Elements Eternal. Brian Current: These Begin to Catch Fire. Andrew Staniland: Solstice Songs. Michael Oesterle: Centennials. James K. Wright: Letters to the Immortal Beloved.*Julie Nesrallah, mezzo-soprano*. Gryphon Trio. Naxos 8.573533 (Total Time: 58:51)
It’s hard to believe that the Toronto-based Gryphon Trio, one of Canada’s foremost chamber ensembles, has been around for 23 years, and counting. Canadian composers owe this ensemble a special debt of gratitude; the Gryphon Trio has commissioned and premiered over 75 works.
Elements Eternal brings together four of these works in world premiere recordings. To begin with, I must say that the piece, These Begin to Catch Fire, didn’t do much for me. Brian Current’s minimalist devices soon outstayed their welcome, and neither the violinist nor the cellist seemed to have much to contribute. The composer tells us in his note that the work was “inspired by watching people enter patterns of brilliant summer sunlight on the shores of beautiful Lake Muskoka near Toronto;” that may be, but I failed to detect any connection between the words and the music.
In Solstice Songs, Andrew Staniland took his inspiration from “the passage of the solstices and equinoxes, [which] form universal points of orientation that define the passage of time, and speak to our unique place in the celestial community.” I could make little sense of this sentence, let alone how it was intended to illuminate the music. This three-movement piece struck me as a series of effects of the sort that might accompany a silent movie or a cartoon.
I feared the worst after reading Michael Oesterle’s notes on his Centennials. The piece was intended as a birthday tribute to three people who would have celebrated their 100th birthdays in 2012.
What did TV chef Julia Child, maverick American composer Conlon Nancarrow (see my note below) and artist Jackson Pollock have in common, besides not living to be 100? I have no idea and Oesterle doesn’t provide an answer. Once again, the composer’s music has no apparent connection to his written description of the work. But then many composers, including the likes of Franz Liszt, Richard Strauss, Ottorino Respighi and many others have been as obtuse with descriptions of their own music over the centuries. What about Oesterle’s music? Actually, it is fresh and entertaining, and by far the best piece on this CD. The Gryphon Trio seemed to have as much fun playing it, as I did listening to it.
Letters to the Immortal Beloved by James K. Wright is a setting of three letters written by Beethoven to a woman he identified only as his “Immortal Beloved.” The letters are heartbreaking knowing that Beethoven was never able to develop a meaningful relationship with this woman or with any other.
It is surely dangerous for any composer to attempt to set Beethoven’s words to music. Isn’t it presumptuous to compete with one of the greatest composers who ever lived? Wright’s music is altogether old-fashioned by contemporary standards and does little to illuminate the composer’s impassioned words. Overall, mezzo-soprano Julie Nesrallah, perhaps better-known as a CBC Radio host, doesn’t help much either; her wide vibrato becomes an unpleasant liability at any dynamic above mezzo forte. The best music in the cycle is in the quotation from Beethoven’s Andante favori, and in the echo of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in the final “ewig.”
More power to the Gryphon Trio and to Naxos for championing Canadian composers, but on this outing only one of the four pieces seems to be successful.
For Something More… Anyone interested in learning more about Nancarrow will be interested in Anywhere in Time: A Conlon Nancarrow Festival being presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York June 17-27. Nancarrow’s specialty was creating music for player pianos, and that is the way his music will be presented in New York.
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