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Crumb ‘Vol 18’ The Yellow Moon of Andalusiaa. Eine kleine Mitternachtmusikb. Celestial Mechanicsc. Yesteryeard ad Tony Arnold sop abdMarcantonio Barone pf d David Nelson, dWilliam Kerrigan perc c Quattro Mani Bridge F BRIDGE9476 (68’ • DDD • T/t)

It has been George Crumb’s good fortune to possess both potent genes and a fertile imagination; his myriad beneficiaries include generations of musicians and listeners. Now 88, the American composer continues to explore sonic possibilities in works of surprising and enchanting content, as this recording – Vol 18 in Bridge’s Complete Crumb Edition – illustrates so generously.

Three of the four scores are 21st-century creations, while the fourth, Celestial Mechanics, is the 2012 revised version of a work Crumb composed in 1979. Each piece calls for different vocal and/or instrumental forces, and each shows Crumb’s mastery of tone colour, imagery and ethereal sound worlds. Two works, The Yellow Moon of Andalusia (‘Spanish Songbook III’) and Yesteryear, highlight the composer’s versatile combination of voice and instruments. The former, set to six poems by Federico García Lorca, places mezzosoprano – or, as performed here, the radiant soprano Tony Arnold – and amplified piano in haunting evocations of the texts, with the singer joining in the instrumental activity on a variety of percussion. In Yesteryear, a quote from François Villon is the catalyst for a glistening vocalise featuring mezzo-soprano (Arnold) with amplified piano and two percussionists.

Thelonious Monk’s ‘’Round Midnight’ was the inspiration for Eine kleine Mitternachtmusik, 10 animated and reflective movements for piano with nods to Debussy, Richard Strauss and others; Marcantonio Barone plays them with exceptional urgency. Perhaps most talks to ... Laura Ward & Suzanne DuPlantis The co-directors of Philadelphia- based Lyric Fest on their debut album of songs by Daron Hagen How did this project come about? Lyric Fest has been commissioning composers for 12 of our 15 years. As a proli ic song composer, Daron was always on our radar. In 2013 he composed After Words for our ‘Winterreise’ project, celebrating our 10th-anniversary Season of Journeys. He then composed a fantastic set of Emily Dickinson songs – we commissioned one song as part of a multi-composer American Women Poets left to right: Joseph Gaines, Justine Aronson, Laura Ward and composer Daron Hagen music of clarity and strength. He gets to the heart of poems through strong human emotions – smart but not cerebral.

in Song project, and he delivered four! These works were the catalyst for this recording, and how wonderful that all of these pieces are from the 21st century. Daron also has Philadelphia ties, as he was trained at Curtis and studied with Ned Rorem.

It sounds like this is particularly rewarding music to perform. Absolutely. Daron is a pianist and de initely writes pianistically. He uses the keyboard so well through different colours and textures, highly aligned with each poem. His music lies really well under the ingers.

Can you describe the music’s qualities? Daron has an innate understanding of the voice, setting lyrics beautifully and with a clear love of words. He enters the world of each poem and captures its essence through

Do you have any further recording plans? Future recordings in the works include music by Kile Smith, Benjamin CS Boyle and a second album of Daron’s music.

remarkable is the revised Celestial Mechanics, subtitled ‘Cosmic Dances for Amplied Piano, Four Hands’, which shows Crumb at his most luminously imaginative, and which Quattro Mani (Steven Beck and Susan Grace) perform for all of the score’s mystical beauty. Donald Rosenberg

Franck . Gri fes . Scriabin ‘Sounds of Transcendence’ Franck Prélude, choral et fugue Gri fes Piano Sonata, A85. The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, A72 Scriabin Piano Sonata Op 7, ‘White Mass’, Op 64. Énigme, Op 52 No 2. Fragilité, Op 51 No 1. Valse, Op 38. Vers la lamme, Op 72 Reed Tetzlo f pf Roméo F 7323 (72’ • DDD)

Charles Tomlinson Griffes and the painter Mary Cassatt are the two most noteworthy

Impressionists America produced. Yet Griffes’s now century-old masterpiece, the formidable Sonata, is rarely encountered in concert and represented by fewer than 20 recordings in current catalogues. Reed Tetzloff, the 25-year-old Minneapolis native who makes his impressive solo recording debut here, has not only exhausted every implication of this enigmatic work but seems delighted gramophone.co.uk

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