Recent Releases No. 51 (CD Reviews)

by Karl Nehring

Atmospheriques Vol. I. Anna Thorvaldsdottir: Catamorphosis; Missy Mazzoli: Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres); Daniel Bjarnason: From Space I Saw Earth; Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir: Clockworking for Orchestra. Bára Gisladóttir: ÓS. Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Bjarnason (conductor). Sono Luminus DSL-92267

 

One the one hand, Atmospheriques is an appropriate title for this new release from Sono Luninus in that all of the pieces are certainly “atmospheric” in terms of evoking sensory impressions; on the other hand, at least two of the pieces on the album – Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) and Daniel Bjarnason’s From Space I Saw Earth – have ambitions that extend far beyond our home planet’s atmosphere. As violist and music writer Doyle Armbrust writes in the CD booklet: “Despite a bewildering insistence by journalists to characterize music written by those with Icelandic surnames as a monolith, the entries on this tracklist are as singular as hand blown glass. The inclusion of American sonic clairvoyant Missy Mazzoli is a helpful geographic foil here, but there is one element fusing all of these inventions: Your person is about to feel minuscule or massive, by contrast to – or motivated by – these sounds.”

The most ambitious composition is that which begins the program, Catamorphosis by Anna Thorvaldsdottir (b. 1977). This is a powerful piece that projects both solidity and transparency as it swells and subsides, at times evoking volcanic forces, at other times perhaps the ocean, the shifting of tectonic plates, or whatever your imagination might conjure throughout its 21 spellbinding minutes. We have reviewed a couple of works by this intriguing composer before, one for piano (see review here) and one for string quartet (reviewed here), both of which were interesting but neither of which prepared these ears for the splendor of this new work. Next on the program is the only piece by a non-Icelandic composer, Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) by the American composer Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980), a work that recently received another recording that was recently released on the BIS label as part of an all-Mazzoli disc that we reviewed here. This version under Bjarnason’s baton  is slightly more expansive than the BIS version, making the piece feel grander and more expressive. Spheres is another work that although relatively short in duration at just over nine minutes is grand in the scope of its imaginative scale, evoking a sense of cosmic wonder and mystery.

 

The remaining three compositions are all by Icelandic composers starting with From Space I Saw Earth, conducted by the composer himself, Daniel Bjarnason (b. 1979). The overall impression is something of a blend of the first two pieces, with the sense of the waves of Catamorphosis and the vastness of scale of Sinfonia (of Orbiting Spheres), but of course completely different from those two compositions. Toward the end, Bjarnason employs the percussion section to dramatic effect. The percussion section also plays a significant role in Clockworking for Orchestra by composer and violinist Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir (b. 1980), whose beautiful EP of choral music we reviewed here.Clockworking gradually but progressively builds up a sense of urgency by adding percussion to the sound of the orchestra, the rhythm seeming to remind the listener of the urgencies of life. It is a compelling nine minutes of music. Of the final piece on the program, ÓS by composer and double bassist Bára Gisladóttir (b. 1989), Armbrust writes: “is ÓS gasping in air, or desperately exhaling? Whatever your observation, and as with every waypoint on this illusory itinerary, the answer is likely: both.” Hmmm. I’m not sure about the breathing metaphor; however, in light of the fact that the biographical information in the CD booklet states that “her work is generally based on thoughts regarding the approach and concept of sound as a living being,” I guess I can see where Armbrust found his inspiration. In any event, it’s a striking piece, perhaps a soundscape of an alien landscape, forbiddingly attractive over its brief six minutes. 

Kudos to Sono Luminus for putting together an appealing program of contemporary music, recorded in vivid, full-range sound. There is fairly extensive background information provided about the composers, although it would have been useful to have more information about the music itself. There are actually two discs in the package: a standard CD, which is what I auditioned, plus a Blu-ray surround-sound disc that apparently supports several different formats including 5.1 DTS, 9.1 Auro, 2.0 LPCM, and 9.1 Dolby Atmos. If future volumes in this series live up to the high standard set by this release, then we are in for quite a treat indeed!

 

Dominic Miller: Vagabond. All Change; Cruel but Fair; Open Heart; Vaugines; Clandestin; Altea; Mi Viejo; Lone Waltz. Dominic Miller, guitar; Jacob Karlzon, piano/keyboard; Nicolas Fiszman, bass; Ziv Ravitz, drums. ECM 2704 458 9048

 

Dominic Miller (b. 1960) is an Argentina-born guitarist who has long been a member of rock luminary Sting's road band. There is a fascinating in-depth interview with Miller and Sting on Rick Beato’s YouTube channel wherein both musicians pay homage to J.S. Bach, saying that they study and practice his music daily. Like his two previous albums on the ECM label, Vagabond is not at all a rock album, lest any readers worry. His first album for ECM, Silent Light, was a solo guitar outing, accompanied on a few cuts by some subtle percussion, while his second, Absinthe, (reviewed here) featured his acoustic guitar in a quartet setting with the unusual inclusion of bandoneon rather than piano as on this latest release. Once again, you might expect an album recorded by quartet led by a guitarist who composed all of the music to feature high-speed virtuosic guitar solos, but that is not the case here. The music is generally quiet, laid-back, and contemplative, with cooperative interplay among the musicians rather than trading off solos. The cut Mi Viejo(“My Old Man”) is a solo guitar outing of great tenderness; although it is brief at just over two minutes, it obviously carries a great depth of meaning for Miller, which he communicates though the abstract but powerful medium of music. The sound is rich and reverberant in the traditional ECM style. Although this album is brief (around 32 minutes), it is a quiet little treasure, a refuge from the madness, a softly glowing gem.