(++++) DISCOVERED AND REDISCOVERED

Fernande Decruck: Sonata in C-sharp for Alto Saxophone or Viola and Orchestra; Poème Héroïque for Trumpet, Horn and Orchestra; Concerto for Harp and Orchestra. Carrie Koffman, saxophone; Amy McCabe, trumpet; Leelanee Sterrett, horn; Chen-Yu Huang, harp; Jackson Symphony Orchestra conducted by Matthew Aubin. Claves. $18.99.

Barbara Harbach: Orchestral Music VI—Visions of Hildegard; Mischances of Life; The Sound the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky; Eclipsis Lunae; Spaindango—A Tango Caprice. London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by David Angus. MSR Classics. $14.95.

The Fabulous Sir John: A Tribute to the Late Sir John Manduell. Divine Art. $18.99.

     An exceptionally talented French composer of the first half of the 20^th century, Fernande Decruck (1896-1954) is best known for the 40-or-so pieces she wrote for saxophone, some of which were performed by her husband, Maurice Decruck (who also played clarinet and bass). But “best known” may be a bit much, since Fernande Decruck nowadays is barely known at all. She had an excellent grounding in music, having won prizes for harmony, fugue, counterpoint, and piano accompaniment at the Paris Conservatory, and later taught harmony at the Conservatoire de Toulouse. On the strength of a new Claves recording of three of her concertante works, her obscurity is unjustified and she certainly deserves at least an occasional place in concerts and on recordings. This disc shows her to be a primarily tonal composer with a fine sense of how to balance a solo instrument against an orchestra. The gloomily thoughtful opening of her four-movement Sonata in C-sharp for Alto Saxophone or Viola and Orchestra sets a mood that carries effectively throughout the piece, whose middle movements are intriguingly titled Noël (referring to a traditional French Christmas carol) and Fileuse (“spinning”). Decruck effectively explores the full range of the saxophone in this work, and even though its overall impression is on the dark side, it is more a piece of thoughtfulness and inward focus than one of grand tragedy or even significant pathos. Carrie Koffman plays the work with lovely tone and a high degree of sensitivity, and is well-supported by the Jackson Symphony Orchestra conducted by Matthew Aubin – indeed, the ensemble provides first-rate support throughout this disc, all three of whose offerings are world première recordings. That is quite a surprise in light of the quality of the music, and an even bigger surprise is that Decruck’s three-movement Poème Héroïque appears never to have been performed before, much less recorded. That goes beyond “a shame” to being outright shameful: this is a wonderfully expressive, broadly conceived piece in which the solo trumpet (Amy McCabe) and horn (Leelanee Sterrett) blend, contrast and entwine in very lovely fashion, with the beautifully scored second movement (Andante espressivo) contrasting especially well with the finale, which has almost-Ivesian sound and pacing. And Decruck clearly had composing abilities that went well beyond the saxophone and other winds: her four-movement Concerto for Harp and Orchestra casts the orchestra in a lighter, more-transparent guise than do the other two works on this disc, quite suitable to allow the wistful elegance of the harp to come through and, at times, to dominate the music’s expressiveness quite thoroughly (as in the lovely opening of the Andante). Decruck manages to allow other solo instruments to come to the fore or to play along in short duos with the harp – violin, trumpet, flute – while never losing sight of the harp’s prominence in the overall structure of the concerto. There is more bounce and a slightly more modern sound in this concerto than in the other works on the disc, and Chen-Yu Huang handles the solo role with just the right mixture of dexterity and emotion. This is a remarkable CD on many levels, the most significant of which is the sense that Fernande Decruck has gone unacknowledged (or at least under-acknowledged) for far too long – perhaps because many of her significant works, including all those heard here, date to the tumultuous years of World War II. It is a commonplace nowadays to note that there is a great deal of excellent music from many composers in many time periods that has fallen by the wayside for less-than-obvious reasons. That is certainly the case with these pieces and this composer: the disc whets the appetite for hearing considerably more of Decruck’s work.

     There is, on the other hand, no shortage of recordings of the music of Barbara Harbach (born 1946), thanks to an extensive and still-growing set of CDs, released by MSR Classics, in which Harbach’s works, both orchestral and chamber, are thoroughly explored. The latest (+++) disc of her orchestral music is the sixth, and it is Volume 15 in the entire set of Harbach releases on this label. All five pieces on the CD are world première recordings, but a couple of them will seem more than a trifle familiar to listeners who already own other releases in the series. The three-movement Visions of Hildegard (2018) on this disc is an orchestral version of a chamber work of the same title released on the sixth MSR Classics CD of Harbach’s chamber music. In that form (for violin and piano) or this one (for larger ensemble), the piece is a tribute to Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), whose own music has become rather well-known in recent years. The piece’s title represents not only Harbach’s visions of Hildegard but also Hildegard’s own visions – although the music, while thoughtful and even moving, is a touch too placid to sustain well for its full 15 minutes. Another reworking of chamber music on this CD is The Sound the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky (2018), a four-movement piece for soprano, violin and piano in its chamber form (available on the same prior release that contains the violin-and-piano Hildegard tribute). The work’s title is the title of the third movement in the chamber work, but the orchestral piece contains only three movements, and the titular one is absent. The first and third movements of the orchestral version bear the same titles as the chamber one: And Musing Awhile and Trail of Tears. But instead of two additional movements, the orchestral work has one, called Luna and Stella. The piece is intended as a “cause” work about Ojibwe history and Native American history in general, and seems designed mainly for people already familiar with, perhaps even immersed in, the topic on which it focuses. The longest work on the orchestral CD is the five-movement Mischances of Life (2018), which percolates along rather lightheartedly for a piece with this title (although the title does not, after all, say “tragedies”). Harbach, always a skilled orchestrator, is particularly adept here in handling the balance within individual orchestral sections and between one full section and the next – and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under David Angus, in this work and throughout the CD, plays with refinement and a sure sense of style, pacing, and understanding of Harbach’s esthetic. Two shorter, single-movement pieces fill out the CD. Eclipsis Lunae (2017) suitably blends nocturnal and dramatic feelings, while Spaindango—A Tango Caprice (2018) is light and bouncy, surface-level in a good way, and a genuinely enjoyable conclusion to the disc. The Harbach series seems mainly designed for listeners with a penchant for completeness – and it may be quite a while for this set of releases to be complete. For now, each of the CDs shows something different in Harbach’s compositional style, and each gives interested listeners a chance to hear some previously unrecorded material by a talented contemporary composer.

     The talents of Sir John Manduell (1928-2017) included composition but went considerably beyond his creation of music: Manduell was a well-known producer, teacher, and artistic director in Great Britain. However, he is virtually unknown in the United States in any of his roles, in all of which he functioned in the United Kingdom; and while he is famed within the music profession in Europe, he is not exactly a household name outside the music field, even on that side of the pond. So a CD devoted to tributes to Manduell is by definition a limited-interest item – and two CDs of tributes would seem to be over-the-top. But that is what Divine Art is offering: The Fabulous Sir John is an add-on to a previous tribute disc called Songs for Sir John. In some ways, the new (+++) disc is actually a better tribute than the earlier one: the previous disc included works by 16 contemporary composers, while the new one offers works by only five – but one of them is Manduell himself, so this disc is a way for the uninitiated to hear some music written by the person who is being lauded. Nor is it a small amount of music: nearly 40 minutes of the CD’s 65 are devoted to works by Manduell, and an additional piece, the four-minute Aria for Sir John by Adam Gorb (born 1958), sets the scene for the pieces by Manduell himself. Gorb’s piece is fine – sensitive without being overly mournful – but Manduell’s own are something of a mixed bag. Elegy has some sensibilities in common with Gorb’s work; Recitative and Aria, although not a vocal work, has the right approach to justify its title, although its insistent dissonance is a bit much; Trois Chansons de la Renaissance offers three pieces that are vocal (sung by soprano Rachel Speirs), and here the settings are first-rate, keeping the words clear while providing very apt piano support (Peter Lawson is the pianist); Bell Birds from Nelson is rather obvious, if pleasant, in its use of recorder (played by John Turner); Nocturne and Scherzo, the longest Manduell work offered here, contrasts its sections suitably if not especially surprisingly; and Tom’s Twinkle is a nice little 90-second bit of fluff with, again, a recorder focus. After the Manduell-composed pieces on this disc, there is A Dark Waltz by Michael Berkeley (born 1948) – the piece is more crepuscular than genuinely dark-hued. Then Speirs returns, this time accompanied by the Victoria String Quartet, for 5 Songs from “Songs of Innocence” by William Alwyn (1905-1985). The words by William Blake have attracted many composers, and Alwyn’s settings are fine, although some of the vocal lines are rather overdone for poems that Blake intended to be un-ironic presentations of naïve feelings (in contrast to his Songs of Experience). The disc concludes with Memento Mary Magdalene by Richard Stoker (1938-2021), which uses recorder and string quartet to produce a quiet and thoughtful ending for this tribute disc. All the performers – also including Linda Merrick (clarinet), Benedict Holland (violin), Kim Becker (viola), and Jennifer Langridge (cello) – perform with sensitivity and a sense of suitable deference to the person whose accomplishments the CD is designed to celebrate. But none of the music, including that by Manduell himself, is so noteworthy as to command attention beyond that associated with this particular memorial project. As well-intentioned as this second Manduell tribute disc is, it remains, like the first one, an offering strictly aimed at people familiar with and appreciative of Manduell, especially ones for whom his many significant musical roles were important during his lifetime.