(+++) JOURNEYS

Eugene O’Brien: Algebra of Night; Elegy to the Spanish Republic. 21^st Century Consort conducted by Christopher Kendall. New Focus Recordings. $16.99.

Barbara Harbach: Orchestral Music VII—Following the Sacred Sun: Suite for Orchestra; Spiritualis: Suite for Orchestra; Choices and Remembrances: Suite in One Movement. London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by David Angus. MSR Classics. $14.95.

     Music can transport listeners both to outward destinations (figuratively) and to inner ones (literally). Composers who seek to connect effectively with audiences may draw inspiration directly from geographic locations or may be inspired at second hand, by basing their works on others’ experiences of specific places – as Eugene O’Brien (born 1945) does in Algebra of Night (2015) and Elegy to the Spanish Republic (2021), which are paired on a new CD from New Focus Recordings. The first of these pieces is a nine-part song cycle for mezzo-soprano (Deanne Meek) and piano quartet, based on the works of six poets who were inspired by Manhattan – the central and best-known borough of New York City, and the place to which most people refer when they simply say “New York.” O’Brien’s settings are highly varied, reflecting in this way the many aspects that he and his poetic inspirers see in Manhattan itself. Thus, for example, the opening Moon, which is expressive and Impressionistic, is followed immediately by the percussion-inflected, rhythmically varied Old Postcard of 42^nd Street at Night. Throughout the cycle, O’Brien produces contrasts of this sort between the quiet and comparatively calm and the energetic and intense. The contrasts are especially direct and effective in the instrumental material – unexpectedly and rather oddly, this song cycle is at its best not in the sung material but in the accompaniments to the songs and in the work’s two instrumental interludes. In those, O’Brien uses poetry for movement titles, in the absence of verbiage. Thus, Burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night is a strongly accented and insistent section, whose title comes from Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, while Of sorrow from the moonstruck darkness, which is emotive and quietly expressive, quotes from John Dowland’s Flow my tears. Other pieces range from the rather straightforwardly lyrical Lullaby to the piano-focused and frenetic The Mad Scene. O’Brien’s work is not exactly a travelogue but more of an impression of others’ impressions of a specific place. Elegy to the Spanish Republic, for nine instruments, is even more rarefied: it is O’Brien’s response to Robert Motherwell’s paintings created as the artist’s response to the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Some of the tone painting here is clear – the opening instrumental violence, for example – and some is clearly designed for emotional balance in a somewhat obvious attempt to portray the horrific impact of war. For those familiar with both the place and the time to which this work refers – and especially those who know Motherwell’s art – the piece will speak meaningfully; but to those not well-versed in the topic, its referents will seem rather prosaic. Likewise, some personal familiarity with Manhattan will go a long way toward producing audience engagement with Algebra of Night.

     Barbara Harbach (born 1946) is surely aware that virtually no potential listeners will be well-acquainted with the story on which Following the Sacred Sun (2021) is based – and she accordingly creates a four-movement suite that distinctly refers to a specific life and travel but can also stand on its own musically (albeit less effectively). The work’s title refers to an Osage woman known as Sacred Sun or, in the Osage language, Mi-H’on-Ga, who lived fewer than 30 years – from about 1809 to about 1836 – and was one of several Native Americans brought to France for a “Wild West Show” that eventually failed financially, and who thereafter traveled throughout Europe before none other than the Marquis de LaFayette arranged for her passage back to the United States. Harbach seeks to bridge the knowledge gap regarding Sacred Sun by creating four movements that acknowledge the physical journey but focus on the personal one – especially in the final two, Lullaby for a Lost Child (Sacred Sun gave birth to twins in Belgium and left one to be adopted by a French woman) and Looking for a Homeland. The music is made with Harbach’s usual skill, but it is rather gestural and superficial, its emotional underpinnings being effective in a general way but not having any significant direct attachment to the underlying story. In contrast, the journey is an inward one in Spiritualis (2022), a set of six arrangements and contemplations of mostly familiar spirituals: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; Give Me Jesus; Wade in the Water; Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child; They Crucified My Lord; and When I Cross the River. The contemplative material comes across particularly well here; and, again, Harbach’s compositional skill and the clarity of her orchestration are evident. The underlying similarity of the spirituals’ emotions, however, makes this suite sound somewhat monochromatic despite the composer’s care in arranging its component parts. The CD concludes with Choices and Remembrances (2022), a single-movement work that, like the others on the disc, is a world première recording. This is a somewhat tauter and more effectively organized piece than the two longer, multi-movement ones, with Harbach nicely managing the contrasting sections and producing a work that carries listeners on an emotional journey that is understandable if not specific. This is MSR Classics’ seventh release of Harbach’s orchestral music and 16^th of her works in all forms – an impressive subset within the firm’s overall catalogue. The disc further establishes the quality of Harbach’s compositions and their ability to explore multiple topics in accessible and sometimes captivating ways.