(++++) MIX AND REMIX

Pastiches for Guitar by Manuel Ponce, Alonso Mudarra, Dušan Bogdanovič, Mauro Giuliani, Lou Harrison, and Benjamin Britten. John Schneider, guitars; Matthew Cook, percussion; Gloria Cheng, harpsichord. MicroFest Records. $14.95.

Music for Trumpet, with Piano and Harp, by Jean Françaix, Carl Höhne, Manuel de Falla, Toru Takemitsu, Richard Peaslee, J.S. Bach, Peter Maxwell Davies, and Verne Reynolds. Max Otto Matzen, trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn; Mayumi Matzen, piano; Chilali Hugo, harp; Brett Long, trumpet. MSR Classics. $14.95.

     An utterly fascinating intellectual as well as musical excursion, a MicroFest Records release featuring guitarist John Schneider in works by half a dozen composers of widely varying styles, interests and time periods is unified by a highly unusual foundational concept rather than by the music or performances. The idea here is to uncover a variety of pastiches – imitative works that are rather like parodies but without any sarcasm or humor generated at the expense of the originals – and present them in the guitar tunings that would (or might) have been used in the era to which each pastiche refers. This may sound like a convoluted academic exercise, and certainly careful scholarship underlies it, but the results on this CD are anything but dry and musty: the pieces presented are, in their own way, tributes to earlier times. The dominant composer on the disc is Manuel Ponce (1882-1948), and the CD’s opening and closing tracks beautifully encapsulate the recording’s concept and the delights of the approach: both are Ponce’s Preludio in E (1931/1935), heard at the start as a guitar solo and at the end with harpsichord – resulting in a wonderful contrast of both sound and effect. Preludio in E is short, at two-and-a-half minutes, but Ponce’s 1929 Suite in A minor is much more extensive, consisting of five movements that mimic, respectfully and with considerable clarity, the Baroque suites that are Ponce’s model. It is important here that Schneider performs both Ponce works in “well temperament,” the tuning method known to most audiences only from Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier and sometimes misunderstood as meaning the instrument is nicely or properly tuned. That is not it at all: various forms of tuning were extant in Bach’s time, and he specifically chose “well temperament” for his masterpiece in order to demonstrate the advantages of the approach – notably the way music is not only playable in all keys but also has a consistent sound throughout. The fact that “well temperament” is only one tuning option is abundantly clear from Schneider’s excellent performances, which are all over the aural map in origin and are exceptionally varied in sound because of the nature of differing tuning systems on top of the different dates of the pieces’ composition. Between the first Ponce Preludio and the Suite is Fantasia X by Alonso Mudarra (1510-1580) – a work from 1546 that was specifically written to have the lutelike vihuela imitate the sound of a harp. Although Schneider plays it on a modern guitar, its characteristics come through very clearly, especially so because Schneider here uses “meantone temperament,” which was common for harps in Mudarra’s time. Again, the whole notion of differing temperaments and their effect on musical sounds seems abstruse, and it is indeed rarefied for those who want to study different temperaments and their pluses and minuses; but, yet again, this level of study is wholly unnecessary to hear, enjoy and appreciate the many and varied sounds that Schneider extracts from his instrument (actually instruments). All the choices that Schneider makes – for instance, using “just intonation” or tuning to an 18^th-century temperament where A=415Hz rather than the modern 440Hz – fit the music beautifully, and definitely enhance the experience of listening to the few pieces here that audiences are likely to know already in more-conventional form. It is hard to overstate just how varied the material on this disc is. From Dušan Bogdanovič (born 1955), there is a work from 2014 called Renaissance Micropieces, consisting of three 60-to-90-second miniatures. Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829), who is highly familiar to anyone who enjoys classical guitar, appears with his 1827 Variations on a Theme by Handel. The work is based on a Handel suite theme usually known as “The Harmonious Blacksmith,” which is itself a set of variations, so here there are variations upon variations, which seems wholly appropriate within a “pastiche” setting. There are also multiple works on the CD by Lou Harrison (1917-2003), including Sonatas Nos. 5 and 6 (1943; originally written for cembalo) and four pieces intended to reflect the musical approaches of non-Western cultures while also demonstrating the value of “just intonation.” They are Usul (1978) and Jahlas Nos. 1-3 (1972-1974). In addition to this rich vein of material – which Schneider mines to always-excellent effect – there are two offerings from Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), both of which have fascinations all their own. The first is The Courtly Dances from Britten’s 1953 opera Gloriana, in which the emphatic intertwining and exclamatory underlining of percussion helps cement the time period (Elizabethan England) while clearly showing evidence of Britten’s own original compositional approach. Also from Britten is a 1963 arrangement of Come Heavy Sleep from Nocturnal after John Dowland – Britten’s only piece for solo guitar. Again, Britten’s handling of the 1597 original is respectful, intelligent, reflective of his own skills (here, in using variation form), and thoroughly compelling musically entirely on its own. Indeed, everything on this genuinely unusual and striking disc is fully convincing from the standpoint of performance, tuning, arrangement, entertainment value, and thoroughgoing musicality.

     Although it is not as innovative or exceptionally programmed as the Schneider CD, an MSR Classics release featuring trumpeter Max Otto Matzen also offers a pleasant and occasionally intriguing mixture of styles and approaches from composers of many time periods – some well-known and some not. Bach is of course the most familiar, but is limited here to the famous 90-second Badinerie from Orchestral Suite No. 2. Works by Jean Françaix (Sonatine from 1952) and Manuel de Falla (Siete Canciones Populares Españolas from 1914-1915) are also reasonably frequently performed; but while the François work is played as written, de Falla’s is scarcely familiar in the trumpet-and-harp arrangement heard here. These popular songs, some using folk material and some based on tunes that only sound folklike, have often been arranged one way or another – even Luciano Berio did an arrangement. They are pleasant enough as heard here, although the trumpet does not always fit the melodies especially well – it seems a bit intrusive in Jota, for example. The Françaix work, on the other hand, comes across very well indeed: its four movements zip by in seven minutes, and it nicely recalls, or at least references, the Baroque era (although not in the sense of “pastiche”). The bouncy concluding Gigue gives Matzen a real workout, which he seems thoroughly to enjoy. Also here is Slavische Fantasie (1899) by Carl Höhne (1871-1939), which calls for a cornet and sounds pretty much as one would expect a Slavonic-focused work to sound. Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) is heard in Path, his trumpet-solo 1994 tribute to Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994). The piece is notable mainly for the many sounds it requires from the trumpet, all of which Matzen produces with apparent ease. From Richard Peaslee (1930-2016) there is a work from 1973 called Nightsongs, which is notable for featuring a flugelhorn – which proves to be quite an effective partner for the piano. Also here is Farewell to Stromness (1980) by Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016). This piano piece does not sound much like Davies’ other music, being altogether gentler and more accessible, and its unusual history – it was created as a protest against a proposed uranium mine – is more interesting than its arrangement here for trumpet and piano, wherein the trumpet adds little to the overall mood and expressiveness. The CD concludes with Calls and Echoes (1984) by Verne Reynolds (1926-2011), which contrasts strongly with Davies’ work and is in many ways the most interesting piece on the disc. Written for two trumpets, it is filled with back-and-forths of various kinds, as the title indicates, and includes military-style trumpet calls, hunting-style fanfares, and ample opportunity for the performers to show how well they can merge their sounds – and how well they can play separately while still paying close attention to each other’s rhythms. Matzen, very ably abetted here by Brett Long, is a fine player throughout the disc, and Mayumi Matson and Chilali Hugo handle their portions of backup in various pieces with suitable skill. All in all, this is a (+++) CD that will certainly intrigue trumpet players and that, despite a rather uneven mixture of music and pieces that do not go all that well together, should bring at least intermittent enjoyment to listeners for whom “the trumpet shall sound.”