A special eight-page section focusing on recent recordings from the US and Canada
JS Bach ‘Metamorphosis’ Viola (Cello) Suites – No 1, BWV1007; No 2, BWV1008; No 3, BWV1009 Zachary Carrettín va Sono Luminus F Í DSL92247 (65’ • DDD)
Having played Bach’s Solo Cello Suites on a cello da spalla, an electric
Baroque violin with ‘unlimited reverb possibilities’ and a violin in concert halls, Zachary Carrettín chose an anonymous 18th-century viola set up historically – ‘the finest brush’, he noted – to demonstrate with the first three Suites his principle that the treatises and other primary sources are there ‘to provide possibilities, not to limit our scope’.
He plays Bach not only as music but as speech, line, colour, dance, harmonic sonority, balance and clarity of contrapuntal lines. He uses turns and appoggiaturas in spontaneous dialogue and moments of delight. Melodies wander and explore. ‘Metamorphosis’, Carrettin says, represents ‘the freedom, the invitation we all have, to change, to transform, in our lives’. He plays the da capo return to the Minuet of the D minor Suite plucked, the iconically imperious Prelude of the C major Suite as if it were a gentle toccata. And everything is infused with poetry.
And while Carrettín’s playing may be more elegant and disciplined than the wildly abandoned stylus phantasticus playing we expect in Biber and Pandolfi, it is an illuminating step in that direction. The viola negotiates the string-crossings and double-stopped chords with much greater ease than the cello. The sound is lighter than the cello, with suggestions of Bach’s sombre writing for the viola da gamba and viola d’amore in his St Matthew and St John Passions.
This album is Carrettín’s homage to his mentor Kenneth Goldsmith, who was one of the first modern-instrument virtuosos (he studied with Mischakoff,
Kroll and Milstein) to champion historical performance practice on the American scene. Laurence Vittes
Gottsch Princess Yurievskayaa. Sunset a Huifang Chen vn aDavid Calhoun vc a Leefei Chen Jenkins hp South Florida Symphony Orchestra / Sebrina María Alfonso Naxos American Classics B 8 559901 (54’ • DDD)
The urge to compose is irresistible for many who are destined to make their livings
in other vocations; among the towering successes on this list are Alexander Borodin (chemistry) and Charles Ives (insurance). When he isn’t devoting himself to ophthalmology, John D Gottsch writes music in a mild-mannered, conservative style inspired by composers who were able to concentrate solely on artistic endeavours.
This new recording features the South Florida Symphony Orchestra in two large works that reveal Louisiana-born Gottsch’s enthusiasm for painting scenes on expansive sonic canvases. Sunset evokes aspects of nature in Key West, Florida, where the composer (b1950) spends part of his year. The seven short sections are studies in descriptive writing that move from ocean to shore and beyond with largely major-key alacrity. Along the way, hints of Mendelssohn, Sibelius and Britten, among others, give the score a sense of lyrical and heraldic familiarity, as if the composer is paying tribute to predecessors.
Other composers also send distinctive vibrations to Princess Yurievskaya, a symphonic tone poem that explores the relationship between Catherine Dolgorukova, the titular princess, and Tsar Alexander II. Gottsch is most persuasive in the intimate scenes, where solo violin portrays Catherine and solo cello depicts Alexander. The narrative embraces Russian Orthodox elements, dance sequences and echoes of Richard Strauss in a panoply of earnest gestures
that ultimately fall short in conveying the tragic circumstances.
The premiere recording of these pieces was made in March 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic was erupting, which might explain the urgency that the South Florida Symphony Orchestra bring to Gottsch’s creations under music director Sebrina María Alfonso. The playing isn’t always the utmost in refinement but the performances are committed and colourful, with fine solo work from violinist Huifang Chen and cellist David Calhoun. Donald Rosenberg
Kyr ‘In Praise of Music’ Alleluia for Peace. Dawnsong. Freedom Song. In Praise of Music. In the Name of Music. Ode to Music. O Great Spirit. Santa Fe Vespers. Veni Creator Spiritus. Voices for Peace Antioch Chamber Ensemble / Joshua Copeland Bridge F BRIDGE9558 (58’ • DDD • T/t)
The Antioch Chamber Ensemble recorded these choral works by Robert Kyr in
November 2018 but the texts – many by the composer himself – ring especially true in 2021. The three pieces celebrating music that open the album include such lines as ‘You heal the wounded with energy and new life’ and ‘Lead me always, from darkness to light’. Even so, the timeliness of these sentiments in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and protests supporting racial equality is only part of what makes Kyr’s creations so powerful and affecting.
The 10 pieces reveal a composer intimate with many styles who embraces tonal roots while applying rich harmonic and contrapuntal resources to texts he sets with natural grace and feeling. Whether moulding phrases to his own words or verses from liturgical sources, Kyr achieves varied choral textures through subtle fluctuations of thematic and rhythmic devices.
The paeans to music are luminous examples of his ability to take an ensemble
gramophone.co.uk
GRAMOPHONE SEPTEMBER 2021 I
