Lyric Fest: Any of Those Decembers
Navona Records

Any of Those Decembers is a resplendent chamber tapestry of music and poetry realized with loving care by Lyric Fest. Composer Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg and poet Jeanne Minahan receive top billing, but the work wouldn't be what it is without the invaluable contributions of pianist Laura Ward, flutist Ráyo Furuta, the Daedalus String Quartet, and vocalists Rebecca Myers (soprano), Devony Smith (mezzo-soprano), Stephen Ng (tenor), and Steven Eddy (baritone). The tone of Wenzelberg's composition is intimate, wistful, and nostalgic in keeping with a work that's been described as “a cantata to make memories sing.” Of course, the title establishes an association with the festive season and the winter months, but this “timeless meditation on nostalgia” has the capacity to speak to us no matter when it's heard.

A number of unaccompanied recitations are woven into the presentation, the readings by Minahan of her own holiday poems conveyed expressively but with humility and not an excessive amount of theatricality. Words spoken by her are revisited in ensemble treatments that reinforce their meaning and impact. A countertenor, pianist, and composer of operas and orchestral works, Wenzelberg (b. 1999) not only wrote the music but conducted the musicians and helped coax from them the wondrous performances they delivered. It's not the first time, however, that Lyric Fest has met the challenge of a vocal-and-music tapestry such as his. Founded in 2003, the company, led by artistic directors Suzanne DuPlantis and Laura Ward, is, in part, dedicated to revitalizing and maintaining the art song tradition and has commissioned many new works as part of its mission.

Wenzelberg crafted his music to complement words filled with humanity and love; to realize this he strove to first hear the “music” within the text and then fashioned material in accordance with it. When that's achieved successfully (as it is here), a harmonious symmetry materializes between words and music and the work's impact doubly amplified. The resources Wenzelberg worked with allowed the world he aspired to create to blossom, not just for the way the recitations and music operate together but for the way the singers' voices evoke relationships between generations of children, parents, and elders.

The piece's enveloping character is established the moment Minahan introduces “Christmas Forecast” with the words “Listen, my love, when wind ferries more than snow.” After a wintry wonderland is conjured by her evocation, the simulation of winds gently swirling initiates the first ensemble piece, “Listen, my love,” the treatment clearly illustrating how integrated poetry and music are within the work. Piano sprinkles and string drones add to the atmospheric scene-painting, with vocalists subsequently fleshing out the musical terrain with their own “Listen, my love” entreaties. The stillness of the setting facilitates a state of contemplative wonder as flute, piano, and strings create the vision of a peaceful snow-covered landscape and people viewing it from the comfort of a fireplace-heated indoors. References to season-associated phenomena such as chestnuts, yule-log cakes, pine cones, and hot chocolate encourage deep immersion into the world evoked by Minahan and Wenzelberg. While the work is largely elegiac and nostalgic, it's not without moments of animation, as shown by militant passages in “The Outside In.” “Winter: The Antidote” builds on the poet's initial reading with a sparkling ensemble treatment that combines a recitative and arioso. Something similar happens when the poet's celebration of holiday homecoming, “The New York Train Arrives on Track Three,” is followed by an action-packed rendering by Wenzelberg that's replete with train conductor-like announcements and the joyful sound of family members reuniting.

January 2025