David Arend: Astral Travels
David Arend, double bass.  Salim Washington, tenor saxophone.
Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra/Petr Vronsky, Jiri Petrdlik
Navona Records 6015
Total Time:  42:42
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

The music on this new Navona release is by double bassist and composer David Arend.  In this new release we get a chance to hear two recent works that explore quite different frontiers from outerspace to the Redwoods of California.  Since there are few works for double bass and orchestra as it is, these pieces provide some interesting modern ideas with jazz suggestions for soloists.

Sequoia Sempervirens (2010) is the scientific name for the Redwood.  In this three movement work, Arend explores aspects of most majestic of trees in a concerto for double bass.  The opening movement (“Light Through Limbs-Redwod Grove”) starts off with a splash of orchestral color and then slowly unfolds with impressionist-like vistas of slow moving music in the opening bars before moving into a more jazz-like bass solo against string clusters that surge underneath.  The work has interesting atmospheric ideas sometimes with a cinematic quality that blends jazz harmony and instrumentation often in magical ways as the music moves into “Nightfall—Pre-Dawn”.  The music has an often intriguing narrative flow that is not always completely “tonal”, but still tends to be accessible harmonically.  The final “Flight” picks things up a bit but needs to be extended a bit more to explore some of the ideas introduced as it ends too soon and is not really balanced against the extended opening movement, though all three seem to interconnect as well.

Voyager: Three Sheets to the Wind (2013-14) celebrates the exploration of the two voyager spacecraft modules.  The work is cast for double bass and tenor saxophone.  The two solo instruments with this connection to jazz inherently brings in some of that musical aesthetic within a more classical style.  The result is a somewhat Third Stream-like blend of improvisational passagework against orchestral textures.  This is the more substantial of the two works on the album.  It is cast in three movements.  “Departures” has a somewhat cinematic feel of anticipation as ideas are introduced with brass ideas and a jazzy percussion lick.  The orchestra has some fascinating wind writing to punctuate the opening tenor saxophone solo.  The central movement is made up of five inter-connected sections representing planets and the “Escape Velocity”, which opens the section with the soloist in improvisational ideas.  The music does shift effortlessly from one “movement” to another which suggests some of the deeper connections one will pick up on repeated listening, but the music is dramatically engaging as it unfolds.  Some more unusual contemporary techniques are used the most in the central “Grand Tour” with “Neptune” perhaps creating the creepiest textures.  This carries over into the final “Interstellar Space” with its interesting use of bells and chimes in diffuse musical clusters at first.  Great tension is built up in this movement’s opening, but it sort of dissolves into languid musical gestures.

Astral Travels is an interesting release of contemporary music in a Third Stream sort of style blending jazz and orchestral music.  Sometimes the ideas are quite gorgeous in their orchestration and harmonic shadings.  At times, the way music flows is reminiscent of Hovhaness’ mysterious musical backdrops.  The jazz aspects help lend the music forward movement and an almost improvisatory feel.  However, it would be great to have some things spread out a bit more to explore the different motivic and thematic threads.  The experiment here is an interesting one and the music is certainly engaging enough on its own.  A bit more expansion in some sections would help create a larger sense of structure at times.  This is also made more noticeable by the fairly brief playing time on the release.  In this case, even some additional jazz orchestral arrangements would have made for a perfect balance.  Still, this is engaging and interesting music for a more relaxed and laid back experience.  The Moravian orchestra does a fine job and the soloists are, of course, impeccable.  The disc makes a great introduction to David Arend’s music and these pieces would lay well in a pops concert setting or regular season works introducing audiences to this fusion of classical and jazz styles.  Voyager is perhaps the stronger of the two pieces presented here.

Schumann/Dvorak: Cello Concertos
Carmine Miranda, cello.
Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra/Petr Vronsky
Navona Records 6034
Total Time:  61:59
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Carmine Miranda was born in Venezuela but his family moved eventually to the United States.  His career began to really take off when he won the first prize at the Alhambra Music Competition in 2005.  The Bach Unaccomanied Cello Suites were among his first recordings on the Centaur label.  This is his second release from Navona pairing to repertoire concerti.

One of Miranda’s most recent efforts was a scholarly analysis of the Schumann concerto for The Musical Times (Spring 2016).  In it, he discusses the cryptographic explorations Schumann was using in the concerto connecting the primary motive to a spelling out of Clara’s name.  Thus the work is yet another of the composer’s many romantic integrations of his emotions and connections to her.  It makes for interesting reading and demonstrates how deeply Miranda has delved into this work.

Schumann completed his cello concerto in 1854 and about two days later attempted suicide.  Perhaps, not the most auspicious connection to a new work.  The piece is in three interconnected movements and is perceivable as a work with motivic, or thematic, transformation.  The central movement has its sublime moments of beauty which then builds into the exciting conclusion.  Miranda’s commentary in the fold out cover helps connect his ideas about the piece well.  Even without this though, his performance is an engaging one that draws out the emotional core of the work and entices the listener into the piece with exquisite playing and clear articulation.  The orchestra too does a great job of accompanying him and is well-placed in the sound picture.  Miranda does make a very convincing case for this work in a performance that works very well.

The Dvorak concerto has an American connection being the last concerto he wrote while serving at the National Conservatory in New York City (1894-95).  Inspired by Victor Herbert’s gorgeous second cello concerto, Dvorak embarked on creating this one (Brahms would eventually help him revise the orchestration).  The themes in the work are certainly hearkening back to his own homeland, even though there are moments that certainly feel as if they are influenced by his travels out to Iowa and the wide vistas.  The work also has a deeply personal connection which appears in the touching central movement.  It is based on a song beloved by his sister-in-law, whom he also was in love with as a young man.  Notable for its technical demands on the soloist, we do hear in the piece the many ways that Dvorak’s music was shifting to a more international style with folk influences.  The opening movement has such gorgeous writing for cello and the main themes are quite memorable.  The second movement has very emotional writing, and a couple big orchestral explosions threaten to overpower the microphones in a couple spots.  Again, Miranda’s performance here is what will further draw the listener to be engaged with this music.  The performance is intelligently laid out with each gesture well-connected to the overall shape and structure of the work.  The cello feels a bit closer in the sound picture, but not obtrusively so, the secondary dialogue section sometimes can overpower the wind ideas, but the balance overall is very good between soloist and orchestra.

The purpose of this release is to likely give Miranda a great disc to have at his concerts.  It is, like many Navona releases, a simple cardboard package, though with far more notes than some.  It makes for a great concert souvenir.  The performances here are quite good.  There are some 100+ recordings of the Dvorak and nearly as many of the Schumann in the catalog.  Most listeners will have their own favorite performances.  This one may be in that list as well, at least for the Schumann.  Both will be great touchstones to see how Miranda’s views of these works change over time.  Still, these are performances that should bear up to repeated listening and will be a delightful discovery for those less familiar with these pieces.