On Wings of Peace. iPalpiti Orchestral Ensemble of International Laureates conducted by Eduard Schmieder. BCM+D Records. $15 (2 CDs).
Phillip Schroeder: Music for Violin and Piano. Margaret Jones, violin; Phillip Schroeder, piano; Alan Zimmerman, gongs. Neuma Records. $15.
Sometimes the music is almost beside the point – although not quite. The two-CD set titled On Wings of Peace, from BCM+D Records (Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University in Philadelphia), exists specifically to promote cross-border harmony and international togetherness. That is virtually impossible with music, any music – Leonard Bernstein’s 1989 conducting of Beethoven’s Ninth after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with Schiller’s word freude replaced with freiheit, is as close as anything has ever been to accomplishing something along those lines, although not all nations even then were happy about the political implications and ramifications. The two-dozen-strong group called iPalpiti Orchestral Ensemble of International Laureates (the first word is “heartbeats” in Italian, but spelled with the lowercase “i” that seems de rigueur nowadays) is less grand and less grandiose in its ambitions, presenting a mixture of pieces from various cultures as performed by musicians who themselves come from a variety of geographical locations (20 countries). The question with this undoubtedly well-meaning release is simply at whom it is aimed. It is the sort of recording that can easily be imagined as a souvenir item of a live concert, a way to relive the in-person experience time and time again (although nowadays that would more likely be done digitally than through physical media). But in terms of a recording for the general public, it is hard to see to whom On Wings of Peace reaches out musically. That may be the point: there are supra-musical issues ever-present here, with the actual music performed – which is certainly well-played throughout – being of less significance than the reasons for which it has been performed and recorded. Thus, the depth and reflection underpinning Schubert’s Death and the Maiden string quartet – in Mahler’s sensitive but infrequently heard string-orchestra arrangement – can certainly be considered an invitation to think about artificial barriers among nations and the many geopolitical risks and disturbances of the present day. This work is the sole extended piece on the second CD here; the only other item, listed as an encore, is Edward MacDowell’s To a Wild Rose from his Woodland Sketches, and it provides simple beauty and uncomplicated warmth that contrast well with Schubert’s music without displacing its subtleties and overall effect. So the second CD has a certain implicit level of musical thoughtfulness underlying it, even if any overt connection to the title On Wings of Peace is less than clear. The first disc is more complicated. It opens with Mendelssohn’s youthful String Symphony No. 10, whose B minor key immediately suggests that something serious is being set before listeners, and whose journey into optimism further suggests that there is reason for hope. Then the recording moves on to half a dozen pieces that are associated with various geographical locales and are played by musicians of varying backgrounds. Rapsodia Sinfonica by Joaquín Turina Pérez (1882-1949) is followed by Kaddish by Israeli composer Mark Kopytman (1929-2011). Next is Klezmer Dances by Kareem Roustom (born 1971), whose heritage is Syrian, and then comes the third movement from The Quiet Music for Strings by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov (born 1937). After this is an arrangement of Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 and then, as an encore, Tango Jalousie by Jacob Gade (1879-1963). It is easy to see and hear the differences among these works of many types, times and places, and to follow some of the underlying contrasts around which this recording is built – the thoughtful and melancholy Kaddish followed by the upbeat Klezmer Dances, for example. It is equally easy to see what pains have been taken to have featured performers themselves be reflective of internationalism: they are from the U.S., Czech Republic, and Italy. And all this is well and good and certainly presented with the best intentions and considerable sincerity. The music, though, does not inherently fit together in any meaningful way beyond that of obvious contrasts among pieces, and the foundational message of the release’s title is really the only thing holding the works together – which it does imperfectly. Listeners whose personal beliefs reflect the sociopolitical underpinnings of this recording are the ones to whom On Wings of Peace will speak effectively, although even they may not often return to the entirety of the release, given the many differences of effect among the works presented.
The occasional gentleness of On Wings of Peace is all-pervasive on a Neuma Records recording featuring seven works by Phillip Schroeder (born 1956). Indeed, the seven pieces here are essentially all gentleness, expressed in somewhat differing ways but always coming back to the notion of something peaceful, delicately resonant and filled with an underlying sense of quietude even when the dynamics rise. The differences among these works for violin and piano (plus some percussion elements) are mostly ones of emphasis and subtlety. Margaret Jones and Schroeder himself fully capture the repetitive and minimalist elements of the material, so that Radiance Within has a cloudlike effect while An Awakening features constant tolling bells that underline a very slow, methodical pacing that quickly lulls listeners. Avian Fields, which is just for violins (plural), contrasts with the first two works by being light and birdsong-pervaded and fragmentary in sound, while Being in Wonder – for piano – returns to a sense of quiet permeated by gentleness and includes some of the bell-tolling effects heard earlier. The next work here is called Nocturne, which is interesting because nearly all the pieces on the CD could be given that title. This one opens with the violin’s upper register contrasted with the piano’s lower one and then moves at deliberate speed – pretty much everything on the disc is paced deliberately – into flowing, meandering passages that persist to the end. Stillness at Night, which is for piano and is also decidedly nocturne-like, features a broadly paced chordal opening and material that is always on the edge of cessation – and does indeed stop periodically, as if inviting the listener to look inward and contemplate the sounds just heard. The final work on the disc, Shed the Pedestrian, has the most unusual title and a sound that differs from that of the other six pieces in subtle but notable ways: pacing is a bit faster, percussion a touch more emphatic, the violin a bit more biting. These distinctions, although not major, seem more significant precisely because all the other material on the CD has a sense of sameness, of being part of a single auditory and color palette. The most likely audience for this recording is one of listeners enamored of Philip Glass and other minimalists, and one in which the repetitiveness of sounds is an invitation to inner focus and the creation of a mental environment of meditative stillness. The individual pieces on the disc are not in fact deeply individuated – so listeners seeking an hour of contemplative material of the background-sound type will find that this recording brings them precisely that.
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