Search - Thea Musgrave, Judith Shatin Allen, Linda Hall :: Narcissus: Musgrave/Kairos: Shatin

Beautiful works, beautifully played

Steve Benner | Lancaster, UK | 11/27/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD brings together works for flute from two contemporary composers, one well known, the other less so. All are linked to a greater or lesser degree by their narrative natures, and their portrayal of legendary or mystical people or events.The disc opens with two works by Scottish-born composer, Thea Musgrave. Her "Narcissus" (1987) is a lyrical piece, and a fine piece of musical theatre, to boot. Between them, the flute and a digital delay device act out the story of Narcissus obsessed by his own image. The digital delay effects are used to perfection to conjure up the rippling water-bound reflection, ever bound to mimic the actions of the main protagonist. "Orpheo I" (1975) similarly portrays the Orpheus and Euridice legend. Again, the flute takes the part of the principal character, while a tape accompaniment, of gently processed flute playing, adds a nightmarish and otherworldly quality to the lines of the brooding soloist. Musgrave cleverly works in suggestions of other composers' musical renderings of the same story: most noticeably those of Gluck and Stravinsky. These serve to suggest that Orpheo's journey is more imaginary than real. Judith Shatin is a highly accomplished composer, whose music deserves to be better known than it is. She is also a talented wind player and her familiarity with the flute makes her compositions for this instrument particularly effective. Three of her works appear on this disc. "Gabriel's Wing" (1989) is a fairly short piece (9 mins) for flute and piano. It makes use of unusual flute-playing techniques to extend the instrument's sonorities. Throughout, it is never anything less than lyrical. "Fasting Heart" (1987) is scored for flute alone and also makes effective use of extended playing techniques. Beautiful as these works are, though, it is "Keiros" (1991) that is the real treasure here, with its (mostly) subtle real-time computer processing and special effects (derived entirely from the soloist) acting as a haunting accompaniment to virtuosic playing of the soloist.Patricia Spencer's playing on this disc is an absolute delight, and the production is flawless. The accompanying booklet notes are exemplary. My only complaint is that while the CD booklet gives detailed description of the various episodes portrayed in the narrative pieces, no use is made of indexing on the disc to help listeners locate themselves more easily. This is only a minor complaint, though, and can readily be dismissed as mere carping, especially considering this release's many pluses. This disc is one that should be in the collections of all lovers of serious flute music. Those listeners with traditional "classical" tastes need not be discouraged from buying on the grounds of either the modernity of this music or the presence of electronic and computer processing. Any fears that this music is cold, inhuman or just plain unpleasant can be dismissed entirely from mind."