This is a bit of a slow week, but New in Music This Week: July 10th has some of my favorite new recordings. What it lacks in volume is more than made up for with quality.
My top pick is:
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: SCATTERED LIGHT American Music for Piano – Russell Hirshfield – Navona
As a lapsed piano performance major, I was excited to hear works by Timo Andres, Libby Larsen, Nico Muhly, Tobias Picker. There’s also music by composers I didn’t know (Mary Ellen Childs, Carter Pann) on this album. Where is contemporary classical music in America and will Scattered Light illuminate some of this work.
Hirshfield does that and more on this brilliantly performed record.
There are tree works by Picker: Where the Rivers Go (which opens the album); Amplified Soul and Old and Lost Rivers (the latter closes the album allowing Picker’s work to serve as a spine.
Muhly’s brief Movie is followed by Larsen’s 4-1/2 – A Piano Suite. The title track, my Mary Ellen Childs, follows Amplified Soul. Hirschfield commissioned this work and offers the world premiere recording of Scattered Light. It is a luminous work.
Two Carter Pann works (The Piano’s 12 Sides: IX. Orion and VII. She Steals Me are separated by the world premiere recording of Colorful History by Timo Andres.
Both Orion and She Steals Me seem simple enough at first but reveal layers of intricacy.
Colorful History is another great work from Andres. This is my favorite piece on the album. It’s complex, thought-provoking and emotional.
None of this would matter if Hirshfield didn’t master every one of the compositions on Scattered Light. He plays these works as if he had known them his whole life and still relishes each one and is excited to bring them to life.
Here are the other fine releases that are New in Music This Week: July 10th:
CLASSICAL: MIST WITHOUT – Xiaofu Ju – Deutsche Grammophon
Xiaofu Ju is a Chinese pianist releasing his second album. It’s an electic program that opens with Leoš Janáček’s In the Mists – a four-movement cycle for solo piano. I hadn’t heard it before and found it captivating.
That’s followed by the composer’s Piano Sonata 1.X.1905 – a rare sonata with just two movements. Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit follows.
Xiaofu’s arrangement of the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem. I love his arrangement and would love to get my hands on the music to play it. It’s so moving (as is the original), but there’s something delicate and in that delicacy lies a lot of power.
John Dowland’s In Darkness Let Me Dwell and Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 7, Op. 64 “White Mass” closes out this fine album.
On the DG website it says that Mist Without is inspired “by the German notion of Weltschmerz (pain of the world.” Xiaofu’s first album was named Waldeinsamkeit which translates to “forest loneliness.”
From these two albums I sense that Xiaofu is a deeply emotional musician and a deeply contemplative one. The music on Mist Without reflects that contemplation in an extraordinary way.
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: AWAKEN – Kirsten Volness / Nicole Buetti / Nancy Ives – Navona
I was immediately captivated by the first track on Awaken which is little tiny stone, full of blue fire by composer Kirsten Volness. It’s a chamber piece for flute, clarinet, violin and cello. The piece dances for the first five minutes in ways that reflect the concept of fire perfectly. Then her piece becomes more active, but not for long. It’s as if the fire briefly became more powerful and just as briefly went away.
Nicole Buetti’s Innovative Elegance follows and it, too, is a chamber piece. This time for flute, violin and piano. It doesn’t just offer elegance, but joy and energy, too. There’s a whimsical nature that I very much enjoyed.
Nancy Ives’ Celilo Falls closes out the recording. It’s an 11-movement work for orchestra, text and visuals. It is centered on the poetry of Ed Edmo and his experiences in the Shoshone-Bannock nation in Idaho. The work takes its title from waterfalls that existed in the area until the construction of a dam in 1957. Nature is front and center in this beautiful work nicely performed by the Oregon Symphony.
Sadly, I’ve never heard any of these composers’ music before. Thankfully I was Awaken to them on this recording.
JAZZ: AVE DE LUZ – Claudia Acuña – Delfin Records
In a brisk 37 minutes, vocalist Acuña takes us on a whirlwind tour of the work of Chilean jazz. To do so she works with her group of New York musicians as well as some Chilean artists.
The NY ensemble includes Carlos Henderson on bass; Manu Koch on piano and keyboards; Andrés Pollak on piano and organ; Yayo Serka on drums and percussion and Pablo Vergara on piano.
The Chilean artists are Freddy Torralba on charango, trutruca and zampoña and Pablo Zárate on according and pandero. Actress Paulina García offers spoken word on one track and Daniel Kelley-Acuña offers vocals on that same track (Un Gorro de Lana).
All the musicians in the world can’t make an album great if the vocalist they are supporting doesn’t earn that support. Acuña does much more than that. World music sensibilities and jazz often mix well. Ave de Luz is a seamless blend of the two that perfectly showcases Acuña.
JAZZ: SOUND WITHIN: A CELEBRATION OF BILL EVANS – Randy Ingram – Chill Tone Records
I’m always skeptical about abouts by one artist celebrating another. I get that the influence other artists have, but where is the originality?
There were no such concerns with Sound Within from the opening seconds on Ingram’s album. He’s clearly not interested in mimicking Evans. He wants to find his own way into each of the songs here that reflect who Ingram is and where music has gone since Evans’ death in 1980.
He also carefully selected which songs associated with Evans he wanted to record and also included three originals. Throughout his voice is heard on this simply sublime and elegant record.
There are two Evans originals: Turn Out the Stars and Letter to Evan. There are also some classics like My Foolish Heart and For All We Know. The three originals by Ingram are Aloft, Sound Within and Remembrance.
Joining Ingram are Joe La Barbera on drums who was part of Evans’ final trio. Bassist Rufus Reid is the third member on Sound Within. Reid had a brief collaboration with Evans in 1978.
All three bring finesse and class to this beautiful album.
VINYL REISSUE
JAZZ: IN PAS(S)ING – Mick Goodrick – ECM Luminessence Series
This album from guitarist and composer Goodrick, his first, was released in 1979. It features four originals by him and the title track which was composed by him with his ensemble.
That ensemble was Jack DeJohnette on drums; Eddie Gómez on bass and John Surman on baritone and soprano saxophones and bass clarinet.
You might recall that on June 19th’s New In Music I discussed Feebles, Fables and Ferns, a new release featuring Goodrick with pianist Fred Hersch. It was recorded in 1988 but never released. The title of that album comes from the first track on In Pas(s)ing.
That’s all for New in Music This Week: July 19th.
Enjoy the music! Enjoy your weekend!
Main Photo: Part of the album art for Russell Hirshfield’s Scattered Light – American Music for Piano (Courtesy Navona Records)