(+++) TOUCHES OF TODAY

Frederic Rzewski: Four Pieces for Piano; John Harbison: Piano Sonata No. 2. Walton Lott, piano. Neuma Records. $15. 

Marc Mellits: Tight Sweater; Titan. Jeff Anderle, bass clarinet; Haruka Fuji, marimba; Kate Campbell, piano; Friction Quartet. New Focus Recordings. $20.99. 

     A glance at the movement titles of Four Pieces for Piano by Frederic Rzewski (1938-2021) is enough to show their determined modernity even though the work is almost half a century old, dating to 1977: the first piece is designated first Dreamlike, then Violent, Impulsive; the second is Light + Bouncy; the third is Loosely, with feeling; and the fourth is untitled. Contemporary composers have moved well beyond traditional tempo-focused markings to instruct performers and listeners alike in how to play and hear their works, and Walton Lott takes Rzewski’s titles very much to heart in his recording for Neuma Records. The contrast between the elements of the first piece is very pronounced indeed; the second piece is more hesitant than might be expected, and its dissonances add to its overall feeling of questioning and lack of direction; the feeling implied in the third and longest piece is unclear – again the impression is of a quest and questioning, although here there are snatches of long-lined lyricism that suggest emotionalism, even passion, rather than objectivity; and that unmarked fourth piece simply swells and subsides, sometimes dense and sometimes determinedly focused on individual notes and, at the end, silence. Rzewski is known for his musical politicization – another very contemporary characteristic – but Four Pieces for Piano has no explicit or particularly apparent nonmusical reason for being, although its sound is analogous to that of other Rzewski works that are more explicitly driven by societal concerns. Certainly not an immediately appealing work, Four Pieces for Piano is a thoughtful and well-thought-out one whose disparate elements Lott puts on display with considerable skill and without attempting to forge the four pieces into a single, sonata-like or otherwise carefully organized form. The Piano Sonata No. 2 by John Harbison (born 1938), makes for an interesting contrast. The sonata dates to 2001, and here the movement titles are more traditionally descriptive (Intrada, Aria, Ricercare and Variazoni); but the determined modernism of the harmonic and rhythmic language is considerably more extreme. The sheer volume of the first movement is notable, making the contrast with the quiet opening of the second all the more pronounced. Anyone looking for lyricism or extended themes will not find it here, and indeed the second movement turns quickly into something much more proclamatory and chordal than its opening suggests. The third movement devolves into almost-jazzlike snippets and then veers into very considerable complexity in the simultaneity of upper and lower keyboard material, and the fourth offers a surprising degree of delicacy throughout, sounding a bit like Ives here and there. Harbison’s work, like Rzewski’s, ends quietly, with a sense of questioning rather than exhaustion or, for that matter, conclusive accomplishment. Both pieces feature pianistic elements that are as intriguing to hear as they are challenging to perform, and both will appeal primarily to listeners already fully engaged with the notion of modern (or postmodern) pianism. Lott makes as strong a case for both as anyone is likely to make. 

     If titles are one sign of contemporary compositional bona fides, those in two works by Marc Mellits (born 1966) are as up-to-date as it is possible to be. Tight Sweater (itself a very “today-sounding” title), which is for bass clarinet, marimba and piano, has six movements called Exposed Zipper, Trans Fatty Acid’s Rein, Mara’s Lullaby, Pickle Trousers, Evil Yellow Penguin, and Mechanically Separated Chicken Parts. It is fair to ask just what the titles have to do with the music (not much) and what effect they are supposed to have on the way listeners hear the piece (also not much). Ultimately, like all music, Mellits’ has to reach out – or fail to reach out – based on its own merits. The primary interest here is the multifaceted use of the bass clarinet, whose distinctive timbre (explored and exploited with considerable skill by the very talented Jeff Anderle) blends and contrasts surprisingly effectively with the two keyboards’ sound. The specific meaning of Trans Fatty Acid’s Rein, to cite one example, may be entirely obscure, but the way the woodwind intersects with the keyboards is aurally interesting – and contrasts with equally interesting interactions in much less frantic material, such as Maria’s Lullaby. By and large, the movements feature dramatic rhythms, sometimes initiated and maintained by the bass clarinet and sometimes established by the other instruments so the woodwind can perform riffs above them. There is a certain underlying (and overarching) sense of good humor about the entirety of Tight Sweater – the movement titles do, after all, point in that direction – and even though there is a degree of sonic sameness and repetitiveness that results in the piece wearing out its welcome well before its conclusion, there is much in it to enjoy. This entire CD runs only 38 minutes, split almost evenly between the two works on it, and that is just as well, since Titan – whose eight movements relate to the Saturnian moon, not to the precursors of the Greek gods – exists in much the same sound world as Tight Sweater, the differing instrumentation notwithstanding. Titan has some movement titles partaking of similar sensibilities (Velvet Kickbox Hydroxy, for example), but it does have periodic lush episodes that allow the strings to fulfill some of their communicative potential. It also features some moderately effective tone painting: Liquid Methane Rain, for instance, sounds expressively oceanic and even, to some extent, lyrical, while the strings-only pizzicato portion of Dispersed Retina is intriguing. Mellits’ bass-clarinet creations will certainly appeal to clarinetists and, more than that, to listeners who find low-woodwind sounds attractive and will enjoy hearing some unexpected and even surprising forms of interplay among the instruments for which Mellits writes.