Patricia McCarty & Bill Zito: Crossings
Ashmont Music

Violist Patricia McCarty and guitarist Bill Zito cover an immense amount of ground in their new recording of duos. The two travel from the Baroque period to the contemporary era as they work through material by ten composers on the seventy-eight-minute set. Early pieces by Georg Philipp Telemann and Niccolò Paganini are delivered with the same degree of engagement as comparatively more recent ones by John Hawkins, Günter Braun, and Roberto Sierrra. McCarty's been the recipient of considerable acclaim for her playing, with mention often made of her flawless intonation, artful phrasing, and refined tone, but, as this splendid recording shows, Zito is as deserving of commendation. On the basis of these performances, their partnership could serve as a template for others to follow.

McCarty has performed throughout the world and appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras. A repeat award winner, she's given recitals in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Caracas, Valencia, Geneva, and in London, with her showing at the latter's Wigmore Hall deemed by one critic “an outstanding exhibition of string playing of the highest American class.” In addition to this release for Ashmont, she's issued material on Equilibrium, ECM, and Northeastern labels and presented viola works by Rebecca Clarke, Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, and Keith Jarrett, among others. Zito's received his fair share of accolades in a career that saw him transition from an early focus on rock guitar to classical. His mastery extends to the Renaissance lute, vihuela, archlute, mandolin, and baroque guitar, and Zito currently performs with the Strathmere Ensemble and the Long Island Baroque Ensemble.

The program begins with Canonic Duos (1738) by German composer Telemann, the duo demonstrating immediately their ease with each other and their talent for seamlessly effecting dialogues between their instruments. In place of call-and-response, however, the two largely play concurrently as if their excitement and engagement with the composer's vibrant and spirited music can't be contained. From Telemann, Crossings moves to Italian violin virtuoso Paganini, whose three-movement Sonata Concertata (1804) perpetuates the lustrous character of the opener with a rhapsodic “Allegro spiritoso,” its extensive nine-minute running time affording the duo ample opportunities to impress and relax into the material, and a slower “Adagio, assai espressivo,” which casts a splendid spotlight on the expressive warmth of McCarty's tone.

The album jumps to the twentieth century with Austrian composer Paul Kont's Ballade (1950), which squeezes five movements into a svelte eight-minute frame. Despite their brevity, each exudes a strongly defined character, be it the stately “Tanz am Hofe,” breezy “Der Liebesgarten,” chant-like “Tanz im Freien,” or elegiac “Heloise,” the latter particularly lovely. Günter Braun, who studied at the Saarbrücken University of Music and worked as a sound engineer at Saarländischer Rundfunk, is represented by the three-part Sonatine (1979), which makes an about-face from the haunting introspection of “Poco Andante” and even more inward-looking “Largo” to the exuberant extroversion of its concluding “Allegro.”

Of the four contemporary composers, Kont and Braun died in 2000 and 2005, respectively, but John Hawkins and Roberto Sierra are still very much alive. Born in Enfield in 1949 and now living in Lewes, East Sussex, Hawkins has produced a significant body of work, including 2020's Crossings, a probing five-minute excursion that sees the instruments criss-crossing and entwining as they venture dramatically forth. The Puerto Rico-born Sierra, who studied composition with György Ligeti at the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg, is represented by Primera Cronica del Descubrimiento (1991), which couples the harmonically and melodically arresting “Leyenda Taina” with the mystery-laden night moves of “Danza.”

Weighing in at sixteen minutes, Italian composer and luthier Luigi Legnani's Canzonetta Italiana is the album's epic, though time is needed when it's structured as a theme and variations-styled piece. A microcosm of the album in general, Legnani's folk-inflected setting encompasses a delightful array of moods, tempos, and styles, some gentle and melancholy, others bold, spirited, and joyful. Two selections by revered Spanish composers Enrique Granados and Manuel de Falla follow, Granados's rapturous “Intermezzo” (1911) first and de Falla's beguiling “Danza Espanola No. 1” (1904-05) second. The programme concludes strongly with the four-part Seguida Espanola (1930) by Cuban composer Joaquín Nin (aka the father of writer Anaïs Nin), which offsets a soothingly serene “Vieja Castilla: Moderato” and sweetly tender “Asturiana: Tranquillo” with an energized “Murciana: Liberamente” and “Andaluza: Allegro risoluto.”

Crossings is a long release, but listening attention rarely wavers when the playing is so consistently adroit and deft. Whereas other duos might cede the lead role to the viola and the supporting one to the guitar, McCarty and Zito play like equals throughout by sharing the lead comfortably and never getting in the other's way. This is a partnership that feels natural and effortless, as stated before a dynamic other duos would be smart to model themselves after.

January 2025