim.  A touching tribute to Bernstein appears in “For Lenny” which features melodic structure and harmonic shifts reminiscent of the composer’s song style.  The improvisatory style of Hand’s music comes to the forefront in About Time which allows for just that flexibility in performance coupled with mixed meters.  Another tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., rounds off the section in this moving 1968 work.  In the midst of these solo works performed by Hand, the Brasil Guitar Duo steps in for a fascinating exploration of motives and use of silence in “Still.”  How these evolve into melodic material is another of those fascinating components of Hand’s music that is like listening to the music being created as we listen.  Slight dissonance appears from time to time adding an extra emotional intensity.  This somewhat improvisational feel is what makes most of these pieces engaging.  The album concludes with a touching love song for Hand’s wife, Lesley.

If you have never experience Frederic Hand’s music, this is as good a release as one can hope for to do so now.  The music here is all quite accessible with its musical fingers in various classical guitar, jazz and folk guitar, and world musics.  The sound is quite warm with great presence.  Like many of Hand’s work of the 1980s, this is an album to treasure.