William McClelland: Where the Shadow Glides
Naxos

Born in Detroit and a graduate of the Longy School of Music of Bard College and Emerson College, William McClelland (b. 1950) is recognized as a distinguished composer responsible for a broad range of music in many styles. He is also, however, a renowned pianist, record producer, educator, and a committed environmentalist; in the latter capacity, he's not only actively opposed the building of fossil fuel-burning power plants but even founded a company dedicated to removing plastic bags and other litter from trees and other remote spots. That the nineteen works on Where the Shadow Glides share nature as a common thread is therefore consistent with the American composer's values; the texts for the pieces presented on the seventy-three-minute release are settings of poetry by American writers that also naturally dovetail with his sensibility.

Of the nineteen pieces, fifteen are songs, with texts by Hart Crane, Hilda Doolittle, William Carlos Williams, Lidian Emerson, Philip Larkin, Elizabeth Bishop, and others serving as poetic inspiration. Three choral works also appear, these featuring the New York Virtuoso Singers conducted by Harold Rosenbaum, as does the release's sole instrumental work, Five for Piano, this one given a stellar performance by Blair McMillen. On the choral front, the recording begins with Cædmon's Hymn, written in the seventh century and in the composer's words “the oldest English of known authorship,” and ends with These Last Gifts, an English translation of a Latin text by Catullus concerning the premature death of his brother. At the album's centre is Hail Lovely and Pure, its fifteenth-century text credited to the Wakefield Master of Northern England and the recording's longest setting at thirteen minutes. Whereas organist David Enlow and four narrators accompany the choir on Cædmon's Hymn, the other two are performed a cappella by the New York Virtuoso Singers. Critical to the recording's impact are the performances delivered (separately) by mezzo-soprano Krista River and baritone Thomas Meglioranza, as well as pianist Donald Berman, who accompanies the singers throughout.

The evocative, centuries-leapfrogging character of Cædmon's Hymn is established when four chorus members speak the opening line of the text in Old English and atmospheric chords by Enlow follow. It's the gloriously entwining tapestry generated by the New York Virtuoso Singers that distinguishes the work most, however. The text for Hail Lovely and Pure, which comprises the first words spoken by the shepherds as they entered the stable to celebrate Jesus's birth, total eight lines only and as such are repeated with striking variations by the choral group, sometimes in a hush and elsewhere with declamatory force—a gripping, bravura performance by the vocal ensemble. At album's close, the haunting These Last Gifts presents the vocal group at its most luminous; still, as moving as it is, it's Hail Lovely and Pure that makes the strongest impression of all the pieces on the release.

The epic quality of the choral works naturally contrasts with the intimacy of the song performances by Berman, River, and Meglioranza. That's apparent the moment River and the pianist deliver James Wright's words in “Autumnal” with expressive feeling. Whereas melancholy shadows that performance, Meglioranza imbues Sir John Betjeman's text in the animated “Autumn 1964” with hope and a sense of rejoicing. Mood changes occur rapidly from song to song, with the celebratory joy of “Autumn 1964,” for example, offset by text in “Going” that alludes to death. Words by Lidian Emerson, Ralph Waldo's second wife, in the love song “Poem Composed in Sleep,” on the other hand, exude rapture in reflecting upon places where the narrator and her partner might walk together. While “Storm,” with text by Doolittle sung by Meglioranza, is tempestuous in the extreme, “Snowstorm in the Midwest,” the baritone featured again, is brooding, even doleful. Acerbic by comparison is “The Politician” for text by Spencer Appling that likens a politician to a crocodile.

Splitting the vocal performances between River and Meglioranza is effective for the variety it brings to the recording. Both execute McClelland's songs with conviction, and Berman shows himself to be an invaluable support to both. McMillen's no slouch in the piano department either, as demonstrated by his expert treatment of Five for Piano. Interestingly, even though it eschews text, the work hews to the project's poetry-related theme when each of its five parts was inspired by a different poem and poet, Edgar Allen Poe and Robert Burns among them. Contrast is pronounced here too, with the subdued “Shadow No More” and crepuscular “A Trace” far removed from the turbulence of “Demon Cloud.” In liner notes, the composer expresses heartfelt gratitude to the artists who gave their talents to the recording, with McClelland writing, “It is the fortunate composer who is able to work with such gifted people.” Listeners are indebted to them also, as well as to the composer, for the bounty of riches this splendid sampling of his work offers.

July 2023