Author: tyonce

In This Life, The Jamie Baum Septet
Jamie Baum – flute, alto flute, flute d’amour
Amir El Saffar – trumpet
Taylor Haskins – trumpet
Douglas Yates – alto sax, bass clarinet
Brad Shepik – guitar
Chris Komer – French horn
John Escreet – piano
Zach Lober – bass
Jeff Hirshfield – drums
Dan Weiss – tabla
Samuel Torres – congas

Sunnyside Records

Nusrat
Sweet Pain
The Meeting (Tana Dery Na)
Ants and Other Faithful Beings
In Another Life
Monkeys of Gokarna Forest
While We Are Here (for Elise NeeDell Babcock)
Richie’s Lament (for Richie Beirach)
The Game
In A Nutshell
Inner Voices

Jazz flutist Jamie Baum’s new album, In This Life, is a pleasure to hear. This is the third recording released by her septet, and they play together like a well-oiled machine (besides the core members of this group, they also include some special guests on this album ). The background to this album is fascinating; Baum cites several tours to South Asia as being major musical influences here. Specific inspiration includes the tabla, Bansuri flute and vocal music, and performance opportunities with significant Indian musicians.  While these influences might not be obvious or easily detected on this recording, Baum suggests that her goal was not to play or compose in those particular styles but to allow those experiences and sounds to inspire these new tracks.

The listener is immediately struck by the warm colors in Baum’s playing. On this album, she performs on flute, alto flute, and flute d’amour, which gives her ample opportunity to showcase the lower tessitura of the flute family. Of particular interest is how she blends with the other players, which creates such different timbres and sounds from one combination to the next. During her solos, we have the opportunity to appreciate the creativity in her sound.

For more information, visit Jamie Baum’s website at www.jamiebaum.com.

This review was originally published in the November 2013 issue of The Flute View magazine. Subscribe here!

Flute Chamber Works by Michael Kallstrom, Volume 2
, performed by Heidi Pintner Álvarez and friends
Centaur Records

In the Clear Blue for two flutes and piano (2011)
Silken Kisses Slip Away for mezzo-soprano, flute, and piano (2011)
I. Silken kisses slip away
  II. Open mind and open aches
  III. Changing tides and slipping light
The Music Falls In for flute and mixed percussion (2009)
The Falling Cinders of Time for solo flute (2011)
Ozymandias for flute, oboe, bass voice, and electronics (2006)
On the Brink of Stillness for flute, violin, and piano (2009)
I. Moderato
  II. Allegro

In this follow up to her 2006 album, Heidi Pintner Álvarez, flute professor at Western Kentucky University, again joins her colleagues in performing a collection of music by Michael Kallstrom, University Distinguished Professor at Western Kentucky University. Featured on this album are works for flute and various chamber ensembles, including mezzo-soprano, piano, mixed percussion, oboe, bass voice, electronics, and violin. Álvarez plays with a rich sound and gives a sensitive, artistic interpretation of each work included in this collection. It is interesting to note that many of these works are based on poetry written by Kallstrom.

In the Clear Blue is a striking opening work. It is written for two flutes and piano. Kathleen Karr joins Álvarez on flute and Donald Speer is the pianist. This work features considerable rhythmic vitality, which is a hallmark of Kallstrom’s compositional style. Sections of homorhythmic playing between the two flutes are attention-grabbing and interesting.

The chamber ensemble changes for Silken Kisses Slip Away, the next work on this album. Álvarez is joined by mezzo-soprano Liza Kelly and pianist Speer. The text for each of the three movements is based on poetry by Kallstrom. Particularly noticeable is when Álvarez doubles Kelly’s vocal line, especially in the haunting second movement; the combination of the bright flute timbre with the warm voice is a remarkable sound.

The Music Falls In is written for flute and mixed percussion. Mark Berry plays a variety of instruments here including vibraphone, maracas, glockenspiel, and congas. This work has a clean, bright sound and sounds fresh even after multiple hearings.

The Falling Cinders of Time is written for solo flute and shows off Álvarez’s sensitive playing. She uses a variety of tone colors to illustrate the contrasting sections; it is interesting to note that Kallstrom quotes a Rachmaninov melody in this work.

The next work, Ozymandias, includes an innovative combination of instruments, including flute, oboe, bass voice, and electronics. Álvarez is joined by Kristin Polk on oboe and Kallstrom on vocals. The recorded voice part, which begins the work and is digitally manipulated, is almost drone like.

The final work on this album is On the Brink of Stillness for flute, violin, and piano. The first movement is lyrical and moderately paced. Álvarez and violinist Ching-Yi Lin have lines together but also have portions that sound more conversational. Those lines wrap around each other in interesting ways. The second movement is more aggressive. The piano line drives the sound; the entire movement is rhythmically vibrant and demands virtuosic playing from all.

This review was originally published in the November issue of The Flute View magazine. Subscribe here!

Timeless
performed by Kate Prestia-Schaub, piccolo and Martin Kennedy, piano

Barry McKimm – “Air”

Daniel Dorff – “Flash!”

Frederick Lesemann – “Slow Music for Piccolo Alone“

Michael Daugherty – “The High and the Mighty”

Daniel Kelley – “Passage”

Martin Kennedy – “Desplazamiento”

Kenneth Benshoof – “Timeless”

Steve Kujala – “Eurythmionics”

Timeless is Kate Prestia-Schaub’s debut album for piccolo and piano. Overall, she exhibits masterful control, lyricism, and virtuosity. The piccolo, which is often seen as the flashy member of the band or orchestra, is seen here as a solo instrument that delivers flash but is also sensitive. Of particular interest is Prestia-Schaub’s low register, which is quite lush. In addition to her impressive playing, she is helping to add substantial new works to the piccolo repertoire; three of the works on this album (Dorff, Lesemann, and Kennedy) were written specifically for her.

The first work on this album is “Air” for piccolo and piano by Barry McKimm. “Air” is actually the second movement of McKimm’s Piccolo Concerto, written for Frederick Shade, principal piccolo with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. This is a lyrical, melodic work that serves as a solid opener to this album.

“Flash!” for piccolo and piano by Daniel Dorff lives up to its title, featuring lots of fast scales, a catchy melody, and frequent forays into the high register. Prestia-Schaub’s performance is convincing and makes the work sound easy.

The next work, “Slow Music for Piccolo Alone,” is indeed slow but intense.

“The High and Mighty” in two movements was inspired by air travel in the years after World War II. The first movement features a beautiful lyrical melody, which includes pitch bends and flutter tonguing. The second movement begins with a piccolo cadenza, which then turns into a bossa nova.

“Passage” begins with a lyrical section, which is followed by a more active section. It’s an inviting work that draws in the listener.

Kennedy’s “Desplazamiento” features tango rhythms and motives. It is rhythmically complex and well-executed.

The title track of this album is introspective and lyrical. Quotes from the jazz standard “Embraceable You” give “Timeless” a jazzy feel.

“Eurythmionics,” the last track on this album, is a technically challenging work that Prestia-Schaub manages to make sound easy. It ends the album with a positive flourish.

For more information and to buy the album, visit Kate Prestia-Schaub’s website at http://www.k8trills.com/.

The Art of Noise
Meerenai Shim

Daniel Felsenfeld – To Committee: A Self Parody
    I. Brooklyn Ekphrasis
     II. How One Becomes Lonely
    III. Dithyramb
Janice Misurell-Mitchell – The Art of Noise
Jay C. Batzner – Mercurial
Matthew Joseph Payne – flight of the bleeper bird
     I. i fought the DAW and the DAW won
     II. obviously i was abducted by paper aliens
     III. the entire world is slowly turning into snails
David E. Farrell – moonwave

Following up on her 2011 debut, “Sometimes the City is Silent,” Meerenai Shim’s “The Art of Noise” includes works written in the past five years. Composer Luigi Russolo’s book The Art of Noises (1913), which encourages composers to use all possible sounds, is the starting point for Janice Misurell-Mitchell’s contribution to this album; both Misurell-Mitchell’s piece and this album’s title were adapted from the title of Russolo’s book. Shim’s collaborators include Lori Lack on piano, Paul Rhodes on cello, and Christopher G. Jones on percussion. Digital audio as well as sounds from a Nintendo Game Boy are also featured.

The first work on this album, Daniel Felsenfeld’s To Committee: A Self Parody, features a thick, textured flute sound from Shim. The flutter tonguing used occasionally also adds to the dense texture. Shim’s articulation is clear and even. Perhaps most impressive is Shim’s ability to create a wide variety of tone colors through, but not limited to, various speeds of vibrato including none at all.

Janice Misurell-Mitchell’s work for flute/voice and percussion, The Art of Noise, creates an interesting sonic landscape where there is plenty of conversation between the flute and an array of percussion instruments. A collection of extended flute techniques, including percussive tonguing, timbral trills, and singing while playing adds to the overall sound of this work.

Jay C. Batzner’s Mercurial appears in the middle of the recording and is a work built on contrasts. It begins with a reflective, long melody in the flute over an electronic drone. The digital sounds carry on relentlessly during the highly-rhythmic middle section, while the flute has much longer gestures. Eventually the flute adopts that driving rhythm before it returns to the longer, more reflective melody at the end, this time without the electronic accompaniment.

Perhaps the biggest sonic surprise on this recording is Matthew Joseph Payne’s flight of the bleeper bird, which is a piece with incredible energy. This chiptune work is for flute and a Nintendo Game Boy; the Game Boy has four voices; the flute is treated as a fifth voice and almost becomes a part of the device. This piece also includes samples of Shim’s playing, which are played back by the Game Boy.

The last piece on this recording, moonwave, is a fitting end. After more intense works, this one is more quiet and introspective. It is also for solo flute, so the texture is simplified.

Meerenai Shim is quite good at creating various tone colors that complement whatever instrument she is playing with, whether it is cello, percussion, piano, or even Game Boy. The diversity of the works included on this album ensures that the listener’s attention will never wander. Shim took some risks with this album, and it paid off in a big way. I look forward to her next project.

This review was originally published in the August 2013 issue of The Flute View magazine. Subscribe here!

Blue Solitude 
performed by Nicole Esposito and Alturas Duo
Con Brio Recordings

Leo Brouwer: Paisajes, retratos y mujeres
•    Retrato de Wagner con Mathilde
•    Mujer bailando un minuet
•    La passion según Dowland
Raimundo Penaforte
•    Elegia
•    Interlúdio
Ariel Ramírez
•    Alfonsina y el mar
Peruvian Folk Song
•    Diosllai Runa
José and Roberto Márquez
•    Sipassy
Sergio Assad: Winter Impressions
•    The Frozen Garden
•    Blue Solitude
•    Fire Place

Nicole Esposito, flute professor at The University of Iowa, has recently released an album featuring works by Latin American composers. She is joined on the album by Carlos Boltes (viola and charango) and Scott Hill (guitar), who together form the Alturas Duo. This collection includes both art music as well as folk songs arranged for this ensemble. Esposito’s beautiful, lush sound blends quite well with the stringed instruments with which she is playing, especially in the flute’s lower register.

The first work on this album is by the Cuban composer Leo Brouwer. The very opening of the first movement is arresting and draws the listener in. This same three-note gesture is repeated throughout the movement. The second and third movements are also virtuosic and demand technical control from all of the players.

The two tracks by Raimundo Penaforte are taken from a larger work, Three Pieces for Flute, Viola and Guitar. The sorrowful Elegia was originally written for trumpet and piano and is almost song-like in its construction, with the flute taking what would be the vocal part.  Interlúdio features more interplay between the flute and viola.

Alfonsina y el mar is a popular folk song and is a pleasure to listen to. Diosllai Runa has quite a different sound, as it is from the Peruvian villancico tradition. Again, Esposito’s low register is full and haunting, an appropriate sound for this intimate song.  Sipassy is a work that was composed by the Chilean folk ensemble Illapu. While originally written for quena, the Andean notched wooden flute, it has been arranged for Western concert flute by the Alturas Duo. Expressive pitch bends and an approximation of the wooden flute sound are striking. As notes ascend and there is a general increase in volume, some intense moments are created.

Assad’s Winter Impressions represents the composer’s impressions of a cold winter’s day. The first movement, The Frozen Garden, suggests swirling snow with a fast-moving rhythmic section. A contrasting middle section hints at a calm period in the storm before returning to a more intense ending, including the use of tongue pizzicato for a percussive effect. The second movement, Blue Solitude, lends its name to this album. It is a lyrical contrast to the first movement. Fire Place, the last movement of this work, is aggressively rhythmic and provides a satisfying finish to this energetic album.

Review originally published in The Flute View magazine. Subscribe here!

Deep Blue
, music of Ian Clarke 
performed by Ian Clarke and Tim Carey

•    Deep Blue
•    Curves
•    Magical & Woven
•    Plaintive
•    Presto
•    Touching the Ether
•    Hatching Aliens
•    Something Is There!
•    Blue Alien/Alien Chill Out
•    The Fear Returns/Battle Tempo
•    Beverley

Ian Clarke’s second album doesn’t disappoint. Each of these works was written by Clarke between the years 2006 and 2012, and this album proves that he continues to write music that is fresh, inventive, and accessible. While they rely heavily on extended techniques, these techniques come across as organic to the piece and don’t make a spectacle of themselves. Instead, they enhance the unique language of Ian Clarke’s compositional style and are evocative of the natural world.

Deep Blue (flute and piano) is the newest work in this collection. It includes some really lush sounds in the flute’s low register; the melody climbs higher as it intensifies. This piece is partly inspired by the ocean and whale song.

The curves featured in Curves (three flutes and piano) manifest themselves through the use of quartertones. Texture is also an important feature here and is brought out through alternate fingerings that work alongside the standard fingerings. The third movement brings back themes from the first two movements. This work was recently named one of the winners of the 2013 National Flute Association Newly Published Music Competition for small flute ensemble.

Touching the Ether (flute and piano) is the oldest work on the disc, from 2006, and is well-placed on this album. It appears as the third work of five; its placement as the centerpiece makes sense, as it seems to reach a level of intensity not heard on the album up to this point. This work “reflects upon countless lateral and eternal connections between people; between each other across the world and through generations stretching back and forwards in time.” Getting a glimpse of these connections – or “time dominoes” – is “touching the ether.”

Hatching Aliens (flute and piano) employs extended techniques to establish an alien landscape. Connecting back to the idea that this album explores links with the natural world, this “alien” landscape could truly be otherworldly, or it might be a way to look our world in a new way.
Beverley (solo flute), is a song for flute written in 2011. It requires the use of alternate fingerings to create interesting changes in timbre. It dispels the energy of the album well, and provides a solid bookend to the first piece on this album, Deep Blue. Incidentally, the sheet music for these two works is published together.

-Originally published in The Flute View magazine, July 2013. Subscribe here!