Faced with the fall deluge of new releases, it’s time to bring back the daily album review from now until mid-December:
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
American composer Richard Danielpour has, in middle age, reached a sort of golden period of quality as well as quantity, as demonstrated in a collection of three recent works recorded by the Nashville Symphony and conductor Giancarlo Guerrero (who has done impressive work with the Toronto Symphony) for the Naxos label.
The marquee piece is Darkness in the Ancient Valley, subtitled Symphony in Five Movements, from 2011. At 36 minutes, it is a substantial and moving work depicting the tribulations of Iranian people under religious dictatorship.
Danielpour aims for poetry in music rather than slamming his listeners over the head with a political argument. He writes tonally in a style that evokes film music one moment, Shostakovich the next, and John Adams the next.
In short, it’s a stewpot of accessible, current art-music styles from a master of the narrative. Danielpour knows when to raise the dynamics and tempo and when to get into a more contemplative mode.
The Finale, titled “Consecration” is a setting of a text by Rumi gorgeously sung by soprano Hila Pitmann.
The shortest piece on the album, Lacrimae Beati is a purely instrumental meditation for strings on the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem, inspired by Danielpour being tripped by a tree root in front of where Mozart is thought to be buried, followed by a harrowing plane ride in a storm.
The album concludes with A Woman’s Life, a 2007 song cycle setting seven poems by Maya Angelou that trace life’s beginning to its end. Soprano Angela Brown has a rich but not pretty voice, but she fills every movement with moving conviction.
Danielpour is wonderfully economical in his orchestration of the accompaniment, and Guerrero gets a beautifully clear and balanced sound from his orchestra.
New music is rarely this satisfying to listen to.
You’ll find all the details of the album here.
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
