James Adler: Reflections
Albany Records

James Adler's follow-up to 2023's That Star in the Picture shifts the focus from art songs to piano works; perhaps more notably, the new recording features but one Adler composition with the remainder works by Robert Schumann, Debussy, and others. Reflections turns out to be as personal a project as its predecessor, however, as each piece holds a special meaning for Adler, whether it be through his relationships with the composers or the histories associated with the material. In evoking people and places fondly recalled, Reflections is an apt choice of title; Affections would have been an excellent alternate, considering the warmth of feeling emanating from the recording. Words by the NYC-based composer himself articulate the sentiment succinctly: “This album is a celebration for and a reflection upon special friends, composers, and specific works that are close to my heart.”

The works bookending the album vividly illustrate that personal dimension. At the start is the world premiere recording of Adler's A Curtis Reflection (2022–23), commissioned by and dedicated to The Curtis Institute of Music for their Centenary Commissioning Initiative “100×100.” As a proud alumnus, Adler celebrates his years of study at the Philadelphia-based institute with a three-part work lasting approximately twelve minutes. The manner by which he personalizes the work is alone fascinating when two movements use the addresses of his first Philadelphia apartment and the Curtis Institute itself to define key elements within them. To that end, three loud, low Gs allude to the number in the title of movement one, “222 (222 Rittenhouse Square)” whereas the notes C-B (natural)-D-A reference the institute's location in the third, “1726 (1726 Locust Street).”

The opening movement eases the listener in with a lyrical intro that quickly turns sombre, the gesture perhaps designed to reflect the sorrow Adler and his family experienced when his sister Sherry died in 1972; she's further incorporated into the work when a musical motif representing her recurs throughout the suite. After a relaxed opening, “1726 (1726 Locust Street)” rapidly stands to attention with a joyous energy and staccato accents alternating between the hands like knife jabs. If there's a slow movement here, it's the central one, “Parkway House (2201 Pennsylvania Avenue),” titled after the house where James and his one-time partner John lived. Again a musical element reflects the historical detail when the material exudes a wistful yearning and is set in the key of D flat Major, in Adler's words “the key of ‘love.'” Nostalgia informs the writing and a palpable longing for a happier period irretrievably gone. In its solemn dignity, the movement's as gripping as the two on either side.

At the tail end of the fifty-minute album we have Schumann's Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (1838). The personal significance here is that it's the piece Adler performed at his very first recital (the American Conservatory in Chicago), the memory of which moves him to this day. Adler performs thirteen of the thirty Schumann composed, their innocent and gentle character inspired by his wife Clara after she said he sometimes seemed “like a child.” Resistance is futile the moment the rhapsodic opening part initiates the work and the others follow it with endearing expressions of joy, tenderness, excitement, longing, and sadness.

Following A Curtis Reflection is Mistieke Feetjies (“Mystical Fairies”) by an Adler friend and colleague, conductor, composer, and pianist Henco Espag. Written in 2022, Mistieke Feetjies perpetuates the wistfulness established by “Parkway House (2201 Pennsylvania Avenue)” before introducing its elevating theme and enrapturing with graceful ebb and flow. A playfully mischievous middle section evokes the image of fairies playing whilst also adding levity, after which a recapitulation of the first section appears but now with increased grandiosity. Thereafter Adler honours his friendship with composer Paul Turok (1929-2012) and his wife Susan through the inclusion of Paul's Little Suite for Piano, Op. 9 (1976). Its robust “Prelude” is a breathless study in perpetual motion, the “Arabesque” a dreamy, mysterious affair sprinkled with trills, and the closing “Toccata" as unstoppable as a runaway train.

Adler even has a personal connection to Debussy that extends beyond his love for the music. When Adler was six and his brother Norman fifteen, James heard him playing Deux Arabesques (1891) and discovered, with Norman placing his little brother's hands on the keys, that he could play it. That moment set James on his way, and the edition of the score he performs to this day is the one with his brother's markings on it. Completed when Debussy was twenty-nine, the arabesques were his first published piano compositions (even though a number of vocal works had previously been created) and already exude the exquisite elegance so characteristic of the composer's writing. Entrancement sets in immediately when the florid flow of the first (“Andantino con moto”) sparkles and glistens brilliantly; the lively second (“Allegretto scherzando”) endears for its bright trills, playfulness, and irresistible congeniality.

While Adler possesses prodigious technique, his playing isn't marked by gratuitous displays but rather nuance, refinement, and sensitivity. Yet even when material prioritizes over ego, Adler impresses as a pianist of skill and sensitivity. His generosity of spirit extends beyond the album content to special figures in his life, among them his longtime friend, the late recording engineer Joe Patrych, and Albany Records co-founder Susan Bush. Such sincere outpourings of gratitude to them and others is consistent with the overall tone of the release. Writing about the material in “Parkway House (2201 Pennsylvania Avenue)” and how much he loved living in the building, Adler states, “I hope the love shines through.” It does indeed, just as it does throughout this heartwarming collection.

September 2024