Chamber Music (American) - BILOTTA, J. / COPLAND, A. / ACTOR, L. / BETTS, D. (Premonitions) (John G. Bilotta - Aaron Copland - Lee Actor)

Approfondimenti

American chamber music is alive and well as evidenced by this collection, entitled Premonitions, of five such compositions. Ranging from Aaron Copland to living composers such as Lee Actor and Donald Betts, the program features modernistic, abstract works for a variety of chamber ensemble configurations. The disc opens with what is perhaps the easiest piece to grasp -- John Bilotta's Petroushka Dreams -- in which the composer depicts the aftermath of Stravinsky's mischievous puppet. Scored for clarinet, cello, and piano, this is also among the more successful performances on the disc. Continuing with another of Bilotta's compositions, I Fiori Di Seta, the flute and alto flute players perform their virtuosic parts admirably, but the accompanying string trio is woefully out of tune and less rhythmically accurate. The same disappointment exists in Copland's abstract Quartet for Piano and Strings wherein the tranquility and aloofness written into the score are lost because of a technically inferior execution. It should also be noted that the jacket cover lists three different pianists for this piece, with no obvious way to discern which of them is actually playing. Problems of intonation and precision abate for the end of the program with Lee Actor's astoundingly complex String Quartet No. 1 (given a riveting performance by the Boston String Quartet) and Donald Betts' Soundings: Parable (brilliantly delivered by clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, the composer on piano, and Timothy Betts on viola). The CD also includes a .pdf study score for all but the Copland quartet, a welcome and useful inclusion when approaching new music.

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