Jessica Meyer: Ring Out
Bright Shiny Things

There's much to recommend this collection of original works by violist Jessica Meyer, but what stands out most of all is the conviction with which the material's delivered. The New York-based artist infuses her first composer-portrait album with a fierce, impassioned attack; in doing so, she no doubt inspired those joining her to do the same, with violinist Miranda Cuckson, countertenor Nicholas Tamagna, cellists Caleb van der Swaagh and Andrew Yee, and pianist Adam Marks investing their playing with an emotional expressiveness equal to Meyer's own. Adding to the album's appeal, the inclusion of the marvelous vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth on the closing track, Ring Out, Wild Bells, makes the set all the more special.

Meyer's guests don't appear on every piece; instead, the musicians appear in different configurations, duos primarily. The material in no way suffers for being performed by one, two, or three individuals; on the contrary, it benefits for allowing room for those in question to assert themselves with authority (interestingly, the one solo string piece is not performed by Meyer but rather Yee). Another of Ring Out's selling points is variety, with the recording enhanced by two vocal settings appearing amongst the solo and duo pieces.

Yee, a member of the Attacca Quartet, joins Meyer on the opening But Not Until, its title an abbreviation of a line from Infinite Jest (“The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.”). The heat generated by the two verges on scalding, the cello and viola dueling at times like swordfighters. For seven minutes, their lines intertwine, unite, diverge, the viola at one moment soaring high over the cello and during another furiously sawing in tandem with it. Much like elsewhere on the release, contrasts of dynamics, tempo, and texture are exploited plentifully, the music alternating rapidly between elegiac and raw.

Meyer partners with Cuckson and van der Swaagh (all three of them members of the composer/performer collective counter)induction) for the three-part I Only Speak of the Sun, the composer drawing for inspiration this time from the thirteenth-century Persian poet Rumi. Similar to But Not Until, multiple colours and textures are explored by the viola, violin, and cello in the three movements, with the music encompassing a broad emotional spectrum and emphasizing Meyer's versatility as a composer. As the title of the central part intimates, “I shine on those who are forsaken . . . tear off the mask, your face is glorious” achieves an ecstatic quality during its most emphatic passages, whereas “I will bring you love's wine, for I am born of the sun” as naturally overflows with vivacity and joy.

Scored for solo scordatura (specially tuned) cello, 2014's Released receives from Yee a deeply felt rendering, the mournful tone of the piece consistent with the background details associated with it: the tragic death of a friend's mother in a car accident, which inspired Meyer to ponder the kind of profound inner experiences that might arise during life's final moments. The peacefulness achieved by Yee's playing as the work nears its end says much about what Meyer at least hopes is the outcome of that event. In the four-part Seasons of Basho, Meyer treats the cyclical changing of the seasons as a metaphor for the stages of love; it hardly surprises, then, that the work ranges fervently between intense passion, loneliness, and melancholy. Throughout the work, Meyer and pianist Marks draw bold emotional arcs, but it's the ultra-expressive singing of Tamagna that makes the strongest mark. His is anything but a polite, genteel performance.

October 2019