Baxter: Resistance
Melissa Wertheimer, flute. Andrew Stewart, piano.
Nicholas Currie, violin. Diana Greene, piano.
Kenny Baik, saxophone. Bonghee Lee, piano.
Azimuth String Quartet
Arabesque Duo
West Shore Piano Trio
Navona Records 6206
Total Time:  76:45
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

A variety of performers have been assembled to explore the chamber music of composer Garth Baxter (b. 1946).  He is known for his output of art songs, but also has written for a variety of large- and small-scale forces.  The latter are the focus here.  His music tends to follow a more traditional bent of lyricism and tonality.  Ten works are featured on this new release.  Essentially the album is in two halves with the larger quartet or trios bringing each to a fitting close.

Three works for solo and piano get us started.  The Silver Run opens the album.  It is a two-movement work for flute and piano that features a gorgeous soaring line in the opening “Idyll”.  This carries through into the following “Cascading” which has a slightly more flowing quality to connect with this depiction of a Maryland landscape.  The remainder of the pieces are single-movement works exploring a particular emotional quality.  Could You Dream What I Dream has an accompaniment that features slightly more open harmonies with flashes of romanticism while the violin line moves across them with an outward-reaching lyrical line that has a decided poignancy.  A similar reflective sensibility casts itself across Des Larmes Encadrees for saxophone and piano.  There are some similarities to the way the music is laid out, but here a few interesting little harmonic shifts add some spice to this at times romantic and plaintive blend.  Later a more romantic work for violin and piano, Il Y a Longtemps serves as the centerpiece for two solo piano works that match this warm tonal and accessible style.

There are several works for piano here played by Andrew Stewart as well.  The first of these lends the album its title, Resistance.  The music here takes a turn towards a slightly more dissonant, and sinuous harmony that is slightly formed with jazz ballad qualities.  It moves with clear thematic writing in a slightly more intricate style than what preceded it on the album.  The piece moves through moments of intense dissonance that gives way to modern romantic reflections.  The Romance Without Words is unabashedly romantic with glances back to a bygone era while the Ballade for a Princess is inspired by a Chopin work.  The music here tends to incorporate a bit more dissonance that opens up to some rather beautiful harmonic arrival points in an overall dramatic, and substantial 9-minute work that moves through several episodes.

The Azimuth String Quartet explores the more dramatic MacPherson’s Lament.  The piece takes its inspiration from a 17^th-Century tune written by the Scottish fiddler and outlaw James MacPherson.  The piece is a bit more intricate here as the tune is woven into the fabric of the piece creating an often pained dramatic quality that is somewhat quaint but somber as well.  The penultimate track features a piece for guitars featuring the Arabesque Duo.  Edgefield is a very nice change of pace with the two guitars exploring Baxter’s engaging melodic idea with interesting harmonic shifts that send it in new directions.  It is a rather beautiful reflective work.  Finally, the West Shore Piano Trio moves us back to depictions of landscapes in From the Headwaters.   Here too are the explorations of late romantic style with modern harmonic twists that are aided by engaging lyricism.

This is a very accessible collection of chamber music whose variety is aided by the different combinations explored here.  Baxter’s music certainly has its ear set on tonal harmony but there is a nice sense of shape to these pieces with both pieces that are dramatic and intense, and others that provide a rather relaxed setting.  At times, his music recalls the more Classical moments of Claude Bolling’s various works for solo instruments, though here jazz rhythms and styles are not the direction Baxter’s music takes.  The sound has a more immediate feel, sometimes a little drier acoustically.  But, with the various locales used, it tends to be consistently engineered unobtrusively from location to location.  The music here is perfect for a more relaxed listening experience requiring one to only get lost in Baxter’s melodic invention.

El Arbol de la Vida: Music from Mexico
Pablo Garibay, guitar.
Eduardo Mata University Youth Orchestra/Gustavo Rivero Weber
Naxos 8.573902
Total Time:  65:30
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Over the past couple of years, Naxos has been highlighting some of the university orchestras here in the United States often exploring important repertoire that has been all but been abandoned by our professional orchestras.  They turn their attention now to Mexico and this new release is a collection of important pieces from 20^th-Century nationalism buoyed by two newer works for guitar and orchestra.  The latter feature soloist Pablo Garibay, an internationally-recognized and awarded guitarist.

The Orquesta Juvenil Universitaria Eduardo Mata is to Mexico what the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel was to Venezuela.  It consists of the best young Mexican instrumentalists who perform in Mexico City while also touring the country.  Under their founder and artistic director Gustavo Rivero Weber, they have gained critical attention and after an Italian tour, wider international recognition.  The album here was recorded last March and includes a quite interesting program of important Mexican concert works.

The Mexican Revolution at the beginning of the 20^th Century was one impetus for composers to begin to shift away from European models and begin to explore authentic Mexican folk music and other indigenous music.  This impacts the rhythmic aspects of the music which can be heard clearly in the showpiece that opens the album, Moncayo’s Huapango (1941).  The infectious work quotes several folk themes with the orchestration, especially of the brass and percussion, attempting to recreate the sound of popular bands.  A delightfully quaint work by Ricard Castro (1864-1907) illustrates the important connections to European salon music that helped provide a foundation to build later music.  His brief Minuetto, Op. 23 (1904) is set here as a nice contrast musically to the more intense Revueltas work that follows.  Adapted from a film score, La noche de los mayas (1939) is an evocative work of this ancient civilization.  This is done through a large battery of percussion, including indigenous instruments.  The orchestral suite was composed arranged after the composer’s death by Jose Yves Limantour.  The structure creates a symphony. Weber takes a bit more time in the opening movement, allowing its occasional impressionistic colors to lend a more ambiguous atmosphere.   It is notable for its second movement scherzo with its dance like rhythms in a very clear and well-delineated crispness.  These folkish sounds will reappear in the concluding set of theme and variations for the fourth movement.  A stunning slow movement separates the two with the opening movement providing the initial dark percussion creating an appropriate amount of tension.  One might liken this work to a Mexican Rite of Spring.  Weber draws out the music’s lyrical qualities which add an extra depth of emotion to this piece.

Pablo Garibay is featured in two more modern works that help illustrate a further advancement in harmony and technique in contemporary Mexican composition while still maintaining, and exploring, folkloric material.  The more significant of the two is also what lends the album its title, El arbol de la vida (2015).  Herbert Vazquez’s (b. 1963) work is for amplified guitar and orchestra and is dedicated to Garibay.  The nature of the piece stems from evocative poetry by Elisabeth Haich.  It creates a musical tapestry that explores myriad branches of a tree that extends deep into the ground.  It is a really dramatic piece of textures and splashes of color with the guitar providing an energetic forward motion.  A central section features a very folkish section of infectious rhythm and melody.  Components of this are utilized as rhythmic and melodic threads as the piece moves towards its final section.  It becomes gradually overcome by new swirls of sound as the piece shifts in a new, dramatic direction.  The piece draws the listener in with its overall accessible language.  The orchestra here works very well to support the soloist in what is a stunning performance all around.  The work itself, and this performance, is worth the price of the album.  Overall, it is a fascinating blend of modern orchestral writing with many nods to the 20^th Century Nationalist pieces included here.  It makes a more than fitting companion to the Revueltas.

The final piece on the album is a sort of encore composed by the Italian-born composer Simone Iannerelli (b. 1970) who teaches guitar at the University of Colima in Mexico.  His delightful little El Ultimo café juntos depicts a student and master sitting down for a little coffee.  The work exists as a solo guitar piece, but has been orchestrated here by the composer for strings and guitar and dedicated to Garibay.  In a sense, it is like a conversation reflecting back on what we have just heard.

Weber’s program really helps illustrate the abilities of this younger group of players.  He is able to help maintain a focus that results in musical, and thoughtful performances.  One can hear the exuberance along the way, but this is also checked to avoid moments when the music might veer out of control otherwise.  Intonation and ensemble are quite good and give many a professional symphony competition in the more familiar works here.  That said, there is something exciting and even fresh about the energy that the group brings to this music.