Virgil Thomson: Portraits, Self-Portraits and Songs
Everbest Music

How fitting that the cover photograph selected for this bountiful collection should be one showing the American composer Virgil Thomson (1896-1989) in a moment of pure joy, an image far removed from the kind of sober portrait typically used to present an artist. That spirit manifests itself throughout this delightful double-CD reissue, as essential a release for Thomson admirers as could be imagined.

Now titled Portraits, Self-Portraits and Songs, the release resurrects two classic, out-of-print Thomson albums, Portraits and Self-Portraits and Mostly About Love (previously issued on the now defunct Northeastern Records), the first an instrumental set of chamber pieces and the second vocal-based. Twenty-two works in total appear, with many of them multi-part and all distilling his endearing wit and celebratory spirit into compact musical form. Recorded under the supervision of pianist Anthony Tommasini (also the author of highly regarded books on the composer), the collection, 155 minutes in total, is anything but lugubrious.

By way of a brief bio, the Kansas City-born Thomson spent much of his life in New York and Paris until his death at the Chelsea Hotel, where he lived for nearly fifty years. Living in Paris from 1925 to 1940, he studied with Nadia Boulanger and fraternized with Cocteau, Stein, Stravinsky, Joyce, Picasso, and others. Upon returning to the United States, he became chief music critic for the New York Herald Tribune until 1954, continued creating musical work, wrote eight books, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1949.

Originally issued in 1990, Portraits and Self-Portraits offers a generous sampling of the some 150 musical portraits the composer wrote between 1928 and 1989. They're marked by differences, obviously, in style and arrangement, yet common to all are freshness, vitality, and spontaneity (explained in part by the fact that Thomson composed these portraits with the subjects present in sessions lasting no more than ninety minutes).

The set begins with Five Ladies for Violin and Piano, melodic miniatures performed with feeling and conviction by Tommasini and violinist Sharan Leventhal. Even if one were to know nothing about the women for whom the pieces were written (three in 1930, the latest 1983), one would still come away with an impression of their personalities when the portraits are so sharply defined; much the same might be said of the subsequent Seven Selected Portraits for Solo Piano and the later Six Portraits for Solo Piano when the pieces range from stately and ponderous to lyrical and effervescent.

Whereas some portraits play like informal, salon-like reveries, others are more formally classical in nature. The three-part A Portrait of Two (1984) sees the pianist joined by bassoonist Ronald Haroutunian and oboist Frederic T. Cohen for an elegant chamber setting, after which Tommasini and Leventhal return for the four-movement Sonata for Violin and Piano (1930) and the oft-playful Three Portraits (1948), its “tango lullaby” depiction of Mlle. Flavie Alverez de Toledo particularly memorable. Elsewhere, Fenwick Smith and Leventhal entrance with their five-part Serenade for Flute and Violin (1930)—even when two are but seventeen and twenty-one seconds long. At disc's end, an ensemble presentation distinguishes Northeastern Suite, which presents five solo piano pieces arranged by Scott Wheeler for performance by all of the album's instrumentalists.

Compositional differences aside, melody is fundamental to Thomson's writing, which in turn bolsters the accessibility and immediacy of the disc's material. Portraits and Self-Portraits also exudes intimacy when solo and duet performances predominate and when Thomson generally favours simplicity in his writing. As the first disc comes to an end, you'll likely find yourself agreeing with the Boston Phoenix's characterization of the portraits as “an elegant combination of the cosmopolitan and the homespun.”

Released four years later, Mostly About Love features ten vocal works stretching from 1926, the date of Susie Asado, Thomson's first setting of Gertude Stein, to 1972, the year of his Frank O'Hara setting From “Sneden's Landing Variations.” Similar to the instrumental disc, the vocal one is intimate too, with most pieces pairing Tommasini with a single singer. Thomson's oft-lyrical settings are elevated by the exceptional calibre of the vocalists, namely Nancy Armstrong (soprano), D'Anna Fortunato (mezzo-soprano), Sanford Sylvan (baritone), Frank Kelley (tenor), Paul Kirby (tenor), and David Ripley (bass). The female singers' voices soar gloriously in their respective set-pieces, but their male counterparts impress also.

Among the highlights are marvelous renderings of the five-movement Praises and Prayers (1963) and Shakespeare Songs (1956-57) by the pianist and Fortunato, the four-part Mostly About Love (1959) featuring Armstrong and Tommasini, and Five Phrases from the Song of Solomon (1926), which couples Armstrong and percussionist James Russell Smith. Rather than fade, the vocal set ends on a magnificent high with two long-form works: Armstrong and the pianist pair a final time for the moving cantata Oraison funèbre de Henriette-Marie de France reine de la Grande-Bretagne (1930); and the coup de grace, 1927's Capital Capitals, which features Tommasini and the four male singers giving enthusiastic voice to a libretto treatment by Stein that's both daringly dada-like and mischievous. Adding considerably to the abundant satisfactions of the release is its booklet, which provides background info on Thomson, the performers, and the individuals captured in the portraits; lyrics also appear, which allows for an enhanced appreciation of the vocal set's material and in particular the two concluding works. All praise to Everbest Music for returning this treasure trove to the public sphere where it so rightfully belongs.

February 2021