Jul 24, 2024

Margaret Brouwer: Rhapsodies (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

The Art of Sailing at DawnRhapsody, Concerto for Orchestra; Symphony No. 1 “Lake Voices;” Path at Sunrise, Masses of Flowers; Pluto (version for orchestra). ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop, conductor. NAXOS 8.559933

Once again we find ourselves auditioning music by a composer we are encountering for the first time. Before beginning this review, I did a quick search of Classical Candor’s past postings to see whether John Puccio had ever reviewed any of her music, but he had not. Therefore, this is the premier review of music by the American composer Maragaret Brouwer (b. 1940) to appear on this website. But after listening extensively to this release, spending more time with it than any CD in recent memory – to the point that it was beginning to drive my poor wife bonkers – I still don’t feel as though I really have anything all that insightful to say about it. A statement Brouwer makes in her liner notes offers a clue as to why: “When composing, I generally work with a musical motif and let it evolve and transform in various ways. Later, I realize how the music reflects my own thoughts and experiences.” 

Hmmm… Perhaps I am guilty of some variation of the intentional fallacy when I report finding her statement somewhat on the odd side. On the other hand, I can understand how some could have a musical inspiration, which after all is abstract, and only later realize how the end result might have reflected – at least in some deeply personal respects – thoughts, experiences, or emotional reactions to those thoughts and experiences. In any event, Brouwer provides brief notes about each of the five compositions on the program, in which she reveals more about her intentions and whatever emotional connections may or may not be associated with each.

 

The opening piece, The Art of Sailing at Dawn, is as its title implies a fairly straightforward tone poem that evokes the feeling of sailing at dawn. From the bird cry that opens the piece to the gentle sense of motion on the waves, it is a peaceful evocation of a smooth sail on a calm lake. The next composition, Rhapsody, Concerto for Orchestra, begins in much the same mood as the sailing piece, but the after the tranquil opening section (“Regrets”), the energy level picks up for the final two sections (“Airs and Rhapsodies” and “Dance”). 

 

In his recent review of Paavo Järvi’s traversal of Mendelssohn’s complete symphonies which you can find here), our resident musicologist Ryan Ross noted that symphonies should not be regarded as having necessarily to fit into the classical Haydn-Mozart-Beethoven structure. We can certainly think of wonderful symphonies by Mahler, Sibelius, and other composers who demonstrate that point. Brouwer’s Symphony No. 1 “Lake Voices” certainly does not strike the ears as a traditional symphony might, with its three movements joined together without a pause and its relatively brief duration (17:19). “Listening to Symphony No. 1 “Lake Voices” now, I can see that I was replaying my young life. The sounds reflect those I knew growing up in the Dutch/American community of the Holland, Michigan area… The recurring melody in this work is reminiscent of the modal, somber, moody but beautiful church hymns we sang with great gusto, conviction and powerful voices. Overlaying the recurring Dutch hymn-like melody in Symphony No. 1 “Lake Voices” is the ever-present sound of the lake.” It is a dramatic, expressive work, somewhat dark in tone, with – to these ears at least – an undercurrent of anger. YMMV.

 

Of her symphony and the final piece on the album, Brouwer offers the following reflection: “Symphony No. 1 and Plutowere composed between 1996 and 1999 during an emotional period for me. Within four years, my husband, then my mother, then my father passed away. Returning to Pluto now, I hear my anger and grief suffered during that time. Those feelings fit equally well with the musical description of Pluto, the god of death and the underworld.” The work was commissioned by the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra as a sequel to Holst’s The Planets, with Brouwer’s original version including a part for a women’s chorus that this orchestral version replaces with some writing for flutes and oboes. As you might infer from Brouwer’s description, it is a dramatic-sounding piece, expressive of tumult and with an ending most abrupt. Hard to imagine as a fitting addition to The Planets, but entertaining enough on its own.

 

Wholly different in tone is the piece that precedes Pluto on the program, Path at Sunrise, Masses of Flowers.Conductor Marin Alsop (left)  has chosen to vary the emotional tone with some soothing music after the more intense music that has come just before. As you might readily surmise from the title, Path at Sunrise, Masses of Flowers is a tone poem, meant to evoke a stroll along a beautiful garden path at first light. Not all is dreamlike and misty, however; the colors of the flowers are bold and striking as the morning sun shines down upon them. 

 

Although I cannot honestly report that the music of Margaret Brouwer has struck me as startlingly unique or original, it is undeniably pleasant and listenable. Kudos to Maestra Alsop and the folks at Naxos for presenting her orchestral music in such a well-performed, well-recorded production. Having liner notes from Ms. Brouwer giving context to the music makes this release even more attractive to those music lovers seeking to widen their musical horizon.

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Meet the Staff

Meet the Staff
John J. Puccio, Founder and Contributor

Understand, I'm just an everyday guy reacting to something I love. And I've been doing it for a very long time, my appreciation for classical music starting with the musical excerpts on the Big Jon and Sparkie radio show in the early Fifties and the purchase of my first recording, The 101 Strings Play the Classics, around 1956. In the late Sixties I began teaching high school English and Film Studies as well as becoming interested in hi-fi, my audio ambitions graduating me from a pair of AR-3 speakers to the Fulton J's recommended by The Stereophile's J. Gordon Holt. In the early Seventies, I began writing for a number of audio magazines, including Audio Excellence, Audio Forum, The Boston Audio Society Speaker, The American Record Guide, and from 1976 until 2008, The $ensible Sound, for which I served as Classical Music Editor.

Today, I'm retired from teaching and use a pair of bi-amped VMPS RM40s loudspeakers for my listening. In addition to writing for the Classical Candor blog, I served as the Movie Review Editor for the Web site Movie Metropolis (formerly DVDTown) from 1997-2013. Music and movies. Life couldn't be better.

Karl Nehring, Editor and Contributor

For more than 20 years I was the editor of The $ensible Sound magazine and a regular contributor to both its equipment and recordings review pages. I would not presume to present myself as some sort of expert on music, but I have a deep love for and appreciation of many types of music, "classical" especially, and have listened to thousands of recordings over the years, many of which still line the walls of my listening room (and occasionally spill onto the furniture and floor, much to the chagrin of my long-suffering wife). I have always taken the approach as a reviewer that what I am trying to do is simply to point out to readers that I have come across a recording that I have found of interest, a recording that I think they might appreciate my having pointed out to them. I suppose that sounds a bit simple-minded, but I know I appreciate reading reviews by others that do the same for me — point out recordings that they think I might enjoy.

For readers who might be wondering about what kind of system I am using to do my listening, I should probably point out that I do a LOT of music listening and employ a variety of means to do so in a variety of environments, as I would imagine many music lovers also do. Starting at the more grandiose end of the scale, the system in which I do my most serious listening comprises Marantz CD 6007 and Onkyo CD 7030 CD players, NAD C 658 streaming preamp/DAC, Legacy Audio PowerBloc2 amplifier, and a pair of Legacy Audio Focus SE loudspeakers. I occasionally do some listening through pair of Sennheiser 560S headphones. I miss the excellent ELS Studio sound system in our 2016 Acura RDX (now my wife's daily driver) on which I had ripped more than a hundred favorite CDs to the hard drive, so now when driving my 2022 Accord EX-L Hybrid I stream music from my phone through its adequate but not outstanding factory system. For more casual listening at home when I am not in my listening room, I often stream music through the phone into a Vizio soundbar system that has tolerably nice sound for such a diminutive physical presence. And finally, at the least grandiose end of the scale, I have an Ultimate Ears Wonderboom II Bluetooth speaker for those occasions where I am somewhere by myself without a sound system but in desperate need of a musical fix. I just can’t imagine life without music and I am humbly grateful for the technology that enables us to enjoy it in so many wonderful ways.

William (Bill) Heck, Webmaster and Contributor

Among my early childhood memories are those of listening to my mother playing records (some even 78 rpm ones!) of both classical music and jazz tunes. I suppose that her love of music was transmitted genetically, and my interest was sustained by years of playing in rock bands – until I realized that this was no way to make a living. The interest in classical music was rekindled in grad school when the university FM station serving as background music for studying happened to play the Brahms First Symphony. As the work came to an end, it struck me forcibly that this was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard, and from that point on, I never looked back. This revelation was to the detriment of my studies, as I subsequently spent way too much time simply listening, but music has remained a significant part of my life. These days, although I still can tell a trumpet from a bassoon and a quarter note from a treble clef, I have to admit that I remain a nonexpert. But I do love music in general and classical music in particular, and I enjoy sharing both information and opinions about it.

The audiophile bug bit about the same time that I returned to classical music. I’ve gone through plenty of equipment, brands from Audio Research to Yamaha, and the best of it has opened new audio insights. Along the way, I reviewed components, and occasionally recordings, for The $ensible Sound magazine. Most recently I’ve moved to my “ultimate system” consisting of a BlueSound Node streamer, an ancient Toshiba multi-format disk player serving as a CD transport, Legacy Wavelet II DAC/preamp/crossover, dual Legacy PowerBloc2 amps, and Legacy Signature SE speakers (biamped), all connected with decently made, no-frills cables. With the arrival of CD and higher resolution streaming, that is now the source for most of my listening.

Ryan Ross, Contributor

I started listening to and studying classical music in earnest nearly three decades ago. This interest grew naturally out of my training as a pianist. I am now a musicologist by profession, specializing in British and other symphonic music of the 19th and 20th centuries. My scholarly work has been published in major music journals, as well as in other outlets. Current research focuses include twentieth-century symphonic historiography, and the music of Jean Sibelius, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Malcolm Arnold.

I am honored to contribute writings to Classical Candor. In an age where the classical recording industry is being subjected to such profound pressures and changes, it is more important than ever for those of us steeped in this cultural tradition to continue to foster its love and exposure. I hope that my readers can find value, no matter how modest, in what I offer here.


Bryan Geyer, Technical Analyst

I initially embraced classical music in 1954 when I mistuned my car radio and heard the Heifetz recording of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. That inspired me to board the new "hi-fi" DIY bandwagon. In 1957 I joined one of the pioneer semiconductor makers and spent the next 32 years marketing transistors and microcircuits to military contractors. Home audio DIY projects remained a personal passion until 1989 when we created our own new photography equipment company. I later (2012) revived my interest in two channel audio when we "downsized" our life and determined that mini-monitors + paired subwoofers were a great way to mate fine music with the space constraints of condo living.

Visitors that view my technical papers on this site may wonder why they appear here, rather than on a site that features audio equipment reviews. My reason is that I tried the latter, and prefer to publish for people who actually want to listen to music; not to equipment. My focus is in describing what's technically beneficial to assure that the sound of the system will accurately replicate the source input signal (i. e. exhibit high accuracy) without inordinate cost and complexity. Conversely, most of the audiophiles of today strive to achieve sound that's euphonic, i.e. be personally satisfying. In essence, audiophiles seek sound that's consistent with their desire; the music is simply a test signal.

Mission Statement

It is the goal of Classical Candor to promote the enjoyment of classical music. Other forms of music come and go--minuets, waltzes, ragtime, blues, jazz, bebop, country-western, rock-'n'-roll, heavy metal, rap, and the rest--but classical music has been around for hundreds of years and will continue to be around for hundreds more. It's no accident that every major city in the world has one or more symphony orchestras.

When I was young, I heard it said that only intellectuals could appreciate classical music, that it required dedicated concentration to appreciate. Nonsense. I'm no intellectual, and I've always loved classical music. Anyone who's ever seen and enjoyed Disney's Fantasia or a Looney Tunes cartoon playing Rossini's William Tell Overture or Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 can attest to the power and joy of classical music, and that's just about everybody.

So, if Classical Candor can expand one's awareness of classical music and bring more joy to one's life, more power to it. It's done its job. --John J. Puccio

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"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa

"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa