(+++) STRINGS OLD AND NEW

William Whyte: Fantasias; Pavans a 6, Nos. 1 and 2; Thomas Tomkins: Galliard a 6, No. 92. Abendmusik (Judson Griffin and Malgorzata Ziemnicka, violins; Lawrence Lipnik and Rosamund Morley, tenor viols; Sarah Cunningham, Patricia Ann Neely and Carlene Stober, bass viols). MSR Classics. $14.95.

Bryce Dessner: Quintet for High Strings; Leonard Bernstein: Clarinet Sonata—arranged by Ben Verdery for string quartet and guitar; Ben Verdery: About to Fall; A Giant Beside You; Javier Farias: Andean Suite. Ben Verdery, classical and electric guitar; Ulysses Quartet (Christina Bouey and Rhiannon Banerdt, violins; Colin Brookes, viola; Grace Ho, cello). ReEntrant. $16.99.

     So much has changed in chamber music for strings since the era of William Whyte (1571-1634): specifics of instruments, type of strings, form of bows, tuning, style of playing, the very meaning of ensemble, and much more. But at its core, the expressiveness of a small string ensemble has not changed, even if what is expressed and how that expressiveness is communicated to listeners are different after 400-plus years. Not much is known about the life and career of Whyte (also sometimes spelled White), but to the extent that his music is occasionally (if rarely) heard, he is usually represented by one or more of three Fantasias a 5 and seven Fantasias a 6 – and those five-part and six-part pieces are among the works heard on an MSR Classics release featuring the chamber group Abendmusik. Also here are two Fantasias a 2, a Fantasia a 3, and two pieces called Pavan a 6; and for purposes of complementarity, the CD also includes a 90-second work by Whyte’s contemporary, Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656). The massed sound of Whyte’s works is different from what listeners not already familiar with pieces from this time period will expect: in most cases, all the parts are essentially equal, and there is an underlying seriousness to the pieces that may make audiences think of church music (although in fact these are secular works). Tomkins’ Galliard a 6 is a brighter piece and faster-paced than Whyte’s works. But that does not mean that Whyte’s pieces are all alike in sound. Here and there, Whyte brings a single instrument to the fore while the others become complementary – anticipating the not-yet-developed form of the concerto grosso, with its solo instrument and ripieno passing material back and forth. Fantasias a 6, Nos. 2 and 3, for example, have some of these forward-looking features. The darkly serious Fantasia a 2, No. 2 makes an interesting contrast to the works for a larger grouping, and the comparatively extended Fantasia a 6, No. 6 – which, at five minutes, is the longest work on the disc – provides opportunities for especially intricate interweaving of the instruments. This is a short CD, just 46 minutes in all, but it serves as an interesting immersion in a world of string playing and string sound that is quite different from those with which most listeners are likely to be familiar.

     Those interested can fast-forward to another comparatively short CD (55 minutes) for a strong contrast between string use in Tudor times and in contemporary music. The focus of this ReEntrant disc is guitarist Ben Verdery, who was intimately involved in all the musical creations except for one piece. Verdery wrote two of the works on the disc himself, arranged the one by Leonard Bernstein, and is the person for whom Bryce Dessner (born 1976) wrote his piece, Quintet for High Strings, in 2018. Dessner’s quintet is an extended (18-minute) work that uses a guitar – which is, after all, a string instrument – that has been restrung with special strings that lead to sounds an octave or even two octaves above where they would normally appear. It is not a particularly engaging work – once the ear adjusts to the experimental nature of the re-stringing, the musical material is not especially attractive. The piece’s three movements are played attacca, and there are some differences among them, but their sound is not overly attractive, despite the skill with which Verdery and the Ulysses Quartet present everything. More interesting, if perhaps rather wrongheaded, is Verdery’s arrangement of Bernstein’s Clarinet Sonata, the composer-conductor’s first published piece (1942). In it, Bernstein showed a considerable amount of sensitivity to the sound and sensibilities of the clarinet and the ways in which it can interact with the piano. The clarinet part does not translate directly to the guitar, although it can work on some other instruments (there is an intriguing cello arrangement, for example). Verdery (born 1955) comes up with clever ways to overcome the difficulties of this adaptation, but the sound is never quite satisfactory, and the first movement certainly does not come across as Grazioso here. The Bernstein work is followed on the disc by two written by Verdery himself. About to Fall (2022) uses an electric guitar and a volume pedal, starting with a series of swells and progressing into a very slow section that seems to be striving toward an unnamed and unreached climax. A Giant Beside You (2021-2022) also features electric guitar, and here the sound is that of electroacoustic music, with a good deal of bounce and use of a number of pop-music techniques. It is more fun than About to Fall and makes a better overall impression, but at almost seven minutes, it continues long after it has made its points. The final work on the disc is the three-movement Andean Suite (2017) by Javier Farias (born 1973). This is the most variegated and rhythmically intriguing piece on the CD. Each movement seeks to capture the spirit and sound of ceremonies and music of the Andean region. The first, Yawar Fiesta, represents a bloody fight between animals staged annually in Peru. The second, Huayno, is slow and sad, filled with a kind of tearful lyricism reflected in all the instruments and showcasing the guitar’s emotive capabilities. The third, Diablada, is an interpretation of a Bolivian dance with strong rhythms and a driving pace. The use of strings on this CD is about as far from that of William Whyte as one would expect from the long-separated musical eras – but it is fascinating to hear in how many ways, despite their obvious differences, the works on these two discs use small-ensemble string music to reach out colorfully and often effectively to a suitably receptive audience.