Robert Paterson: The Four Seasons
American Modern Recordings

No better night at the concert hall might be imagined than hearing Vivaldi's The Four Seasons paired with Robert Paterson's same-titled opus, though such an event would be hardly less satisfying if the latter were presented alone. The world premiere recording of his creation collects four song cycles written over two decades into a ravishing, eighty-four-minute whole. Each of its parts can be performed separately, of course, yet the project rewards most when experienced in its entirety.

Paterson's structural plan satisfies on logical grounds: each song cycle was written for a different voice type, with each part representing a different season. The cycles are split between male and female singers, with soprano Marnie Breckenridge and mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert handling summer and autumn, respectively, and bass-baritone David Neal and tenor Alok Kumar winter and spring. For the songs' texts, the composer drew upon a variety of poets, among them Anne Sexton, Robert Creeley, Sharan Strange, Wallace Stevens, Dorothea Tanning, William Carlos Williams, Carl Sandburg, and Rita Dove (whereas male and female poets both appear in the autumn and spring cycles, summer features female poets exclusively and winter male only). Subtle connections emerge between the cycles, with winter and summer, for example, ending with scenes in New York City, in contrast to the spring cycle, which begins with the city.

The participants are first-rate, starting with the composer. The NYC-based Paterson has been the recipient of many an award, and his choral works, operas, and chamber pieces have been performed by numerous American orchestras and ensembles; he's also, it's worth noting, the house composer and co-founder of the American Modern Ensemble (AME), on whose house label, American Modern Recordings (AMR), The Four Seasons appears. Paterson didn't watch from the control room, by the way, during the recording process; he's credited as conductor for all four cycles.

The singers bring impressive pedigrees to the recording, with all having established themselves as foremost interpreters of classical music in all its century-spanning guises. They consistently elevate the songs with personality and performances marked by clarity and expressiveness. Providing playing that's supportive but not overbearing, six to seven musicians from AME accompany the singers in a sensitively balanced combination of vocal and instrumental sound. Consisting of voice, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion, the ensemble model Paterson adopted for his work was inspired by the one Schoenberg used for Pierrot Lunaire.

The music for The Four Seasons is distinguished by lyricism and a vivid sense of colour. Each cycle's mood is generally attuned to its season, such that a fresh, pastoral character informs spring whereas an at times solemn quality infuses winter. When Summer Songs opens the recording, the ear is immediately seduced by Paterson's alluring setting of “Summer Music” by May Sarton. The arrangement is masterfully handled, specifically the way in which the patterns are distributed amongst the instruments, and Breckenridge's richly resonant voice amplifies the radiance of the setting. Elegiac by comparison is the composer's dignified treatment of Sexton's “The Kite,” a tone in keeping with a text encouraging an appreciation for life's simple pleasures; a subtle ache of nostalgia similarly colours “Summer Night, Riverside” with words by Sara Teasdale reflecting on the timelessness of summer.

In contrast to many another setting, Tanning's “All Hallows' Eve” in Autumn Songs is marked by playful devilry, with even an occasional moment of dissonance sneaking in. More emblematic of fall with its anticipation of winter is Paterson's melancholic rendering of Dove's “November for Beginners”; thereafter, lilting rhythms help Sarton's “Leaves Before the Wind” suggest the image of leaves blown by the breeze. The work undergoes a dramatic change when Neal's deep bass-baritone follows the first half's performances by Breckenridge and Gaissert and when shadows cast a greyer spell upon Winter Songs such as Stevens's “The Snow Man,” Richard Wilbur's “Boy at the Window,” and Creeley's “Old Story.” The advent of Spring Songs brings with it a brightening of mood and Kumar in the vocal role. Whereas an expressive outpouring of delight infuses Edna St. Vincent Millay's “English Sparrows (Washington Square),” the music of “April 5, 1974,” written by Wilbur in honour of Robert Frost's one-hundredth birthday, is as embracing as the text. How fitting that this triumphant work should conclude with Paterson's uplifting treatment of Teasdale's “Spring Rain.”

June 2021