VA (Bakker / Järvlepp / Muncaster / Mier): Legends & Light
Navona Records

Given that multi-movement works by four composers are featured on Legends & Light, one understandably would expect it to be less cohesive than an album of material by a single figure; surprisingly, this well-curated collection impresses for how satisfyingly complementary its compositions are, an impression in part attributable to the symmetrical design of the presentation. Respective full-orchestra works by Han Bakker and Shirley Mier frame two strings-only settings by Jan Järvlepp and Clive Muncaster on the release; further, the compilation's contents are unified by the strong melodic emphasis each composer brings to the work in question. As a result, one concise movement segues naturally into the next, and the transition from each work to the one following occurs smoothly, too. Adding to the recording's appeal, a few interspersed moments of humour add levity (see Järvlepp's “Dance of the Monkey Man”) and in some cases programmatic content makes the material, much of it neo-tonal in style as opposed to experimental, even more engaging.

The album opens with the three-part tone poem Canzona III: Hidden in Her Light, the final installment in a triptych by the Netherlands-based Bakker and like the earlier parts a hymn (or canticle, in the composer's own words) to the sun. Performed with conviction by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra (Petr Vronský conducting), each of the movements plays like a short story or symphonic poem for orchestra, with the material enlivened by folk melodies, mood contrasts, and rhythmic intensity. Whether it be the sober “Moderato” or graceful “Allegretto,” the soundworlds evoked by Bakker are richly evocative, drawing as they do from the full sonic resources of the orchestra, and redolent of mystery, mysticism, and drama.

Born in Ottawa to Estonian and Finnish parents in 1953, Järvlepp is represented by the lively Suite for Strings, also performed by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, with Stanislav Vavrínek the conductor. Järvlepp conceived the suite, which received its 2010 premier in Ottawa, as a pedagogical work designed to train young players in particular skills. Each of the four movements emphasizes a specific technique, with the vibrant opener, for instance, emphasizing rapidly shifting time signatures and the fourth rhythm, syncopation in particular. “Changing Times” arrests the ear with the strings' spirited playing and winding melodic patterns, whereas the second, “Shifting Cargo,” induces chromatic tension when a short, somewhat sea-sickly phrase repeats over and over at different octaves. A mini-adagio, “A Thoughtful Moment” is suitably ponderous and subdued; replete with finger snaps, the closing “Dance of the Monkey Man,” on the other hand, is celebratory and swings with hoedown-like abandon.

Composed by Sussex-born Clive Muncaster when he was living at Redcliffe Gardens in London, Redcliffe Gardens Suite for Strings follows, its five parts also played by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Vavrínek again conducting. The opening “Petronella,” at eight minutes the longest track on the release, sets a high bar with fulsome outpourings that are by turns languorous, plaintive, and romantic. The four that follow hardly lapse, however, with each exuding irresistible charm. Trying to resist the wistful beauty of “Stella,” for example, is futile (Muncaster's title refers to the name of a girl, a senior at his pre-prep school, he was attracted to but never met), and one can't help but be struck by the elegance of the “Fuga Romantica” or the lighthearted “Girandole.”

Closing out the release is Of Lakes and Legends, performed by the Croatian Chamber Orchestra (Miran Vaupotic conducting) and the most programmatic of the works presented. A composer, music director, and music educator based in the Twin Cities, Mier set the suite's four movements at White Bear Lake in Minnesota, with each part connected to a story or historic location. Folk elements emerge in the material that lend it an epic, timeless quality that transcends the specific subject matter of the individual movements. Romantic longing is tenderly conveyed by the orchestra in “Legend of the White Bear (Manitou Island),” its focus a love story between members of warring tribes, a Sioux maiden and a Chippewa brave, that culminates in the brave defending her from a white bear and dying along with the creature in the process. “Ride on the Rails (Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad Depot)” distills into rather Copland-esque form a train engine's journey from St. Paul to White Bear Lake in 1868 and the joy experienced by the passengers as they absorb the glories of the natural landscape during the trip. With woodwinds and strings evoking the intimate piano recitals Helen Fillebrown (1884-1977) conducted in her home long ago, “Parlor Recital (Fillebrown House)” arouses a nostalgic ache, while “Regatta (White Bear Yacht Club)” pays effervescent tribute to the boat builders of White Bear Lake and in keeping with the subject matter is appropriately high-spirited.

November 2018