Ryan Truesdell: Synthesis: The String Quartet Sessions
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By any measure, Ryan Truesdell's Synthesis: The String Quartet Sessions is a staggering accomplishment. Over the course of three years, the Grammy Award-winning producer shepherded three hours of new music into being, some if it written by him but mostly by fourteen others specifically for this release. Those familiar with Truesdell for his Gil Evans Project ensemble and its well-received albums Lines of Color (2015) and Centennial (2012) will now see him as the catalyzing force that brought this epic, three-CD collection into being. As an act of curation alone, the release impresses mightily.

Synthesis comprises seventeen compositions, some multi-movement, by Joseph Borsellino III, Bob Brookmeyer, John Clayton, Alan Ferber, Miho Hazama, John Hollenbeck, Christine Jensen, Asuka Kakitani, Oded Lev-Ari, Jim McNeely, Vanessa Perica, Rufus Reid, Dave Rivello, Nathan Parker Smith, and Truesdell. Of course the idea of merging jazz and classical isn't new, yet while composers such as Hindemith and Stravinsky integrated jazz into their writing, Synthesis comes at it from the opposite direction by having jazz composers pull for inspiration from the string quartet tradition. Not surprisingly, improvisation works its way into many a piece, though some are wholly through-composed. After each composer's piece was rehearsed for three days, it was captured in one day at Oktaven Audio in Mount Vernon, New York; as a result, Synthesis was recorded in fifteen days spread across ten months.

While bassist Jay Anderson, clarinetist Anat Cohen, and percussionist Hollenbeck make guest appearances, the material is primarily performed by seven string players in various combinations. The tremendous violinist Sara Caswell adds her solo artistry to four pieces, while cellist Jody Redhage Ferber and violinist Joyce Hammann are featured prominently in one apiece; violinist Lady Jess, violists Lois Martin and Orlando Wells, and cellist Noah Hoffeld round out the strings contingent. The string quartet is of course primarily associated with classical music, but these seven thoroughly experienced players are up to whatever stylistic challenge Truesdell's project throws their way. Despite the multiple directions pursued, Synthesis registers as a cohesive statement when diversity becomes the unifying principle.

Smith opens the set audaciously with the Baltic-flavoured thrust-and-parry of Where Can You Be?, the savage heat generated by Caswell, Hammann, Martin, and Redhage Ferber considerable and Caswell already branding herself the star attraction. The same personnel imbues Perica's A World Lies Waiting with the yearning the composer experienced when she wrote the piece after enduring the pandemic-related lockdown in Australia. There's a powerful lamenting side to the piece but also a livelier one that speaks to the joy of a world awakening to post-pandemic promise. Jensen's Tilting World likewise reflects on how the pandemic engendered shifts in reality, from interpersonal separations to work disruptions, with a supplicating Caswell making the most of her solo spot. Another feature for the violinist occurs during McNeely's Murmuration and Adagio, its swirling opening part a poetic evocation of starlings in flight and its second a soaring display of lyricism with the violinist gloriously leading the way. Her final spotlight emerges in Truesdell's Dança de Quarto (for Sara), whose radiant Brazilian choro feel is well-suited to her talents.

A definite highlight is Hazama's cheekily titled Chipmunk Timmy's Funny Sunny Day, in which the composer used the creature's rapid movements as a basis for the rhythmic character of an infectiously playful piece. Borsellino III's Paper Cranes distances itself from the others in augmenting string quartet with a funky electronic groove and bright electronic textures, the result an enticing confection that veritably oozes joy and rapture. Reid's contribution also differentiates itself in being formally titled String Quartet #1, with the opening movement marked by the unveiling of three tonally contrasting vignettes and the third a languorous elegy. The real surprises arrive, however, in the pizzicato-driven central movement and its oink-like screeches and scratches. As ear-catching are the dive-bombing gestures that punctuate both parts of Rivello's Two Reflections for String Quartet.

Truesdell's Suite for Clarinet and String Quartet grants Cohen a terrific showcase for his clarinet virtuosity. After setting the scene with the crepuscular “Shadows at Dawn” and sombre “Branches of Night” (the latter highlighted by a stirring clarinet cadenza), the breezy “Fire and Flowers” sees Cohen gliding across a pizzicato-driven base and “Image of Mystery” closing the circle by re-voicing the eight chords that got the work rolling. While Ferber's lyrical Violet Soul is distinguished by the beautiful cello tone of his wife, it's Caswell who's given the solo spot. As expected, she maximizes the opportunity with a brilliant turn that shows once again how effectively she uses technique to articulate feeling. The cellist is, however, featured (along with bassist Jay Anderson) on Truesdell's ethereal meditation Heart of Gold (for Jody), which grants her immaculate sound a glorious stage on which to present itself.

Elsewhere, Lev-Ari's Playground fascinates for the way “Copy Cat” and “Ropes & Ladders” integrate improvisation and game-playing into their design, a move that, in his words, makes the composer more facilitator than dictator. In writing her panoramic travelogue Melt, Kakitani drew on the heartbreaking photo of a starved polar bear marooned on a slowly melting iceberg to craft an impassioned statement about the devastating effects of climate change. The release concludes with a striking half-hour work by Hollenbeck. Structured in seven parts and titled after the site where the composer stayed during artist residencies at the Blue Mountain Center in the Adirondacks, Grey Cottage couples the string players with the composer on drums, marimba, and piano. Movement titles such as “My deer,” “dustish (for Meredith Monk),” and “jazz hands” might seem inrelated yet all allude to experiences Hollenbeck had at the site. As expected, multiple contrasts in tone and style occur throughout, with some parts melancholy and wistful and others playful; his instrument contributions, marimba here and drums there, add personality to the work too.

Suffice it so say, all of the selections reward in one way or another, especially when they're treated to such heartfelt and expressive readings by the musicians. Leave it to the intrepid Truesdell to extend the string quartet into exciting new territories, though he does so in collaboration with an incredible cast of writing and performing partners. Regardless, Synthesis wouldn't have come into being without him originating it and guiding it through its many stages. The result honours him and the many collaborators who joined him on this remarkable ride.

July 2024