Jeremy Beck: by moonlight
Innova
by moonlight is as comprehensive an account of Jeremy Beck's music as a single volume could possibly provide. The seventy-minute collection presents nine pieces written between 1980 and 2016, all but one multi-part and most bite-sized. With works for solo guitar, cello, and viola appearing alongside vocal, duo, trio, and orchestral performances, one comes away from the recording thoroughly acquainted with the Louisville, Kentucky-based composer's style. Eschewing radical experimentation, his material rests comfortably within the classical tradition though isn't diminished nor is any less appealing for doing so. Luminous, expressive, and refined are some of the words that come to mind as the album's tonal pieces play, by moonlight deftly showing Beck cultivating an individual voice while operating within a tradition.
The recording begins on a high with the two-movement Concertino, written in 2006 for two cellos and string orchestra and performed here by cellists Dimitar Tenchev and Boris Radilov and the Sofia Session Orchestra. Energized by a spirited theme that wends its way through the movement, “Con brio” initiates the recording rousingly, after which Beck's lyrical side comes to the fore in the second movement before giving way to the folk-flavoured dance gestures of its concluding section. Even at this early juncture, multiple facets of Beck's compositional style have been revealed. Shifting gears dramatically, the vocal work Dream and Echoes presents two choral songs given sensitive readings by The First Readings Project under conductor David Ostenso Moore, the first “A Young Poet Dreams of His Beloved Who Lives Across the River” a stirring contrapuntal exercise that showcases the ensemble's rich vocal textures and the second “Echoes of a Young Poet's Dream” homophonic by comparison, the hushed voices here moving together in graceful harmony.
Accompanied by pianist Korey Barrett, tenor Jeffrey Brich distinguishes Three Songs (1986) with a resonant performance, the songs drawing from William Blake, Leigh Hunt, and Percy Bysshe Shelley for their texts. As expected, the tone of each song mirrors the lyrics, with the romanticism of “The Garden of Love” and “Music, When Soft Voices Die” standing in sharp contrast to the playfulness of “Jenny Kiss'd Me.” Another duet performance finds clarinetist Kathleen Costello and pianist Robert Frankenberry presenting the three-part Of summers past, or passing (2014), which advances from the carefree “Caprice” to the appropriately contemplative “Dreams” and mellifluous “The Morning Star.”
Elsewhere, Todd Seelye contributes laudable solo performances of the Two Pieces for Guitar, with “Ashmere” and “Birnam Wood” both registering as pastoral-tinged evocations. Cellist Paul York likewise impresses in his solo rendering of Prelude and Toccata, written for him by Beck and given its official world premiere in 2012. Among other things, Adagio and Allegro stands out for presenting arrangements for violin and two violas, Beck's elegiac material brought vividly to life in this iteration by Derek Ratzenboeck, Rebecca Barnes, and Jennifer Shackleton.
Beck's gift for orchestral writing is well-accounted for in the set-closing Three Pieces for Orchestra when the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra treats the composer's material to a resplendent reading. His lyricism is evident in the oboe melody gracefully gliding alongside strings in “By Moonlight,” whereas his robust side is effectively captured in “Tempest,” its music derived from the prelude to his 2000 opera The Biddle Boys and Mrs. Soffel. As should be obvious by now, Beck's music is consistently well-served by the attentive readings it receives from the abundant musicians featured on by moonlight. Enhancing the release further, in-depth program notes by Beck plus detailed bios of the composer and musicians appear in the booklet included with the release.May 2020