(+++) FULL BLOWN

Alexander Tcherepnin: Sonata in one movement for clarinet and piano; Stacy Garrop: Phoenix Rising for Solo Clarinet; Leo Sowerby: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano; Shulamit Ran: Spirit for Solo Clarinet; Teresa Reilly: The Forgiveness Train for two clarinets; Robert Muczynski: Time Pieces for Clarinet and Piano. John Bruce Yeh, clarinet; Patrick Godon, piano; Teresa Reilly, second clarinet. Cedille. $16.

Robert Raines: Music for Flute. Robert Raines, flute; Florida State University Graduate Flute Ensemble conducted by Matt Thomas; Raines Ensemble conducted by Eva Amsler; Southern Illinois University Flute Choir conducted by Douglas Worthen. MSR Classics. $14.95.

Kevin McKee: Music for Brass Quintet. Brassworks (Jason Bergman and Seretta Hart, trumpets; Laurence Lowe, horn; Will Kimball, trombone; Dan Bryce, tuba); BYU Honors Brass Quintet (EJ Miranda and Branden Haynie, trumpets; Weston Sims, horn; Will Kimball, trombone; T. Kinder, tuba). MSR Classics. $14.95.

     Interesting explorations of little-known works for wind and brass instruments may be just the thing for audiences looking for something unfamiliar but, in most cases, not exceptionally avant-garde. The six works on a Cedille CD featuring clarinetist John Bruce Yeh are drawn from time periods ranging from the mid-20^th century to the 21^st, include four world première recordings, and showcase the clarinet in a variety of guises. Sonata in one movement for clarinet and piano by Alexander Tcherepnin is a short and bright five-minute work that dates to 1939. Phoenix Rising for Solo Clarinet, a world première in this version, is a 2017 work by Stacy Garrop (born 1969). Its two movements, “Dying in embers” and “Reborn in flames,” move from a suitably mournful and tonally drifting slow environment to one that distinctly paints an aural picture of awakening and arising. The Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1938) by Leo Sowerby (1895-1968) is the most substantial and most impressive piece on the disc – in light of its quality, its status as a world première recording is a surprise. Its four movements explore all elements of clarinet range and expressivity; its structure is clear without being straitlaced; the interplay between clarinet and pianist is expertly handled, intricate and often inventive; and the work sustains well within each movement and as a totality. Yeh – accompanied here, as in the other works involving piano, by Patrick Godon – is especially impressive in this piece, sensitive to its many moods and varying tempos and rhythms, his warm and smooth sound interweaving with the piano to excellent effect. Another world première on the CD is Spirit for Solo Clarinet (2017) by Shulamit Ran (born 1949), an in memoriam for clarinetist Laura Flax that is clearly heartfelt but rather on the shrill side. The last world première here is The Forgiveness Train for two clarinets (2020). It is by Teresa Reilly (born 1976), who joins Yeh for the performance. This is a three-movement piece tied to the COVID-19 pandemic – inspired by and responding to it. Each of its four-minute movements has its own rhythms, which vary from the constant and insistent to the stop-and-go. The piece is more a collection of aural fragments than a fully realized, thoroughly thought-through work, although its disconnectedness could certainly be said to be reflective of many people’s responses to COVID. The final work on the CD is the only one that is to any extent well-known: Time Pieces for Clarinet and Piano (1983) by Robert Muczynski (1929-2010). The contrast with Reilly’s work is pronounced: Muczynski pushes both clarinet and piano all over the place in this work’s four movements, but seems always to have a firm hand on the music, steering it with clarity and care so it never sounds disjointed or as if it is drifting into uncertainty. The sound of Muczynski’s piece is more acerbic than that of Sowerby’s sonata but never pushes the clarinet or the audience into uncomfortable territory. Time Pieces lacks the depth of Sowerby’s sonata but shows equal command, in its own way, of a similarly extended form. The disc as a whole has many elements of interest to go along with some of awkwardness: the sequence of pieces does not quite work if the recording is heard straight through, and the appreciable differences between the older and newer pieces do not argue in favor of the newer ones. But the playing is first-rate throughout, and the chance to hear so much unknown clarinet music presented so well is an attractive one.

     Listeners more interested in contemporary music for flute have seven works by Robert Raines (born 1954) available on an MSR Classics release. These are all 21^st-century compositions featuring Raines himself with several different ensembles – and the flute accompaniment is sometimes acoustic, sometimes electronic. A Quickening (2013) and Kokopelli (also 2013) are for flute ensemble and percussion. Percussive instruments could easily overwhelm the comparative delicacy of the flute, but using a flute ensemble helps balance the sound. And in both works, Raines does a good job of contrasting the instruments. A Quickening is generally more unified in sound, Kokopelli generally more rhythmic and punctuated more frequently by percussive outbursts. Seven Memories (2015) is simply for flute ensemble, and here the contrast between grouped and individual flutes is handled particularly well. Also for flute ensemble, Echoes of Sarah (2008) is a more dreamlike work, and one in which the sound of combined flutes dominates. The three remaining pieces have different and often intriguing instrumentation. Two Worlds (2019) is for flute, piano and electronics, and while its actual sound is not especially pleasant or engaging, it is interesting as an experiment in sonority. Into the Eternal (2020) is for narrator, flute ensemble, clarinet trio, cello and percussion, and is a bit much to take: the soundscape varies constantly and unpredictably, the focus of both words and music is somewhat fuzzy, and the whole piece simply seems overdone. In contrast, Requiem (2022) for piccolo, flute ensemble and string trio is a more sensitive work and a more consistently focused one, with Raines wielding the potentially somewhat cumbersome ensemble with skill and with sensitivity to the varying emotional capabilities of wind and string voices. Nothing on the disc stands out as highly innovative, but Kokopelli and Requiem, in particular, are well-balanced and musically meaty enough to be worthy of repeated hearings by listeners curious about modern works for flute.

     Another MSR Classics CD also includes only 21^st-century works, in this case the complete compositions for brass quintet so far written by Kevin McKee (born 1980). There are five pieces here, two of which are world première recordings. McKee is himself a trumpeter, and Escape (2017) gets the disc off to a rousing start that certainly shows the composer’s predilection for his own instrument. This is a bright, perky, fanfare-permeated curtain raiser that the ensemble Brassworks tosses off without apparent effort and with considerable élan. Next is the two-movement Iron Horse (2019), with a soulful-sounding first movement (“The Blue Goose”) and a neatly paced, well-contrasted second (“Highball on White Pass”). After this comes Vuelta del Fuego (2008), in which the massed sound of the quintet is used to particularly telling effect. The remaining two works on the disc are the world premières. Galleons and Cutlasses (2013) starts with “Phantom Ship,” which is gently rocking if not really eerie or evanescent, and proceeds to “Tempting Davy’s Grip,” which is dramatic and dancelike in film-music style – in fact, virtually everything on this disc is reminiscent of the movies and can be readily visualized as going with some sort of scene on the screen. That includes Semper Gratus (2021), the one piece on this CD played by the BYU Honors Brass Quintet: this work has the feeling of an uplifting chorale and would not be out of place in a film scene set in a church – although it is a bit too enthusiastic for real-world worship use. McKee’s brass music is uniformly listenable, not particularly challenging to the ear, well-structured to take advantage of the varying sounds and capabilities of the instruments both individually and collectively, and all in all a pleasant experience. It may be a bit on the bland side for listeners looking for greater piquancy from a brass ensemble, but it works well to provide some respite from the trying-too-hard efforts with which some contemporary composers attempt to assert their bona fides in the modern musical world.