Skolović: Folklore Imaginaire. Ensemble Transmission. Naxos 8.573304. Total Time: 58.08.
Quebec composer Ana Sokolović has risen to prominence in the past ten years with a series of works that are not only clearly contemporary in their compositional choices, but also accessible. She recently landed a major commission from the Canadian Opera Company for a full-scale work to be presented in the 2019-2020 season, and just last week, during its annual visit to Toronto, the National Arts Centre Orchestra played her orchestral piece Ringelspiel. This new recording provides an introduction to her work through a group of shorter pieces written between 1997 and 2014.
It is not entirely clear what the title of the CD, “Folklore Imaginaire,” is meant to convey. The six pieces included each have their own titles and were written for different solo instruments or combinations of instruments. So what do the pieces have in common? According to the notes by Jean-Jacques Nattiez, “three of the works on this recording (Vez, Mesh, and Ciaccona) are close in spirit to the traditional Balkan music of Sokolović’s origins.” Presumably then, three of them are not and have little or nothing to do with folklore. A fuller introduction to these works would have been appreciated.
The instrumentation of each of the pieces listed on the back of the CD could also have been presented more clearly; as it is, the listener must match numbers to players to figure it all out.
As the CD was produced by Sokolović herself, the recorded sound quality presumably represents her wishes. To my ears, the instruments are miked too closely, giving the string instruments a dry, percussive quality. Overall, the sound lacks resonance. But then, that may well be how Sokolović wants this music to be heard.
As a composer, Sokolović demonstrates a predilection for repeating notes and figures, much in the manner of a Philip Glass or John Adams and other minimalist composers. While in less competent hands these procedures can often become tedious, Sokolović imbues this approach with dynamism. Another of her skills is the ability to be succinct, saying what she wants to say with admirable economy of means and length.
I was particularly taken with Sokolović’s use of the E-flat clarinet, the high-pitched little member of the clarinet family used by Berlioz to such great effect in his Symphonie fantastique, which she uses here to simulate the sound of the clarinet in a Balkan folk band. In Mesh, as played by Lori Freedman, the character of the E-flat clarinet is appropriately folkish and great fun. In Ciaccona, the instrument reveals a darker side, producing something close to primal screams.
In Vez, a work for solo cello, Sokolović uses repeated notes to generate a furious, angry effect and some of these elements reappear in the Trois Études for piano solo. In Un bouquet de brume for bass flute and piano, on the other hand, the repetition of notes is sweetly atmospheric and soothing.
The most compelling piece on the CD is surely Ciaccona with its unusual timbres involving flute, various clarinets, violin, cello, percussion, and piano. One suspects, although the notes do not confirm it, that Sokolović may have had some sort of story in mind. The final section of this piece is a heavy-footed march that gradually goes wild — the military out of control? — that ends quietly with ambiguously repeated notes.
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Ana Sokolović: Folklore Imaginaire (Naxos) is available from Amazon.com and iTunes.
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