Bruce Stark: Serenade for Strings
Belle-Kane Music

At just over twelve minutes, this world premiere recording of Bruce Stark's Serenade for Strings is little more than a CD single, but the modest amount makes the listener eager to hear more of the American artist's music. A pianist as well as an award-winning composer, Stark has created solo, chamber, and orchestral works that draw upon his early years in southern California, the completion of a Master's Degree in composition at the Juilliard School, and a two-decade spell in Tokyo where he dedicated himself to writing music and making a living as an arranger and jazz pianist. A little over a decade ago he returned to the United States where he's now part of the music faculty at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Washington.

While he's written pieces for a variety of instruments, including piano and trombone, this recording originated as a three-movement work for strings and is here presented in a version for string quintet. Melodic, expressive, and largely tonal, Serenade for Strings is treated to an inspired reading by violinists John Kim and Hye Kyung Seo, violist Laura Renz, cellist Felix Kim, and contrabassist Todd Gowers and was, in fact, recorded at the DigiPen Institute on July 14, 2023.

The opening “Allegro Moderato” movement begins with a driving ostinato and the establishing of a rustic folk feel. Luscious string flourishes follow, with the five instruments simulating a considerably larger ensemble in their robust outpourings. The artful polyphony of bowed strings, pizzicato, and solo statements makes for an always stimulating presentation. Opening on a rather sorrowful note, the “Andante Cantabile” blossoms gradually into a complex, folk-tinged expression of haunting beauty. Animated by syncopated figures, the closing “Rondo” presents material that feels influenced by jazz, tango, and blues as much as classical and features a striking mid-movement pizzicato episode. Stark's intent was to create a work that “sings and dances with beauty, lyricism, and vibrant energy,” and the results show that the goal was assuredly met.

April 2024